Author: elarrickbrand

Join Elizabeth Larrick as she explores the transformative power of virtual focus groups for trial lawyers. In this episode, Elizabeth discusses her course, “DIY Virtual Focus Groups for Beginners,” designed to equip trial lawyers with the skills to run their own focus groups. Elizabeth shares her experience of how these methods have enhanced her practice by providing crucial jury insights and improving case decisions. The course offers practical tools, including recorded Zoom sessions, a detailed workbook, and a supportive community, addressing common challenges like recruitment, presentation, and moderation.

Elizabeth emphasizes the importance of integrating feedback into legal case preparations, aiming for clarity and simplicity in jury communication. Discover how running your own focus groups can refine your presentation strategies, connect more effectively with juries and clients, and enhance your overall courtroom success. 

In this episode, you will hear:

• Introduction to DIY Virtual Focus Groups for trial lawyers
• Strategies for recruitment, presentation, and moderation in focus groups
• Importance of integrating feedback for effective jury communication
• Benefits of running personal focus groups for case preparation

Follow and Review:

We’d love for you to follow us if you haven’t yet. Click that purple ‘+’ in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

Supporting Resources:

To learn more about the on-demand course Do-It-Yourself Virtual Focus Groups go to https://elizabethlarrick.com/on-demand-course-focus-groups/

To hear other episodes about running your own virtual focus groups check out:

DIY Focus Groups with Clint Shumacher [Ep 83]

Setting Up Your Focus Group System [Ep 81]

Focus Group Recruiting [Ep 80]

DIY Virtual Jury Research Part 1 [Ep 19]

DIY Virtual Jury Research Part 2 [Ep 20]

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know I sent you.

Episode Transcript

Hello, and welcome back to the podcast. I’m your host, Elizabeth Larrick, and I’m glad you’re here today. This episode is going to be a bit different from my normal style. I am going to be sharing information about my on demand course, DIY virtual focus groups for beginners. I’ve talked quite a bit about virtual focus groups on this podcast.

That’s not normal. Even if you’re just now joining me, you may have probably heard some other episodes That were in the feed or that you saw before episode 19, episode 20, episode 80, and a great interview with Clint Schumacher on DIY Focus Groups. All those links will actually be in the show notes if you want to go back and take a look at those.

What I found though is that it was a little bit of a piecemeal information and I get a lot of questions in my email inbox about running virtual focus groups and several pitfalls that people may run into. And so I decided that I could create a course to help folks that are out there either getting started, they’re interested in it, or maybe they’re running them at their own office right now and they’re just getting stuck.

But before I did that, I went out and I looked at what resources right now are available for lawyers, specifically, that gives them a full picture on creating virtual focus groups, not just the recruiting piece, but also the presentation piece and the moderating, which can be really challenging for us because sometimes it turns into cross exam.

And knowing that the importance of running your own virtual focus groups, having that information To make decisions in your case is really key. That’s how I was able to run my law firm. I learned how to do them and put that into practice very quickly to help me make decisions because I didn’t have a lot of resources.

So I wanted to make sure that I could maximize my cases that I had with the basically the resources I had to put into them. And I just really didn’t want to pick the wrong case to go to trial on and possibly lose or make the wrong decision about investing in a case that really wasn’t going to get very far with the jury.

And I believe every lawyer should have access to jury research, no matter where you are, because it really helps overall with running your law firm, making good decisions and having a lot of confidence and assurance in what you’re doing when sometimes it feels like you’re just operating in a vacuum.

There are not very many other resources that we can Really used to get feedback about what other people jurors actually people were making decisions about the cases think right. We can talk to their lawyers. That’s nice. That experience is good. But if you ever been a trial, you know, it’s never going to go exactly as somebody else’s trial has gone.

And so you just want to make sure that you’re testing that. So. I looked at my process and again, I looked back at what people were asking me. I ran several webinars back as well in March and February to help kind of give some information to see where things were needing, where people were lacking. And I even asked again, did other polls to make, ask lawyers.

And what I found was, Or what I’ve created was a live three sessions, zoom sessions where everybody could come in and ask questions and go through the material together. There’s so much material that I created a workbook to go along with everything. And of course you record everything. Which is now what this episode is about the on demand version of that course.

It’s still all the great information about the very actionable steps that you can take along with options. I know that my way is not the highway. There are lots of ways that folks run focus groups. And so I tried to provide those options as well for you along with, you know, really an overview with timelines that you can look at and thinking through the ability.

to delegate to staff members. And so I really encourage lawyers and their staff to join our meetings that we had back in May. Again, that’s exactly what this episode is about. That on demand course that is now available until December 1st. and access will be available all the way through the end of 2024.

And what I’ve also done is because it’s so vital for us to be able to ask questions and get information is I’ve also scheduled an Ask Me Anything on December 2nd so that we can get together and you can pick my brain and I can ask you questions as well about how things are going. And also the platform that is hosting the course allows for a lot of community interaction, a lot of posting.

And that I feel like is always really helpful when you’re doing something new and you have questions and lawyers are really good about questions. You immediately can go there, post a question and get an answer. Okay. So that’s really, I think a helpful part of it as well. And what can you really gain from taking this course?

Well, number one, DIY do it yourself, virtual focus groups, right? Get in yourself, literally those step by step actions to get over that starting place where you’re thinking, how do I get started? And naturally that’s going to save costs and that’s going to make it really convenient for you and. Your office to get answers on questions.

But really, what is gained is confidence and certainty in the evidence that you have and assurance that you have been able to flip those negative facts into either positive positive or even just neutralize them. Really be able to issue spot things that you can’t see as a lawyer, right? We’ve always got some blind spots, especially when we are really invested in a case.

It’s hard to see the other point of view and that’s where focus groups are so awesome at seeing things that we can’t. themes, being able to really look at those facts and targeting concerned areas with these one hour, two hour, even three hour virtual focus groups and getting the clarity that you want, right, to make decisions about cases.

And here recently, right, I had a lawyer who perfectly summarized it. He said, I’m so relieved because. You give this presentation and hearing their feedback that we don’t have to go into a trial and really educate people about something so boring as our case. And it’s like, yes, it is so much simpler than what we make it to be, right?

We tend to complicate things because we have so much information and facts. And really that’s where a focus group, even a short focus group can help you see the simplicity of the case without any complication. And of folks that have taken this course, right? I mean, you know, one of the reviews that I’ve gotten is that, you know, it’s the course has information about gathering people and have forms for different types of focus groups that are available and even interpreting the information, which is kind of critical, right?

We want to make sure that we interpret things correctly. So. All of that is packaged right into three on demand videos and three workbooks that go with that. And the workbooks just kind of accentuate, meaning they’re going to give you more information than what is in the video, but you can go in there and play the videos that you need.

Again, having you and staff be able to have access to those so everybody’s on the same page. And then again, that December 2nd Ask Me Anything, so everybody can come in and get their questions answered. It was definitely one of the highlights of the live version that we had in May, because there is just so much information in there, and sometimes, you know, it’s hard to necessarily connect to it.

everything. Plus, there’s always generally a nuanced question that folks have about maybe their particular practice area or how do you focus group this topic or this problem, right? So that’s always a great question to ask as well. So if you’re interested in learning more about the on demand course, head over to ElizabethLarrick.

com slash on demand course Focus groups, long link. I understand it’ll be in the show notes. So if you’re driving or walking, just know, check those show notes later to find that link. And plus, if you are just not sure if making, doing your own virtual system for jury research is what you’d like to do, then go back to those episodes I mentioned before, 19, 20, 80.

Again, the links will be in the show notes to see, you know, is this something that I want to do? And, um, You know, I encourage folks that it is much simpler than you think to get it started. And it’s, of course, it feels simple to me because I’ve been doing it for years, but I want every lawyer who is practicing in this space, plan of personal injury, employment law, business litigation, to have a tool to help them make decisions to, and also educate their client.

You know, that’s one of those things that sometimes we have clients that are really fixated on Certain facts and certain pieces of their damages, which maybe just don’t hit the jury the same way, right? And it’s hard for them to understand that until they actually see it. And that’s just one of the benefits that you have is.

You can run one of these focus groups right when you need it with the perfect amount of time that you need with an efficient cost and get that answer and then be able to move forward in the case. So many times what I see people do is really hesitate. when it comes to getting information to move a case forward.

And the hesitation could be there’s other cases going on or well that mediation got moved so I’ll just, I’ll just wait to do that later. That’s not a pressing thing that I need information on. I’ll just move it down. Right? You reprioritizing things based on trial dates and expert depositions, and mediations.

Here’s where that becomes a huge problem. That’s really underestimating the amount of amazing information and perspective you will get from a virtual focus group. And you will want to marinate on that information because initial blush may be You want to, you know, run to the bathroom, Ralph, because it’s all terrible information.

But once you really need to digest it to be able to see, Oh, okay, wait a second. Let me get a little bit deeper here on what they’re saying and really try to integrate this into the case earlier than waiting. LLC. Many a times what happens is at first blush, it sounds like they really they’re putting your case in the garbage pan, right?

Like they don’t like it. It sounds like they’re creating more problems for you than not. But most of the time, if you sit with it, go back over it. And this is where that interpretation comes from. You realize I can answer all of these questions, but wow, I need to make that really clear. up front and how do I do that now with, with what I have left, right?

Like maybe it’s the mediation presentation. Maybe it’s these expert depositions that I need to get those questions in up front and very clear so that it’s the jury has those answers. They’re not sitting there wondering about these things. And again, the longer we can marinate on this feedback, the more we can integrate it into our cases and make them better.

Even if at the end of the day, it’s going to be a settlement. That’s okay. Because most of the decision makers on our cases fit more into the Drupal than they do, than they do on our side of things, right? They’ve got very few of things, but having a little bit of clarity and simplicity fits everybody because our brains love that that is persuasive.

And that’s a huge piece of what you can get from running your own purchase groups. Okay. Well, that’s it. I hope that this episode, although different than the normal ones, was helpful and maybe if you’re not ready yet, that’s okay. This is still a good place to maybe peruse the page. Look at the information and see like, okay, listen to the other episodes.

Maybe this is, maybe this isn’t, but just know that that is available for you until December 1st. All right. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

In this episode, Elizabeth explores innovative and cost-effective strategies for trial preparation that go beyond traditional mock juries. Designed with solo practitioners and small law firms in mind, this episode examines techniques like focus groups that can provide valuable insights without the high costs. Learn how attorneys like Ryan Squires and Peter Levine successfully used virtual focus groups to refine their trial strategies, leading to significant verdicts and settlements. Gain actionable tips to enhance your courtroom skills and connect more effectively with juries. 

In this episode, you will hear:

• Exploring cost-effective alternatives to mock juries for trial preparation
• Benefits and insights of using focus groups, both in-person and virtual
• Overcoming traditional trial prep challenges for solo practitioners and small firms
• Practical tips for conducting short, targeted focus groups

Follow and Review:

We’d love for you to follow us if you haven’t yet. Click that purple ‘+’ in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

Supporting Resources:

Want to get in-depth insight straight to your inbox? Join the Trial Lawyer Prep Newsletter at www.larricklawfirm.com/connect to get a specially crafted email once a month from Elizabeth that gives lawyers extra resources, tips and information on preparing the best case.

Here are the episodes mentioned by Elizabeth:

Ep 35 Ryan Squires and his Record Setting $40 million verdict

Ep 19 DIY Virtual Jury Research Part 1

Ep 20 DIY Virtual Jury Research Part 2

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know I sent you.

Episode Transcript

Hello and welcome back to the podcast. I’m your host, Elizabeth Larrick, and I’m glad you’re here and joining me today.

This episode, we are going to talk about a common misconception That I hear when I talk with lawyers and we’re thinking about trial prep and what to do and where to go to learn about jurors attitudes, case themes, you know, who are the good jurors demographically, who are the not good jurors demographically.

And what I always get back is that it’s a mock jury. But this is really kind of the only way that you’re going to be able to learn what you need to learn. To do your trial prep correctly and listen that is not the only way and I want to put together this episode because I know if That’s very much a traditional thought, right?

We’ve learned it from somebody else. It’s been passed down, right? And mock juries are really cool. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve done them. They’re great. But if that’s the only way we think about trial prep, that really starts to exclude a lot of people because they’re so expensive and time consuming. And I can tell you like right here as a solo running my own law firm, thinking of doing a mock jury on my own, like there’s no way I couldn’t afford to do that on any of my cases.

And lo and behold, right, working with other folks and starting to do focus groups on my own, you know, just started to do it. This is what I had available to me. So that’s what I did. Now, when I doing my consulting work and talking with lawyers now for several years, I still keep hearing kind of this, not that it’s a roadblock, but that it is the only way.

Right. Oh, we’re going to do a trial. Oh, we’re doing a mock jury. And so that’s really what this episode is about is, hey, we’ve got alternatives here and why would we need alternatives? Well, again, like I said, number one, thinking about mock jury as the only way to do your trial prep really knocks a lot of people out just based on time consumption.

And money, right? The resource. And that’s because, I mean, traditionally a mock jury is where you’re going to run the full case. So that’s one, a lot of time consumption in putting tech together. So a lot of people, they’re going to have. you know, openings, they’re going to have video evidence, sometimes even live people come and play or read the depositions and you’re gonna have closings, you know, jury instructions.

So it really is the full case and then you watch the deliberations. And so there’s a big resource in, you know, location, videographer, your staff, right. And just helping put these things together. Plus being there, not to mention your, your taxing in the sense time tax in that it’s, you know, You’ve got to put together all these things, all the openings, think about it, get, get extra lawyers to come play all these things.

And so ultimately, it is very clunky when it comes to putting it together and it’s like a whole project management. And it’s really hard to get some qualitative information on specific issues that may be concerning you. Because what you end up getting with a mock jury is you watch deliberations and you get that kind of verdict, right?

And there may be like a debrief and sometimes there is where basically after they finish deliberating, which you’re watching and then you have somebody go in and start, hey, let me ask some questions and just try to get information out of them. They really can’t give you a lot of clear information because they’ve been there all day.

They’ve consumed so much new information. They really probably can’t give you specifics. more than they’ve already talked about in deliberation. So you, you kind of lose out on some of those real sticking points that maybe you wanted to know about or pieces of evidence or, or witnesses, right? So you’re really getting very much a high level, what I call yes, no, right.

You’re getting that verdict where, how they came up with that. Yes, you watch deliberations, but I’m sure if you’ve done one of these, you’re You have the same concern I have, which is like one person is going to nominate right or which what I’ve also seen is where instead of actually like. thinking through and putting together something thoughtful.

They just vote and they just divide and do math and they just move on, right? They’re done. So it’s very hard sometimes to figure out what people are really thinking about the issues because they just kind of do an aggregation of their thoughts instead of actually like kind of debating it like you would think the deliberations go.

So. The other thing is too, once you finish these things, usually you’re spent, right? You’re, you’re exhausted. You’ve got to really move on to doing trial things, motions and liminees and answer all those emails and the judge and you really only have time to do one of these. So you don’t even have comparison information after you get this.

Generally you get, you know, kind of a really large report. You’re not gonna be wrong, like there are definitely, you know, votes along the way and other things to kind of look and test along the way, but again, without having a little bit of a, like a stop in discussion, people just lose it, right? They can’t hold all that information in their brain, then regurgitate it later on in deliberations or rather in the discussion debrief.

So, you know, mock jury, it’s great, but it can be really clunky and, and very traditional. So let’s talk about two alternatives. And number one is the short in person focus group. And when I say short, we’re talking two hours, three hours, maybe four hours max. And why I say that is because thinking through four hours, you’re going to have a couple of breaks, but you’re going to try to get people in and out of there without having to do a meal.

And again, that’s just trying to think through expenses. We’re going to have to get a location. We’re going to have to get a videographer. We’re still going to have this a little bit of an expense to get a neutral location and a place with enough bathrooms. All those things, you know, to make sure participants want to show up and they’re not coming to your office and already having a biased thought about, Hmm, I’m in a lawyer’s office.

I wonder if this is their case, right? Of course, they’re going to assume it’s your case. So the other reason why thinking through these short, like, two hour, three hour in person is in person is still going to allow you the opportunity to practice your presentation style, getting on your feet, practicing that tone, that cadence, It’s the movement, right?

How it works with your PowerPoint. A lot of people really love that piece of a mock jury. It gets them. They put the suit on, you get on your feet and you’re looking people in the eye and you’re delivering the information. Super important, right? That really helps you with practice. That’s why I say one alternative is these short in person focus groups.

And with the shorter version, though, you can really Specifically do pieces of the trial, right? So you can really practice jury selection and you can practice an opening statement. Maybe you skip the jury selection and just do an opening statement and some witness videos. But you’re allowing them to really absorb one piece, get the feedback on that piece, and really jump in and understand what’s behind, right, their reactions or their attitudes and following up to get that information right there, what’s on the top of their brain.

And then moving to the next piece, right? So think about a two hour, you want to do what deer for an hour and you, then you want to run an opening statement. Great. Like you’re going to be able to do that in a way where you’re going to be able to then go back. Well, and you’re getting on your feet, you’re practicing, you’re listening, you’re doing all the good things that what do your requires of us.

And then you’re going to do your opening statement and you’re going to have somebody else get up and do that discussion piece, but you’re going to get the feedback. That you need to hear on those specific issues without crowding more information into their brains. On top of that, and again, thinking if you added an hour, do three hours, right?

So adding in a defense opening here. So there’s a lot of flexibility when we look at just focusing on specific pieces of trial to get you ready and to get that immediate feedback. What also allows you to do is to repeat it, right? Maybe you want to redo your opening or you want to change some things based on what you heard and test it again.

Well, you have the ability, cause these again are shorter. They’re going to be a little more cost effective, but they’re still going to give you that in person presentation style that you want to practice. And then you’re again, going to have this extra data to be able to build more of a data set versus just doing one mock jury.

And again, like I said, it’s much less burdensome on the planning, the putting it together, the time and the money resources. Plus, like I said, you’re getting more qualitative information about specifics that you may have concerns about versus overcrowding them with lots of information and just getting that high level, yes or no, what percentage of responsibility.

Now, you’re still going to get answers to those questions. Like even if you didn’t want them to give it to you, that’s generally what they’re going to do anyhow. So you’re going to get that information, But you’re going to get what’s behind it in a much different format versus watching them deliberate, right?

You’re going to have that moderator asking questions, following up, really digging into the responses that you’re getting. Now, the other alternative, which if you’ve been listening to this podcast, you knew it was already coming, which is short virtual focus groups, because I think that these are so helpful in allowing.

Nearly every lawyer going to trial access to jury research because we are conserving even more money and time by doing these things virtually, there’s no travel, no location fees, no videographers, Right. And everybody just tunes in on their computer. You run everything, share the screen. And again, we’re talking about the same kind of targeted presentations, jury selection, opening statements, Witness videos, it’s the same materials, the materials aren’t really going to change, you’re going to dial them back, right?

If you’re just going to do a one hour focus group, you’ve got to pick your pony. Which one are you going to do? Are you going to practice? And are you going to really then focus in on the target issue or the big worry that you have? Maybe it’s liability, so it’s going to be an opening statement based on liability.

Maybe it’s damages. But you’re really still doing trial prep because you’re taking all the information in, you’re organizing it, and you’re going to put some advocacy in it. You’re going to put it in a sequence. You’re going to try to be persuasive with the information, just like you would in a mock jury, right?

So we’re not losing out on that trial prep aspect, just by having it being one or two hours and on virtual. And again, We’re going to do the same kind of moderating. We’re going to get that instant feedback, that simple feedback, that discussion to help you learn more about your opening statement, your concern areas.

And then you can easily repeat it, make those changes, come back, do a longer one. You’re going to get a comparison of data based on, you know, being able to run these virtuals more often than doing in person. And Again, because of the flexibility of these short focus groups, you can start doing them, right, much earlier than 30 days before trial.

And you would want to do that because then you’re going to get more information and be able to integrate things and be, be much more ready for trial if it does happen. If you start a little further out and that’s kind of where these.

And again, even the better part here is you can do these things on your own. I will put a link to the show notes for our focus group, DIY episodes. So that you can do these without needing a consultant, right? Sometimes they make our lives easier, but sometimes we can’t afford them. That’s totally fine.

Listen, I didn’t ever hire a consultant when I did my own focus groups. I took the CLEs or took the classes. I went to the seminars to learn how to do these things so that I could do them on my own and I know that you are the same way. I know that you are the same way. That’s why you’re here, right? You want to learn the skills and do it on your own and that’s totally respectable.

We all have businesses that we need to run. We got to be very cost conscious in what we’re doing for our clients. And again, if you’re a personal injury, you’ve got a big risk here and you want to make sure that. You’re taking the right risks and that’s where focus groups help you make those decisions.

So two main examples I want to talk about here before we conclude this episode. Number one is attorney Ryan Squires. He did an episode with me, 35. It’ll be linked in the show notes where he talked about. His big verdict that he got, but what he did to prepare at the time it was in 2021 and so we just, all we had were virtual focus groups at the time that the trial was also going to be virtual.

So they did three virtual focus groups and in every focus group, they did opening statements. That’s all they did. And they were months out from trial, but what he explains in my interview is he had so much confidence. and felt so prepared because that opening was steel tight. I mean, they had dialed in their visuals, their PowerPoint based on what people were saying and being able to convey that in such a clear, simple way.

And they had a complicated case. It was a 20 year history between family members with hundreds and hundreds of emails about moving money and fiduciaries and investing. And so it was easy to get complicated and bogged down and overwhelm the jury with too many facts. And I think that’s why they came and they said, we’ve done it.

This is all we want to do. We just want to do opening statements. We want to get this dialed in and surefire. It was very well dialed in, you know, other things happened at trial, but they ended up getting a 40 million verdict in that particular case. The other example that I have is a lawyer that I work with.

In California, his name is Peter Levine, and he likes to build the focus groups. And again, they’re always still for trial prep, though, you know, we’re not, you know, things aren’t going to get started churning doing focus groups very seriously until we’re, you know, four or five months out. And then he’s kind of building, doing these one hour, two hours, three hours, and building on the information as we get it and continuing to test everything until, you know, we’re Again, we’re coming down to the last two or three and doing opening statements to make sure.

Right? We’ve gathered the information. We’ve listened to what the focus groups have said before, but also right, giving it back to make sure and test everything and, you know, having good success doing that as well, that the couple of times that we have worked together the past five years, mostly we’re med mals, but also all kinds of other cases as well that basically really end up turning up where the, they settled in the middle of trial or set it right before trial, but giving them the confidence to know what jurors were thinking.

So they can make that decision about settlement. So here’s the bottom line. You are not stuck with mock juries. Okay. It is not the only way to do trial preparation. And again, that thought that, uh, mock jury. Okay. But it’s so expensive. Like that forces so many lawyers out of just not doing them all together.

Right. Oh, this case isn’t worth it. Right. Now that’s an easy way to say, like, I’m not doing any jury research. I’m just guessing. So. Again, let’s go back. We’ve got two alternatives here. We’ve got our short in person focus groups and we’ve got our virtual focus groups. Because here’s what you need. You’re coming down to the wire.

You’ve had this case, you know all the facts, and it’s coming to the time of trial. We’ve got to make a lot of hard decisions about evidence and order of proof and final settlement offers. And what you really need is digestible feedback in short bursts, efficient with your time and your money that’s effective on the issues that are keeping you up and worrying you the most.

And it’s repeatable. Right? You can go back and repeat it and test it to really gain confidence and assurance that your case, when you give it over to the jury, is going to be the winning case. And that’s what we need, right? We have to give it over. Jurors are the ones that make decisions. So don’t walk in blind, right?

You’re not left out in the cold here if you don’t have money for a mock jury or a large data survey or, you know, one of the other large jury research products that are running around there. So I hope that this episode was helpful. I hope that you, you know, look at some alternatives and again, cool thing about virtual and even in person, you can set those up as well on your own.

The shorter versions make it easier and digestible for you and your staff to be able to put them together. So. I hope that you enjoyed this episode. If you did, I’m going to ask you to join the trial lawyer prep newsletter using the website that is listed in the show notes, www. laricklawfirm. com slash connect.

I send out an email just once a month, trial tips, strategies, extra resources. It’s really more of an in depth place where I put my thoughts on the same topics that we discuss here in the podcast. Okay, until next time, thank you so much. Oops, I meant to mention before we close out this episode right now in this month, I am doing a special offer to my email list.

For the on demand DIY virtual focus groups for beginners. However, I’m only giving it to the email list. So be sure and go to that website to fill out the form and get yourself on the email list for the emails that are going out this month. And you’ll get the added bonus for being on the email list. www.larricklawfirm. com/connect.

In this podcast episode, host Elizabeth Larrick provides guidance for individuals new to virtual jury research, focusing on starting with opening statement focus groups. Drawing on her experience working with lawyers and conducting virtual focus groups, Elizabeth explains how running a 20-30 minute opening statement session can simplify trial preparation and produce valuable feedback. She highlights the benefits of using virtual focus groups to understand case themes, address specific legal challenges, and improve trial outcomes, citing a $44 million verdict and a $22 million verdict as examples. Elizabeth encourages listeners to join her email list to access an upcoming on-demand course for virtual focus groups.

00:00 Introduction to Virtual Jury Research

01:44 Defining Virtual Jury Research

03:03 Starting with the Opening Statement

04:36 Benefits of Using Opening Statements

06:40 Gathering Feedback and Adjusting

09:53 Real-World Success Stories

12:38 Conclusion and Next Steps

Follow and Review:

We’d love for you to follow us if you haven’t yet. Click that purple ‘+’ in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

<script async data-uid="eff8a1cabc" src="https://elizabethlarrick.ck.page/eff8a1cabc/index.js"></script>

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know I sent you.

Episode Transcript

Hello, and welcome back to the podcast. I’m your host, Elizabeth Larrick, and I’m glad you’re joining me today. This episode is going to be for folks who are new to doing virtual jury research, or maybe you’ve tried it out once or twice and you’re kind of unsure of what would be the next step in growing your virtual jury research knowledge.

And so today’s episode is about the easiest place to start if you’re new to virtual jury research. And I wanted to provide this episode because working with lawyers, running my own virtual jury research, I have found sometimes the biggest hurdle is knowing where I can start that’s easy and simple. And so in watching folks do focus groups and helping people run focus groups and mock juries, The easiest place we can start is a place that we know, which is the opening statement.

And I want to take just a quick moment here to clarify, what do I mean when I say virtual jury research? And There are so many options available now online and what I am talking about is when you put together a kind of small group of 8 to 10 to 12 individuals to come together on Zoom or whatever online platform you are using for a few hours.

Maybe it’s 1, 2, 3 hours, maybe it’s even 4 hours. And you’re going to moderate that group yourself, or maybe have somebody else moderate it in your office. And you’re going to really ask questions and get what I would consider qualitative, right? A lot more understanding what’s in their brains about their responses versus what could be compared to data surveys, where there’s going to be hundreds of folks who look at the evidence.

Maybe they listen to something and then they give feedback and you end up getting kind of a large data report. So this is the virtual jury research, which I normally talk about as focus groups, where again, we’re taking a smaller group of people and we’re really talking to them about their thoughts and kind of watching them discuss and deliberate in front of us with guidance through moderation.

And I believe that the solution to getting started if you’ve not done a virtual focus group is to run an opening statement. of 20 to 30 minutes. And again, let me just make sure that we’re coming in on the right and thing, which is most of the time when we come to a virtual focus group or coming to virtual jury research, we are stuck.

We’re having a problem in the case. Maybe we’ve got some challenging liability. We’ve got a, he said, she said, and The opposing counsel is being very obstinate about their point of view and their facts, right? So there’s kind of an impasse. Maybe there’s hard to value damages where it’s a unique set of damages, or maybe there’s some pre existing that makes it a little challenging for causation.

And of course, sometimes we have the other bucket that we hear sometimes about witness credibility and, you know, how is this. Person going to come off to a jury. And so why I believe that an opening statement helps you do this would be that you would create an opening statement that’s around this particular problem, right?

So it’s 20 to 30 minutes. We’re not going to run the whole enchilada here. We’re just going to do maybe the one taco plane. Okay. And that just means we’re going to tackle one issue. Maybe it’s just liability. And this is a very familiar. Virtual focus group that we run and I suggest to people who are new to coming to my focus groups and they’re going to do, you know, their own material.

And the number one reason why is we know how to do this, right? We’re lawyers. We’ve been talking about opening statements. Even if you’ve never done a trial, which is not unusual, by the way, you’re not alone in that camp. Like there’s a lot of talk. There are a lot of books. There’s a lot of guidance.

There’s a lot of examples that you can find. And so this is something that it’s not Something we have to go create that may be difficult for us. For example, when a lawyer tries to put together a neutral narrative, it can be challenging because we are invested. We feel very strongly about our side of the case, so being neutral and creating this neutral narrative can be difficult.

Also other things like cutting deposition clips and just creating a presentation that way, or even visuals, timelines, things that are not necessarily directly in our wheelhouse as lawyers, litigating lawyers. And so that’s why start where we know, which is writing an opening statement. And the other main reason why this is an easy place to start is because we have to do this really no matter what.

we are or where we are for trial preparation, we’re going to have to do an opening statement. And this step of sitting down and making yourself do a 20 to 30 minute opening statement on something very specific. Like I said, liability. Maybe it’s causation really makes you organize your thoughts, put it down, pen to paper.

We talk about that a lot, how important it is to, even at the first pass to write it out because it really gets things on the paper, out of your brain. And then you can really look at cutting things out. Remember 20, 30 minutes really makes us regulate how much information we can give, but also you’re going to put things in your case themes.

You’re going to organize that evidence in the way that you feel strongest about it, which is a great task to do. But also again, that then leads us to our third reason to do an opening statement as your place to start with a virtual focus group. Because it is so easy to understand the feedback, right?

You’re going to get uncomplicated, straightforward feedback about your case, your problem, and your award winning statement. Your case themes, like your evidence, if you think that’s the strongest, right? And so you’re really able to make this process easy on yourself by using the chat, right? So when we run an opening statement virtual focus group, the first 20 to 30 minutes of Is the opening statement and then the group answers very simple questions, like yes, no questions in the chat.

And then you begin the discussion where you just have a very open question. What do you think? And you get everybody’s feedback. And then of course the ponies are out of the gate at this point, right? And they’re all influencing self and it’s easy then to continue to ask questions though about what was confusing.

We heard a piece about how this person said it was a red light, but the other person said it was a green light. What do you all think? Or we heard that the main person who was injured was a passenger and they weren’t paying attention to what was right. Is that a problem? Okay, so there’s lots of easy ways to ask direct questions about your problems and get that feedback.

And of course, you know, the main question that we normally always have as lawyers is what am I missing? Where are the blind spots and what facts do you want to hear or know about that would help you make a decision? And so again, really simple set up one. We know, right? We write opening statements. We’re already organizing things in our brain about where we think the strongest themes are strongest claims and our evidence.

And then this just makes us put pen to paper and really organize it and again make the cut here. We’re going to have lots of information more than that fits in 30 minutes. Making you sit down and squeeze it into that 20 30 minutes really makes you analyze what is the best. and how to sequence it. And then of course, we want to start in a easy place that we can understand what feedback we’re getting.

It’s uncomplicated. Okay. And that’s why I love suggesting that lawyers who are new or lawyers who have maybe tried virtual focus groups and they want to take it to the next step, or they’re not really unsure what would be the next focus group to do an opening statement focus group, virtual focus group.

Um, is an excellent place to get started and feel successful. And that’s the thing too, is doing an opening statement leans into where we naturally are in a case. It leans into our advocacy. It’s okay to be an advocate in this situation. And of course, the flip on that is just make sure that a different person is asking questions, right?

Especially You know, it’s very hard to kind of flip faces in a focus group where you’re being a total advocate and then you flip to try to be neutral and ask questions. Just have somebody else come in and ask the questions. And again, you could write the questions out for your staff to basically just ask the questions and nothing else.

And still you’d be able to get that easy feedback. Understand, you know, did my theme hit or did not hit? Was this the best evidence or do they want to see something else? And, you know, the two main examples that I have are, you know, in the very beginning of the pandemic had a case here in Austin that was going to be one of the first virtual and so got together and really looked at, you know, How can we make this complicated case about a fiduciary duty simple?

And so they were very streamlined. The lawyers wanted to do just opening statements and we did three virtual focus groups just with opening statements. And by the time the case got to trial, they were actually able to do in person. However, they felt really strongly, very comfortable, very confident that their opening statement was basically going to nail the case down clearly.

Quickly and simply, and there’s no way that the defense would ever be able to come back. I think that’s absolutely true. They end up getting a 44 million dollar verdict in that case. And additionally, recently, and this will be upcoming on the podcast soon, my guest spot with Michelle Gessner talking about her case against Wells Fargo, where she again used virtual focus groups.

And using her opening statement, many, you know, over and over again, at least I think four or five times. Again, just tweaking it. And again, that’s another follow up with an easy, the next easiest one to do is to tweak that opening and come back, but her redoing her opening statement, uh, many times, and she talks about this in our episode together about how it really helped her one, understand her fame and her evidence, but allowed her to pivot.

Because she had done it so many times, she knew where the jury was, but she was able to pivot if she’d gotten objections, which of course she did in her opening statement. Uh, but that case turned out in a 22 million verdict. So, you know, the proof is in the pudding. This is the easiest one, but that doesn’t mean that you’re not going to get the best outcomes.

You are going to get simple, understandable feedback here. So, Here is the theme, which is it doesn’t have to be complicated. We tend to overcomplicate things as lawyers, but I really, you know, the strive in this focus group to make. I strive in this podcast to make it easy and simple to encourage you to start using virtual focus groups.

You think about this as jury research to help you make decisions in your case, get the feedback that’s clear and understandable to really help and ease your trial preparation burden earlier than that 30 day mark before and get some significant help so you can sleep better at night. Right. And that’s where this opening statement focus group comes in to really get your brain to organize everything, put it on paper, and then be able to feel confident in moving forward.

So I hope that this easy place to start our opening statement virtual focus groups will help you get started if you haven’t, or give you an idea for your next virtual focus group in a case that may be stumping you. All right. Thank you again so much for tuning in. I want to encourage everybody who is listening to join the email list.

The link will be in the show notes and specifically because right now I am going to be launching my on demand course for do it yourself virtual focus group, but I’m only launching it to my email list. And because I love my email list and my loyal I’m Folks over there, there’s going to be a bonus that is just going to be exclusive to the email list.

So check the show notes. It is www. larricklawfirm. com slash connect. If you are not able to check those show notes, get signed up and then you will learn very shortly about what is happening with that on demand course. All right. Thank you so much.