Jury Communication Is Important
Michael Babboni
Personal Injury
When it comes to criminal court cases, many of us, thanks to films and television, are familiar with the idea that it is the right of a person that is undergoing trial to have that judgment rendered by a jury of peers. In the simplest terms, this means that no person should have their fate decided by a single authority, like a king, but, instead, in the interests of fairness, have the merits of their case and argument decided by average, everyday people.However, while most people understand that a jury is necessary for criminal trials, you may be surprised to learn that a jury is present at civil trials as well, such as a personal injury lawsuit that is brought against a negligent person or company. So what happens in these instances?
Arguments Make All The Difference
As with a criminal trial, in a civil lawsuit, both the plaintiff’s lawyer and the defense lawyer will be making their arguments directly to the jury. On the weight of those arguments and the evidence that is presented, the jury will then go behind closed doors, discuss the case amongst themselves, and eventually come back with a decision either in favor of, or against the plaintiff. In other words, here, the goal is reversed from a criminal trial; they do not determine whether a defendant is guilty or innocent, but whether a plaintiff deserves to be award the money in a lawsuit or not.
The key, then, to winning any personal injury lawsuit involving a jury is to actually convince the jury that your arguments are the correct ones. This means that a good personal injury lawyer, just a like a good criminal lawyer, has not just the investigative skill, but the eloquence and persuasiveness to provide a compelling argument that makes sense to the jury when they go off and make their deliberation.
This is one of the reasons why it’s important to have a personal injury lawyer handle your lawsuit rather than attempting to do so yourself. Few people are required to have professional experience in convincing and arguing a concept, but a lawyer is still one of the professions where this is the case.
More importantly, however, an established personal injury lawyer will not just be an effective communicator but have the connections required to bring expert testimony, to have respected voices of authority such as doctors explain the nature of the injury, or use modern technologies like computer rendered animated diagrams and other illustrations to better communicate important aspects of the case to the jury in a clear, easy, understandable way, so they have an accurate grasp of the scope of the argument.
Professional Arguments Get Professional Results
When you get a good personal injury lawyer with many years of trial experience, you’re not just getting someone on your side that understands law, although that’s important. You’re getting the benefit of a lot of experience taking complex ideas about pain, injury and suffering, and finding a way to communicate that clearly and easily to a group of average people in a way that they can understand.
And that can often mean the difference between losing out on financial compensation or getting the justice that you deserve.