History sometimes provides us with useful lessons for present-day concerns – even if seemingly unrelated to trial techniques. One of my personal favorites is the story of how a potential Broadway flop, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, went from the media comparing the show to the Titanic, i.e., a massive failure, to a $160 million Broadway blockbuster in a few short months. This is due to the producers’ willingness to take drastic measures to turn their incipient flop into a fabulous success.
Among those measures were—you guessed it—focus groups. The producers realized that audience members were leaving the preview performances confused, so they conducted focus groups investigating specific aspects of the show. Production stopped--a radical move--to implement changes based on focus group feedback.
It worked.
Your cases deserve no less. A focus group is a relatively low-cost pre-trial strategy to give you the winning edge. There is nothing that can replace vigorous discussion of your case’s strengths and weaknesses among a group of people rigorously selected to match your jury pool.
Unlike Broadway, you can also receive (if the focus group is conducted with this purpose in mind) juror profiles as to “best” and “worst” likely jurors, assessed from the responses of the focus group members.
Yes, it
takes effort and the courage to withstand open criticism from a group of
strangers. Yet, given that these strangers are willing to give you the feedback
that can put your case in an advantageous posture, it’s well worth it, even
when you don’t think your case resembles the Titanic.
