Construction Law Today : Construction Lawyer & Attorney : Joshua Glazov of DLA Piper Law Firm : Design Build Contracts, Construction Bankruptcy

• Watching the trial craftsmanship of the lawyers as they questioned witnesses and argued their conclusions to us
• Observing the judge rule on evidentiary objections and in-trial motions, and the lawyers' and litigants' reactions to the judge's rulings
• Observing how my 11 fellow jurors reacted to witnesses, documents, arguments and jury instructions.  And as we deliberated. listening to each juror explain their what their reactions were and why they reacted as they did. It's remarkable how much our jury deliberations resembled a settlement conference or mediation.  First we factionalized, then we polarized, and in the end we compromised to reach our verdicts
  

• We didn't believe witnesses who repeatedly:

•  Answered questions with "I don't recall" or "I don't know", or
  
• Qualified answers with things like ".....I believe," ".....as far as I know," or ".....to the best of my knowledge."

Their credibility really eroded when they gave these kinds of responses to questions about important events that a reasonable person would definitely remember.  Some of the evasions were so incredibly absurd that I expected the next Q&A to go like this:

Q: Where you were when you first heard an airplane crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11?

A: I don't recall.

None of us believed witnesses who testified like this.  Some jurors even mocked them.

• Stipulate to more.  There was a lot of repetitive and foundational questions that the opposing side didn't oppose.  Pre-trial stipulations could have spared us a lot and we would have appreciated it
  
• Don't try to ingratiate yourself jurors or witness with inauthentic gestures of gratitude.  Maybe thank us once for enduring the inconvenience and disruption of jury service.  But don't keep coming back to it.
• Don't try to portray yourself as being just like us, or as being more simple than you are by feigning ignorance of something while asking a witness to explain it for you.  We all saw right through that kind of stuff.  And we found it patronizing
• Don't get up before questioning a witness and say "just a few questions" or "I'll be brief."  You hardly ever deliver, especially if you get an answer that suggests follow-up questions.  If you're really going to ask just a few questions, or your questioning is really going to be brief, don't tell us!!  Just get up and ask your 3 questions, briefly!
  
• When you publish a document as evidence to the jury, have a copy for each of us.  We liked that. It helped us follow the questioning
• The lawyers provided each juror with a 3-ring binder that included copies of all of the jury instructions and verdicts forms. This helped us immeasurably during deliberations.  If we had to pass one set of instructions around so each juror could re-read one, it would have taken much longer to reach a verdict and our focus would have drifted towards indulging our weariness of jury service instead on on the evidence, the arguments, and the judge's instructions 
  
• The judge let me arrange for catering the jurors' lunch during deliberations.  We were confined in overcrowded and overheated room.  But the savory meals buoyed spirits and brought the focus back on the evidence, arguments, and instructions instead of on lamenting the conditions of our confinement and the quality of our mid-day repast.  The others didn't know I arranged for this until after we returned our verdicts.  I urge lawyers to consider doing this by splitting the cost among the parties
• Let the jurors arrive late and leave early: 
  
• If you know that the next you'll need to discuss things outside the presence of the jury, ask the judge to instruct the arrive later than usual, after you, opposing counsel, and the judge finish.  There's few things that irritate jurors more than being holed-up in the jury room while the judge hears you argue over whether some testimony is admissible proffer testimony from an excluded witness to prepare a record for appeal.  Jurors will appreciate your sparing them more confinement.  Few prefer being squashed around a conference table and jury room coffee to a cappuccino at Starbucks
  
• If you're at a good stopping point in the mid to late afternoon - a witness finishes testifying and the next one will go over into the next day - ask the judge to adjourn early.  Not only does this give you extra time to prepare for the next day, it lets the jurors play hooky too.  Jurors like playing hooky.  What's better than having a leisurely cup of coffee or shopping while your boss thinks you're at hearing another afternoon of testimony?  When this happened to us one afternoon, 11 of the 12 jurors arrived in a cheerful mood the next morning sharing what a good time they had "downtown" on their time off.  I was the odd juror out.  I came back here to my office and worked
• Of course this works best if you are the one who, in open court with the jury present, respectfully asks the judge to excuse the jury for the day and you have a legitimate reason for asking