Vicissitudes of Jury Trials

Since Tuesday, I've been focusing all my work and energy on a single case. Today we finished picking a jury and I put forward my case in chief. I promised the jury a quick case, and I delivered. Now, if we hang around for a long time, it's the defendant's fault and not mine.

So far I'm feeling confident, although of course anything can happen. Tomorrow will be the bulk of the defendant's case, my cross-examination of the defendant, and my rebuttal case. Hopefully, we can close tomorrow, too. I've got some research to do tonight yet and another revision to my special verdict form and jury instructions.

The thing of it is, you can never know how it's going in the middle of it. There are some things that can feel good -- I think I drew a really good jury, for instance -- you never really know. My clients did great on the witness stand, I thought. I wonder whether my adversary thinks so, too. Certainly the jury is hungry to hear both sides of the case, and they haven't heard much from the defense yet. You generally don't have a trial unless both sides are convinced they're going to win and I've no way of knowing just how compelling the evidence is going to be.

So I can't really know until the verdict is in and I talk to the jurors who are willing to talk to me. In the meantime, I should quit procrastinating, turn off the tournament, and get back to work. Jury trials are all-consuming and while I've had some great support from my firm, the fact is that ultimately there are some things -- a lot of things -- that only the lead attorney can do, and that's me this time around.

It's a lot of work. But I'm having fun. We'll see if I still think it's fun after the verdict.