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Interactive Themes Development is designed to assist counsel in the development of case themes in the early stages of the trial process. The advantage of knowing your themes early, in advance of the close of discovery can be a substantial factor in focusing counsel on what will really matter to jurors during their deliberations.
Jurors recruited for Interactive Themes Development will fill out a voir dire like questionnaire prepared by LGA Litigation Strategists that can form the beginning of a database that we will add to with each exercise. The jurors will then hear a 15 minute taped overview of the case, prepared by the trial team and presented by one person in a news story format.
After they listen to the overview, an LGA consultant will engage the group in a free form discussion of the issues in order to learn what emerges from the group with little or no prompting. These responses are very important because they define the underlying psychological response to the case that we need to learn about. Understanding the underlying psychological response to the case puts us in a position to either avoid the pitfalls jurors' natural reactions to the facts and issues in the case create, or where possible to take advantage of the perceptions.
After our consultants have learned jurors’ unadulterated perception of the case, various case themes and arguments are presented to the groups and evaluated for consistency and reliability of response.
After the discussions, jurors will fill out brief questionnaires designed to assess their reactions to the issues presented. Counsel will be able to view the sessions through one way mirrors and the sessions will be videotaped for later analysis.