Bookings

• • •

Over the past few years, I have reviewed the following books: “Trial Consulting” (2006), “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury” (2006), “Blues' Guide To Jury Selection” (2005), “The Hidden Jury” (2004), “Courtroom Psychology” (2003), and “Determining Damages” (2003).

For the most part, my reviews of these books have been positive. However, a new book titled “Scientific Jury Selection,” published this year by the American Psychological Association, does not fare as well.

This book misses the opportunity to add to the burgeoning field of jury selection. It lacks an overall stated purpose and does not seem to fit neatly with any target market.

What is particularly disappointing is that the second author, Bruce Sales (Ph.D., J.D.) is a pioneer in the field and is well-respected within the trial consulting community.

He has vast experience as both author and researcher and an otherwise excellent pedigree. His credentials can be viewed at http://fp.arizona.edu/soc/docs/salesvitae.pdf.

A Google search on the lead author, Joel Lieberman (Ph.D.), however, reveals little in terms of his background or qualifications to be lead author.

A review of the references relied on in the text shows that many of the sources are not current, another aspect of this book that fell short.

For example, I randomly selected 50 references and found only three (six percent) referencing articles or books newer than the year 2000. It is hard to see how a book on “scientific jury selection” can adequately cover the topic by relying on basic and over-referenced research.

This book offers very little in the way of new or creative thinking. In 260-pages, it gives only the obligatory chapter titles, and here again does not show any creativity or novelty. It offers little information a trial attorney can apply to increase his or her effectiveness in voir dire.

As everyone knows, there is both a science and an art to jury selection. Yet this book avoids discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each.

The argument as to just how much jury selection is scientific remains to be seen, as the authors do not help resolve this question. Perhaps the biggest failure is not to recognize that there is an art behind the persons most adroit at selecting favorable jurors.

There are some redeeming qualities to the book if you are patient enough to seek them out. I was particularly interested in two minor topics.

First, there is a brief introduction to handwriting analysis and how the attorney can incorporate this into his or her jury selection strategy.

Second, the authors briefly introduce a systematic scoring system that can be used to objectify juror behaviors. Essentially, this scoring system is a behaviorally-based protocol developed by Dr. Sales in 1978.

This is an interesting and much-needed innovation, but remains underutilized by lawyers. The authors fail to elaborate on how a trial attorney would use this jury selection strategy in the courtroom.

Other than these two topics, I found the book somewhat uneventful and pedestrian.

Jury consulting has become a big business over the past three decades. A few of the larger firms now rake in several hundred million dollars a year.

Many of them tout “scientific jury selection” services utilizing venue studies, pretrial questionnaires, demographics, statistics, and other miscellaneous social/behavioral psychology techniques to call potential jurors and engineer the perfect panel.

Despite all the money and research poured into predicting and shaping jury decisions, all we can say is that affective jury selection involves both a scientific and artistic component.

The bottom line is that the real-world success rates attributed to scientific jury selection are difficult to measure.

The book jacket shows a sparse courtroom with 12 empty juror chairs. After reading the book, I am left feeling as empty as those chairs.

Save the $79.95 you might have spent on this book and invest it in more current and helpful literature to understand “scientific jury selection” and how to pick winning juries.

• • •

Steven J. Harper, a litigation partner in Kirkland & Ellis, Chicago, has written a book that details the struggle of his father against teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa from 1959 to 1961.

An over-the-road trucker from Minnesota, Jim Harper led an effort to clean up corruption in his teamster local that resulted in sabotage to his vehicle, betrayal by friends, and death threats from enemies.

“Crossing Hoffa: A Teamster's Story” is scheduled for publication on June 15 by the Minnesota Historical Society Press/Borealis Books. For information, visit www.stevenjharper.com.

• • •

Evansville attorney Erin Renee Zweigart, formerly on the Illinois Senate Republican staff, has written “Identity Crisis,” a novel in which a woman tries to sell her identity on eBay when she is unable to get an appropriate job.

The book is loosely based on Zweigart's experiences after receiving a law degree from Western State University in California and challenging incumbent Congressman Jerry Costello in the 2004 election.

Admitted to the Illinois bar in 2003, she now works at Hickey College in St. Louis and can be contacted at erin-zweigart@ yahoo.com