Sometimes this is how it can feel to suit up for voir dire.
So much time and effort and expense is spent pre-trial on focus group research, experts, witness prep, trial notebooks, opening statements, and the rest that when it comes to actually facing the prospective jurors it can feel like a battle zone for a Super Hero.
Without denying all the aspects of trial as battle, I suggest considering dropping the storyline. What storyline? Jurors as enemies, not allies.
We make of life what we see. As the saying goes, "We see things not as they are, but as we are." [Anais Nin] As the story goes when a child asks his grandfather which of the two beasts fighting inside him would win? He is told that the one he feeds is the one that wins.
What if we were to begin with the belief that people are fundamentally compassionate, sane and decent - while acknowledging that some can also behave as neurotic, psychotic, and ego-centrist nut cases.
It is almost heretical to suggest: Seek out the first set; invite them to serve with you as your allies; arm them with the cape; fortify them to fight the internal battle against the one or two in their midst who are inclined to be enemies; and, lead them with all with the necessary tools to do good work together as fundamentally compassionate, sane and decent people.
They, in turn, will become your wind machine.
Recent Comments