Picking Justice

A juror who says they won't award money for pain and suffering only becomes a cause challenge if that answer holds up when the judge or defense tries to rehabilitate them. Steve Vartazarian , founder of The Vartazarian Law Firm , shares with hosts Harry Plotkin and Dan Kramer the simple questions he uses to lock those jurors in, and why he stops short of pushing them too far. He also explains why...

Some of the toughest jurors aren't the ones to strike; they're the ones to win over. Joe Fried , an Atlanta trial lawyer with Fried Goldberg who has tried cases in 43 states, builds his approach around what jurors share rather than what divides them. He joins hosts Harry Plotkin and Dan Kramer to unpack what turns skepticism into trust: modeling "shockingly vulnerable" honesty, framing a case arou...

Most jurors haven't decided how they feel about giving millions for pain and suffering until the trial's nearly over — so how do you spot the ones who never will? In this deep dive, hosts Harry Plotkin and Dan Kramer unpack the "Health Is Wealth" question sequence Harry uses to surface which jurors value non-economic damages. They dig into the counterintuitive power of telling jurors the money isn...

Federal court voir dire is often "judicial speed dating" — sometimes just 25 minutes to question 55 strangers. Brett Schreiber of Singleton Schreiber pulled it off before landing a landmark verdict against Tesla, and he joins hosts Harry Plotkin and Dan Kramer to unpack how he picks juries under brutal time pressure. Brett shares his "two cups and a pitcher of blame" framing for shared-responsibil...

Most trial lawyers walk into voir dire with a script and a checklist. Throw both out, says Mel Orchard of the Spence Law Firm in Wyoming, a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates. He opens instead by asking jurors whether anything affected them on the way in that morning — then stays silent for a long time. Talking with hosts Harry Plotkin and Dan Kramer, Mel explains why preconditioning doesn't...

Imagine trying a case with clear liability and catastrophic damages, with each day of evidence going your way — and still walking away with a defense verdict. That 2018 loss shaped Nevada trial lawyer Kimball Jones ' voir dire philosophy and the verdict run that's followed: at least 12 seven-figure verdicts plus multiple eight- and nine-figure results since 2019. Kimball joins hosts Harry Plotkin...

The way employment litigator Bernard Alexander sees it, the beauty of these cases is that most jurors are employees. At voir dire, the plaintiff’s lawyer’s job is to get jurors to slip into their client’s shoes. In this conversation with hosts Harry Plotkin and Dan Kramer , Bernard describes how he does that. His experience includes winning $136 million against Tesla in what was the largest single...

Some corporations may be “evil.” Others may be “heroes.” Good or bad, they’re made up of people. “Just saying ‘it's a company’ isn't enough. What company? What does the company do? And who are the people in the company?,” says Jennifer Keller , speaking from her experience going up against and representing companies. She recommends finding out what kind of company you’re representing – like the up...

David deRubertis, one of California's preeminent employment trial lawyers, once had a streak of consecutive trials resulting in eight-figure verdicts. And yet he hates jury selection. How did he move past that? By embracing what comes naturally to him and how his mind works. In this conversation with hosts Harry Plotkin and Dan Kramer , David describes how he’s leveraged that lesson to persuade ju...

What a difference a month makes. Trial consultant Samantha Teal had not worked on a $14 million sexual assault verdict, $1 million employment verdict, $10 million employment pregnancy discrimination verdict, and $307 million verdict in a prisoner neglect case when this episode was recorded. A month later, hosts Harry Plotkin and Dan Kramer play their conversation. With experience consulting on nea...

Daniel Rodriguez is the child of migrant farm workers who settled in California’s agricultural heartland, where his law practice is based. So it makes sense that the metaphor he uses for his voir dire technique is “seeding.” With $122 million and $116 million verdicts under his belt, Daniel explains this and other strategies to hosts Harry Plotkin and Dan Kramer . Tune in for his insights about wh...

Dirk Vandever asks jurors to say it themselves: "I'm just as rich as Jeff Bezos." It's how he gets conservative jurors to see that a low-income client's quality of life is worth just as much as anyone else's. A Kansas City trial lawyer with phenomenal verdicts in challenging venues, Dirk joins hosts Harry Plotkin and Dan Kramer to share what drives his success. Tune in for his secrets to framing e...

“How many of you care if the Amazon guy that delivers your package struts up like a pretty peacock?” asks Keith Mitnik . “All you care about is what's inside the package.” Pretend you’re the Amazon guy, and jurors are expecting the package. Keith, the author of “Don’t Eat the Bruises,” the definitive book on jury selection, tells you how to deliver in this episode. Visiting with hosts Harry Plotki...

If the juror’s laughing at your dumb jokes but their answers scream “danger zone!” – don’t bask in the laughter. Watch out for the danger. With 200 jury trials on his resume, trial lawyer Keith Bruno breaks down the critical difference between being seduced by good vibes and focusing on your job: picking the best jurors. With hosts Harry Plotkin and Dan Kramer , he recalls an incident when he call...

When he stands up at voir dire, Jude Basile has two goals: to empower the jury and get them involved in the case. With results that include a $150 million wrongful death verdict, Jude reveals how he achieves both goals in this conversation with hosts Harry Plotkin and Dan Kramer . If this has ever happened to you – a juror asks if you’re “in it for the money” or a juror discloses a sensitive exper...

A woman browses in a knick-knack store that has a sign: “You Break It – You Buy It.” Sure enough, she accidentally breaks a figurine – and it has a $78 price tag! The woman protests: “That wasn't worth $78! And your shelf sticks out too much!" Christian Morris presented that scenario to jurors in a case where her client was injured in a low-property damage incident. Tune in to hear what Christian...

Everybody loves an underdog story - so why do lawyers often tell the opposite in the courtroom? Juilliard-trained actor and jury trial consultant Jesse Wilson developed a “victim-to-victor” approach that capitalizes on the universal appeal of “I can” instead of “I can’t.” In this conversation with hosts Dan Kramer and Harry Plotkin , Jesse explains that jurors respond more powerfully when they see...

"Voir dire is the scariest thing to do for a lawyer," Dan Kramer says as he reflects on the first year of “Picking Justice” with co-host Harry Plotkin . This special episode celebrates a year of exceptional guests: Ibiere Seck , Ricardo Echeverria , Steve Vartazarian , Gary Dordick , Claire Plotkin , Arash Homampou , Joe Fried , Bob Simon , Lourdes DeArmas , Khail Parris , David Ball , Randi McGin...

After completing nine trials earlier this year, Mike Alder describes lessons learned about jury selection with hosts Harry Plotkin and Dan Kramer . Tune in for his insights about how being practiced makes you conversational rather than aggressive, why he starts with easy questions before diving into hot-button issues, and how asking "I need your help" invites jurors to participate authentically in...

“You've gotten just tons of jurors off for cause, but you do it in the most polite way,” host Harry Plotkin says of longtime friend Rahul Ravipudi , who stops by “Picking Justice” to share his philosophy of voir dire that has helped him secure eight- and nine-figure verdicts. As Rahul explains to Harry and co-host Dan Kramer , his core philosophy is to stick with one voir dire approach. His is ide...

Picture your voir dire happening in a private room where it’s just you and the potential juror. It’s called “individual sequestered voir dire,” it’s guaranteed in Connecticut’s constitution, and it’s an approach that Kathleen Nastri has mastered – as evidenced by her $58 million med-mal verdict, a state record. It can be exhausting, she admits. It can be like speed dating. But it reflects the impo...

“It is shocking how many times lawyers undervalue their cases,” says Sean Claggett , a pioneer in the use of big data and co-author of “ JuryBall .” Coming off a $145 million workers' compensation bad faith verdict in Colorado – where a mediator told him, “Colorado juries don’t give the type of verdicts you’re talking about” – Sean shares how he uses big data and focus groups to determine true cas...

Everyone loves doctors. Pat Salvi ’s firm sues them. When you know how to pick a good jury, he says, you can overcome the inherent likability factor. In this conversation with hosts Harry Plotkin and Dan Kramer , Pat reveals his strategies, starting with how he makes a connection with potential jurors. Tune in for his tips on exposing juror bias and focusing jurors on a doctor’s behavior, not pers...

In Colorado, Kurt Zaner typically has 15 to 30 minutes for voir dire, so he makes every minute count. In this conversation with hosts Harry Plotkin and Dan Kramer , he explains how. “Even though you’ve got 15 minutes, the big points for me: I want to build a little rapport. I want them to trust me. I want them to feel empowered,” he says. From memorizing juror names to building credibility before...

As a public defender, Craig Peters focused his voir dire on getting jurors to assure him they’d follow the law. Turns out that jurors can promise they’ll follow the law; it doesn’t mean they will. Now one of California's leading plaintiffs' trial attorneys with multiple eight-figure verdicts, Craig joins hosts Harry Plotkin and Dan Kramer to share what he’s learned about jury selection from practi...