Source of article 2's Company - Magnus Insights.

Recently, Melissa and I have been talking with a long time client about an issue we have, and he has, identified as being a challenge for us, and him, as a trial lawyer/mentor. That is, the “new generation” of litigators/trial lawyers lack experience with trial consultants. In a recent, eye-opening, conversation that included his young associate, the associate asked“what is a trial consultant?”. In some ways, this question takes me back to my early days in the trial/jury consulting business, and my attempts to craft an “elevator” speech to explain what we do. At that time, trial consulting was new to many lawyers, though it had been around for 1 to 2 decades by then. As I considered this recent discussion, I thought about the milestone marketing changes we’ve experienced in 30+ years in the practice. As I mentioned, early on it was explaining what we do, the services we offer, etc. This was something done in person, on the phone, and through the U.S. mail (sending brochures, etc.). Along the way, we developed a website that essentially placed our brochure online where people could find it, usually when directed to it, searches came a bit later. Over the years, we’ve struggled with the label given to us “trial” or “jury” consultants. The next big hurdle was with the development and growth of alternative dispute resolution, including mediation. We then faced attorneys who said uninformed things like “I don’t need a jury consultant because all/most of my cases settle.” In response, I explained that most of our cases settle also, but they do so after research when there is a “benchmark” for settlement. (https://magnusinsights.com/benchmarks-for-lawyers-part-1/& https://magnusinsights.com/benchmarks-for-lawyers-part-2/). Today we’re seeing the next evolution of the impact of ADR, which is the lack of trial experience and trial preparation experience in younger attorneys, leaving them under prepared to utilize the resources which are available to them. In a way, we’re back to where we were 30+ years ago, in explaining what we do. But, in another way, given the focus, and sometimes over focus, on ADR case resolution, the learning, or unlearning, starts in a different place. We’ll continue to address the issue with marketing, and with education, hopefully regarding the latter, with a combined presentation this summer with the attorney client/friend with whom we lamented this state of affairs.