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" You Wanna Piece of Me ?" Yes ! How to Voire Dire and Get the Jury to Talk
VICTOR RO Avocat LLC avocatllc @ gmail . com
So often , we go into voire dire and begin stating the same ' ol introductory statements as we begin our spiel . " Ladies and Gentlemen . My name is Jack Lawyer and I ' m the attorney for the individual to my left . I represent him . Do any of you know what voire dire means ? Do any of you know what jury selection is ? How many of you have been in a trial before ?...."
This can be time wasted .
You may get some blank stares , awkward moments of silence ( while you start shuffling through your brain trying to think about what you ' re going to ask next ), and even bouts of panic .
What do you do if the jury won ' t talk ? Answer : Give them a piece of yourself .
Tell the jury something about your own life . Open up to them . As many may agree , the jurors actually " selected " are often those who say absolutely nothing during the entire voire dire process . In the lawyer ' s mind , this creates nonchalance , and not a direct , focused mindset on the powerful importance of a jury .
42 January / February 2024