Voir Dire for the Insurance Litigator: Strategic Techniques for Jury Selection When the Insurer is a Party
A live 90-minute CLE video webinar with interactive Q&A
This CLE course will provide insurance litigators with strategic techniques for jury selection both when an insurer is one of the parties and also in trials concerning the insured's liability. The panel will explore tips for drawing out juror's attitudes, opinions, and biases during voir dire as well as using social media and questionnaires, weeding out jurors, dealing with tainted jurors, and avoiding common mistakes during voir dire as well as what specific values and attitude are generally most favorable to insurers.
Outline
- Rules governing jury selection
- General voir dire strategies
- Drawing out juror's attitudes, opinions, and biases
- Getting truthful answers to tough questions and spotting when a juror is lying
- Identifying insurer-favorable attitudes and values
- Identifying anti-insurer attitudes to avoid
- Insurer strategies
- Minimizing negative pre-conceived notions about insurers
- Building a rapport between the jurors and company personnel
- Rehabilitating potential jurors that might be helpful to your client
- Setting unfavorable jurors up for a cause challenge
Benefits
The panel will review these and other crucial issues:
- What juror attitudes and values are usually helpful to insurance companies when defending?
- When, how, and why would an attorney want to draw out a prospective juror's attitudes, opinions, and biases?
- What negative expectations do juries have about insurance companies?
- What attitudes and values are considered insurer-friendly?
Faculty
Shari Belitz
Consultant
Shari Belitz Communications
Ms. Belitz is a litigation consultant and strategist, owner and CEO of Shari Belitz Communications, LLC a company which... | Read More
Ms. Belitz is a litigation consultant and strategist, owner and CEO of Shari Belitz Communications, LLC a company which provides mock trials, focus groups, jury selection, and other litigation consulting services to lawyers and insurance industry professionals. She is also founder of its companion course EnPSYCHLAWpedia™, an educational platform which uses video and written materials to teach lawyers how to use social psychology to achieve favorable litigation outcomes, at settlement or trial.
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Kelly Hanker
Attorney
Trial Lawyers for Justice
Ms. Hanker is a trial attorney known for increasing the value of cases across the country, including catastrophic and... | Read More
Ms. Hanker is a trial attorney known for increasing the value of cases across the country, including catastrophic and traumatic injury, employment, business litigation, class action, and medical malpractice cases. Ms. Hanker’s connection to her clients after sustaining a life-long disability in a car crash herself and being called in to the Plaintiff’s side by her then trial attorney—now mentor, Nick Rowley—is unmatched. Ms. Hanker, now often referred to as the Empathy Lawyer, has repeatedly been named a Super Lawyers Rising Star for Southern California, is a graduate of the Gerry Spence Method trial college and has been honored by the Los Angeles Business Journal as a finalist for Philanthropist of the Year. She also serves on the Foundation Board of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, the Consumer Attorneys of California Women’s Caucus, the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles’s Women in Law Committee and is a member of AAJ.
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Robert E. Ray, J.D., Ph.D.
Chief Trial Consultant
Veritas Research
As a trial consultant, Dr. Ray brings a wealth of experience to the table, both as a trial consultant and as a trial... | Read More
As a trial consultant, Dr. Ray brings a wealth of experience to the table, both as a trial consultant and as a trial attorney. Since 1998, he has provided research and courtroom consulting to attorneys in cases throughout the United States, including theme development and strategy advice. He has provided research and consulting advice in mass tort actions such as tobacco and pharmaceutical litigation to insurance disputes and entertainment and publishing cases.
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