Goodell DeVries appellate lawyer Carrie Williams will be among the presenters of "Personal Injury Juries: Overcoming Politics and Conspiracy Theories," a Strafford webinar, on October 28, 2024.
This CLE webinar will discuss the influence of political leanings and conspiracy theories on juries and how to address them. The panel will review traditional views on the relationship between politics and responsibility, the psychological make-up of a conspiracy theorist, why it has become significant for juries, and how to potentially identify conspiracy theorists, as well as offer strategies for converting these jurors despite unshakeable convictions.
Conventual wisdom has been that political leaning plays a role in how a juror might assign responsibility in a civil case. Conservative, Republican jurors could be relied on to emphasize personal responsibility and favor the defense, and liberal, Democratic jurors could be generally counted on to emphasize social responsibility and favor plaintiffs.
A growing subset of jurors on both ends of the political spectrum now believe, generally, that powerful interests are secretly controlling important events and that common sources of information, scientific evidence, experts, and institutions cannot be trusted. These jurors can be almost impossible to persuade with evidence and logic. However, according to researcher Nick Polavin, these conspiracy theory jurors pose significant consequences for the defense because extreme right-wing conspiracy theory jurors are intensely pro-plaintiff.
When necessary, counsel can present the case in a way that appeals to how these jurors process information. Another option is to wrap the arguments around the jurors' extreme beliefs by framing the arguments using some of those beliefs and only asking them to accept a limited amount of new information.
Listen as this panel offers guidance about techniques to overcome long-held, unshakable beliefs in general and then how to approach juries where that unshakable belief may seem impervious to facts or logic.
October 28, 2024
1:00pm-2:30pm EDT, 10:00am-11:30am PDT
Register here
