Do you own a jury consulting firm? You must “Know” your clients

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Do you own a jury consulting firm? You must
Know your clients

• BY
• http//www.magnusweb.com/

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David H.Fauss Point of view One interesting
aspect of our trial consulting work is that we
often work for people whom we do not meet in
person until we all show up at a mock jury
project or Melissa arrives at the courthouse. We
have considerable contact with clients via phone
calls and email, but often, there is little face
to face contact until one of these events.
Because of this, we have to find ways to get to
know the clients quickly absent interpersonal
interactions. When we first started Magnus in
1993, we relied on books. The Florida Bar
attorney directory was an annual publication and
was the (only) way really, to get basic contact
information on our attorney clients. We also
paid lots of money for Martindale-Hubbell
directories (listings of attorneys with their
credentials) again a big book! As the internet
has evolved, these sources moved to online sites
and at least in the case of the Florida Bar
publication, ceased to be printed. The next
change in information source has been the
development and expansion of law firm websites.

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Fortunately in todays internet world, we have
several ways to find out about clients. And, we
make a practice to do our homework and to get to
know, virtually anyway, our clients before we
meet them in person. Why? Because working as
closely as we do with our clients it is helpful
to know things about them like where they are
from, what schools they attended, as well as many
details about their experiences it helps us
related to them quickly, to ramp up and get to
a comfort zone as soon as possible for us, and
them. With work like this, there is no chance to
get acquainted as in most workplaces where one
interacts with the same basic group of people
everyday. Consciously making the effort to
compensate for this problem is important to
helping our clients help their clients.
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Melissa Pigott Point of View As a social
psychologist, I am what many people describe a
people person. I like human beings, in general,
and I enjoy getting to know people, including
learning what makes them who they are. My job, as
a litigation consultant, requires me to interact
with a variety of attorneys, insurance adjusters,
corporate executives, and other high level
individuals in both professional and personal
ways. In fact, the world of litigation, trial,
and jury consulting is largely a relationship
business, in that many clients choose to retain
one consultant over others because he or she
likes the consultant. The more I can get to
know a client, quickly, the better the chances I
have of working with this person in the future.
Obtaining information about where the client
attended college and law school is an important
first step in getting acquainted. In addition,
asking a few questions upon first meeting a
client is a good way to look for commonalities.
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A simple question, such as, where did you grow
up? often leads to a good discussion with a
client I have never met. My company recently
worked with an insurance adjuster from another
part of the U.S. who required my partner and me
to fly a considerable distance (and at our
expense) to meet in person. This client
expressed an unwillingness to hire anyone sight
unseen. Upon getting to know this person after
working on several cases, my partner and I
discovered several commonalities that made our
relationship more comfortable. These
commonalities were revealed only by my partners
and my genuine interest in our client as a
person, as opposed to someone who is the source
of a considerable amount of work (and revenue!)
for our company. There are numerous sources
available for finding out about someones
background. Being uninformed and uninterested in
ones clients is just not an option for my
partner and me.
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Author Bio The writers Melissa Pigott and David
H. Fauss are the co-founding partners of Magnus
Research Consultants, Inc., and Magnus Graphics,
Inc. Magnus Research provides jury research and
trial consulting services for civil and criminal
litigation. Magnus research is customized, on a
case specific basis, to maximize the results of
litigation. Magnus scientifically evaluates
jurors or fact finders (arbitrators, mediators)
responses to case issues by using attitude
surveys, jury focus groups, mock trials, and mock
arbitrations to develop case strategies, themes,
voir dire questions, and more. Voir dire
consultation and witness preparation are also
available. Magnus provides Insights for
Successful Litigation. Magnus has worked on
cases throughout the United States, in both
federal and state courts. The Magnus team takes
pride in providing quality work. Please visit
www.magnusweb.com for more information.
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Thank You