Do you want to know what a jury is going to think about your case?  About your client? About the Defendant’s best defenses?

Do you think you already know?

If you have not tested your theories, they’re just that: theories.  And if your theories came from you and other lawyers, well, unless you have a jury full of lawyers, good luck.

Lawyers aren’t average people.  Jurors are.  So if you want to know what jurors are going to think, you need to ask average folks.

That’s what a focus group gives to trial lawyers: direct, honest feedback from the same types of people who will be deciding your case.

How Do Your Cleveland Focus Groups Work?

You will walk into a room with 10-14 people from the community ready to give you feedback.

Here’s what to expect:

  • We recruit, screen, confirm, and arrange logistics to have 10-14 focus group participants;
  • We set up the room for your specific needs—from roundtable discussions to jury configuration for testing openings and closings;
  • We help lawyers plan how to use a focus group to effectively answer key case questions.
  • Media display. We have HD televisions, projectors and screens, and laptop or iPad integration so you can show audio and visuals just like at trial.
  • We provide you detailed demographics for each participant through a juror questionnaire.
  • Each participant will contract to keep everything you share—or they say—confidential.
  • We record and provide you with a complete recording of the event by DVD or private YouTube channel.  Use the video to share results with co-counsel, or even excerpts as part of a demand package.
  • (Optional Add On)  We will provide a written transcript, which makes scanning the results, remembering key language, and finding the right sections for clips or video review much easier.
  • Evaluation tools. How to evaluate the jurors to help you in jury selection.

Everything a trial lawyer needs to test any part of their case.

What Can I Do with a Focus Group for My Case?

The key to using a focus group is to come in with ideas to test.

There are a number of things you can test with a focus group, and ways to conduct those tests, including:

  • Open issue discussions. What do they think of when they hear the words “nursing home,” or “suicide,” or “choking”?  What words and phrases matter?  Having open ended discussions is a great way to discover terms and concepts that will be important for a jury.
  • Inventive Scenarios. Starting with a neutral or pro-defendant written scenario, jurors use their imagination to answer questions about the nature of the dispute, who is to blame, and why. This provides invaluable information on alternative theories, empty chair defenses, and other issues jurors might invent, whether the defendant argues it or not.  This also gives you a baseline for the jurors.
  • Witness evaluations. Presenting video of your client, witnesses, defendants, even experts, participants give you insights into what works, what doesn’t, areas to attack, and dangers to avoid.
  • Case discussions. Presenting a neutral or opposing-side version of the case to generate discussion about biases and assumptions, strong and weak points, who jurors want to hear from, and hat questions they’ll have (whether you or the other side brings them up or not).
  • Opening Statement and Closing Argument Evaluations. You present your current opening or closing, and a facilitator conducts a discussion to evaluate what works, and what doesn’t.

When Should I do a Focus Group?

When you get a case, before you file.   Evaluate strengths and weaknesses of potential cases, discover whether to include tangential players, additional witnesses to interview, even the right way to frame a complaint.

After you file, before discovery.  Test who the jury wants to hear from.  What questions they have.  How your rules translate for non-lawyers.  Before you even take a deposition.

During Discovery.  Test how a witness’s story reads, whether you should push back or draw them further down the path with the remaining witnesses.  Lean what additional questions jurors have and who they want to hear from.

For Experts.  How does their testimony play?  Are they credible, likeable, reliable?  How should you go after them at trial, or help them prepare?

Before Trial.  Preparing witnesses, testing opening and closing, testing rules, themes, and presentation.

How Much Does this Cost?

We started this company as trial lawyers who saw the benefit of regularly using focus groups during a case, but not wanting to spend $4,000-5,000—or more—to do something we thought could be done for much less.

So we started this company to do focus groups for less.  And we standardized the process for our needs as trial lawyers.

Our focus groups are 7 hours, including lunch, and give lawyers two 3 hour blocks for cases.  The whole day is $2,500, meaning you can focus a case for a 3 hour block for just $1,250.  Of even two in that time, meaning your cost per case is $625.

At that rate, you can test a case at multiple stages, for less than a single focus group from a marketing company.

Try booking a focus group somewhere else.  You know what you won’t find?  The actual cost.  You have to ask for a “quote.”  Specify tons of details. Why?  Probably because they’re doing so many different groups for non-lawyers, like companies selling things.

We give you a hard price up front, and keep things simple, because we’re only serving one group: trial lawyers.

Is the Focus Group Expense Billable to the Client?

Yes.  This is a service on your case for your client.  We provide invoicing that can specify in detail down to the case / client.

How Do I Do a Focus Group?

First of all, you probably shouldn’t do them yourself as a lawyer without doing some research and training.

We’re happy to discuss our methods to ensure focus groups produce actionable feedback and data.

The number one rule is to lose your focus group to win your trial.  How?  By putting on the other side’s case and seeing what sticks.

Do you do Focus Groups for Non-Lawyers, like Marketing Companies?

Nope.  We’re not experts at consumer marketing.  We stick to juries.

If you want to do consumer focus groups, or marketing work, consider some of the other great options, including Cleveland Focus Groups.

Are Focus Groups Confidential?

Yes.  Every participant agrees to confidentiality in writing.