Working with a Trial Consultant on Pretrial Research

1. The quality of your results depends, in large part, on the quality of the "stimuli" material in your study. Stimuli material is the social science label for the information in your case presentations. Jurors decide cases by applying their existing attitudes and beliefs to the facts they are given in the stimuli material. If the facts are wrong, incomplete, one-sided, or poorly presented, the results of the study will be similarly limited.
2. Do not ignore the bad facts. If we do not know about potentially bad facts, we cannot test them to see if they hurt your case. If we do not test them, we cannot help you come up with strategies to neutralize the bad facts. It doesn't matter who wins the study. It only matters who wins the trial or negotiates the most favorable settlement.
3. Assign a strong advocate to present the opposing side in a presentation study. Our research works best when the sides are evenly balanced. It is important to place equal emphasis on the opposition. This means equal time, equal talent, equal graphics, and equal attention to argument.
4. Test a reasonable number of issues. Good trial research often requires that choices be made on what issues to include in the study. This does not mean that complex cases cannot be tested. We have made our reputation testing complex cases. In complex cases, you should choose a limited number of representative causes of action so that rich presentations can be given and detailed data can be gathered. If the choices are too hard, consider doing additional studies or a multi-day study.
5. Prepare balanced arguments on the issues that are chosen. When opposing presentations are outlined, each side should answer the arguments of the other unless it is really true that one side will have nothing to say. When choosing the arguments to test, they should not all be ones on which one side has the better argument.
6. Provide accurate written outlines of presentations in advance and stick to the outlines in the study. We cannot advise on argument, check for balance, or draft argument-specific questions if we do not know in advance what you are going to say. Closely following an outline is recommended, but if your usual practice is to let the speech roll around in your head and put it in final form the night before, we will do our best to craft revealing questionnaires that thoroughly test your case.
7. Think about instructions of law at the start of the study preparation process. As at trial, instructions of law are provided near the end of the study. The instructions should be drafted at the earliest stages of preparation for the research. This helps us give advice on whether presentation outlines are balanced and complete. It also enables us to develop tracking and verdict questions.
8. Help us set realistic deadlines for your input on the study. Development of study questionnaires and text can cover a period of several weeks, and quick turnaround of these materials is often critical. We will prepare a time line for you as a guide to the timely preparation and review of presentations and questionnaires by your staff and ours. Quality and accuracy are maintained by setting realistic deadlines and meeting them.