Everyone knows that most court cases are decided by juries.  Most juries in Minnesota and Wisconsin courts are composed of six to eight people, selected from a panel of forty or more citizens randomly chosen by the court administration personnel.  These everyday people serve on call for two to three weeks at a time.  From this larger panel of prospective jurors summoned by the court personnel, the lawyers representing the parties to the lawsuit being tried select those six to eight thought most qualified to judge the facts in the particular case being tried.  Because our legal system entrusts to the jury the responsibility for deciding the outcome of trials of bodily injury claims, proper jury selection by an experienced and competent lawyer representing the bodily injury victim can be crucial to a successful verdict at trial.

Selection of people to sit on the jury in trial of a bodily injury claim is always the first stage of the trial.  The court will remove any prospective juror who is too biased about the facts of the particular case being tried.  Some jurors will be found to be biased because they are related by blood or marriage to one of the parties, or they are personally familiar with the claim and have already made up their minds about what the outcome of the trial should be. 

Others are subject to influences more subtle and difficult to expose.  Discovering and exploring these more subtle prejudices that will influence the prospective juror's thinking is the duty of the lawyer representing the bodily injury victim. Understanding how a prospective juror thinks about the kinds of issues to be decided in trial of a bodily injury claim is essential to determining which jurors should be selected for that case.  It is a difficult task requiring great skill, knowledge and experience.

Life experience, family background, work experience, education, training, religious upbringing, political point of view, hobbies, sources for news and how recreational time is spent are only some of the areas a good trial lawyer will search when questioning a prospective juror.  Local knowledge is essential to proper jury selection – if the lawyer representing the injured individual doesn't know or understand the local customs, employment picture, weather, economic situation, religious circumstances, politics and recreational pursuits, then that lawyer will have trouble picking a jury that will treat his client fairly.

Minnesota is a big place.  For example, the St. Louis County Courthouse in Duluth is closer to Minneapolis-St. Paul than it is to the north end of St. Louis County.  That part of Minnesota north of Moose Lake and east of Leech Lake is different than the rest of the state.  It has different newspapers, television stations, recreational pursuits, economic conditions, educational institutions, weather conditions, ethnic makeup and religious background than the rest of Minnesota has.  

Douglas County, Wisconsin is a six-hour drive from Milwaukee.  Like that part of Minnesota to which it is adjacent, it is different in many ways from southeast Wisconsin.

Any lawyer traveling to this part of Minnesota or Wisconsin who plans to try a case before a local jury must understand these differences and be able to work with them.  Sadly, for bodily injury victims in northwest Wisconsin and northeast Minnesota, too few of these lawyers from Minneapolis or Milwaukee do not realize they are dealing with people who are different than their neighbors back home in many respects. 

Local attorneys, including those with Falsani, Balmer, Peterson, Quinn and Beyer have made their homes here and know the people who will be asked to serve on juries in our courthouses.  They have the knowledge and experience needed to pick the best possible jury to judge their clients' bodily injury claims.  We can help our clients take advantage of the right to trial by jury to maximize the chances of a successful outcome of their claims. 

Powerful and wealthy corporations and their lobbyists are not allowed into the jury deliberation room.  Nobody is permitted to participate but the members of the jury.  The jury is the way in which Americans participate in the judicial branch of government, just as they control the executive and legislative branches by way of the vote.

The right to trial by jury is guaranteed to all Americans through the 7th Amendment to the Constitution, a part of the original Bill of Rights.  It is a precious right that needs constant guard.  Many powerful and influential business and political leaders are attempting to do away with this right to trial by jury by trying to convince us it is no longer necessary – they can decide what we need without the benefit of a jury.  They are wrong and must be resisted.  We all need to continue to work together to preserve this precious institution for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren.