Lessons Learned from Jury Duty

Pro Bono Community Support from a Different Angle

First, I encourage all law firm partners and attorneys to actively engage in conversations with their clients about whether or not they support jury service for their employees and attempt to convince clients to compensate employees who do serve. Personally, I was amazed at how many jury candidates asked to be excused due to expressed economic hardship. One can undoubtedly understand how self-employed consultants, like myself, do find that time spent away from client development, servicing, and contracts in motion is difficult to achieve. In my case, I was able to notify the court of current work assignments and ask for a specific alternate date to report, which the court granted without question. Are clients who are employers aware of this rescheduling ability? Planning for an absence from work allowed me the opportunity to convey my lack of availability to my clients, and they applauded my community focus. Perhaps it is the market segment that is my client base that evoked this rich response, but one would hope that all citizens share these views. During voir dire, one (unselected) juror candidate eloquently stated, when asked about his feelings regarding jury service: 'If I ever expect to get a fair shake on that side of the table [pointing], I should expect to do my time in this jury box.'