Jury trials are expensive. They disrupt jurors’ lives for days or weeks,. They demand the complete attention of court personnel. They require witnesses to make time for court appearances and travel to and from the courthouse....more
I. THE USE OF REMOTE PROCEEDINGS IN CIVIL PRACTICE - The COVID-19 pandemic had an enormous impact on civil litigation in Illinois, particularly by increasing the use of remote proceedings in Illinois circuit courts. A....more
First Appellate Decision. In In re Troy S. Poe Trust, a co-trustee of a trust filed suit to modify the trust to increase the number of trustees and change the method for trustees to vote on issues as well as other...more
As a national trial consulting firm, we are often asked to assist with jury selection in jurisdictions where lead counsel has been admitted pro hac vice and may not be closely familiar with the standards and procedures for...more
Previously, the Second District Court of Appeal extended to civil cases the holding in Hazuri v. State, 91 So. 3d 836 (Fla. 2012), a criminal case addressing readbacks to the jury following a request for trial transcripts....more
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC’S IMPACT ON CIVIL PRACTICE The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on civil litigation in Illinois. Since March 2020, the Governor of Illinois and Illinois courts of all levels have...more
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020, the legal profession responded with a one-two punch. The first response was to fashion emergency procedures that enabled courts to function during the pandemic and, if...more
My daughter is a figure skater — the kind of skater who practices six days a week. Each one of the complex jumps that a skater executes involves dozens of fine-motor movements that need to be encoded into the skater’s muscle...more
At the beginning of most cases filed in state court, litigants must make up their mind whether they want to exercise their right to a jury trial. This decision requires consideration of multiple factors such as: What kind of...more
With public appetite for tort reform mounting in recent years, the Louisiana legislature acted and passed the Civil Justice Reform Act of 2020 (“CJRA”). Governor John Bel Edwards signed the CJRA in 2020. The resulting...more
The jury trial is just one of the many aspects of American life that has been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 12, 2020, the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts entered an order postponing all jury...more
In Lavizadeh v. Moghadam, a trustee purchased real estate and then had a dispute with a guarantor. No. 05-18-00955-CV, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 10835 (Tex. App.—Dallas December 13, 2019, no pet. history). The trial court ruled...more
In In re Troy S. Poe Trust, trustees of a trust that was embroiled in litigation filed suit to modify the trust to increase the number of trustees and change the method for trustees to vote on issues. No. 08-18-00074-CV, 2019...more
Trial advocacy is a mix of law and theater, requiring a lawyer to know both the law and their audience. Attorneys must effectively argue their client’s case using the evidence and the jury instructions to show their client is...more
The right to a jury trial in criminal cases is guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and by Article I, Section 16 of the California Constitution. Implicit in the requirement of a jury is the idea that...more
In September of this year, Alabama joined the more than 25 other states with a procedure for the expedited handling of certain civil actions. The Alabama Rules for Expedited Civil Actions were created pursuant to Alabama Code...more
Effective January 1, 2016, AB 555 makes permanent the voluntary expedited jury trial procedures set forth in CCP § 630.01 et seq. These procedures were added to the Code of Civil Procedure in 2011 to reduce the cost of...more