Issues > Jury Reform
Jury Reform
How courts conduct jury trials and treat jurors forms a key part of public trust and confidence in the justice system. In 2006 NCSC helped courts to improve the management of juries and the public’s impressions of jury service.
National Program to Increase Citizen Participation in Jury Service Through Jury Innovations
Courts face a major challenge — making citizens more willing to serve as jurors. NCSC initiated this program to promote public awareness and understanding of jury service and to support state courts in the use of innovations to improve the jury system. The goals of the program include more-representative juries and better-informed trial jurors.
Communicating with Juries: How to Draft More Understandable Instructions
Jurors need to understand the law to apply it properly to the facts in a case. NCSC published this bench book, written by Peter M. Tiersma of Loyola Law School, to help judges communicate more effectively with jurors based on research into legal language, juror comprehension, and the use of “plain English” in legal writing.
General Statement of Principles that Will Foster Jury Service
Courts and businesses need to come together to promote the importance of jury service to the public. NCSC developed a Statement of Principles, endorsed by its General Counsel Committee, for just that purpose. The statement calls for, among other actions, businesses to assure employees that jury duty will not affect work status and to provide full base compensation to employees who act as jurors; it calls on courts to develop easy-to-understand literature to explain jury service and employer responsibilities and to implement and promote flexible postponement procedures.
Contributors to the National Jury Program
2004 - Present
ABOTA – Minnesota Chapter
Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld
Ashcraft & Gerel
Association of Trial Lawyers of America
Frederick M. Baron, Esq.
Boies, Schiller & Flexner
Bolognese & Associates, LLC
Bruce Braley
Chimicles & Tikellis
Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, PLLC
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
DecisionQuest
Defense Research Institute
Vincent J. Esades
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner
Furth Lehmann & Grant, LLP
William H. Graham
Gregory P. Joseph Law Offices LLC
Hill Williams
Hunton & Williams
Hurwitz & Fine
JMW Settlements, Inc.
Keller Rohrback, LLP
Kirkland & Ellis
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP
Levin, Fishbein Sedran & Berman
Levin Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Echsner & Proctor P.A.
McGuire Woods, LLP
Donna D. Melby
Mark A. Modlin, Esq.
Olender Foundation
Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker
Product Liability Advisory Council
Reed Smith
Ellen Relkin
Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi
Same Day Process Services, Inc.
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Shook, Hardy & Bacon
The Simmons Firm LLC
Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
Spector Roseman & Kodroff, P.C.
Stein, Mitchell & Mezines
Strauss & Boies, LLP
Sullivan & Cromwell, LLP
Susman Godfrey LLP
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Waite Schneider Bayless & Chesley Co, LLPA
Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP
Zelle Hofmann Voelbel Mason & Gette
