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Testimonials

"Jackson & Wilson came highly recommended to us from a Superior Court Judge who is a good friend of ours.  We were pleased with both the high level of professionalism and the constant concern for our best interest.  We were always kept well informed of the status of our case.  We feel highly confident in referring Jackson & Wilson to others."

-- Mr. Chris B (Local contractor and Laguna Niguel family man)

"Your firm helped me through one of the most difficult time of my life. You were all so gracious about any questions I had.  The speed with which you brought my legal case to a fair and fast conclusion was so appreciated and I am sure I would not be in the position I am in if you hadn’t resolved it and got the monetary help for me."

-- Ms. Elaine A.  (Retired and active senior citizen)

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Case Results

Most of our new clients are referred to us by past clients and other attorneys in our community.  Why?  Because they know we "walk the talk" and have the experience and expertise to get solid results.  Here are a few examples...

$5,000,000- Wrongful death and catastrophic injury

$3,347,000- Catastrophic injury and Insurance Bad Faith

$1,250,000- Wrongful death

$2,759,852- Catastrophic injury

$1,152,926- Malpractice

$1,000,000- Wrongful death

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If You Have A Jury That Loves Chocolate, Then Give Them All The Chocolate They Can Eat During Your Opening Statement

It’s time to stand up and begin your opening statement.  Based upon your pre-trial research of the views of your local community concerning your particular trial issues and, as confirmed and fine tuned during the voir dire process, you immediately focus on creating direct and indirect “bonds” with members of your jury based upon what they already believe and like.  You make it a point to present the outline of your case in a fashion which compliments your understanding of the jurors’ internal core values of the facts, issues and intended damages.

Take for example, a jury full of chocolate lovers sitting on a case involving chocolate.  If you ask them to show you at the end of the case how much they love chocolate and why it’s OK for your client to also love the taste and smell of chocolate, chances are pretty good that you’re going to get the verdict that both you and your client are looking for.  But if you try and convince your chocolate loving jury that gum drops, especially the red ones, taste better than chocolate any day of the week, your going to lose the trial.  Not only will you be talking to an audience that won’t put much emphasis on what you have to say, the jurors’ will also have a difficult time putting any weight or credibility on your evidence during trial and guess what, at the end of the day, you and your client will be the only people leaving the courthouse eating red gum drops while opposing counsel and his client will be knee deep in chocolate.

The key to successful opening statements is to help your jurors understand that you and your client share similar core values and are already on their side.  All you are going to ask them to do at the end of the case is to apply their pre-existing values, priorities and understandings to your facts and law.  At the same time, the last thing you ever want to do during opening is to try and shape or mold basic juror beliefs into positions contrary to what they normally believe in and instead demand that they see things your way or to come to a conclusion contrary to the core values they each hold deep within themselves and their community.  Human nature just doesn’t work that way and successfully trying cases is all about understanding and dealing with human nature.

In summary, get a good grasp, through pre-trial research, of what your potential jurors’ core values and beliefs are concerning your trial issues.  Next, develop and confirm these beliefs during voir dire.  Now with this basic understanding in mind, structure the presentation of your opening to compliment your jurors’ pre-existing views on these issues.  Spend a majority of time showing the jury that the evidence you will present during trial, by their own standards, beliefs, values and morals, will allow them to follow the court’s instructions and result in a fair and just result for your client.  Take time to do this and in the end, the chocolate lovers on your jury will appreciate what you have to say and how you say it.  And once the verdict is in, both you and your client will have all the chocolate you can eat for many years to come.
 

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