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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1
The Long Climb to the Courtroom: Building a Case That Can Win
2
Empower Your Teen One Tool at a Time
2
Why Some Big Rigs Jackknife on the Highway
3
What Parents Need to Know About Daycare Staffing Gaps
3
Peanut Butter Banana Dog Cookies
4
How Jury Instructions Can Anchor a Winning Trial Strategy
The choice of a lawyer is an important one and should not be based solely upon advertisements.
Alex on the Power of Jury Instructions A TOOL FOR JUSTICE
Our law firm is in the courtroom as often as possible. Courtrooms are where we win real justice for our clients. By the time we reach a jury trial, countless hours of preparatory work have already been done.
One of our best practices is to use the approved jury instructions to craft our initial pleading, or petition. This ensures the allegations in our petition track the exact language the jury will hear before closing arguments. Then, in our closing arguments, those instructions become a powerful teaching tool to educate the jurors on their role. To raise the stakes even further, one of the leading reasons decisions are appealed after a jury trial is claims of errors in the jury instructions. Appellate courts are asked to decide whether the trial judge made wise use of the discretion they have in deciding what instructions to give. As I write this article, the firm is preparing an appeal of a jury decision last year regarding whether the judge erred by failing to instruct the jury on comparative fault, a requirement that plaintiffs be awarded damages in proportion to the degree to which they were at fault in an accident. Personally, I love assembling jury instructions. They serve as tremendous guidelines that help me step back and think about how we must rely on the law, instruct jurors on the law, and best present the issues for the jury to decide.
One of the most important aspects of a jury trial is the instructions given jurors before closing arguments. These tell jurors exactly what legal issues they must resolve, and how the law should guide their decision-making. In our cases, jury decisions usually revolve around two questions: Who is at fault? And what damages should be awarded to the plaintiff? Jury instructions can be complicated and cumbersome. We are fortunate that Missouri has adopted a set of approved instructions. However, we must make several decisions in advance to ensure the jury instructions align with the facts of the case. Long before the jurors enter the courtroom, we are strategizing about which jury instructions to select.
Practicing in Missouri and Illinois
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