Evaluating Commercial Litigation
In most commercial cases, the facts do not speak for themselves.  Winning requires the use of persuasive themes incorporated into a story that provides context for jurors to understand the case facts.  We have consulted in over 170 business disputes, and while many of those settled, we have also had many that went to trial.

Juror Perceptions of Business
A significant portion of the urban jury pool throughout the country believes that big business cannot be trusted, are unethical, and pursue profit at any cost.  Crucial in this belief system is juror acceptance of the notion that big businesses conspire with each other to the detriment of consumers.  Many potential jurors, however, approach commercial cases with a strong belief in a free economy, with fears that government excessively regulates business and that profitability is desirable.  While these clusters of beliefs are not all perfectly correlated with one another, they represent the underlying views that jurors bring to commercial trials.  To prevail, attorneys must be armed with knowledge of attitudes towards big business held by jurors in their venue.

Crafting a Story
Just as in antitrust cases, the facts in complex commercial cases are usually complex and dry. It falls to the trial attorney to develop a story that persuasively weaves the evidence together into a human tale that makes sense of people’s motivations and actions in a way that supports the client’s case.  Testing your case before a mock jury can help you see the holes in your story.  You can also learn a great deal from hearing the stories that jurors themselves construct out of your fact pattern and witnesses.