Page 55 - FDCC Flyer Summer 2021

section title
VIRTUAL JURY TRIALS
COMFORT WITH TECHNOLOGY IS KEY
By Bob Christie
Bob Christie Christie Law Group Seattle, WA
On January 4, 2021 I began a weeklong jury trial entirely by Zoom. The alternative was to postpone the case until deep into 2021 or later. Both parties
virtual jury trials are a good or
bad thing. Demographically, do virtual trials exclude a large swath of otherwise qualified potential jurors that don’t have the necessary technology to participate? Or
do they expand the jury pool
by allowing health challenged individuals to participate from home? Will many jurors be participating by smart phone, thus viewing everything on a small
screen? Will jurors abide the court’s instructions not to conduct online searches during the course of the trial? These are all great questions left for discussion elsewhere.
FDCC Evolve seeks to educate
our members on how to use presentation technologies to enhance their story telling skills and improve their powers of persuasion. Here are some of the things that
agreed to proceed virtually.
There are thoughtful articles that have been written on whether
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