Jury Selection in a Personal Injury Case

One of the most challenging aspects of a personal injury lawyer's practice is jury selection. Unlike many states which do not restrict jury selection, Virginia limits the questioning of prospective jurors. Further, many trial judges in Virginia do not even allow the lawyers to conduct the questioning. As a result, questioning of prospective jurors in Virginia's trial courts is not an extended affair. Usually, a jury will be selected in less than an hour. I have tried cases in other states where the selection process can take a day or two. For instance, in North Carolina, lawyers can interview each prospective juror about almost anything. In that process, it is possible to determine a lot of information which assists the lawyer in making an informed selection of jurors. In Virginia, a lawyer will be able to find out some background information about each prospective juror and whether there is any bias to either party, but not much else unless the trial judge allows more detailed questioning. Usually, that does not happen and the process is very rapid. The benefit is that you get to the heart of the trial very quickly. The downside is that you really do not know much about your jury and how the individual jurors think. And, those are not the only issues that personal injury lawyers face in the jury selection process. Virginia law provides that the list of prospective jurors can be obtained 3 days before trial. Until this year, the time limit was 2 days. In theory, the 3 day period can be used to research prospective jurors' backgrounds. In reality, it is difficult to get the list on time. What's more, the jurors who are produced on the day of trial often are not the ones on the list provided 3 days before. All of these issues make it difficult to garner much knowledge about prospective jurors before making a selection. It really is necessary to have an experienced personal injury lawyer work through these treacherous issues.


Call us toll free (877) 222-1588 or email us at ewilson@winjurylaw.com and fhajek@winjurylaw.com for a free consultation with Eddie Wilson or Francis Hajek.

Wilson & Hajek, LLC, a personal injury law firm
Experienced Injury Trial Lawyers
Serving Virginia, including Albemarle, Charlottesville, Fluvanna, Louisa, Madison, Nelson, Orange, Staunton, Waynesboro