Jury Notes From Elsewhere

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Good things for jury watchers at other sites lately:

–Elliott Wilcox wonders why lawyers say they're speaking "as an officer of the court" when they want to stress they're telling the truth. What are they telling the rest of the time?

–Evan Schaeffer has six tips for improving direct examination at Illinois Trial Practice Weblog.

–"I'm a bad blogger" is how Eric Turkewitz starts a review of Mark Herrmann's terrific book The Curmudgeon's Guide To Practicing Law.

–The "How To Be A Great Trial Lawyer" series at John Day's Day On Torts has more installments than "Rocky," and they're all good. He's up to Part 14, "A Healthy Respect for the Judicial System."

–Everything at Thaddeus Hoffmeister's Juries is relevant, of course, like this post on how juries in Gibraltar acquit local defendants far more often than those from outside Gibraltar.

–Howard Zimmerle at Quad Cities Injury Lawyers has a fresh and often unexpectedly candid perspective, as in this post where he explains how a well-intended and well-spoken lawyer might decide to draft a complaint in legalese.

–Jon Katz finds points of agreement with his political opposite, Antonin Scalia.

–Karen Franklin announces the guilty verdict in the Hans Reiser case in Oakland, where Reiser was convicted of killing his wife although her body was not found. A simple technique the prosecutor used in closing, Franklin explains, might have made the difference.

–Two juror stories made the rounds this week, but they're best told by master storytellers: Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice tells about the jurors who were sent home for wearing Hell's Angels' regalia, while Seth at QuizLaw tells about the one sent home for showing up drunk.