Spring 2023
Professor(s):
Judge Christine Weems (ADJUNCT)
Sepinood (Sepi) Zimmer (ADJUNCT)
Credits: 2
Course Areas: Blakely Advocacy Simulation
Time: 5:30p-7:30p W Location: 221
Course Outline: The most important part of any trial is picking your jury - the audience that will hear your presentation and ultimately decide your case. In this class, the students will learn about the psychology as well as the law behind choosing a jury for any kind of case. Through practical exercises as well as a study of the applicable legal principles and case law, the class will learn techniques to try to get the panel talking so you can get the information you need from jurors to determine whether they will be a good fit for your case, how to properly strike for cause and preserve error as well as the best way to use peremptory strikes to ultimately try to get the best panel possible. The class will end with the students doing a full voir dire as well as closing arguments with the opportunity to watch jury deliberations to see how the panel they ended up with impacted the decision that was made.
Course Syllabus: Syllabus
Course Notes: (Face-to-Face) The UH registration system instruction mode for this course is listed in parenthesis. After student registration opens, there may be instruction mode changes to this course up through two weeks before the first day of classes for the term, but notice of such changes will be sent to then-registered students. For this instruction mode, instructors and students are expected to normally be physically present in the classroom. If the course has a final examination, it will be in a classroom requiring your physical presence. Other assessment, such as a mid-term exam, may also be in a classroom. Whether this instructor will offer “remote presence” (starting a zoom meeting from the podium computer to enable student remote access on an occasional basis) for part or all of the semester is not known, but students should not rely on an expectation that remote presence will be available.
Quota=16.
Prerequisites: Yes Trial Advocacy or instructor approval.
First Day Assignments:
Final Exam Schedule:
This course will have:
Exam:
Paper:
Satisfies Senior Upper Level Writing Requirement: No
Experiential Course Type: simulation
Bar Course: No
DistanceEd ABA: No
Pass-Fail Student Election: Conditional Availability (not for required credits)
Course Materials
Book(s) Required
Course Materials: Dodge, Angela M., Winning at Jury Selection: A Handbook of Practical Jury-Focused Techniques and Strategies, Dodge Consulting Publications,2010; ISBN:978-0977751143
