When it comes to jury research, reliability is everything.
Yet one of the most common practices in focus groups and mock trials, having dueling attorneys argue the case, may actually be undermining the validity of your results.
DRC Founder Josh Dubin, Esq. explains why the Single Presenter Model eliminates bias and gets the clearest read on how jurors will respond to your evidence.
If you are conducting any type of jury research, whether it be a focus group or a mock trial, and you have dueling attorneys, you might be getting useful information, but it's not reliable.
Study after study has demonstrated unequivocally that you are reducing the reliability of your results if you have two people head-to-head against each other. The reason for that is you can't replicate the other side and bring them in.
So if jurors are reacting either favorably or negatively to your opposition in the focus group, that might be because of that presenter's personality.
What the Single Presenter Model does is it removes all of the variables that you can't predict and focuses jurors strictly on the evidence and the arguments that they're going to hear at trial.
With a trained presenter, you can show the arguments of each side and the evidence that's going to be presented in a forceful, adversarial manner where the jury doesn't know whose side you're on.
The jury is not thinking, "Well, I like this person better than the other person," or "I can't stand this person, and that's why I'm going to vote against them." They're either going to like the presenter, dislike the presenter, or fall somewhere in between, but they won't take it out on either side.
The Single Presenter Model is the way to get the most reliable results and to get jurors to focus on what matters: the evidence.
Jurors do not evaluate cases in a vacuum.
They interpret evidence through emotion, perception, credibility, and narrative clarity. The more accurately jury research isolates those reactions, the more confidently litigation teams can prepare for trial.
The Single Presenter Model helps ensure that jurors focus on the case itself, not the personalities presenting it.
That leads to more reliable feedback, stronger strategic decisions, and ultimately better trial preparation.
Learn more about how DRC approaches focus groups, jury selection, demonstrative aids, and trial strategy.