Martin Dolan educates law community on importance of mock trials

Clarendon Hills trial attorney Martin Dolan discussed the importance of mock trials as a panelist at the 2012 Jury Management Conference in Chicago recently.

“We litigators always think we’re going to win,” Martin Dolan candidly remarked to a conference room filled with his legal peers Thursday morning. “But sometimes, we need a big reality check.”

Hosted by Law Bulletin, more than 50 area attorneys attended the annual conference that serves to continue legal education among professionals, as required by the Illinois Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) program.

“Mock trials are like clinical psychology; they provide a good way to test run a case before it actually goes to trial,” said Dolan, a former prosecutor and now the principal at Chicago-based Dolan Law. “You really learn the smaller things, the nuisances, which sometime end up accounting for the most important aspect in trial.”

A typical mock trial focuses on the jury, the panel explained. In a trial simulation, the lawyers have the opportunity to watch the jurors’ deliberation behind a one-way mirror. Sometimes jurors will mention unexpected, and often vital, details like a lawyer’s delivery or even a witness’ hairstyle.

“It is so valuable to be able to watch jurors discuss details about the case that we usually wouldn’t think about,” Dolan said. “Things like, ’Oh, I didn’t really the expert witness’ or ‘I hated the lawyer’s presentation’ can become major factors in making their verdict.”

During the discussion, Dolan drew from his own 23 years of experience in litigation to explain the importance of mock trials and focus groups.

“I strongly recommend a degree of focus early on,” Dolan concluded. “You have to consider whether if the case is worth investing in. Lawyers don’t think about juries enough if they have solid cases, but sometimes a jury can make or break the case. That‘s the biggest reality check.”

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