Every honest inquiry begins with a question
"If 90% of civil cases settle before trial, what’s the point of spending money for a consultant to put mine in front of a focus group?”
The answer is a professional focus group gives you the chance to learn two things you can’t get any other way, and which very few attorneys learn otherwise.
• What the case story actually is
• How best to deliver that story anywhere - in negotiation, mediation and trial.
How?
One way is by telling you how to develop that story best during depositions. Because, if you still think focus groups are just for trials, you really aren’t getting enough value for the time and money invested.
If you haven’t done focus groups in the past you might consider them, and if you have you may want to reconsider how you’ve thought of them. For instance:
When?
Before discovery ends, and before serious settlement talks begin.
How?
A structured, adversarial presentation by the lawyers combined with oral and written surveys by the consultant of a group(s) of 21 participants. Little, conversational groups can’t do the job you need done.
How Come?
More time and attention going into a group nets more value coming out.
We spend a couple days with you developing the group presentation for a full day-long group - or two - with 21 participants.
Time is value, and our approach reflects that in three particular ways:
- Time enough with you to prepare the most productive presentation for the group
- Time enough to review the results well and pass them on to you thoroughly
- Time for you to draft a case presentation, and get it reviewed and revised.
Yet, most of the job can be done from Wednesday to Monday the week of the group.
Logistics
Lead time - 30 days, minimum
Pre-Interview - 3 weeks ahead, 90 minutes, with the file, by phone
Wednesday and Thursday - Pre-Group preparation, with presenting attorneys
Friday morning - Opening run-throughs, with visual aids, revisions
Saturday group* - Full day focus group, 21 participants
Report (Oral or Written) - Monday – oral, Three weeks post-group – written
Follow Up Conference - Improving attorney draft work applying the results
*Optional 6-hour second group on Friday
What’s So Different?
Among many things, we aim for a tie, not a win, to confirm every side represented put their best foot forward.
And, we pull the greatest value from the earliest, intensive debriefs, not the least-valuable deliberations at the end.
And, our results are equally applicable to discovery and deposition as they are for settlement talks and trial.
Plus, we “check our work” with a second, follow up conference, reviewing and improving your own draft work based on the results from the group. This review session is part of the package that ensures maximum value is squeezed from each group we run.
Why Do I Need You?
Today, many lawyers know of the story model for decision making. But, most have not yet adapted their practice in case preparation nor in presentation strategies to take much advantage of this genetically built-in narrative process that shapes — and is shaped by — every human communication.
A professional focus group with living, breathing, story-building people is the logical place to discover the full range of possible influences working for and against you. This is true whether the decision-makers you must influence are sitting across a negotiating table, on a mediation panel, behind the bench or in the jury box.
A trained moderator running a group properly can help you learn what the best case story actually is. And, a consultant who is trained in advanced communication techniques can also guide your case story delivery to produce benefits long before a trial date, equal to or more valuable than those eventually produced in court.
What Should I Expect?
If you are not getting direction or guidance from your focus group results in these areas, you should ask yourself why not?
Preparation
- Which in limine motions are critical, and which you can more safely lose
- Which holes most need to be filled in remaining discovery, depositions
- Which language and imagery to bring to depositions – expert and lay
- How to tell if you need another focus group(s)
Witnesses
- When you should start with a witness you’d normally bring last
- How to keep experts on the same page – one of your choosing
- Which witnesses aren’t necessary
Settlement Talks (Mediation, Negotiation)
- How best to reframe opposition points
- Which points to freely attack, and which not
- What to highlight and what to downplay – based on the story
- How to alter your story sequence delivery from that for trial
- What visuals/video to develop and bring
Persuasion
- What proofs not directly tied to the claims are essential to this story
- How to use remaining discovery to maximize your advantages
- How to communicate a theme more persuasively than just repeating
Case Story
- Which language to repeat and reinforce, and which to avoid
- What is the plan for the story presentation – from theme to witness order
- Where your case story should start, where it should go, and end
- What are the frames you need to set, in what order, to be most persuasive
- What anchors – visual and verbal – will best hold those frames in place
Visual Aids
- Which demonstratives you can do without and which are essential
- When, exactly, do you use which visual aids, despite your own habits
- What layout, imagery, color scheme will work best in this case
Voir Dire
- How to improve your rate of strikes for cause using the story
- Determining who most needs to go by what they reveal, not where they live
- How to sequence and select topics for voir dire discussion
- What one topic is the most essential to explore
- How to set up each essential story frame in voir dire without advocating
