Leadership for Lawyers

Generation Gap in the Jury Box

This month's issue of Law Practice Management features a wonderful article by Dr. Karen Lisko of Persuasion Strategies, outlining the differences between Gen X and Gen Y in regards to how they behave on juries:

"Generation X Jurors tend to:

• Want more data and the source behind it but presented in a concise, technological (screen-view) way
• Focus on the pragmatic and how a case relates to their own lives
• Be fairly entrepreneurial and impressed with parties who take ethical risks in business
• Hearken back to many traditional values that we typically correlate with older jurors, in particular with a focus on “personal responsibility” and “self-reliance”
• Want the “bottom line” on conclusions the experts draw

  Generation Y jurors tend to:

• Want even more presented technologically than do the technologically savvy Generation X jurors
• Be the best-educated generation of all time, with an ability to think more analytically about case facts as a result
• Be more interested in teamwork and “getting along” in the deliberation room
• Be more interested in 9-to-5 jobs with a reliable employer, giving them respect for parties who follow through on their commitments
• Feel less suspicious than other generations do toward the government, indicating an opportunity to impress them with a party's ability or inability to meet governmental or industry standards."

GC Surveys

After this post, you will have no excuse for saying you don't know what clients want.  Here are several recent surveys of in-house clients and law firm leaders on everything from budget planning to client service expectations

Corporate Legal Times:   Here's another survey of in-house counsel, conducted by Corporate Legal Times (now renamed, Inside Counsel).

ACCA:  The 2005 CLO Survey can be found on ACC's web site which lists all of their polls and surveys.  There is also a link to the Serengeti survey (fee).  The CLO survey explains how outside counsel can improve their relationship and get additional work from inside counsel. 

BTI:  BTI Consulting Report's on inside counsel are costly.  You can order them through BTI (click on the order page and you can download a pdf of the table of contents and index).  Here are a few articles on the BTI survey that gives an insight into their findings. "Closed Club", published in Corporate Counsel Magazine.  BTI's research shows that Fortune 1000 clients will increase spending by 16%

American Lawyer Media:  American Lawyer just published their annual Law Firm Leaders Survey.  While it focuses on the opinions and crystal-gazing of managing partners, it still provides insights into the short term future of client service, rates, and work flow.    American Lawyer also gives a summary of four recent surveys of GC's in the December 2005 issue.  A summary of the findings are here. Aric Press gives his commentary on the survey results, saying "hug an associate" today.

Fulbright:  A Fulbright and Jaworski survey shows that 90% of US Corporations are in litigation and the 'average' $1 Billion corporation are involved in 147 cases at one time.  Read the survey.

The Fulton County Daily Report summaries a great exchange between a GC panel and the chairman of McKenna Long & Aldridge. 

A 2004 survey of CLO's was reviewed by Altman Weil

For more CI resources, see an article I wrote on Competitive Intelligence on the Law Marketing Portal.