In the knotty realm of judicial process, things are rarely made easier. But a locally developed jury selection app for iPad has the potential to simplify the work of countless trial attorneys across the country. The user must still make the hard and fast decisions about which jurors he or she wishes to jettison. But “JuryStar” replaces the reams of sticky notes and other tools attorneys use when interviewing jurors with a simple point-and-tap interface.
The brainchild of Boyd Patterson, gang task force coordinator for the City of Chattanooga, “JuryStar” offers an elegant solution for an unwieldy process.
Patterson explains: “Lawyers typically take four items to the podium when they’re addressing a group of jurors: a pad of paper for taking notes, a jury list with demographic information, questions and a seating chart, which is a big piece of paper with Post-it notes. If you have three rows of seats where potential jurors are sitting, the attorney will have a Post-it note that corresponds to each seat.”
When the man who’s seated in the middle row, two seats from the right, answers a question, the attorney scribbles down his reply on the corresponding sticky note, Patterson says. And when the judge repopulates the jury and moves jurors around, the sticky notes get swapped, too.
“Believe it or not, that’s how it’s done in 2012. Despite our access to all kinds of technology, we’re still using Post-it notes. So I created an app that combines everything into one interface and takes advantage of the iPad’s touch screen technology,” Patterson says.
In addition to freeing up clutter and organizing information on a single device, “JuryStar” can also enhance the jury selection process by making an attorney a more effective communicator.
“The app is designed to allow a litigator to spend more time talking with jurors and less time scribbling down their answers,” Patterson says.
For example, when an attorney that’s using the pen and paper method asks potential jurors to raise a hand if they know someone who’s in a gang, and several hands go up, the litigator has to write a “G” on each corresponding sticky note. In “JuryStar,” a few quick taps on the screen accomplishes the same task.
Patterson loads “JuryStar” on his iPad and brings up a mock trial he uses when demonstrating the app. The top half of the interface contains three rows of six virtual sticky notes representing potential jurors, while the bottom contains a cleanly organized array of criteria he can apply to each one. In a few seconds, Patterson has tagged several potential jurors who know someone who’s in a gang.
“I might be speaking with Mr. Jones, and when I stop to write down his answers, it breaks our rapport. So I added features to ‘JuryStar’ that allows an attorney to record a juror’s answers with the touch of a button,” Patterson says.
“JuryStar” also offers litigators an at-a-glance look at which jurors might or might not be desirable based on their answers during the interview. Using a scale that ranges from -5 to +5, the attorney only has to slide a small dot to any point on the scale to indicate his or her satisfaction or dissatisfaction with an answer.
Patterson refers back to the fictional Mr. Jones.
“I might ask Mr. Jones who he knows that’s in a gang. And he might say, ‘My neighbor’s kids are in a gang, and they’re always staying up late and firing guns in their backyard. It’s horrible. I can’t believe they’re not in jail.’ That answer would rank a minus-five for the defense attorney, but the prosecutor would have a different rating,” Patterson says as he slides the dot back and forth.
“I don’t have to write down, ‘This person would be a good juror,’ or, ‘This person would be a bad juror.’ And when the jurors have answered all of the questions, I can look at ‘JuryStar’ and see which ones would be good for us based on the number of positive or negative scores. If a particular juror has several negative scores, he’s gone with the touch of a button.”
Although Patterson designed “JuryStar,” he relied on skilled programmers to do the coding. He then released it through his Web site, www.litigatortechnology.com, last August at a price of $39.95.
While Patterson is not expecting to take the iPad world by storm, he does hope the lawyers who discover it find it useful. “This isn’t ‘Angry Birds.’ It’s not going to sweep the nation. But if it can help an attorney select a jury, then it’s probably worth more than it costs,” he says.
Patterson, a former prosecutor with the district attorney’s office, enjoyed the process of creating “JuryStar.” To make it possible for other attorneys to bring their own ideas to the marketplace, he’s launched a free legal app incubator on his Web site. Attorneys with an idea for an app can enter their information in a form and then click “Send,” and someone from Litigator Technology will contact them to help them sculpt their proposal into something that will appeal to an app maker.
“Professional apps designed by professionals in the field have instant market appeal. That holds true for accountants, physicians, teachers and attorneys. Entire areas of the law remain untouched by the app revolution, like gold mines waiting to be claimed by whoever recognizes the opportunity first,” Patterson says.
With “JuryStar” out and Litigator Technology up and running, Patterson is able to pour all of his time and energy into his work as gang task force coordinator. But he’s still looking forward to seeing the apps other attorneys devise. In his mind, the possibilities are limited only by their imaginations.
“The tech future is beyond bright; it’s brilliant,” he says.