Duty Calls

More Lawyers Are Taking Their Seats on Juries, Living the Trial Experience, Learning From It�and Loving It

BY MARGARET GRAHAM TEBO

Steve Johansen must have a demeanor that trial lawyers trust. How else to explain why Johansen, called for jury duty three times, was chosen each time�twice for short, one-day criminal trials and once on a civil case that lasted three weeks?

Yet Johansen has one credential that might have given many litigators the jitters: He�s an attorney and law professor. For a long time, that would have been enough to send him home from the courthouse. But lawyers are sitting on juries more often, and many�like Johansen�relish the chance to learn how jurors make decisions.

Details here from the ABA Journal.