Nuclear Verdicts: Understanding Jury Behavior, Case Elements, and High-Stakes Litigation

Alayna (Jehle) Lutz, PhD | R&D Strategic Solutions

Alayna Lutz has specialized in jury decision-making for twenty years. Dr. Lutz earned her doctorate from the Interdisciplinary Social Psychology program at the University of Nevada, Reno. Throughout her academic and professional career, she has conducted research on juror and victim behavior.

Dr. Lutz has worked with trial teams nationwide on hundreds of cases involving all types of civil litigation including contracts, product liability, insurance, toxic tort, securities and accounting fraud, intellectual property, medical malpractice, and anti-trust, as well as criminal cases involving white collar crime. Dr. Lutz has worked with clients to develop case themes and the most effective arguments for trial.

Dr. Lutz also has a special expertise in forming juror profiles and crafting voir dire questions for jury selection. She has published several articles and has presented her research at numerous academic and professional conferences.

She also has delivered CLE presentations on a variety of general topics including persuasion and jury decision making.

James L. McGarity | R&D Strategic Solutions

James McGarity has been studying jury behavior and trial strategy since 1999, and is a recognized expert in medical malpractice cases. In addition to consulting on over a thousand medical malpractice cases, James has consulted on many other civil and criminal matters including product liability, premises liability, copyright/patent litigation, white-collar crime, and many other types of litigation in venues across the country.

Mr. McGarity has assisted with case strategy preparation, jury selection, voir dire question development, witness preparation and post-verdict analyses.

He is an expert in research methodology and survey design, and has been a speaker at numerous CLE events and legal conferences including the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys (VADA), the Memphis Bar Association, Emory University School of Law and the University of Montana School of Law Advanced Trial Advocacy Program.

I. Events impacting jury behavior and resulting in nuclear verdicts | 1:00pm – 1:20pm

II. Case elements driving eight-figure verdicts | 1:20pm – 1:40pm

III. Strategies to improve case outcomes | 1:40pm – 2:00pm