The voir dire and jury selection process is one of the most challenging aspects of a jury trial. It is at this time that lawyers must identify and remove potential jurors who harbor some bias or hold beliefs that would make them less beneficial than others. Success in jury selection requires lawyers to draw upon a number of basic skills. These skills include the ability to:

• Operate effectively within the jury selection system in the trial jurisdiction
• Attain the major goals of voir dire (i.e., gathering info, rapport, education, and persuasion)
• Identify critical opinions, biases, and experiences of jurors that can influence their decisions
• Encourage jurors to reveal important information about themselves
• Utilize the information about their opinions and feelings that potential jurors communicate through their nonverbal behavior
• Develop and ask the questions on voir dire necessary to uncover desired information
• Employ methods for handling common situations and problems (e.g., reluctant jurors, difficult jurors, stealth jurors, negative spirals, and pretrial publicity) that arise during voir dire
• Capitalize on the information available through the use of juror questionnaires
• Effectively utilize information available on jurors through Internet sources and minimize potential   threats to jury trials posed by the Internet
• Operate effectively in courts-martial member selections
• Exercise peremptory challenges and challenges for cause in a manner that removes the least desirable potential jurors

The goal of this book is to promote the skills needed to be successful in the area of voir dire and jury selection. It is through the sharpening of these skills that lawyers take a major step in improving the chances of a favorable verdict at trial.