Commercial Litigation Update

New episode of our video podcast, Speaking of Litigation: What makes a jury work—and what earns their trust?

Dive into the nuanced world of jury selection with Epstein Becker Green attorneys Eric Neiman, Teddy McCormick, and Jonathan Brollier.

This episode unpacks the art of voir dire, blending centuries-old practices with innovative tools such as artificial intelligence-driven analytics. Along the way, they tackle how to identify bias, manage polarization, and create a fair but effective jury pool in an era of societal change.

From high-stakes civil trials to the finer points of building rapport with jurors, discover how modern litigators balance strategy with ethics to shape the courtroom narrative. Whether you’re a seasoned litigator or just curious about the inside workings of jury trials, this discussion offers fresh perspectives and practical advice for excelling in the courtroom.

We recently participated in what the New Jersey Law Journal called the “first complex civil jury trial to be conducted in person since the COVID-19 pandemic.” Although the case settled shortly after opening statements, this experience taught us that New Jersey courts are ready to try complex civil cases safely and responsibly with new COVID protocols that may force trial attorneys to depart from their usual practices. We published an article in the New Jersey Law Journal about this experience that may be of interest to our readers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has foisted ten years of technological advances on the legal sector in a period of ten months. In June of 2020, when the novel Coronavirus was truly novel, we blogged (here) about whether virtual jury trials would be part of the “new normal” and discussed some of the potential pitfalls associated with remote courtroom proceedings.

What seemed revolutionary just a few short months ago, does, indeed, appear to be the “new normal,” ushered in by the pandemic. On January 7, 2021, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued an Order resuming civil jury trials in a ...

EBG attorney William O. Stein recently obtained a complete defense verdict in one of the few jury trials to be tried during the pandemic. I recently sat down with him for a Q&A regarding his experience trying a “socially distanced” jury trial during the pandemic and how it differed from a regular jury trial.

Q: What was it like trying a “socially distanced” jury trial case during the pandemic?

To constitutional scholars, the line between Alexander Hamilton and the federal judiciary will always connect through The Federalist No. 78, wherein Hamilton anticipated the doctrine of judicial review by concluding that federal courts would have the “duty…to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the constitution void.”

But surely Hamilton never anticipated that two-and-half centuries later the federal judiciary he helped create and define would parody a Broadway musical about him to discuss the resumption of jury trials during a pandemic. But, alas, we ...