"Jury duties" — Why We Must Protect the Constitutional Promise of the Jury Trial
The New York Times recently ran a piece titled “Jury duties”, shining a light on an often-overlooked reality: serving on a jury can be emotionally taxing, even traumatic. Jurors are asked to sit through disturbing evidence, listen to painful testimony, and then deliberate with the weight of someone else’s future — or even life — in their hands.
While the article focused on the toll this takes on jurors, it also raises a deeper question for people needing trial lawyers: how do we honor the constitutional promise of a jury trial while recognizing the very human limits of the people in the jury box? That promise is exactly what Justice Neil Gorsuch has been spotlighting in recent opinions — described by SCOTUSblog as a potential “right-to-jury-trial revolution” — reminding us that the jury trial is not just a relic of history, but one of the most important safeguards against injustice our democracy has ever known.
The Training Gap and the Trauma Factor
Training young trial lawyers isn’t just about teaching rules of evidence. It’s about preparing them to shoulder the vicarious trauma of their clients’ stories while staying composed and persuasive for a jury.
For five years, I served as faculty for Gideon’s Promise, the nation’s premier client-centered trial skills program for public defenders, and helped implement the Texas Gideon’s Promise program so every public defender’s office in the state could send new attorneys for training. At my nonprofit law office, I hired and trained newly licensed attorneys with full support staff, leading and developing trial skills in structured training modules and programs so they could handle contested hearings and trials daily while being more prepared than the other side and managing their docket alongside their training. I always had summer interns — honestly it’s been one of the best parts of my practice — and they consistently report gaining more real-world litigation skills with me than anywhere else.
The Impossible Demands on Jurors
Even the best-trained attorney faces the reality that jurors are often asked to do the impossible. In complex trials, jurors may be told dozens of times to compartmentalize evidence:
Consider this statement for credibility but not for truth.
Apply this evidence to one defendant but disregard it for another.
Science tells us the human brain simply can’t perfectly “unhear” or separate information. Add in emotionally heavy evidence — like graphic injury photos in a personal injury case or harrowing testimony in a civil rights trial — and the demands on jurors become even more unrealistic.
Meeting Jurors Where They Are
A skilled trial lawyer meets jurors in this reality, translating complex legal issues into human stories they can trust. That takes empathy, clarity, and the ability to earn and keep jurors’ confidence while navigating difficult evidence. It’s not something learned in a lecture — it’s forged in actual trials.
Our Commitment at Willey Law Firm
At Willey Law Firm, we hold the sanctity of the jury trial to the highest standard. We push to trial when it’s in our clients’ best interest — in business disputes, property tax litigation, constitutional issues, civil rights claims, and personal injury cases — because we believe in the power of ordinary citizens to deliver justice.
In personal injury cases, that means presenting difficult, sometimes gruesome evidence with compassion. In property tax trials, it means making complex valuation disputes understandable and persuasive to everyday people. And in every case, it means honoring the sacred position attorneys hold in our democracy: standing between our clients and injustice, and trusting our fellow citizens to render a verdict.
If you’re facing a legal battle and want an advocate prepared to try your case with empathy, clarity, and meticulous preparation — while honoring the jury’s role as the Constitution intended — we’re here to help. At Willey Law Firm, trial isn’t a last resort. It’s a commitment to the very foundation of justice.