How do you win a jury trial? Well, according to jury consultant Dr. Bull on CBS’ new procedural-drama Bull, you need to “know how they’ll vote even before they do.” You use mega-computers to crunch analytics on demographics, you construct mock juries and draw upon their psychology, and ultimately you come to “know the jurors down to their neurons.” A little Hollywood magic doesn’t hurt either—the titular character can seemingly read minds. To be sure, there’s more than one type of ‘bull’ in this hour-long drama.
Though that’s not to say that jury consulting isn’t a real and flourishing business. To the contrary, the show was co-created and inspired by the experiences of psychologist and television-personality Dr. Phil McGraw. Dr. Phil founded one of the country’s first litigation-strategy companies, Courtroom Sciences, in Dallas during the late 1980s. Although thirty years ago courtroom psychology was in its fledgling beginnings, today it is a multi-million dollar business. When serious money is on the line, it’s not uncommon for law firms to call in trial consultants who specialize in juries.
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