Fairness is a fundamental tenet of the American judicial system. However, no matter how rational and fair people might think they are, all individuals have cognitive biases that effect their judgement and beliefs. These cognitive biases play out in the courtroom everyday across the country and ultimately influence the decisions of jurors, witnesses, attorneys and judges.
In this CLE course, attorney Joel Selik discusses common social and decision making biases encountered during voir dire, at trial and during jury deliberations. Mr. Selik addresses the following subjects: why we have to identify biases for jury trials, the common types of biases exhibited by jurors & attorneys, how attorneys can use bias and ideas to elicit & overcome bias in voir dire. The types of biases discussed include social bias, fundamental attribution error, illusory superiority, ingroup bias, trait ascription bias, defensive attribution hypothesis, anchoring bias, attentional bias, availability heuristic, cheerleader effect, regressive fallacy, conservatism, confirmation bias and hindsight bias. Mr. Selik also discusses methods of determining juror bias and common biases such as tort reform bias and blaming others.
Joel G. Selik is a member of both the California and Nevada State Bars. His practice primarily focuses on Litigation and Tax. Mr. Selik has given many seminars on Estate Planning, Nursing Home Litigation and other legal topics and was an Adjunct Professor of Law at a local law school.