Published: 07/22/2017

There are virtual museums, virtual universities, virtual surgery (virtual colonoscopy…ouch!), and of course, virtual sex. Virtual focus groups belong in that group. The legal profession is the last profession to welcome technology even though technology brings greater efficiencies and profit. Change is not a welcomed word in the legal profession. The virtual focus group uses today’s technology and makes the use of focus groups more efficient, more affordable and, in my opinion, better in every respect than the traditional focus group.

Virtual focus groups use the power of the internet to connect online users with attorneys and their clients. Attorneys merely download case facts and case evidence and an online set of jurors, usually chosen from the county where the case is filed or will be filed, will read the case and evidence and give their opinions of the case.

There are virtual focus groups that allow the attorney to view and even intervene in a deliberation room where the online jurors actually deliberate the case www.yurjury.com. This allows the attorneys to interject facts and answer questions posed by the online jurors. Other virtual focus groups merely allow the jurors to answer questions posed by the attorney without deliberation.

Virtual focus groups have many advantages over the traditional focus groups. I will discuss them in later blogs.