FOCUS GROUPS BOOK

purposes of tort law engrained in cases and state statutes. Use the law in your state regarding
the purposes of tort law, such as deterrence, to couple with what the jury is telling you they get
out of the verdict in your parJcular case.
When to do it:
This focus group is categorized within Stage Three of the case phases focusing on trial
preparaJon.
Begin weaving this concept into your focus groups as you have goSen through some of the
discovery in your case, idenJfied your moJve, and have aspects of your trial preparaJon ready.
ObjecCve:
We are literally running this focus group to do just as it says: find out under our case
circumstances what Bubba wants and needs, and how a verdict in favor of our client gets them
those things.
Why would we want to do that you say? Aren’t the answers obvious? If you have never done a
focus group evoking quesJons such as these, I have a hunch that you will think the answers are
obvious and you have no real need to be doing this. You may assume, “well obviously they will
say jusJce.” Or they will certainly say “to give the client what they lost.” But if we have learned
one thing through the Edge it surely has been that Bubba does not give a you know what about
our clients. And they certainly don’t equate that with “jusJce.” Run the focus group and you will
quickly learn that the repJlian brain will kick in, and most of the things that the focus group
wants out of the verdict will be a preservaJon of their own rights and safety.