Jury duty can be a pain. You have to go down to the courthouse, verify your paperwork and then sit around for hours waiting to be called (and hoping your not). If you are called you get herded over to some courtroom where you are asked a bunch of questions about yourself and your beliefs (you try to keep a low profile so no one asks you questions) and then hopefully you will be excused and not have to serve. Sound familiar? A couple of friends (non lawyers) and I discussed this very topic this morning. They were upset with the amount of wasted time in the process and in some cases the attitude of the lawyers. I have been on the other side where we have waited for days to get a jury panel because not enough people showed up to serve. How can we make the process more streamlined, more pleasant and enjoyable? If you have gone to jury duty post a comment and let me know your experience good, bad or indifferent and any suggestions you have to make it better.
I tried to comment on the blog to no avail. My experience has been that the old saw of jury of peers is not the reality. Most of my peers are able to duck a jury duty for many “important” reasons. That may not be anyone else’s experience but certainly has been mine.