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I received a Jury Summons for August 31st for the duration of the trial. Problem is that law school begins August 25th. I do not want to be doing Jury Duty during my first few weeks of law school.

Anybody have any experience getting out of Jury Duty? I am a current resident of the courts county and won't move to my new home in a different county until closer to late August. How do I excuse myself out of this one?

you can almost certainly be deferred or even exempted from jury duty if you're a student. i did it twice without a problem.

You will most definitely be able to get out of it; just call the court and explain your situation.

k77 wrote:you can almost certainly be deferred or even exempted from jury duty if you're a student. i did it twice without a problem.

This.

If worst comes to worst voir dire will take care of it. I'm sure at least one of the attorneys doesn't want a law student on their jury.

I got called for grand jury duty while in undergrad. I wasn't picked as part of the jury, but they did ask me for a letter from the registrar saying that I was enrolled as a full-time student to prevent being called again. That should take care of it -- call the court and tell them.

It's almost impossible for a law student or an attorney to get on a jury because no one wants them on it.

..

i was selected for a case as an 0L (couple months before i start ls) and both atty's were aware i was starting law school.

just sayin'

acrossthelake wrote:

katjust wrote:It's almost impossible for a law student or an attorney to get on a jury because no one wants them on it.

Why is this?

It's like a magician trying to perform for an audience of fellow magicians.

Friend of mine this year got stuck on a trial midway through first semester of 1L. Judge wouldn't recuse him, because he "didn't have perfect attendance"

katjust wrote:It's almost impossible for a law student or an attorney to get on a jury because no one wants them on it.

I know three attorneys who have served on juries. As officers of the court, it is expected that they can follow the court's directions and separate their own opinion/knowledge.

blowhard wrote:

katjust wrote:It's almost impossible for a law student or an attorney to get on a jury because no one wants them on it.

I know three attorneys who have served on juries. As officers of the court, it is expected that they can follow the court's directions and separate their own opinion/knowledge.

Then they are the exception, not the rule. Attorneys don't want other attorneys on their jury -- this is an almost universal sentiment.

blowhard wrote:

katjust wrote:It's almost impossible for a law student or an attorney to get on a jury because no one wants them on it.

I know three attorneys who have served on juries. As officers of the court, it is expected that they can follow the court's directions and separate their own opinion/knowledge.

Your own opinions/knowledge are always going to influence your decisions as a juror. This is especially true with attorneys because those educated in the law are versed in Jury Nullification, which makes the bolded somewhat untrue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_Nullification

For this reason alone I wouldn't want an attorney on my jury (although maybe if I'm defense council)...

I think law students are avoided because they are likely to think they know more about the law than they actually do, and as such would be more likely to disregard the rules of the court and follow their own opinions/ideas, even if they are incorrect.

just to put it to rest if it hasnt been already...

as a student you are excused from jury duty during the semester, but you will have to serve this time during the summer. i had this happen to me two weeks before finals this past april

I was summoned during my 1L year, but I was able to defer it until the summer (tomorrow, actually). Once school was done, I called them and had it moved up to May, so I would have a chance to serve. Unfortunately, I was sent home before my name was called There goes what was probably my last chance to get on a jury.

legalease9 wrote:

blowhard wrote:

katjust wrote:It's almost impossible for a law student or an attorney to get on a jury because no one wants them on it.

I know three attorneys who have served on juries. As officers of the court, it is expected that they can follow the court's directions and separate their own opinion/knowledge.

Your own opinions/knowledge are always going to influence your decisions as a juror. This is especially true with attorneys because those educated in the law are versed in Jury Nullification, which makes the bolded somewhat untrue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_Nullification

For this reason alone I wouldn't want an attorney on my jury (although maybe if I'm defense council)...

I think law students are avoided because they are likely to think they know more about the law than they actually do, and as such would be more likely to disregard the rules of the court and follow their own opinions/ideas, even if they are incorrect.

It depends on the case I guess. I would think if you are in any kind of small/mid-size town the bigger problem would be your prior relationships with one or both counsels present...or even the judge. I'm from a fairly large'ish city and even though my step-dad is semi-retired and sticks mainly to real estate he knows or has worked with every other lawyer in town in some capacity or another...or has referral agreements with them for certain kinds of cases. When my brother sued for custody of his kids his ex made a big deal about his family being friends with both counsels and the court. She went three counties away to hire a lawyer and it still turned out he knew my step-dad from 20 years ago when he was a DA in a completely different part of the state.

I deferred once as a student, it was easy. I also heard that lawyers don't want smart people on juries, they want easily persuaded people who they can convince.

Aside, I actually didn't show up for jury duty once. I had it the next morning but left my letter in my apartment about 20 minutes from my parents house where I was for the weekend. I though I would run down and get it but then it got late and I forgot to drive down and grab it. I woke up the next morning at 11 a.m., ran some errands and then it hit me: oh shit, I was supposed to be at the courthouse 4 hours ago. I called, they were cool with it, I got rescheduled. They asked what happened and I didn't pull any punches, just told them I completely forgot. Still not something I would recommend.

Aside, Aside: When I actually served jury duty the two lawyers asked me what I was doing and where I went to school. Law school came up and they asked my my LSAT score. They told me I would get in to some good schools with it. The D.A. told me not to go and the public defender said he loved getting up for work every morning and it was the best job he could imagine.

I was summoned back in June for Federal Jury Duty. I was there all of one and a half hours and made $48.

Was a 6 person jury and I was second to last in the pool. So I didn't have a problem getting out of it. Good thing for me is it was the only trial that month(slow district) so I didn't have to go back on another date. Unfortunately my name just goes back in the pool to get randomly selected from for another year.

legalease9 wrote:

blowhard wrote:

katjust wrote:It's almost impossible for a law student or an attorney to get on a jury because no one wants them on it.

I know three attorneys who have served on juries. As officers of the court, it is expected that they can follow the court's directions and separate their own opinion/knowledge.

Your own opinions/knowledge are always going to influence your decisions as a juror. This is especially true with attorneys because those educated in the law are versed in Jury Nullification, which makes the bolded somewhat untrue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_Nullification

For this reason alone I wouldn't want an attorney on my jury (although maybe if I'm defense council)...

If I'm defense counsel, I would probably try to get a law student or an attorney on the jury. Law school uniformly teaches you that police have superhuman senses, have "at a glance/touch" perception that would make a Peter Watts Blindsight vampire blush, and should generally be hated and feared. Law students will also tend to work hypotheticals to death to talk themselves into something (reasonable doubt) and attorneys will probably take "beyond a reasonable doubt" seriously.

For the same reason, a prosecutor is going to aggressively strike any law student or attorney.

Original OP here. Thanks for the responses, I was able to defer until Jan. 6th.
Phew!