Inside Jury Selection in California: Strategy and Guidance from Judges, Litigators & Trial Consultants [Two-Part Webinar] (Watch Live or via OnDemand Streaming)

Agenda

Agenda

Part 1:  Tuesday, January 27, 2026
1:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time

1:00 p.m. – 1:25 p.m.
What the Judge Does!

• What to expect from your judge
• What to ask your judge in advance
• Advice from the bench regarding tactics, planning, questions

1:25 p.m. – 2:25 p.m.
Lawyer Questioning — First the Law 

• State rules
• Federal rules
• Pre-selection planning
• Questionnaires

2:25 p.m. – 2:40 p.m.
BREAK                            

2:40 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Cause Challenges

• Turning hardship into cause challenges
• How hardship turns into cause challenges
• Reasonable doubt
• Rehabilitation and what to do if a judge is working hard to keep people in who have expressed enough to give rise to reasonable doubt

Part 2:  Thursday, January 29, 2026
1:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time

1:00 p.m. – 3:05 p.m.
Peremptory Challenges

• The Rules
• Distinctions between civil and criminal
• Which prospective jurors to challenge via peremptory
• Keeping track of all that data and challenges in court
• Restrictions: Do Not Discriminate on Immutable Characteristics (ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and so on), the new CCP sec. 231.
• Strategies and advice

3:05 p.m. – 3:20 p.m.
BREAK

3:20 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Mock Voir Dire Demonstration and Analysis

Date/Time/Location

📅 Two-Part Live Webinar

Dates:

• Part 1: Tuesday, January 27, 2026
• Part 2: Thursday, January 29, 2026

Time (Both Days):
🕐 1:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time

You’ll receive your login instructions and program materials approximately one week before the seminar. Be sure to check your inbox (and spam folder), and add info@pincusproed.com to your contacts to ensure delivery.

Testimonials

“As a newer attorney who has never done a jury trial, I found this extremely helpful. I have assisted in a lengthy 1st degree murder trial where special circumstances were alleged and have conducted several bench trials but have not selected a jury on my own. I got some very useful pointers from this.” – Rena Harrison, Esq.

“I thought the speakers were excellent. I was very impressed with all of them. I thought Rich Matthews was particularly helpful and impressive. All the practitioners were excellent.” – Jennifer Duggan, Esq.

“Awesome!” – Rudy H. Lopez, Esq.

“It was an excellent program. I particularly appreciated the reminder that jurors see us as strangers with an agenda and to simplify the information in an understandable way.” – Ugochi Anaebere-Nicholson, Esq.

“Good program moved quickly.” – John Mansour, Esq.

“Extremely satisfied. It was great!” – Michelle J. Smythe, Esq.

“Knowledgeable presenters; well-organized presentations.” – Steven Finell, Esq.

“I was one of the speakers, but the presentations were incredibly informative with lots of new techniques I intend to incorporate.” – Matthew Slentz, Esq.

”The live demonstration was incredibly helpful in illustrating the lessons discussed during this seminar.” Fritzgerald A. Javellana, Esq.

”As a defense attorney, I am regularly staring down the barrel of jury selection with little or no time to prepare. This program helped point out the major points i should focus on during jury selection.” Anthony Burchell, Esq.

”Very helpful and well organized. It was good to hear both sides of various issues.”

“It was awesome to see Judge Gee present; I listened in to a jury trial he presided over during the pandemic where there were a few zoom-juror issues, so I knew he’d have excellent insight.”

”Very good information; learned a lot.”

”I liked it, very useful.”

“Really enjoyed the practical walk-thru of how the jury consultant would take notes about jurors.”

”Excellent presentation and information.”

”The area/topic of jury selection is very unique and interesting”

”Very good seminar overall.”

”This was very helpful.”

“I found the content interesting and useful for the future.”

“I’ve only done one trial and learned a lot so far.”

“Good content across all presentations. Professionally diverse speakers.”

“Practical information; learned a lot.”

“Helpful, meaty content; Lots of good advice.”

“Excellent program with tons of practical utility.”

“I thought the voir dire demonstration was extremely helpful to see them navigate through questions.”

“Excellent content and speakers.”

“Informative.”

“I enjoyed the program.”

“Program was informative and well put together.”

“Overall good content and delivery.”

“It was overall good. Knowledgeable, engaging, interesting.”

“I enjoyed the breakdown of the jury selection process.”

“It was great!”

“The mock voir dire was helpful.”

“Very good program. I thought the mock voir dire was excellent.”

“It was very well put together by all presenters.”

“Really enjoyed the mock voir dire.”

“Very good and informative program.”

“I think it was extremely helpful, especially to the younger lawyers who have never selected a jury.”

“Very experienced speakers providing value advice.”

“Enjoyed it.”

“Very good.”

“Good overview.”

Faculty

Hon. Laura A. Seigle
Judge
Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County

Laura Seigle is a judge on the Los Angeles Superior Court assigned to a civil courtroom and has sat pro tem on the California Court of Appeal.  Judge Seigle is chair of the Los Angeles Superior Court’s Ethics Review and Comment Committee and a member of the Court’s Local Rules Committee. She is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Litigation Section’s Executive Committee, the Board of Governors of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, the LACBA-WLALA Joint Task Force on the Retention and Promotion of Women Lawyers, the Chancery Club of Los Angeles, and the Board of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles. She is Chair of the Yale Law School Association Executive Committee and was President of the Los Angeles County Bar Foundation.  Judge Seigle regularly teaches on a variety of topics including evidence, torts, and professional ethics.

While in practice, Judge Seigle was named one of The National Law Journal’s 75 "Outstanding Women Lawyers" in the country, Intellectual Property Litigator of the Year by the Century City Bar Association, one of the 20 "Most Influential Women in IP Law" nationally by Law360, one of 75 "Top Intellectual Property Litigators" by the Daily Journal, one of the "50 Women Leaders in Tech Law" by The Recorder, and a Top 100 Women Lawyer in California by the Daily Journal. For many years Judge Seigle was included on the Southern California "Super Lawyers" list.

Prior to her appointment, Judge Seigle was a partner at Irell & Manella LLP and clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judge Seigle graduated from Yale Law School where she was an editor of the Yale Law Journal, and from Harvard University, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Barbara R. Adams, Esq.
Senior Attorney
Hogan Lovells US LLP

Barbara Adams has a diverse litigation background that includes an emphasis on Proposition 65 litigation and toxic torts claims involving asbestos, lead, and mold.

Barbara’s courtroom background is extensive. An experienced lead trial and appellate attorney, she has taken over 25 cases to verdict and has commenced more than 100 trials. She also has experience litigating personal injury, product defect, premises liability, and wrongful termination claims, as well as claims arising under California’s Lemon Law.

With a keen focus on providing superior quality work, Barbara is equally adept at resolving cases without resort to litigation. Barbara has briefed and argued cases before the California Courts of Appeal and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Super Lawyers has included Barbara among the area’s top attorneys for many years in recognition of her litigation excellence.

Brad Estes, Esq.
Partner
Lewis & Llewellyn LLP

Brad Estes is an experienced litigator, representing plaintiffs and defendants across a wide variety of industries at every stage of complex commercial litigation, including business tort, contract, fraud, regulatory, trade secret, trademark, employee mobility, and competition disputes.

Brad has a proven track record of counseling senior leadership, orienting his litigation approach to the strategic needs of the business and emphasizing tenacity, creativity, and pragmatism. He prides himself on his subject matter adaptability and ability to dive deep into the facts of a case at any stage. Brad’s practice has been uniquely trial-focused, providing insight at every stage of the case of the ultimate risks and rewards his clients face. He is also experienced at performing pre-litigation investigations to identify claims, mitigate liability, and resolve disputes at an early stage. He has been recognized as a Northern California Rising Star by Super Lawyers in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Brad also founded and runs Lewis & Llewellyn’s annual fellowship, which is designed to promote access to the legal profession by providing hands-on litigation experience, law school preparation, and general professional development to high-achieving young adults from a diverse array of backgrounds.

Before joining Lewis & Llewellyn, Brad clerked for the Honorable Lawrence J. O’Neill of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. Prior to clerking, Brad practiced at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP in San Francisco, California, representing a range of clients from Fortune 500 companies to privately held corporations, including pharmaceutical, consumer product, professional, and technology companies. The vast majority of Brad’s time at Quinn Emanuel was spent in or preparing for jury trials in state and federal courts across the country.

Melissa J. Kendra, Esq.
Attorney
Greenberg Traurig

Melissa J. Kendra defends employers in all phases of employment litigation against claims arising from allegations of wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation and whistleblower claims, and wage-and-hour violations. She advises employers on a range of issues and provides preventative counseling. Her clients include organizations, executives, and supervisors from a range of industries, including technology, health care, food and beverage, education, and nonprofit organizations.

Melissa also regularly defends claims before administrative agencies, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Labor Standards Enforcement, and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

Melissa is a former prosecutor and veteran trial attorney. Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig, Melissa served as an Assistant District Attorney, during which time she conducted more than 25 jury trials, performed hundreds of evidentiary hearings, and negotiated countless settlements. Melissa also served as a California Deputy Attorney General in the Appeals Writs and Trials unit, where she briefed and argued complex criminal matters before the California Courts of Appeal.

Dan Lawton, Esq.
Shareholder, Certified Specialist in Appellate Law
Klinedinst PC

 Throughout his career in private practice, Dan Lawton has focused on civil trial work and complex commercial and intellectual property litigation on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. He also has a deep background in civil appeals, and is certified as a legal specialist in Appellate Law by the State Bar’s California Board of Legal Specialization. The certification is a distinction held by only 36 lawyers in San Diego County. His first job out of law school was a clerkship with Ninth Circuit Judge Thomas Tang.

Dan regularly counsels both corporate and individual clients in a variety of settings, often in negotiations and sometimes in transactions. His corporate clients have included companies whose stock is publicly-traded and companies whose stock is closely-held. They have included life sciences companies, pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers and distributors of various products, landowners and property developers, large corporations, a local major league baseball franchise, automobile dealerships, and “mom-and-pop” businesses. His individual clients have included officers, directors, and shareholders (both majority and minority) of corporations, bankers, elected officials, politicians, professional athletes and coaches, attorneys, accountants, land owners, entrepreneurs, and entertainers.

Dan has tried multiple jury trials, bench trials, and arbitrations, and litigated many cases to disposition short of trial (by way of motions to dismiss and for summary judgment). Dan has obtained settlements and judgments in his clients’ favor totaling tens of millions of dollars, and obtained what is believed to be the third-largest jury verdict in the legal history of Imperial County (for ,286,461, after a nine-week jury trial). Over the span of more than 30 years, his caseload has included cases involving patent infringement, copyright infringement, trade secret theft, unfair competition, defamation, and business torts (such as trade libel and intentional interference with contractual relations). Dan has handled civil appeals and writs in both the California and federal courts. Dan has successfully litigated cases against some of the largest law firms and government agencies in the State of California.

In January 2009, Dan learned of his nomination for inclusion in 2009 San Diego Super Lawyers based on anonymous peer evaluation. He was so honored again in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 in the primary practice area of intellectual property litigation. Nominations for SuperLawyer designation are peer-driven, and fewer than 5% of lawyers in California earn the distinction. In 1997, two years after opening his own practice, Dan earned an “AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

Dan has been a team leader in the J. Clifford Wallace Chapter of the American Inns of Court since 2015. In that role, he has been responsible for putting on mandatory continuing legal education programs for the Inn, a group whose membership consists of lawyers and Judges and is by invitation only. In September 2015, Dan won an award for Best Program via anonymous peer vote for a short documentary he produced entitled “Avoiding Deathbed Regrets and Having Work/Life Balance.” The documentary combined excerpts of interviews with 25 local lawyers and Judges with data concerning work/life balance for attorneys and jurists.

Active within the legal and business community. Dan has participated in numerous charitable and pro bono programs. Dan has earned multiple Wiley W. Manuel awards for community service from the State Bar of California for pro bono work on behalf of indigent refugees fleeing persecution and seeking asylum in the United States. The San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program awarded Dan its Distinguished Service Award in three separate years for his pro bono work on behalf of refugees.

Richard P. Matthews, Esq.
Senior Trial Consultant
Juryology

Rich Matthews has been a trial consultant for more than two decades and is a California attorney.  Kind of a “mythbuster” for a lot of the widespread but often incorrect beliefs about jurors and jury selection, Rich combines research with psychology with artistic craft to create the best frames and themes for your case . . . and get the best results from jurors or in settlement. 

His expertise includes separating jury issues from the legal issues; crafting the themes and frames that will shape juror perception of a case; writing openings and closings like a human actually speaks to other humans and in a story format that will bring your audience to your case (rather than the reverse); witness preparation; and all things related to jury selection from juror questionnaires and voir dire questions to exercising cause and peremptory challenges.  

Rich has innovated the use of focus group results at mediations and in negotiations to achieve better settlements in a shorter time than clients had experienced without them.

Rich has achieved successful results for both plaintiffs and defendants in the civil world, and prosecutors and defendants in criminal cases.

Rich has appeared on national television and in major publications offering commentary on high profile trials. He serves on the California Bar’s Litigation Section’s committee for comment on proposed revisions to California’s standard jury instructions, lending his juror expertise to improving the understandability and clarity of jury instructions.

Unable to resist a trivia contest, Rich has appeared on Jeopardy and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and besides writing openings/closings/voir dire for countless attorneys, has written jokes for latenight television.

Rich works nationwide and is located in San Francisco and received his J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law.

Adam K. Shea, Esq.
Partner
Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP

Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP founding partner Adam Shea is a nationally recognized trial lawyer with extensive experience and success representing individuals and families in catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County, and across Southern California.

Mr. Shea has a proven track record of helping those who have been harmed by negligence, wrongful conduct, violations of safety rules, and defective products – including automotive and tire product defects. In this area,  Mr. Shea specializes in bus and truck collisions involving other vehicles and pedestrians, accidents resulting from tire failures, rollovers of 15 passenger vans, trucks and utility vehicles, as well as cases involving claims of roof crush, defective fuel systems, defective restraint systems, seat back failures, child safety seat defects, airbag deployment failures, van conversion defects, and vehicle crashworthiness. He has obtained some of the largest jury verdicts and settlements in California in these types of cases and was an integral part of the trial team in Lampe v. Continental Tire that resulted in a .6 million verdict, which is the largest jury verdict in history in a lawsuit involving a defective tire.

Mr. Shea also represents injured parties in cases involving commercial truck accidents, trash truck accidents, airplane accidents, helicopter crashes, train disasters, and governmental liability for dangerous condition of public property. He has achieved over 200 settlements and jury verdicts in excess of ,000,000 in these types of cases, including numerous record settlements and verdicts.

Mr. Shea is a member of the Los Angeles chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (“ABOTA”), and has been selected by his peers for inclusion in, Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers,  Best Lawyers of America, National Trial Lawyers: The Top 100 Trial Lawyers, and Super Lawyers. He has been recognized for his legal ability and ethical standards by the prestigious Martindale-Hubbell peer review ratings with an A-V rating, the highest possible rating.

In 2011, Mr. Shea was a finalist for the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA) Trial Lawyer of the Year for his representation of three young boys who lost both their parents when their van rolled over after a tread separation in the rear tire in the case of Barber v. Mossy Ford (San Diego Superior Court). The jury found that the car dealership had performed a faulty tire repair that led to the tread separation, and reached a record verdict of ,465,864. Pre-trial settlements with other defendants resulted in a combined recovery for the family of ,763,000 – as well as an agreement by the dealership to improve their training of its technicians to improve consumer safety.

A frequent lecturer at a wide variety of legal education seminars, Mr. Shea travels throughout the country sharing his expertise with his professional peers. He has appeared on national news programs, including NBC News, and has authored numerous articles in legal publications on various topics.

Mr. Shea is a member of several professional organizations, including the Board of Governors of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, the Board of Directors of the Attorneys Information Exchange Group, the Consumer Attorneys of California, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, and the American Association for Justice.

A 1990 graduate of UCLA, Mr. Shea earned his Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles in 1993. 

Additional judges and practitioners to be announced shortly.

Fees

Fees & Format Options – Live Webinar

🎯 Early Bird Rate Deadline: Save $50 through November 7, 2025
Discount applied automatically at checkout.

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CLE Credits

CLE Credit Information

California: Approved for 6.5 hours of general CLE credit.
New York: Eligible for 6.5 CLE hours under New York’s Approved Jurisdiction policy. Pincus Professional Education is a California Accredited Provider, which qualifies as an approved jurisdiction per Section 6 of the NYS CLE Board Regulations and Guidelines.

This program is approved in the states listed above. If you need CLE credit in another state, we’re happy to assist — we regularly provide documentation for attorneys seeking credit elsewhere, and many are approved.