Trial Consulting and Conflicts of Interest: An Introduction

Abstract

For many psychologists and other social scientists, trial consulting is an alluring career option. Trial consulting is an opportunity to practice applied social science in one of the most interesting contexts of social decision making – the courtroom. Many prospective trial consultants are also attracted by claims in the media, although generally overstated, that trial consulting is a lucrative and glamorous career. At the same time, some prospective trial consultants express concerns that a career in trial consulting could somehow involve compromising their ethical or professional responsibilities as social scientists. Perhaps the popular media fuel such concerns. For example, the 2003 movie, Runaway Jury, portrayed trial consulting as “jury tampering” and perhaps created general misperceptions of what trial consulting involves. Contrary to this concern of some aspiring trial consultants, the reality is that when a nonlawyer social scientist enters the world of trial consulting, the social scientist enters the highly regulated world of lawyers and courts. In turn, nonlawyer trial consultants who act at the direction of attorneys are, or should be, held to a high standard of conduct similar to the attorneys they assist. The strict standards governing conflicts of interest for lawyers, for example, likely also apply to trial consultants. A trial consultant’s breach of those standards could potentially be imputed to the lawyers the trial consultant is assisting. Accordingly, the trial consultant who fails to become familiar with the standards and regulations governing the conduct of lawyers and courts, particularly with regard to conflicts of interest, puts oneself and one’s clients at significant risk.