Nick Polavin, (Communication, 2019), now works as a jury consultant at IMS Insights in Columbus. Polavin received a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Communication from Ohio State.
In his role as a jury consultant with IMS, he offers various research services to help attorneys prepare for trial. He runs mock trials and focus groups, writes reports on how to help strengthen a case, and analyzes the data from these projects to create juror profiles. Juror profiles are used to identify the characteristics of jurors who the attorneys want to strike in jury selection.
Currently, Polavin works remotely but does travel weekly to go to a mock trial or jury selection. His daily schedule is constantly changing but he said that jury selection days tend to be “the longest but the most fun.”
On those days, Polavin gets to review juror questionnaires and social media pages to then prepare materials to use in court. These include juror summaries, seating charts, and voir dire questions. Voir dire is the process in which the credibility of potential jurors is questioned by the judge or a lawyer. In the court, he sits through the voir dire, taking notes of everything that the jurors say, writes follow-up questions for the attorney, and makes strike recommendations once the questioning has ended.
Polavin initially wanted to be an attorney.
“I liked the idea of creating persuasive arguments to help resolve important issues,” Polavin said. “But after interning for a couple of law firms, I realized attorneys aren’t in the trial as often as I thought, which was the part that excited me the most.”
After Polavin learned about jury consulting from his persuasion class professor, he decided to get his Ph.D. and go into the career.
Juror research helps clients craft more persuasive arguments and identify removing jurors who may be biased.
“Everyone has biases and it’s difficult to sit a completely unbiased jury,” Polavin said. “However, with quality research and proper preparation, we can remove the jurors who are most biased against our client.”
Polavin looks forward to the most prominent criminal and civil cases.
“Our pro-bono initiative allows us to help some parties that don’t have the budget for jury consulting,” Polavin said. “Working on these cases is rewarding because we can have an effect on more people than just those involved in the case.”
Polavin said that his degree from Ohio State gave him the solid research background that he needs to excel in the field. He was taught important skills during his time at the school including experiment/survey design, data analysis, focus group moderation and interview conduction. He continuously relies on the theoretical background information he learned at Ohio State to determine how various messages will affect jurors. He uses the research methods and statistics analysis learned as well.
Ohio State had a significant impact on Polavin’s career journey, with advisors and classes in multiple departments preparing him for jury consulting.
“Kelly Garrett and Joyce Wang were incredibly helpful School of Communication advisors,” Polavin said. “They both mentored me and supported my research, teaching, and career goals throughout my five years in the department.”
Article by student Audrey Taylor.
