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If you don’t know how to get out of jury duty, idk how you ever made EP
I’m pretty sure those making $15-25 an hour have a better argument for hardship than you do. Everyone is busy. The fact that you make significantly more money than anyone else on the panel does not mean you’re more deserving of being excused. You probably won’t get selected anyways so relax. If you do get selected to serve, I’m confident someone as smart as you can find a way to financially recover from this.
I try five to eight cases a year, run an entire litigation department with over 400 active litigation files, have 5 kids with all sorts of commitments and I somehow can manage to do jury duty. This is the lamest post I’ve seen on this app and there’s no shortage of lame posts. Trust me, you’re not that important. And in case you didn’t know, this “annoyance” forms the foundation of the very same system your entire livelihood depends on. I also bet you’re one of those guys who complains when juries return nuclear verdicts, calling them idiots.
Not everyone who has a college education bills 60 a week and is never “off” in biglaw like I am. The job has no time available for this.
The busiest partners I know still do jury duty
Yes.
Get over yourself.
You took the words out of my mouth.
Your job is no more important than that of anyone else who serves on jury duty.
LOL
It depends on the jurisdiction you’re in and/or how many times you’ve requested a deferral or excuse from service. If you’ve never made a request before and you’re within the allotted time frame for submitting a deferral, get started on that now.
When I was selected for jury duty, stating that I’m an attorney did not help me at all. In fact, the lawyers handling the case actually liked that. So it will depend on the court you’re in.
This is helpful. I'm a self-employed single mom with 2 kids in college and one at home. When I don't work, I don't get paid. When I don't get paid, my family suffers. I will see if I can push it back to this summer. The holiday season is when I make the least money so it will crush me if I get locked in for jury duty next month,
Have a strong opinion on an issue that would make you bias (but don't be obnoxious about it).
For instance, a close friend was a victim of a violent crime or a relative suffered from drug addiction. The judge will press you along the lines of "if i instuct you to follow my instructions could you set aside your bias and fairly decide the case." You respond, "I honestly would love to judge but I really feel strongly about XYZ and would find it really difficult to do so."
You will be dismissed for cause and not piss off the judge
Everyone has biases if you think hard enough.
Not an attorney but...there was a judge in New Orleans who served jury duty on a capital murder case and was sequestered along with everyone else for the entirety of the trial. He survived.
When I was called for jury I asked for a deferral because I was in a jury trial at the exact same time and could not be in two places at once. They deferred. I went when they told me to show up next. It is your civic duty. At the time I was the only attorney in out satellite office so I had no one to step in and cover stuff but I knew I’d figure it out. How can any lawyer disrespect jury duty? While my experience is they generally do not want me to serve I’d be happy to experience it and it’s my civic duty. How do you expect jurors to take it seriously when you don’t?
Reschedule your service to a holiday week — far less likely to have to report, no attorney wants to do a jury trial during a holiday. I moved mine to Thanksgiving week - two court holidays! Didn’t have to report.
I was just called for the 2 weeks starting yesterday for fed ct. Dismissed on day 1 but told to keep calling in, but that nothing was even scheduled for today and they are only open Monday and Tuesday next week. Ideal time to get called except that if I'd been selected it needed to be a trial that ended before Christmas because I'm going out of the country 2 days after Christmas.
I’m always struck by how casually some lawyers treat jury service as a nuisance rather than a privilege. Especially when that dismissal is framed as personal importance — as though professional rank somehow places one above participation in the very mechanism that legitimizes our work.
Jury duty is not busywork for the idle or a burden for those without ambition. It is one of the few moments where the abstract ideals lawyers talk about — due process, legitimacy, public trust — become tangible. It is where law stops being a revenue stream or a résumé line and becomes justice administered by people willing to shoulder responsibility.
The notion that being “too important” excuses someone from service misunderstands both importance and law. The system does not function because lawyers bill hours; it functions because ordinary citizens are entrusted with extraordinary responsibility. That trust is not an inconvenience — it is the foundation.
I work in a small, independent firm. When one of us is gone, there is no army of associates to absorb the impact. The disruption is real. And yet, we serve. Not because it’s easy, but because participation is the price of legitimacy. If anything, experiencing the strain firsthand only reinforces how essential juries are — and how hollow the system would be if everyone opted out when it became inconvenient.
Jury service demands attention, patience, moral clarity, and intellectual rigor. It asks people to listen carefully, evaluate evidence honestly, and accept the weight of consequences that affect real lives. That isn’t something to flee from — it’s something to rise to.
Treating jury duty as something to avoid doesn’t signal superiority; it signals disengagement. It suggests a preference for extracting value from the system without contributing to its most human function. That may be efficient, but it isn’t admirable.
If we expect the public to respect the rule of law, lawyers should be the first to demonstrate that participation matters — not the first to explain why they’re exempt. Justice is not sustained by distance from responsibility, but by the willingness to bear it.
Jury service isn’t for the feeble-minded or expendable. It is for people prepared to think carefully, decide conscientiously, and accept that justice, by its nature, requires time and effort. I consider it a privilege — and I find it hard to reconcile a profession built on the jury system with the idea that serving on one is beneath us.
In fed ct at least the judge very likely will not take “I am really busy” as a serious hardship that should result in your being excused, just FYI
If you have never seen or heard about this then you certainly don’t live or work in Miami. That judge deserves a metal for suggesting the community service hours!!! I hope other judges see this and like the idea!
Wear law school gear and be a tool if you get selected for voir dire.
Get yourself a good EA. I just got my exec off three call ups in a three month window because she just so happened to be travelling on all those dates.
Here's a list of potential excuses, roughly in order of least to most likely to piss off the judge. I would not go below #4 unless it's an emergency, and would not go below #6 unless you have imminent plans to retire and move.
1. I know/am familiar with the litigants, and my firm has previously represented one or both.
2. I'm an attorney and this matter concerns an area of law in which my firm practices/has a pending case.
3. I'm an attorney and I know / am familiar with one or more of the attorneys in this matter.
4. I have emotional baggage related to the subject matter of this case and despite my best efforts believe I would have difficulty preventing my personal feelings from coloring my view of the facts.
5. I am a political libertarian and believe in jury nullification. Although I understand I am to apply the law as the court presents it, I also understand that my highest loyalty is to the US Constitution.
6. I believe the laws in this area are immoral / stupid and I will refuse to convict for violation of unjust laws.
7. I just hate (immutable characteristic of one of the litigants)
8. I'm an attorney and I am familiar with the judge in this matter, and consider him to be such a hopeless incompetent I could not possibly take his word for how to apply the law.
Many jurisdictions allow you to defer for any reason, but you're just rescheduling your jury duty to a time that works better for you. In my experience, most of the cases settle/plead and you get sent home within a couple hours of showing up. Just show up, bring your laptop so you can work during downtime, and see what happens. Also, if you have a specific case/task at hand that would prevent you from serving for a longer case, you can always tell the judge that. But it had better be good. Most judges are not going to be sympathetic to "I'm too busy" or "I'm too important" to serve as a juror. Don't be a jerk, and you'll get much more traction.
Fed court typically has different rules for attorneys, but yeah I would check on that ahead of time if it's federal and ask if the attorney rules apply if you're a juror (but also an attorney).
Many courthouses provide free Wi-Fi services and workspaces. Bring your laptop, cell phone, etc. with you and work from there.
I find it odd that lawyers can be jurors in the US. In my jurisdiction, lawyers, doctors and veterinarians are excluded on the basis that their expertise would be relied upon during deliberations and hence provide influence that goes beyond the evidence and expert opinion provided in open court.
Years ago, that was my rationale believing that because I was an attorney, I would be relieved of jury duty. Then, I was selected…
Just say you are a partner in a Law firm.