ALL ABOUT LITIGATION TRACK | Implicit Bias and Jury Trials - MAI-Criminal and MAI-Civil (Qualifies for 1.0 Ethics & 1.0 Bias hour)

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Silver Sponsor: James W. Tippin & Associates, Kansas City

Presenters: Joan Lockwood, Gray, Ritter & Graham, St. Louis; Judge Deborah Daniels, 13th Judicial Circuit Court (retired), Columbia

With the adoption of new Missouri jury instructions addressing implicit bias, it’s increasingly clear that important decisions – by jurors, attorneys, even judges – can be impacted by bias.  

How do biases affect decision-making and how can we recognize and manage bias to increase focus on issues of diversity and equality?

This CLE segment will define and address common implicit biases and provide tools on how to manage their impact.

• Understand what implicit bias means and how it may influence our decisions.
• Discuss the rationale behind the adoption of and learn how to use Missouri’s implicit bias instructions contained in MAI Civil and Criminal. 
• Identify Missouri’s rules of civil procedure, court operating rules and ethical rules that have long recognized that bias has no place in our courts and our system of justice.
• Discuss the issue of implicit (and explicit) bias in the context of jury selection and in the use of Batson and peremptory challenges. 
• Learn some techniques that help debias perceptions and improve interactions.