Go ahead and admit it. You are a diehard fan of Perry Mason. You just love it when the defendant is miraculously proven innocent after defense attorney Mason launches a withering cross-examination of the real culprit and compels him to confess his guilt. But you have always had one small problem with the show. Mason was so good, cases never reached a jury. You thought it might be refreshing to hear what a jury might rule on the case. In fact, it may have crossed your mind that it might be neat to be selected as a member of a jury. Well thanks to the Internet, you can extra money working as a virtual juror.
Your role as an online juror is clear-cut, if not obvious. You arrive at a verdict after reading the facts and arguments of the case. Lawyers sometimes like to have a barometer of how their arguments might play out with a panel before presenting their case to an actual jury. That is where you come in as an e-juror. You are provided the facts and the arguments of the attorney relative to those facts. You are then asked to render a verdict and give an explanation as to how and why you arrived at that conclusion.
Just as with real juries, virtual jurors must meet rigid requirements. You must be at least eighteen and a citizen of the United States. Further, you must be of sound mind and moral character, literate, and neither under indictment nor convicted of a felony.
The sign-up process usually also requires that you to swear to an oath. You pledge that you are not an actively practicing lawyer, paralegal or legal assistant. You cannot work as an insurance adjuster nor have anything to do with insurance claims. And finally, you cannot be directly, or through marriage, related to a practicing attorney.
Before signing up, be aware that there can be long stretches between cases you see; your demographic profile may not meet the requirements for many cases. Also, do not expect to become wealthy. Payment is usually five to ten dollars per case.
As with anything over the Internet, and before working as a virtual juror, do your due diligence before revealing personal information to any organization offering jobs.
