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This weeks. Life note, our top 10 guide for surviving a jury duty.

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Summons. Welcome to Life Notes from Chair 17,

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All righty. Welcome back in friends to another episode of Life Notes from Chair 17.

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I am your host ch Thank you once again as always for finding me in this corner of the podcast universe.

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And as usual, I like to start every episode by thanking our returning C 17 ers for your continued support tuning in each week.

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And if you have just found us for the first time via a major podcast platform,

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or maybe out on our website live notes from church 17 podcast.com.

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A warm welcome to you. Thank you for wanting to check us out,

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hope you like what you hear and you will want to tune in ongoing basis.

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Um And I will say that this is probably a more unique episode uh to check us out for the first time.

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And uh those of you that are returning listeners saw the title of this and the show description and heard the teaser and thought so she was on jury duty.

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She served on a jury. How, how,

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what huh what is this? Uh And rest assured this is meant to be a somewhat quirky,

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maybe comical lighthearted episode about uh essentially responding to a jury summons here in the United States and sort of the things I have thought about as this recently happened to me.

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It was not necessarily an episode uh I had on the docket pun intended uh as I was planning out episodes,

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but as it so happens, I did take a recent trip down to the Seattle Municipal Court uh and responded to a jury duty summons,

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which if I'm being totally honest as well has left me hearing the law and order theme in my head on repeat.

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And more importantly though,

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had me noting some of the maybe usual and unusual things that happen when a random group of strangers essentially gather by order of the court and sit in a waiting room with not a whole lot to do but to wait for the legal system to work at its own pace.

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Uh It's definitely not fast.

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This episode has come out of that and it is ok if you laugh,

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it's, I'm laughing a little bit myself.

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Uh, and it really is as a result of me googling what to expect at a jury summons.

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I really did that before I went down because it had been several years over 10,

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uh, since I was last, uh, summoned.

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And I was wondering if anything had changed.

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I also found myself explaining to the Lyft driver how a jury summons works because he did not know.

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And then when I got to the courthouse,

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I was riding up the elevator to the assembly floor,

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uh with folks that had never been summoned. And I,

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I started to think, well, you know, maybe let's just make this an episode and see if it can't provide a little bit of comic relief and maybe educational in an unofficial capacity point of view.

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And we can call it our top 10 c 17,

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officially unofficial guide to surviving a jury duty summons uh sidebar though I have actually been summoned in all three states that I've lived.

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So California, Oregon and Washington, but I've not actually been picked to sit on a trial.

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And for those of you that do not know how it works just because you receive a summons in the mail does not necessarily mean you are going to actually be picked for a trial.

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Um And there are two kinds of ways to respond certain municipalities like you to call in each day,

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uh, for about a week, maybe two weeks depending.

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And, uh, they will tell you whether or not you need to report into the court.

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And usually that's the next day. Uh,

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sometimes you can go the entire time of calling in and you're not asked to report physically to the courthouse.

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Uh, but in the case of Seattle, there is no call in option.

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So when you get your summons, you get your date and you must show up,

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uh, on time, uh, to the courthouse and in the assembly room.

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And what this has done,

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uh, is actually made me think about jury duty kind of in three phases.

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So you have the phase one,

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which is, you have to respond. So you have a short period of time to tell the court.

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Yep. Hi, I got the summons. Yep. I'll be there or,

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yep. I'll call in on my time and then phase two is,

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if you're asked to actually physically report to the courthouse on your specified day,

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you become part of the collective pool of people that have been asked to appear that day and you may or may not be,

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go beyond that phase if you're not called into a courtroom or selected to be called into a courtroom.

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Uh, but phase three would be that you actually do get selected to go into a courtroom and then you go through the process of being,

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uh, somewhat interviewed by the lawyers as well as,

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uh, sometimes the judge will ask questions and it's essentially,

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uh, coming to a consensus between both lawyers,

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uh, to pick 12 people that will be the right balance for the trial.

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So generally speaking,

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uh, there's probably a room of 100 of us and 25 people get pulled in and out of that.

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There's the 12 people that will get picked.

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Uh, if, for some reason, they blew through all those 25 people,

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then they take another batch of us. If there's more than one trial,

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you could be part of another group of 25.

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So that phase two and phase three kind of become where the rubber meets the road as the saying goes and whether you actually are going to find yourself inside a courtroom,

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the only time that happened to me was actually in California.

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Uh but I was not picked to actually be in the box and the jury.

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Uh, and the good news about this entire process,

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whether you get called into the courtroom,

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whether you just assemble for the day and are dismissed or whether you call in it,

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all counts as part of serving jury duty.

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So in Seattle's case,

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uh it's good for 12 months and you don't have to serve again because you can uh show them the letter that you get at the end of your service that says,

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hey, for these days, I was called in for jury duty.

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And this excuses me over this period of 12 months.

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I don't know how this works in other municipalities,

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but generally there's a grace period for people that have been called within a certain period of time and you don't have to reserve which is kind of nice but made no mistake.

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You do have to respond one way or the other,

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especially that first phase. When you get the summons in the mail,

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it's a crime. If you don't, if you happen to work at a company that will cover it,

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you are in good shape, but a lot of companies may not cover it.

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Uh So you do have,

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uh, a small, like daily per diem that you earn.

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Uh, if you are for the days that you serve,

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whether you are gonna be picked or you're not,

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uh, in Seattle, that's $25 a day,

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I think is how long it goes or how long your service is.

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And for everyone being like, well,

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I just want to figure out how to get out of it. That's a little more complicated than you think.

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Uh, you generally have to have a fairly particular and compelling reason and it has to be documented.

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You can't just go, I don't want to show up.

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This is inconvenient for me that doesn't fly.

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You can, uh,

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write before you show up on your day to be asked to be excused.

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I did that in both of my uh,

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Oregon and Washington cases.

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Um One I had a compelling case because I was graduating from university and leaving the state from Oregon.

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That was legit. So I wrote in and said, hey,

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I'm not gonna be here. Uh And then the first time I was called for jury duty in Seattle,

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I actually was dealing with a broken ankle. So I was on six weeks of nonweightbearing recovery and on some significant pain meds,

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which would render me pretty useless as a juror.

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So that's a medical uh a legit medical excuse,

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but I had to provide all the documentation showing I was doing that.

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So if you try that and you are turned down and you end up still having to report and then you get picked in the courtroom,

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your sort of last chance is to actually take it up with the judge and determine with the judge whether or not you can be dismissed,

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which is, it can be a little intimidating,

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but it will be ultimately up to the judge whether they let you go or not.

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So it's uh you can ask to be delayed or postponed,

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but actually getting excused is a whole different ball game.

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So that is a bit of the backstory of kind of my experience in having already previously been called.

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But for this recent version, I had no excuse and I had to go and I had to show up and it has given me the top 10 guide that I will share with you.

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Now, if you happen to have ever watched,

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uh, the late show with David Letterman,

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uh, he used to do a top 10 list every night.

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And so this is kind of in that vein.

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It's obviously meant to be lighthearted.

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It certainly is not meant to disrespect lawyers or anybody in the courthouse or the folks that work in the courts.

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I actually found all of the Seattle folks incredibly helpful and very kind.

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The welcoming judge was also that and again,

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we are not going to be doing any kind of commentary on the actual justice system.

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That's not what this podcast is about. So there are plenty of those out there.

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Uh This is really just from my point of view of having sat for two days in a jury assembly room and took some life notes.

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So here we go. Uh Number one,

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the legal system is not fast,

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this is not law and order and you may be really bored,

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gonna be honest. Uh and possibly disappointed by how incredibly slow it moves.

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And I think when we see things on television or in the movies,

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we think it's gonna move faster than it is,

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but it doesn't. And so you kind of have to be prepared to keep yourself entertained uh for the time that you are called.

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And if you don't, it's going to be a little boring for you.

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So you've been warned if you didn't know that already.

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Uh Number two, it's a fairly good chance that most people that are in that assembly room would love to not be there.

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Uh I've only known a handful of people that have ever really been excited about getting a jury summons.

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Uh and really wanted to go.

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One of those is my stepdad. Uh And if you are one of those people that is awesome and that makes you an excellent civil servant.

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Uh And they do make quite an effort,

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at least here in Seattle to really acknowledge uh the service of all of us when we assemble.

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Uh We had a welcoming judge. We also had the jury coordinators.

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Thank us for our time before we even knew if we were going to be called.

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So there is a, a weighted of importance to responding to the summons and being part of the process,

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but at the same time, it can be difficult for some people.

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So if you're excited about it, great,

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awesome. But just know there's probably gonna be folks in the room that aren't.

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So you might want to balance that excitement.

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To be honest, I've never really seen anybody,

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you know, running around the room going. I'm so happy to be here.

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This is awesome. I'm so excited. Nobody does that.

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But in case you might be a little more excited and you're sitting next to someone who isn't just bear that in mind.

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Number three does everyone remember group projects from school.

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And although I can't see all of you show of hands of how many of you loved them.

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My guess is not all of us did.

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And we kind of sometimes cringed when the teacher would say we're going to do a group project.

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So imagine that times 100 that is sort of my own opinion of the world of being part of a jury pool.

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And if you do get selected, understand that you will have to get along with a random group of people.

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You do not know for a very short and condensed period of time.

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And you are going to have to follow the instructions of a very strict teacher,

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A K A the judge and decide legally if someone did something and of which they need to face consequences for.

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So not only is it a group project but it is one of those serious group projects.

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So everyone kind of needs to be all in and all about it.

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It's not really optional. Number four,

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like the aircraft safety spiel that is given to us by flight attendants on every single flight.

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You want to really make the effort to listen to the orientation stuff either by the welcoming judge and or by the welcoming judge and the jury coordinators.

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Honestly, you really do. You have to assume that you are going to make it all the way through the process and actually get into the courtroom and get picked to be in the box.

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And if you do, you're going to need to know what to do and when to do it and what is expected of you and you really don't want to be the person that checks out and expects somebody else in your group project to explain it to you.

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Right? So, see, number three, the previous one,

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right? A lot of us didn't necessarily love group projects in school and jury duty.

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In my opinion, is literally one big giant group project.

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And it really would help out fellow jurors.

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If you're not that checked out group projects,

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person. Number five,

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very similar to number one, you gotta have a plan to do something while you're waiting.

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A lot of the actual official websites of the municipalities will tell you to do this anyway.

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It doesn't matter what it is. You could be,

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you're gonna do some work, you're gonna read, catch up on your podcast,

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your favorite podcast, word puzzles, start writing your own book,

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whatever it is you have and will have some hours to fill before anything resembling being taken into the courtroom starts to happen.

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And that that's a big if it happens or you could be like me where you're called back for a second day of just waiting.

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So come prepared with stuff to keep your mind busy.

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Number six, and this is probably the most serious one on this list and it's to check your unconscious bias at the door.

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We all have it. Uh whether we want to admit it to ourselves or not is a different thing,

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but we do have it. And if you're gonna be a really good juror,

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you have to call yourself out on that and any bias that may influence your judgment when it comes to determining whether someone is or is not guilty in a case.

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And I actually give a shout out to the Seattle Municipal Court and I don't know if other municipalities have gone down this road,

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but they've actually done an orientation video separate from the kind of welcoming orientation video that just focuses on what unconscious bias is and how to move past that and try to remove it from your thinking.

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And it was very much important to pay attention to it.

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And as I was doing so, the entire room was and I was impressed by that.

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So we all kind of took that seriously and I think we all kind of had to check in with ourselves about it.

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I know I did. So you have to kind of leave your bias at the door.

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And I think that will make you a better juror if you do at number seven trials are not necessarily glamorous.

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And again, this is not law and order.

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So you have to be realistic with your expectations.

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It's just gonna be whatever is on the docket for the week,

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you are summoned. Number eight,

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the jury assembly room can feel a bit like a library where everyone is in their own world and kind of doing their own thing and not talking very much.

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Uh There's actually a additional room in Seattle called the Quiet Room that's adjacent to the jury assembly room,

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which I don't know how it could be even more quiet,

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but it is so,

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you know, noise canceling headphones probably aren't necessary,

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but I brought them, use them a little bit.

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They can help if you need to kind of keep your mind focused.

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Certainly, you will be wanting to listen to anything through headphones and not just as a live speaker in the room.

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Uh because if we segue into number nine,

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you really do not want to be the person that is either taking a Zoom call or watching a movie or something where everyone can hear you.

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It's gonna feel super awkward because the room is so quiet and because we are generally in our own realms doing our own things.

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So headphones are a must for sure.

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Uh If you're gonna bring your ipad,

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your laptop, whatever, but please,

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if you are going to do work and you do have to take a meeting just gently get up and you know,

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sign out with the jury coordinator and just find a different place that you can take the call so that not everybody in the assembly room is also on your zoom call with you and number 10,

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if you manage to get into the courtroom and you get into the jury box and you are actually then unselected and dismissed.

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Do not take it personally. It really is not personal.

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The orientation will tell you this,

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the coordinators will tell you this.

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I think the judge will even say this.

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It is not actually about you personally.

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The best layman's analogy I use with this and this is again,

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lawyers out there and court folk,

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please don't, you know, don't come at me and hate me for this.

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But it's, it is kind of a good analogy is like we are the actors going in and the lawyers are the casting directors.

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I'm not suggesting lawyers are fake or that we should be fake.

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This is an important part of our process.

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But what they are trying to determine is if we me,

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you are going to be the right fit for the trial for both the plaintiff and the defendant because both lawyers have to agree on who sits in the jury box and you have to have the right whatever it is that they are looking for in this trial on this case to be a good pick for a juror for both.

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And if you don't get the call back A K A,

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if you don't get picked and you're dismissed, it's fine and there isn't anything wrong with you and you will have done your civic duty regardless.

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And really if you're gonna potentially want to get picked in a future case,

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you might, but it is not personal and don't take it that way.

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And the honorable mention that I will say is I think there is sort of a,

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I don't know, a,

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a urban legend or something to this effect,

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that juries are just a bunch of old people.

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It's not, actually, it's anybody who is a registered voter or has a driver's license in a municipality.

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You are potentially and can be pulled from the system to be in a jury pool.

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So you might want to remove that bias if you had it because,

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uh, as I saw with the folks that were pulled for my,

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uh, assembly room, uh, there was quite a wide swath of people of ages of,

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uh backgrounds and it was really actually nice to see truly in the actual vein of a jury of your peers.

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So there you have it,

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it is, hopefully,

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maybe gave you a little bit of a chuckle, maybe a smile,

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maybe learn something. Think about it the next time that you're called in for a summons,

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how to respond and how to be prepared.

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Obviously, we're not lawyers.

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We don't work at the court, we don't even work in any kind of city environment,

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we're just citizens. And as I do,

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as I go through life and my life journey, I observe a thing or two.

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And so I'm sharing it back with you and hopefully it'll be helpful and you know what if you have any additional tips or pointers for how you have gotten through a jury summons or even if you've actually served on a trial,

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let me know, we can add it as an addendum to the show notes.

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And if not, that is totally ok. As always,

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I ask you to be kind to yourself, take it one hour at a time,

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one day at a time and we will see you next time.

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Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Life Notes from chair 17.

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Remember to follow and subscribe. So you never miss an episode.

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We'll see you next time.