The stereotypical Generation-Xer is an unmotivated slacker–angry at society, shaggy haired and flannel-shirt wearing, suspicious of authority and reluctant to get a job. From the traditional corporate defendant’s perspective, that’s the last person you’d want to decide the company’s fate in a large litigation. But litigators can no longer afford to simply ignore that segment of the population. The people who grew up alongside Kurt Cobain are now in their 30s. Generation X and the one that follows it, Generation Y, now constitute about 52 percent of the jury pool, and companies will undoubtedly have to place those people on juries going forward.
Instead of automatically eliminating young people in voir dire or hoping Gen-Xers will fall in line with older jurors, companies need to learn the strategies that will enable them to present their cases in ways that capture the attention of younger jurors.
