Who conducts voir dire?
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 47(a) authorizes the court to permit trial attorneys to question prospective jurors directly during voir dire. Most states have adopted a similar rule.Voir dire is a formal process of inquiry conducted to ensure that those veniremen selected as jurors will consider the evidence in a fair and impartial manner. Voir dire also provides lawyers, albeit stealthily, with an opportunity to advocate for their respective clients. Thus, the inherent tension between these two objectives has caused the majority of federal judges, and many state judges, to assume a dominant role in examining potential jurors. A range of involvement is possible: from judges who deny lawyers any active role, to judges who are not even present and leave the entire process in the hands of lawyers.Proponents of lawyer-conducted voir dire argue that: • Because they have more intimate knowledge of the facts and issues presented in the case, lawyers tend to uncover bias more effectively than
