Dirk Derrick (00:00):
Welcome to The Legal Truth, the podcast created to provide you general legal information about South Carolina law, lawyers, and the legal process, and hopefully prevent you from being surprised by the unexpected. We will answer many of the questions I've been asked during the past 35 years about South Carolina personal injury claims and workers' compensation claims. We will also discuss existing laws and proposed changes in the law and how they affect you. My name is Dirk Derrick. I'm the founder of the Derrick Law Firm, and I'm your host.
Voiceover (00:35):
Please see required ethics disclaimers in show notes.
Dirk Derrick (00:42):
Welcome to The Legal Truth. I'm here with Pearl Carey, co-host. Today, we are talking about the truth about serving on a focus group. What's in it for you?
Pearl Carey (00:52):
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for having me on. I'm so excited to talk about focus groups and participating and what that looks like. So, first question for you, what is a focus group?
Dirk Derrick (01:02):
Focus group is 12 people coming together and hearing a case, both sides of a case, giving us their opinions on the case individually, and then reaching a verdict with a group of people, and then talking to us about the case thereafter about any additional facts or feelings or beliefs they have about the case.
Pearl Carey (01:25):
Right. And so why do we hold those at Derrick Law Firm?
Dirk Derrick (01:29):
I believe there's a lot of unnecessary litigation. Everyone I've ever represented does not want to file a suit against anybody. Anyone that my client has sued did not want to get sued.
Pearl Carey (01:43):
Of course not.
Dirk Derrick (01:45):
The problem is that in our system, the determination as to whether there's a valid claim, and the value of that claim, is based upon what 12 people say at the end of litigation. The purpose of our focus groups is to get those people together way earlier and to determine what the community standard is. What does the community in Horry County and Charleston County and Greenville County, what do they believe about the facts, issues, damages, this particular case? And we do a lot of them, so we get a lot of data back as far as what the communities believe about these issues in hopes that that community standard can be used to prevent unnecessary litigation and to speed up litigation if you have to file it.
Pearl Carey (02:36):
Makes sense. And so when we're talking about the different counties in South Carolina that focus groups can be held in, how are you getting participants for these focus groups? Are they members of the community?
Dirk Derrick (02:46):
Yes. We started off doing focus groups in Conway in 2019. We now have a courtroom in our office in Myrtle Beach, we have a courtroom in our office in North Charleston, and we're building a courtroom in Greenville. We intend to continue to expand. We are now doing statewide focus groups. We have cases statewide, so we want to be able to provide that service for all our clients. In the places where we don't have courtrooms yet, we do them mobily. We can set up a mobile unit and do it in a courthouse or in another facility.
Pearl Carey (03:17):
So, essentially speaking, they can take place all over the state of South Carolina?
Dirk Derrick (03:21):
That's correct.
Pearl Carey (03:22):
Perfect. And participants can be just a citizen of South Carolina, or?
Dirk Derrick (03:26):
Yeah, they got to be older than 18, a resident of South Carolina. The same group who can serve on juries. We want everybody. We want every demographic, every age, every belief. We want to actually know what the community standard is around the state.
Pearl Carey (03:46):
So, we briefly talked about how focus groups can benefit the client in terms of speeding up litigation. So, what is the benefit to a potential participant for a focus group?
Dirk Derrick (03:55):
The participants, I believe, benefit in a number of ways. Number one, they get paid. We pay them $100 for an evening, pay them $200 for a Saturday. They get some food. They get some good homemade cake. I vouch for the cake.
Pearl Carey (04:11):
Absolutely.
Dirk Derrick (04:13):
They also get to be heard and have a say into what our community standards are going to be. The purpose of doing this is to find out what each community believes about a case, issues, facts, damages, so they're contributing to their community standard, which I think is important to people. I think there's a lot of influencers in the world, a lot of people want to be influencers in the world, but I think we have a deep need to have an influence and have an effect on the people around us and our community. And this gives them a chance to come in and give their opinions.
(04:56):
I've had people say, "I don't know which side you're representing, but if you're representing that side, I bet you're not happy with me." And I said, "No, I am happy with you." All we're trying to do is to find the truth about how people believe about these issues. So, I want people who agree with me, who don't agree with me. Otherwise, it's useless. I'm just wasting a whole bunch of nighttime hours up here at the office. So, people are getting the benefit of being an influencer. We share these with everyone involved a lot of the time.
(05:30):
So, they're helping the litigants, they're helping people who don't want to sue and who don't want to be sued, they're helping them get their case done quicker a lot of the time. They're having a say-so in the standard. And if you have a long-term view of anything, it helps. But I think in this situation, if you have a long-range view, if they help set the standard and something similar happens to their family next week, next year, or two years from now, the standard that they're helping to establish will benefit their family. If we establish that this type of injury has this value in this county, that should protect all of us in the future. It should prevent all of us from having to file an unnecessary litigation because we have established this is the community standard.
Pearl Carey (06:24):
In each different county, yeah.
Dirk Derrick (06:26):
Yep.
Pearl Carey (06:26):
So, what you're saying is that this has an impact on not only the participants and the attorneys, but also the client, and it can help everybody maybe in the long run or maybe in the short term as well.
Dirk Derrick (06:36):
Yeah, that's the hope. The hope is to establish community standards throughout South Carolina so that people do not have to wait three years to get the real value of their claim.
Pearl Carey (06:47):
Absolutely. And so how often are focus groups offered across the state?
Dirk Derrick (06:52):
We are doing a lot of them. I think we're up to 24 lawyers, and we're doing focus groups for outside lawyers also. Presently, we're doing either two to four a week. Doing three this week, two in Conway and one in North Charleston. We just passed our, I've just watched my 400th jury-
Pearl Carey (07:14):
Wow.
Dirk Derrick (07:15):
... in four years.
Pearl Carey (07:15):
Congratulations.
Dirk Derrick (07:17):
So, we're doing a lot. A second shift lawyer now. I'm a nighttime worker. But I love it. I love meeting people. I love to hear what they say, and I believe it is as important as anything we do for our client and for our community.
Pearl Carey (07:32):
Yeah, for sure. And so if somebody in one of these surrounding communities did want to participate in a focus group, could you walk me through the steps of how I could get involved?
Dirk Derrick (07:41):
Absolutely. You'll probably see some social media ads. We're running social media ads for people to sign up, or you can just go to our website, derricklawfirm.com and go to /focusgroup. The first thing you will see there, you will have to fill out a survey. And the survey takes 15 to 20 minutes. It's 95 to 100 questions or 100, 105 questions. There's no wrong answer to those questions. You don't have to study to answer those questions.
Pearl Carey (08:08):
Don't grade it.
Dirk Derrick (08:09):
We're trying to get people's demographics, their life experience, and their beliefs as part of our jury research to find out who believes what. So, that's important for the jury research part to get those things because we all bring different things to the table.
Pearl Carey (08:28):
Absolutely.
Dirk Derrick (08:28):
We all bring different beliefs, different experiences. People see things differently. So, we're trying to determine who you are to make sure we put a very diverse group of people together when we do the focus group, and get a demographically correct focus group so that it will represent that community.
Pearl Carey (08:48):
So, after a participant completes the survey, what are the next steps that they can expect to take?
Dirk Derrick (08:54):
The next step is they will get something from us that we know they exist, they have filled out a survey, and then they will be reached out to when we have the need in that county. Right now, we have cases in every county in the state. We have focus group participants signed up in every county. And what happens is we do these at certain times in the case. So, if you sign up in Laurens County, we'll get you signed up. We'll have a jury waiting there. And when we reach a point in one of our Laurens County cases that we need a focus group, we will reach out to you to see if you're available. And we will try to get a demographically correct jury out of Laurens County and perform the focus group.
(09:39):
So, we're looking for demographically correct and we're looking for a case that's going to be in your county if it has to be filed. So, there's some people, especially since we started in Horry County, there's some people in Horry County who've served two times-
Pearl Carey (09:53):
Wow.
Dirk Derrick (09:54):
... while there's some people in an upstate county that we haven't called yet because the cases up there haven't reached a point where they're ready to be focused.
Pearl Carey (10:02):
And it's based on need?
Dirk Derrick (10:04):
Yes, it's based on need. We focus group cases at certain times during the case, and we don't rush that. They're worthless if we don't have all the facts, or if at that particular point, we don't have what we need to get the answers we're looking for in that focus group. It's a need base. And when the need comes up, we look at the first people who sign up, we start at the top of the list and we go down. So, if you sign up in one of the counties that we have a lot of cases in, you may get reached in a week or two. If you sign up on a case where we just have a handful of cases at the time, it may take months before we get there.
Pearl Carey (10:45):
Right, it might take a little bit longer. And so how does that work with people that want to do a focus group again? Can they do it maybe an indefinite amount of times? Or how long can they expect to wait? Is that contingent on going through the people that just signed up?
Dirk Derrick (10:59):
Yeah, it really depends on the need in that county and it depends on the demographic group you're in. We're trying to pick a jury just like we done see if we pick a jury in that county. So, if we have 100 women sign up and one man sign up in a county, that man's going to get called. He may get called two or three times. The women, it's going to take a while to work through, unless it's a county where it's 10 to one women to men. I don't know which county that is.
Pearl Carey (11:25):
Right.
Dirk Derrick (11:26):
So, it depends on how many people have signed up before you and your demographics.
Pearl Carey (11:31):
Okay. Absolutely. So, tell me a little bit about the connection between a focus group and hearing a case at Derrick Law Firm versus a real-life jury.
Dirk Derrick (11:41):
Well, there's no connection as far as serving. We've been asked a couple of times, "Hey, if we serve, does that mean we don't get called for jury duty?" No. We are not related to the government. This is a private enterprise, and so it has no connection at all. The only connection would be if you were on the jury pool on a case that you heard as a focus group member, please tell the judge you heard it so you won't get me thrown in jail.
Pearl Carey (12:09):
Absolutely.
Dirk Derrick (12:11):
So, you'd have to acknowledge that, but it has nothing to do with the court system.
Pearl Carey (12:15):
So, it's completely separate. If one were to be called for jury duty maybe after being in a focus group, it would be purely coincidental?
Dirk Derrick (12:21):
That's right.
Pearl Carey (12:22):
Got it.
Dirk Derrick (12:22):
That's right.
Pearl Carey (12:23):
Okay. And so after watching over 400 focus groups, what would you say is some of the primary feedback that you've gotten from participants?
Dirk Derrick (12:35):
They really like it. People watch OJ. They watch Murdoch. They watch Johnny Depp. We have not focus group a Johnny Depp case yet, so if you're waiting for the Johnny Depp to show, we may not get the case. People like the law. People like solving things.
Pearl Carey (12:48):
Being involved.
Dirk Derrick (12:49):
You can go to places where you have to solve problems and get out of a room or something, and pay for. Escape rooms. People love solving things. They love to be the one who figures something out or to have to think.
(13:03):
It's a very interesting process. We explain to them that it affects everybody who's involved because we often share these results with everyone. People really get into it. They stand up as to what they believe. We've only had one situation where it got a little rough, but the rest have been respectful. But you sit in a room with people who disagree with you and start listening to their opinions and having to compromise and trying to solve problems, people enjoy it. I don't know what the percentage is, but it's 98% ask to serve again. If you look on our social media ads that we run to get people to sign up, over and over and over people say, "Hey, I've done this. This is a great experience."
Pearl Carey (13:50):
Want to do it again.
Dirk Derrick (13:51):
Want to do it again. I think sometimes we ask for other names of people to serve, and they say, "I'm not giving anybody else's name. I want to come back and do it again."
Pearl Carey (13:52):
My time.
Dirk Derrick (14:00):
"Don't take my place." But it's good to have people who've never served. We do use people a second time if we have to, but they like it. They find it very educational. They see some stuff, and we talk to them at the end of the night. They have questions about process and the system and that kind of stuff, so we also give them some free education.
Pearl Carey (14:20):
Can learn more about the process of a jury.
Dirk Derrick (14:22):
Yep. And think about it, this is a place where you're getting $100 to come tell us what your honest beliefs. How much does Twitter pay you?
Pearl Carey (14:35):
Nothing.
Dirk Derrick (14:35):
Facebook? You're just doing it for free. You come here, we done pay you for it. We done feed you for it. We done give you some good chocolate cake just to hear your honest opinions, so I think it's a win-win.
Pearl Carey (14:48):
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for telling me a little bit about what it's like to participate in a jury research focus group and the benefit that it can have, both for the client and the attorney and for the overall South Carolina community. Thank you so much.
Dirk Derrick (15:00):
Thank you.
Pearl Carey (15:00):
I hope that our listeners have gotten a lot out of this podcast. I know that I have, and I've learned quite a bit. And for more information, feel free to visit our website at derricklawfirm.com/focusgroup and take the initial survey.
Voiceover (15:13):
Thank you for joining us on The Legal Truth podcast. If you have questions that you would like answered on a future episode, please send them to [email protected]. If you would like to speak to us directly, call us at (843) 248-7486. If you find the podcast valuable, please leave us a five star review and share The Legal Truth with your neighbor, friend, or family member who is seeking reliable information about a South Carolina personal injury or workers' compensation claim. Dirk J. Derrick of the Derrick Law Firm Injury Lawyers is responsible for the production of this podcast, located at 901 North Main Street, Conway, South Carolina.
(15:54):
Derrick Law Firm Injury Lawyers has included the information on this podcast as a service to the general public. Use of this podcast in any related materials does not in any manner constitute an attorney-client relationship between Derrick Law Firm Injury Lawyers and the user. While the information on this podcast is about legal issues, it is not intended as legal advice and should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in your particular state. Anyone seeking specific legal advice or assistance should retain an attorney. Any prior results mentioned do not guarantee a similar outcome. The content reflects the personal views and opinions of the participants in the podcast and are not intended as endorsements of any views or products. This podcast could contain inaccuracies. The information contained in this podcast does not constitute legal advice and is not guaranteed to be correct, complete, or up to date, as laws continue to change.
(16:37):
In this podcast, you will hear information about focus groups. Please note that not all of the firm's cases are presented to a focus group. Additionally, when speaking about juries or jurors in relation to a focus group, we are speaking of focus group participants and not actual trial juries or jurors.