One of the first opportunities we’re exploring in our ongoing quest to answer the question ‘How can you make money on the road?‘ is mock trials. Basically the idea is law firms pay you money to watch or read simplified version of the case and give them your thoughts on it.

They do this in order to get an idea of what jurors are likely to think about different things, so that they can adjust their plans for the case accordingly. Like a focus group.

Some mock trials happen in person, some remotely through the internet, but most will want a representative sample of the population the actual jury will be pulled from. This means that mock trials will tend to pay well enough to attract people from a variety of socio-economic classes but also that they tend to want people from the actual geographic region the case is being tried in.

In addition to making money, mock trials seem to be a great way to learn about (and even participate in) the legal system and get a little window into people’s (usually interesting) lives.

Since the theme of this blog is being on the road, I’m going to focus more on the mock trials that can be done remotely.

 

With a bit of quick Googling I was able to come up with a list of eight sites that connect want-to-be virtual jurors with mock trials.

eJury.com

Online Verdict

Trial Juries

Jury WorkShop

JuryTalk.com

ResolutionResearch.com

Sign Up Direct

VirtualJury.com

 

For this post I will explore each of the above mock trial sites and, if promising, sign up. I will then provide you with an honest review and my notes on the pros and cons of each.

 

 

eJury.com Review 

Before signing up on each site, I’m going to do a quick check to see what other sites are saying, primarily to make sure none of the above mentioned sites are complete scams. SurveyPolice.com gives them two and some change stars based on seven reviews.

The most common complaint seems to be that people didn’t get many/any cases. That’s not surprising to me. As I mentioned above, lawyers want to recruit virtual jurors that’re actually residents of the same geographic region the case is being tried in. And only a fraction of cases are actually going to recruit virtual jurors. So, I don’t see this problem as specific to eJury.com in particular, but just a reality I expect to see on all mock trial sites.

Now, it seems likely that some sites are more popular than others, especially in a particular area.

The other complaint I’m seeing about eJury.com is that they don’t pay much. One guy through out $9 for a case, which seems pretty low.

On the other hand, people are saying it’s interesting work and a good way to learn about the legal system.

The next several reviews for eJury.com say basically the same thing. That no, eJury.com is not a scam, you can make real money on the site, but that, as seems to be true for mock trials in general, you don’t actually make that much money relative to the amount of work involved and that there aren’t that many available cases anyway.

For eJury.com I’m seeing the number $5-10 per case thrown around. I estimate around an hour per case, so that’s kind of a disappointing hourly return.

So far I’m feeling less optimistic about mock trials as a viable way to make money on the road, but as it doesn’t appear to be an outright scam, I figure I might as well sign up so I can get you the facts first hand.

Their website is nothing fancy, but it’s functional. Lots of helpful information. They outline the qualifications to participate on their site, which I assume are pretty standard across all the mock trial platforms (since it’s the qualifications to be a real juror).

You have to:

• be at least 18 years of age;
• be a citizen of the United States;
• be of sound mind and good moral character;
• be able to read and write;
• have never been convicted of a felony; and

• not be under indictment or other legal accusation of misdemeanor theft or felony theft or any felony charge.

 

There’re also limitations on people who are lawyers, or are related to lawyers, or affiliated with a law firm. And people in the insurance industry.

The way it works is they list the cases online and send you a link if it’s in your county.

Here’s an example of what a case would look like on their site: Mock Jury Example Case

It stays up until a certain number of people, usually 50, take advantage of it.

They point out that urban areas, tend to have more cases, noting that in the Dallas area, where they’re based, you could expect about one case a week. The first case tends to take the longest, they say, but once you get more used to it, cases take on average 35 minutes and, as noted above, pay $5-10.

I leave it up to you whether that amount of money’s worth it. It’s better than Amazon Mechanical Turks, at least.

If you’re ready to sign up for eJury, go here.

 

Signing up for eJury

First step of signing up is to take an oath certifying several things: that you aren’t in any way involved with the legal industry, that you won’t share any of the information provided to you through the platform and that you won’t lie about who you are, among other things.

The next step is ‘identity verification.’ Most of this step is pretty standard website sign up stuff: name, address, phone number. But they do also ask for your driver’s license number. I assume they verify your identity against a government database.

Step 3, they ask about your demographic information. Age, race, occupation, household income, political party affiliation, etc. I assume this is so attorneys can get a sense of how different demographics are going to view the case. IE– Maybe rich, black, female graphic designers are more sympathetic to your client than poor, Asian men working as basketball coaches. (Or something like that….)

In total, sign up took me just over ten minutes, but it’d probably take you less since I kept stopping to take notes for the blog.

Then they say thank you, let you know the verification process takes 24-48 hours, and promise to email you when cases become available in your area.

 

 

Online Verdict Review

My preliminary search for reviews regarding mock jury site ‘Onlie Verdict’ didn’t turn up a whole lot of helpful stuff. What I did find wasn’t so different from what I read regarding eJury: no, it doesn’t seem to be a scam, but no, you won’t get many cases or make much money off the cases you get. Again, not the quick money I’d hoped for, but I remain determined to finish this review!

To sign up for Online Verdict, head here.

Online juror websites don’t seem to be known for their slick graphics.

Signing up for Online Verdict wasn’t that different from signing up for eJury. Basic info, demographic information. They didn’t ask for a drivers license number, though they did ask if I had one. Just variations on the same questions.

Again, they don’t want people involved with the legal or insurance business.

Unlike eJury which pays via PayPal, Online Verdict seems to mail physical checks.

Same basic process. Will be interesting to see which has more cases in my area.

 

 

 

Trial Juries Review

This site has almost no reputable reviews, but Scam Advisor says the site’s trust worthy, so I guess I’ll give it a shot. Maybe they’ll be less competition….

Their website claims most cases will take an hour, so longer than the previous two, but that they pay usually around $30 per case, and more for more complex cases. So you’re going more in depth, it sounds like, but they pay significantly more.

Like eJury, they pay via PayPal.

Juror sign up for Trial Juries is here.

Same basic sign up process. Name, address, phone number, demographic information.

So far I have a positive impression of Trial Juries. Will be interesting to see which mock trial site emails me first….

 

I signed up for the first three on May 3, 2016. I make a note of this here because I intend to keep track of how long it takes for each to actually deliver a case and a juror position.

The next round of sign ups are on May 4th.

 

 

Jury Workshop Review

This site may have paid better than some of their competitors, but unfortunately their website is now offline and their Twitter account hasn’t been active in three years, so it seems they are no more.

 

Jury Talk Review

Again, not a ton of helpful reviews out there (all the more reason for me to write this!), but it appears to be, at the very least, a legitimate company, so I’ll give it a shot.

If you’d like to give it a shot too, head here.

They say they’re part of the Wilmington Institute Network which has apparently been around for 40 years.

On the sign up form, they have kind of a weird way of entering your name, and ask a few questions that have so far been unique to them (such as your religion), but mostly it’s the same basic stuff. Again, doesn’t take very long to sign up.

Same deal, they email you if a case you’re eligible for comes up.

 

 

Resolution Research Review

Next up, Resolution Research. They seem to be Denver based and, unlike the others, actually have Yelp reviews (three and a half stars). Reviewers commend their relatively low $10 minimum threshold to cash out (wait, we’re making less than $10 per mock trials??)

It seems that, unlike the others, they are not exclusively in the mock trial business, but instead offer a wide variety of paid surveys. So you’ll probably have more opportunities on the site, but the consensus is that their payments are not necessarily all that competitive (you may make more money on other online survey sites)

There website is not all that easy to navigate. I’m having trouble even figuring out where to sign up.

Okay, sign up is here.

So far I’m getting kind of a $1.50 an hour vibe.

Because they do more than just mock trials, they ask a lot more questions in the sign up process. Lots of stuff about your video game habits, what cars your household has, what business you work for and what your role in that business is.

After that they make you type in a verification code sent to your cell phone. You then have to also confirm your email address.

Definitely the most labor intensive sign up process on this list so far. (And I’m wondering how much spam this site will earn me.)

And after finally getting my account approved, they tell me I’m still not eligible for any surveys because I need to fill out even more information about myself.

I can however see a long list of surveys I may be eligible for once I fill out more information. The rewards from these surveys range from $0.75 for a ‘consumer electronics survey’ to $8 for a “migraine research study.”

So not a huge amount of money. They do have paid surveys on the site, which could be a helpful way to make money on the road if you get in a bind, but none of them seem to have anything to do with mock trials and being a mock juror, so they don’t really seem relevant to this post.

Maybe something to explore more in a future post….

 

 

Final set of sign ups took place on May 5th.

 

Sign Up Direct Review

Next up, we have Sign Up Direct, which reportedly pays $100 for a days work, not bad for on the road remote stuff.

My preliminary Google search turned out about like the others. Not a lot in the way of hard, specific reviews. More just general thoughts on doing mock trials for extra money, and even then not a lot there.

But, again, doesn’t seem to be a scam, so I’ll give it a shot.

They have a special sign up process if you were in the military, which is here.

Otherwise you sign up here.

Each of the mock trials sites seems to have a sign up question or two that are unique to them. With Sign Up Direct they ask about your view of the death penalty and what magazines/newspapers/websites you read regularly.

They are also the only other mock trial site besides eJury so far that asks for your drivers license number and the only other one besides Resolution Research that asks for the make and model of your car.

Sign Up direct also asks if you would like to be included in other paid studies they do (other than mock trials).

(Also noteworthy that a lot of the more personal information on the Sign Up Direct sign up form does not appear to be required fields.)

I filled out the form and hit submit, and it came back to me with a blank page. Did my sign up go through? I’m genuinely not sure.

Not seeing any confirmation email from them, I decided to fill out the sign up form again. It did the same thing.

So at this point I’m not sure if I’m registered or not. I don’t feel inclined to do it again and I see no obvious way to contact them.

We’ll see if they email me.

Sign Up Direct may be an ironic name.

 

 

 

Virtual Jury Review

Finally we have VirtualJury.com. Same old, same old with the existing reviews. Not a lot there. Thumbs up from Scam Advisor so we’ll check it out.

Like a lot of the others, the site is primarily trying to sell their service to lawyers and law firms, which makes sense as they’re the true customers. Not seeing a whole lot of real information for potential jurors, except that they pay by paper check.

In any case, the sign up is here.

Sign up is similar to the others. Political affiliation, religion, household income. All the stuff you aren’t supposed to ask about at dinner parties.

And they give me a confirmation page and that’s that.

 

 

This wraps up the first phase of my review regarding the world of online mock trials. I’ll update this post when and if I get any offers to actually serve as a juror. If you’re reading this long after May 2016 and this post has not been updated, then it probably means none of them got back to me and it’s not worth your time to sign up on the mock trial sites.

In the meantime, thanks for reading. If you’re looking for other ways to support your self while traveling, or else just make a little extra money on the side, check out my long form post How can you make money on the road?.

Thanks for reading and best of luck with your mock trialing!

 

 

 

 

May 23rd Update: 

It’s been more than two weeks now since I signed up for all the major mock trial sights. So far, not one opportunity between them. So this doesn’t seem like a source of regular income. If anything, it’s a fun opportunity once in a while.

I did however get an offer to participate in an in person mock trail focus group that I heard about through the Craigslist gigs section. I was pretty excited about it, but I got sick and ended up not doing it.