The jury members are required to take care of the following instructions as stipulated by A. Harrison Barnes the CEO of bcgsearch.com. The jury members must not discuss their cases with an outsider. Make sure that you are not discussing about the case even with your friends and family members who are not involved in the case. The jury member must not discuss about the case with any other juror unless it is time for deliberation says A. Harrison Barnes. Make sure that you have access to elaborate information. In case you find that there is not much information at your disposal, ask for more information, because it will be illegal and violation of duty, if you conduct investigations on your own. It is upon the judge’s discretion, if he feels that the jury member should be present at the incident site, he will make arrangements for that. A case will be considered as tampered, if anyone tries to get in touch with the jury member with an intention of influencing the verdict. This is a serious offence and is subjectable to punishment says A. Harrison Barnes.

The jury member is required to remain alert at all times during court proceedings and trail cases. He must pay attention to the arguments and evidences procured from all sides to arrive at a tentative decision. When all other jury members are present, a jury member may deliberate and discuss his/her point of view with them says A. Harrison Barnes. The jury member is required to carefully pay heed to the instruction of the judges. The judges in the law courts help to illustrate the laws that are applied to a particular case. The jury member is required to make use of only these laws and evidences to arrive at a verdict. If the jury member feels that he knows about some other dimensions of the case or about some witnesses, he can seek special permission to meet the judges of the law court, says A. Harrison Barnes.

The jury member can take note of the explanations derived from the judge in relation to the degree of proof that is required to sustain the accusations. The defendant is considered to be innocent in a criminal case unless he or she is proved to be guilty. At the end of the criminal case, all the jury members need to agree on the verdict reached.

The main task of a jury member is related to fact finding. It is the judge’s responsibility to interpret laws and provide the jury members with appropriate instructions says A. Harrison Barnes. Incase the jury member finds a particular law invalid or unlawful, he has the right to acquit the defendant, despite the fact that the defendant dishonored the law. This process is known as jury nullification. In case of a “bench trial”, the judge pronounces ruling on both the questions of commandment and truth. In most continental European countries, the powers of the jury members are restricted and power of the judges in the trial courts are enhanced. This condition usually varies from country to country.

In the United States of America, a jury member, in order to alleviate a defendant’s sentence, is entitled to make factual findings. This practice started since the Blakely v. Washington case. In this case the Supreme Court ruled out all possibilities of the judges to make findings unilaterally that violates the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial. The Apprendi vs. New Jersey case further stipulated that “any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt”. The Juries Act of 1976 stipulated the following offenses as punishable by law:

• If the jury member fails to attend jury service on no valid grounds, or if a particular jury member is not available in the jury service meetings for reasons of health, like his addiction to drugs or drinks, he may be punished by the law courts.
• If a jury member provides services even after he is disqualified or is ineligible.
• If the jury member is represented on behalf of the person summoned as a juror or if in case any juror makes false presentations, for permitting other jurors to escape jury services.

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There are many other reasons apart from stress which the attorneys consider to change their legal career says A Harrison Barnes from his experience. For some attorneys it is not the kind of profession that they had expected. Some are happy with the profession if they get a chance to continue work in a relaxed environment and not live a life full of stress. Many feel that they lack skills that are required to become a good lawyer and thus prefer shifting to another field.

But the decision of a career change is not an easy decision. You have to take enough time to think a lot about it and make many researches and consult professionals who can help you with their guidance in order to take a proper decision. You cannot take the decision lightly says A Harrison Barnes because after all it is a decision that it going to affect your legal career as well as your past, present and future life. Your entire life depends on this one decision. This decision will affect the career you will have in your future, the lifestyle that you will lead and many other areas come under the effect of this single decision.

But you may even think that the decision of changing the career is taken at a very late stage and it may call for some risks. A Harrison Barnes that the decision of changing does involves risk but if you have no risk then you will have no gain. You just need to take precautions with every step that you take in order to shift to another legal career. You need to move according to a plan which will help you get success in every move of yours.

Once you have made the decision of changing your legal career, there are some things that you need to do. The very first thing that you need to do according to A Harrison Barnes is that you have to know the exact reason why you want to change your legal career, what is the actual reason behind you taking such a decision. This will help you to know the most important thing that requires a change immediately.

You need to even deal with the possibilities like losing the lifestyle that you are presently leading, the possibility of your decision not being accepted by the family members or the friends and the coworkers you are presently working with. You may even fail to understand your own financial condition. You may even fear how everything will take shape after you have taken the step of changing you legal career.

You can even set goals for yourself. This will make things a little easier for you. The plan will help you get back on the track that you were on while at your last career. Though it may take some time but following the plan will be very beneficial for you in the near future. You can make short term plans that can be achieved in a certain period of time.

A Harrison Barnes suggests that you analyze yourself in every possible way. Self assessment is very necessary if you want to change the legal career. Analyze your likes and dislikes, your passions, the lifestyle that you lead and your skills. This will help you to know which legal career suits you the best and you can fit in easily. If there is any requirement that you are lacking in according to the career that you are thinking to choose then waste no time to improve those areas. If you require any sort of training that will enhance your move then you should get it without thinking about it twice.

You can take the advice of any mentor if you want any suggestion in choosing the right legal career for yourself. They are the experts and can guide you in every problem that you face. You have to take all the precautions before changing your legal career.

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