Lady Justice and the Myth of Impartiality

Juries are an essential part of our justice system. But can the public trust that jurors are truly impartial? The reality is, they often can’t. Bias, whether conscious or unconscious, is part of human nature. It’s our responsibility as lawyers to anticipate, identify, and challenge potential jury bias at every stage of trial.

The aspiration of impartial justice is symbolized by Lady Justice, whose blindfold has become one of the most enduring icons of fairness under the law. Yet historically, it wasn’t always seen that way. And today, the promise of the blindfold doesn’t always match the reality of the courtroom.

The Blindfold: A Symbol of Impartiality

Early portrayals of Lady Justice, derived from the Greek goddess Themis and the Roman goddess Justitia, depicted her with uncovered eyes. In the late 1400s, however, artists began portraying her with a blindfold as a form of satire, symbolizing ignorance or weakness.

By the mid-1500s, the blindfold took on new meaning - representing neutrality, caution, and fairness. This shift reflected a growing public desire for a legal system free from favoritism and prejudice. Over time, the phrase “justice is blind” emerged as a powerful statement of this ideal.

Today, Lady Justice’s blindfold symbolizes the principle that justice must be administered without bias. A jury must decide cases based solely on facts and evidence, uninfluenced by wealth, status, reputation, or appearance.

The Human Element of Justice

But the reality of blind justice is far more complex. Justice is administered by people, and people are inherently imperfect. While justice should always wear its blindfold, it would be naïve to assume that it always does. Every decision in a courtroom, from evidentiary rulings to final verdicts, passes through the lens of human judgment. Judges bring their philosophies. Jurors bring their life experiences, beliefs, and unconscious biases. Even attorneys, despite their training, must constantly guard against the influence of emotion, assumption, and personal perspective.

The justice system aspires to impartiality, but it is inevitably shaped by humanity. This doesn’t make it broken but it does make it vulnerable. Recognizing that vulnerability is not a weakness; it’s a responsibility.

As trial lawyers, we must acknowledge the human element not just to guard against its risks, but to navigate it with skill and integrity. We must meet jurors where they are, understand what moves them, and speak to the values they hold, because no matter how well the law is written, it’s the people in the courtroom who bring it to life.

Justice is not static. It lives in every objection sustained, every witness believed, and every verdict rendered. It is up to us — those who serve within the system — to ensure that justice is not only blind in theory, but fair in practice.

Jury Selection and the Pursuit of Impartiality

In South Carolina, the court takes great care during voir dire to identify and remove jurors who may not be impartial. As part of this process, potential jurors are asked:

“Does any member of the jury panel know of any reason whatsoever why he or she should not serve as a juror in this case, with particular emphasis being placed on your ability to be fair and impartial to both the plaintiff(s) and the defendant(s)?”

Jurors who cannot commit to complete impartiality may be struck for cause. Once selected, jurors are reminded that their duty is to determine the facts based solely on the evidence presented - to act as modern-day stewards of Lady Justice’s scales.

Leveraging Bias: A Tactical Approach at Trial

As trial lawyers, we can’t eliminate bias but we can recognize it, account for it, and strategically leverage it within the bounds of ethical advocacy. Every juror brings a lifetime of personal experiences, values, and assumptions into the courtroom. Some may favor institutions; others may empathize with individuals. These tendencies influence how jurors interpret testimony, assign credibility, and decide what feels fair.

Effective trial lawyers learn to:

• Frame their client’s story in a way that aligns with a juror’s emotional and moral lens
• Use themes, language, and visuals that resonate with jurors on a human level

The most persuasive arguments don’t fight bias. Instead, they flow with it. Jurors want to do the right thing. Our job is to guide them toward the just outcome by understanding who they are, how they think, and how they feel. Because at the end of the day, verdicts aren’t delivered by scales and swords - they’re delivered by people.

Using Defense Bias to Win: Flipping the Script

Defense bias is real and it shows up in nearly every courtroom. Some jurors assume plaintiffs are exaggerating, that lawsuits are about greed, or that big corporations wouldn’t be sued unless someone was looking for a payout. These narratives are culturally ingrained and defense lawyers count on them.

But as plaintiff’s lawyers, we don’t have to fight these biases head-on. We can use them.

We show jurors exactly what they expect to see: a corporation hiding behind legal technicalities, an insurer blaming the victim, a defendant who never says they’re sorry. Then we give jurors permission to act on their frustration - to correct the imbalance.

How to Flip the Script:

• Reframe the defense strategy as part of a broader injustice. If they minimize pain or deflect blame, expose the pattern.
• Give jurors a moral anchor. Show that siding with the plaintiff isn’t just legally right—it’s a stand against exploitation.
• Leverage arrogance. When the defense overplays their hand, let it become the story. Let the jury deliver the correction.
• Highlight empathy gaps. If your client is treated as just another file, remind jurors they’re someone’s parent, child, or friend.

Defense bias is built on a story jurors have heard before. Our job is to tell a truer, more powerful one where justice looks like accountability and courage, not silence and delay.

Persuasion Is Both an Art and a Science

Trial advocacy is the art of persuasion, but mastering it requires more than instinct. Persuasion is both art and science. It draws on human psychology, strategic communication, and emotional intelligence, combined with creativity and intuition.

The science of persuasion is grounded in research. Jurors are influenced by cognitive biases, emotional triggers, and behavioral patterns. Techniques like priming, framing, and repetition can shape perception. Word choice, tone, and even the sequence of information matter.

But science alone doesn’t move jurors to action.

The art of persuasion is about connection - reading the room, knowing when to pause, pivot, or let silence speak. It’s about crafting a narrative that makes strangers care, believe, and act. Great trial lawyers bring logic and empathy into perfect alignment.

Persuasion isn’t just about proving a point. It’s about earning belief. And that takes science to understand how people think and art to move them anyway.

Violent Justice: When Art Confronts the System

The ideals represented by Lady Justice — fairness, impartiality, and truth — are not just legal concepts. They’re deeply human values that extend far beyond the courtroom. That’s why Dana is especially proud of a powerful original artwork titled “Violent Justice,” created by her niece, a talented student at Charleston County School of the Arts.

Her work challenges viewers to confront the uncomfortable gap between what justice promises and how it is often delivered. It’s raw, emotional, and unflinching. It reflects how justice can be both beautiful in theory and brutal in practice. The title itself, Violent Justice, evokes that tension: the violence of injustice, the force required to demand accountability, and the emotional toll the pursuit of fairness can take on real people.

The Responsibility Behind the Symbol

The blindfold is more than a piece of fabric. It’s a promise. A promise that justice will be fair, unflinching, and equal for all. But the strength of that promise depends not just on the symbol, but on the people behind it.

Whether Lady Justice is blindfolded or not, our collective responsibility is to ensure that fairness, impartiality, and truth remain at the heart of every courtroom decision.