Many attorneys feel that focus groups and mock trials are only for huge cases. This perception is not unfounded, considering the huge price that some litigation consulting companies charge. Here's a closer look at what you should reasonably expect to pay for a focus group or mock trial.
The costs are mainly contingent on the length of the research session. A large part of the research project's expenses are devoted to respondent incentive fees. These are the cash stipends paid to the research participants to attend the session. An average project requires the recruiting of 32 people (best recruiting standards for respondents are covered elsewhere). For a five-hour research session, participants are paid about $100 in smaller markets and $150 in larger markets.
The other large expense for a mock trial is the cost to recruit respondents. The consultant will contract this task out to a professional recruiting company. Depending on the difficulty of the recruit, the charge to recruit 30 respondents can be $1500-3000. The costs to pay and recruit the respondents can be 1/2 to 1/3 of the entire project costs. And the consultant makes nothing from these items.
The third factor in estimating the costs of a research session, are facility and food. It's nice to be able to hold the session at a focus group facility, with one-way mirrors. The facility has built-in audio and video recording and can handle the food for clients and respondents. However, this convenience is not cheap. A facility in a major market can charge $3000+ to use their accommodations for the day, as well provide food and a hostess to greet participants.
Over the years, the cases for some of our venues were in such small, rural towns, we held the session in hotels, library meeting rooms and even a fire station or two! For these locations, we set up monitors in an adjacent room so the clients can view the comments via closed circuit monitoring. The feedback was just as profound, it's just lot more work on the consultant.
Facility, food, hostess, recruiting, and incentives to pay 32 respondents for a five-hour research session an have a base cost of $6500-$12,000. Some firms place a hefty consulting fee on top of this, charging $50,000+ for the session. I owned my own recruiting company over the years, so I was able to charge $10-12,000 for a research session with two deliberation groups, including facility, recruiting, and stipends.
My first client was a law firm that had paid $50,000 for a mock trial and really didn't want to pay that price again. They approached me to see if this was something I could handle, since I was already a seasoned political, social and marketing research consultant and moderator. We agreed that I would do the consulting for free, and they would cover all the hard costs (facility, incentive fees, etc). This was a learning experience, and if they would be patient with my learning curve, I could charge them for future projects.
The research session was such a success. Of course I wish I knew then what I know now. The client ended up with a $5 million verdict at trial. And they became my biggest fan and reference, using or recommending me to at least 50 other case over the years.
Some insights and tips from my 20+ years as a litigation consultant.
