Jurymetrics is the most advanced weapon a trial lawyer can use to obtain judgments in big court battles, trial consultant Allen Rosenzweig said.

Jurymetrics is the use of polls, mock trials and other forms of public opinion research to help lawyers plan strategy and predict the outcome of a trial before it goes to a jury, he said. "It's the ultimate way for an attorney to prepare for a Case."

Jurymetrics was used in a recent federal court trial to award damages to Christopher and Barbara Schultz from the crash of Pan Am Flight 759 into their Kenner home on July 9, 1982. One of the couple's daughters was killed and another was burned severely.

Rosenzweig was retained by the Schultzes' attorney, Wendell Gauthier of Kenner, and immediately began a telephone poll. About 500 people in the local federal court district were telephoned and explained the details of the Schulz case. They were asked biographical information about themselves and their feelings toward the case.

Those polled were asked how much the Schultz family should get for their losses—From this information, Rosenzweig and attorneys were able to determine what type of people would be most sympathetic toward the family and likely to award a large judgment.

The survey indicated that a woman , who works for a large company would be the ideal juror, attorneys said.

A series of mock trials was then held at the Gauthier law firm. People were hired to listen to attorneys argue the case. Gauthier's law partners acted as defense attorneys.

The evidence was presented to the mock jury and the members were sent to deliberate the case in a secluded room, unaware that they were being watched by attorneys on a hidden video camera.

From the mock trial, attorneys determined that a jury in the Schultz case probably would award between $10 million and $14 million. The actual award was $10.9 million.

Gauthier hired 15 people to sit through the actual trial.

This "shadow jury" met with attorneys after each day of the five-day trial'. Attorneys questioned them on the effectiveness of their arguments, which helped them plan the next day's legal strategy.

Rosenzweig, a political pollster and business research consultant, said jurymetrics is a relatively new legal phenomenon, especially in the South.

"I'm sure there wa somebody some- where doing it a long time ago but its use has never been widespread," he said. "In fact, it's so new that it really doesn't have a name. Jurymetrics is just what the few of us that use it refer to it as. It has no universally accepted name."

Rosenzweig's first exposure to jurymetrics was during the murder trial last year in Gretna of California women's rights leader Ginny Foat. He was hired to assist courtroom consultants working with Foat's attorneys. Foat was acquitted of a 1965 murder charge.

"The attorneys who use this are still pioneers," he said.

Rosenzweig said he was hired by a group of attorneys working on a class action lawsuit against the makers of Bendectin, a morning sickness drug prescribed to expectant mothers, thought to have caused birth defects.

He spent eight days in Cincinnati working with attorneys and witnesses involved in the case.

"This type of work is fairly expensive - and it won't be used casually in the average case," Rosenzweig said 'But when millions of dollars are at stake, attorneys are foolish not to avail themselves of this.

"Nothing I have ever done, no type of research, has ever been as useful to the client as jurymetrics," he said.

The shadow jurors who sat through the five-day Schultz trial were paid $100 a day. The mock jurors were paid $100 for two nights of work at Gauthier's office before the trial began.

"The research proved to be very 'effective in the Schultz case," Gauthier said.

Gauthier said the mock juries helped him determine what statements would be most persuasive in opening and closing arguments.