About Virtual Jury
Working as an online paid juror is definitely interesting. But just like with any other money-making opportunities on the internet, there is a need to find the best sites and programs you will sign up for. This way, you will surely get the payment you deserve for the time and hard work you invested. Thus, this post about Virtual Jury is a must-read.
Attorneys who want to prepare effectively for their cases seek the services offered by online jury or mock trial platforms. They present a case (details and questions) to the selected online jurors, who will then study the case and answer the questions to provide their opinion and feedback.
This option is cost saving for both attorneys and jurors. Traditional mock trials require attorneys and jurors to go to a certain place for the case presentation. They need to take time off work and spend money on transportation. The online option eliminates these hassles.
Working as a paid online juror appears more tempting when you discover that you only need to study and analyze a certain case, provide your honest opinion about it and receive payment. There are no right or wrong answers, so you need not worry if your answers are correct or not.
There are no high academic requirements, or special skills required to from people who want to become paid online juror. You also need no extra training to become one.
However, this is only a generalized set of details regarding online paid jury systems. Each system has good and bad points. Virtual Jury is not an exception. These points will help you discern whether you will join the platform.
This video below mentions Virtual Jury as one platform you can join if you want to make money as a paid juror.
However, take note that this video is from 5 years ago. There could be some changes to the platform that the review does not include. This emphasizes the importance of reading more details below so you will know if Virtual Jury is worth your time and effort.
The Homepage
Figure 1 shows the homepage of Virtual Jury.
Figure 1
On first look, the website looks professional. It has various links for attorneys and jurors. The homepage summarizes Virtual Jury's good points. From the description, you see that it is part of the Wilmington Institute Network, a well-known organization for its 40 years track record in psychological research studies and mock trials.
For attorneys seeking mock trial services, it is reassuring to know that Dr. Gordon who leads the WIN team has been successful in conducting over 1000 focus groups. They all need to present their case through demonstrable evidence or through live streaming.
For prospective jurors, there are links at the left side of the web page. Compared to Jurytalk, which is also part of the Wilmington Institute Network and has only the “Sign Up” button on its landing page, the availability of more links in the Virtual Jury landing page seems better. They give you some feeling that you could know more about the company through these links.How To Apply/Join
Prospective jurors may head over to http://www.virtualjury.com/index.asp. There is no declaration about registration fees on the website.
As you'll know, there are some links you can explore. The 3 available links for jurors are “Register”, “Login” and “Be a Virtual Juror”.
Be A Virtual Juror
From Figure 1, you'll see that there is a “Be a Virtual Juror” link and you might think this will direct you to a page with crucial details about being a paid virtual juror. However, you can see the content of this link from Figure 2.
Figure 2
This page explains how Virtual Jury works. When you register to the online focus group, Virtual Jury, you will need to wait for the company to contact you and send you an invitation about a focus group that it will conduct within your location. This is when you will also receive the instructions, and the payment details about the case.
Register
If you click the “Register” link, you will see the page for signing up, as shown in the Figures below.
Figure 3
According to this sign up page, Virtual Jury will keep confidential all the information you'll provide. As you can see, the first few required fields are the basic information that any person needs to provide even when registering for other online money-making platforms like Appen, Swagbucks and mTurk.
It is very important that you provide truthful answers because your personal details and demographics will serve as a basis for your selection to a particular case.
Figure 4
From Figure 4, you'll know that the additional information you need to disclose are your political affiliation, US citizenship, views, driver’s license, relationship status, number of children, family income and occupation.
Other details not captured in the previous screenshots include highest level of education, ethnicity, religion, participation in a focus group, involvement in a lawsuit, felony convictions, jury summons, if you work in a law firm or if you are a law student.
The form is simple in its layout, and it might take you only 5 minutes to fill it up. However, some people who tried Virtual Jury have shared that they only got an error message when they attempted to sign up by completing the form.
If this happens to you when you also try to sign up, it would lead you to do further research to see how you could deal with this and proceed with the registration. However, you might not find out a lot of useful information about the experience of others who have signed up or worked for Virtual Jury.
Potential Income
You know that Virtual Jury is also part of The Wilmington Institute Network. While this company itself has a good reputation, the virtual jury platform has a vibe similar to that of its other paid juror website, Jurytalk.
While Jurytalk will, right off the bat, turn you off for its lack of any links aside from the sign up link, Virtual Jury initially appears to be a website you can trust because it provides several links on its website for both attorneys and jurors.
Yet, you will eventually realize you have spent a few minutes for nothing because these links contain almost useless information.
From Figure 2, you'll know that if you take part in that specific assignment, expect to receive your payment check via mail after 2 weeks. There is nothing to read on the web page about how much you could receive for each case.
Attorneys might even get discouraged from using the website because if they visit the “Fees” web page of the site, all they could read is that Virtual Jury offers affordable fees and rates. Since the attorney’s requirements affect the price, he needs to contact the company through the number provided.
Work Schedule
The explanation on how Virtual Jury works from Figure 2 says that you will only receive the invitation to be part of a focus group when there is a case in your location. There is nothing about how long a case assignment will take.
This could also mean that there is no guarantee if you will get an invitation for weeks or months. Therefore, you could use your time to check out other reputable online jury platforms such as Online Verdict and eJury.
You could also try other online jobs like social media marketer and other money making gigs like microtasking.Benefits / Bonus/ Increase/ Training Provided
There are no health benefits or insurance coverage from working as paid online juror, unlike from other online jobs. You may only enjoy a flexible work schedule.
Conclusion
PROS
CONS
Even if you spend extra effort to look online for other details like reviews, you might still not find any satisfactory information to confirm about Virtual Jury as a trustworthy platform. Those who would try it might sign up, but will eventually realize that their efforts are all for nothing because the sign up system is not working. If the system is working, you take the risk of providing your information with no guarantee for confidentiality or guarantee that you will receive any reward.
If you are serious about working online, then you should probably look for other ways to earn money online.