Jan. 4, 2012 – Less than three percent of federal criminal and civil cases will be a jury trial. Federal pattern jury instructions can save you time when you do have a jury trial. Unlike the Wisconsin pattern jury instructions, several federal pattern jury instructions are available electronically.

Federal pattern jury instructions are usually developed by either a circuit committee or a professional association. Some district courts also develop their own pattern jury instructions. Other legal websites, such as lp.findlaw.com, may also offer federal jury instructions. Some judges will even have their own pattern jury instructions, at least for boiler plate instructions. Knowing who develops jury instructions can give you a clue as to where to look, but it may take some resourcefulness to find them.

Comprehensive sites

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Library website links to a fairly comprehensive list of pattern jury instructions. In addition to Seventh Circuit pattern jury instructions, the list also contains links to all circuits that have electronically available instructions, instructions developed by district courts, and many instructions developed by associations. Unfortunately the link is not obvious, but is listed under “Ask Bill” and then “Federal Judicial Branch” materials.

The Federal Evidence Review blog is another place that attempts to consolidate jury instructions, both according to circuit and subject matter. Jury instructions developed by district courts are to the right on the circuit instructions. Some of the subject matter instructions are pulled out from circuit instructions. For example, most of the employment instructions come from the First Circuit. Other circuits may have employment instructions but they are not included in this chart.

Judges’ boilerplate instructions

Judges may also have their own preferences for standard instructions concerning evidence, the role of the jury, and testimony. Judge C.N. Clevert is the only Wisconsin federal judge who currently has these instructions available electronically. Check a judge’s listing under the court’s local website to see if he or she has preferred boiler plate instructions. If boilerplate instructions are not listed electronically, you should check with the judge to find out if they have standard instructions.

Association sites

Another place to check for federal jury instructions is professional associations dealing with an area of law. The Federal Circuit Bar Association and the American Intellectual Property Law Association both have model patent jury instructions. The North American Securities Administrators Association, Inc. has instructions for securities laws.

Fee-based jury instructions

Some legal websites, such as findlaw.com, will sell instructions that have been used in cases. Care needs to be taken to distinguish between those used in state cases versus federal cases. Another site that sells jury instructions is www.juryinstruction.com.

Revisions to pattern jury instructions are infrequent. For example, the current Seventh Circuit Pattern Criminal Federal Jury Instructions are from 1998, although revisions are underway. You should always make sure that the instructions you have reflect current law before you modify them to fit the facts of your case.

About the author

Barbara Fritschel, U.W. 1980, is the law librarian with the federal courts in Milwaukee. She received her library of science degree from the University of Washington, Seattle, law librarianship program.