This is an internal Department of Justice email chain from August 2021 regarding the hiring of litigation consultant Paulette Taylor for jury consulting services in the United States v. Ghislaine Maxwell criminal trial.

The document consists of forwarded emails between federal prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (USANYS) discussing administrative approval and budget processing for trial consulting services. Paulette Taylor of Taylor'd Trial Consulting submitted a proposal on July 21, 2021 for services including focus groups, pretrial juror questionnaire development, and feedback on opening/closing arguments. The prosecutors approved moving forward with the consultant in late August 2021, roughly three months before Maxwell's trial began in November 2021.

Key Highlights

• •Prosecutors hired Paulette Taylor as a litigation consultant to assist with jury selection and trial strategy in the high-profile Ghislaine Maxwell case
• •Proposed services included conducting focus groups, developing juror questionnaires, and providing feedback on opening statements and closing arguments
• •Taylor suggested holding a focus group on Friday, October 1, 2021, approximately six weeks before the trial's November 29, 2021 start date
• •The consultant noted that grading completed juror questionnaires costs approximately $8,000 per 100 questionnaires and had been used in earlier high-profile cases like Martha Stewart's trial
• •The proposal referenced that questionnaire grading was not provided in recent cases like Silver and Skelos, suggesting a more intensive preparation strategy for Maxwell

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