The Litigation Psychology Podcast

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. discusses the concept of sensitivity in jury research. Bill explains that the quality of the stimuli shared with participants in the research may impact the level of confidence in the research results. For example, when being able to show video footage of the incident or video of witness deposition testimony, these are high sensitivity stimuli that increase the reliabilit...

CSI Litigation Consultant Sarah Burton, Ph. D. joins Steve Wood, Ph. D. to discuss early jury research. Sarah shares details about a case in which she conducted a focus group very early in the case, while discovery was still open, to understand what jurors thought about an important piece of evidence that the defense was expecting to base their case on. And it turned out that this evidence was not...

CSI Litigation Consultant Linda Khzam, M.A. joins Steve Wood, Ph. D. to talk about jury research in highly sensitive cases, such as sexual abuse and molestation, child abuse, racially sensitive situations like police shootings, etc. Linda and Steve discuss the challenges that jurors have in evaluating the evidence in sensitive cases and how the jury research has to be approached in these types of...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. talks about a deposition topic that doesn't get enough attention: the question sequencing in a Reptile deposition. Bill describes how the setup questions that precede the transition point to Reptile/Edge questions lull the witness's brain into a state of safety which prevents them from recognizing the subtle transition to the dangerous Reptile/Edge questions. The witness'...

Sarah Burton, Ph. D. joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about some do's and don'ts of jury research in medical malpractice cases. Sarah's Don'ts: - Don't go into a focus group expecting to predict the verdict - the purpose of focus group research is to understand how jurors interpret the evidence and what does and does not resonate - Don't start your research with a mock trial - focus groups...

James Smith, Senior Technology Consultant with IMS Legal Strategies, joins Steve Wood, Ph. D. to discuss trial tech. James describes his responsibilities as a Hot Seat operator before and during trial. James and Steve talk about the different ways that attorneys work, meeting their diverse expectations, and how he prepares for different scenarios at trial. James shares a couple of war stories from...

Endondist Chanelle Small, DDS joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about her experience as an expert witness on dental malpractice cases. Dr. Small describes the most common types of dental malpractice cases she sees and how she approaches the reviews that she is asked to do, particularly when there are questions about causation. She also shares a couple of stories of wild cases she has worked...

Brad Hughes, Member at Clark Hill, joins Steve Wood, Ph. D. and Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about what he's seeing in the current litigation landscape including the latest on what the plaintiff's bar is doing pre-suit, early in litigation, and at trial. The group discuss the importance of selecting the right cases to take to trial and Brad shares insights on what he has learned about how pla...

Linda Khzam joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. for part two of their discussion on anchoring and counter-anchoring. Linda begins by talking about the focus groups CSI has been doing to test voir dire questions and also focus groups testing opening statements. Linda and Bill describe the goals for the disruptive voir dire system, the questions asked of the mock jurors to help identify the questions th...

Trial Attorney Tad Eckenrode of Eckenrode-Bauman joins Bill Kanasky, Jr, Ph. D. to talk about an article he recently authored for CLM Magazine titled "The Elephants Are Multiplying" about major issues in the insurance defense industry. Tad shares his thoughts on the challenges with the compensation model for insurance defense firms, recruiting and retaining new attorneys, issues with carriers cutt...

Steve Wood, Ph. D. & Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. answer the latest podcast listener/viewer questions: - How do I know when my witness is ready for their deposition? - Are smarter witnesses more dangerous? - What is the ideal sample size for a focus group? - How important is likeability to credibility? - What are the top mistakes you see in focus groups? - Can big data predict jury outcomes? Watc...

CSI Litigation Consultant Erin Daugherty, Ph. D., BCBA joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about video evidence in litigation. Erin and Bill discuss how cases with video as evidence play out, whether police body cam, surveillance video, dash cam, security cam footage, etc., and how video evidence influences and affects juror perceptions about the facts of the case. They talk about what jurors...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. talks about how to get a witness back on track when they slip up during the deposition. Since it is nearly inevitable that mistakes will be made by the witness during questioning, this must be addressed directly with the witness during the prep to help forewarn and desensitize them to when they make a cognitive mistake during the deposition. The much more difficult mistak...

CSI Litigation Consultant Linda Khzam, M.A. joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about anchoring. Bill and Linda discuss how plaintiff attorneys approach developing their anchor and Linda shares results from several recent jury research projects where damages were discussed with mock jurors and what their reactions were to the anchors and counter-anchors. They explain the importance of testing...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. compares focus groups in jury research to x-rays in medical evaluations. X-rays are fast, reliable, and inexpensive early tests to reveal critical, structural issues prior to more advanced testing like an MRI. Similarly, focus groups conducted early in a case can be executed quickly and inexpensively and can reveal core foundational issues and opportunities in your case p...

Trial Attorney Tad Eckenrode of Eckenrode-Bauman joins Bill Kanasky, Jr, Ph. D. to talk about the current state of medical malpractice litigation. Bill and Tad discuss the reasons for a lack of trust in the healthcare system. They talk about questioning strategies in voir dire to identify more specifically where juror frustrations with the healthcare system stems from and the challenge with not be...

Brent Turman, Attorney with Munsch Hardt, and Sean Murphy, Practice Lead of CSI's Crisis Consulting services, join Steve Wood, Ph. D. to talk about the recent verdicts against Meta and Google and what the juries in those cases found. Brent compares social media platforms to tobacco companies in the fact that these platforms were developed to be addictive. Brent also talks about how the representat...

Triple board-certified legal nurse expert Marilyn McCullum, joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D., to talk about her experience as an emergency room nurse expert witness. Marilyn works with attorneys on both sides to review emergency room medical records, which can be more nuanced than regular medical records. Marilyn talks about the differences between working with plaintiff and defense attorneys and h...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. defines the competence trap with witnesses. Bill shares why there is often a perception that witnesses who are highly competent in their jobs will perform really well as witnesses during testimony and why this often isn't true. He describes several reasons why some witnesses who are highly skilled in their professional positions may not make good witnesses. Bill talks abo...

CSI Litigation Consultant Linda Khzam, M.A. joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about illogical thought patterns of witnesses. Often witnesses have misconceptions about the litigation process or concerns about ramifications of their performance in the deposition, which need to be addressed before any prep can start. Bill and Linda share how they help witnesses open up so they can address any d...

Paul Molinaro, M.D., J.D. joins Steve Wood, Ph. D. for part 2 of their conversation about medical malpractice litigation from Paul's unique perspective as a Physician, Attorney, Mediator, and Arbitrator. Paul talks about his role as a mediator, shares his philosophy on managing mediations, and how he approaches different mediation scenarios. Paul gives examples of two types of mediations: facilita...

Paul Molinaro, M.D., J.D., who is a Physician, Attorney, Mediator, Arbitrator and founder of MD JD Dispute Resolution, joins Steve Wood, Ph. D. to share his background on his many roles and experience with medical malpractice cases. Paul and Steve discuss the standard of care, how Paul evaluates the cases that he is approached to work on, how patients and jurors judge physicians, how they perceive...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. defines and describes the cognitive gap and why witnesses must protect this gap during testimony. Bill shares the brain science behind cognitive fatigue when maximizing cognition in a deposition and how a witness must be trained - not just told - how to practice and protect the cognitive gap. The training process requires teaching and practice in order to master the skill...

CSI Litigation Consultant Sarah Burton, Ph. D. joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about training witnesses to prepare them for testimony. Sarah shares how she approaches getting to know witnesses before the training formally begins to help put them at ease and to evaluate their mental and emotional state. Bill and Sarah discuss how challenging it is for witness's brains to be concise when the...

Alexander Green, Partner with Lewis Brisbois, joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to discuss young attorney development and mentoring. Alexander shares his thoughts on what attorney mentorship looks like and how leaders can facilitate development opportunities for early career attorneys within their firms. Alexander also talks about how his career has benefited from having mentors, how he balances bei...