The Litigation Psychology Podcast

Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. describes pre-litigation preparation and talks about the importance of investing in these tools before clients are involved in litigation. Bill shares how more and more clients are proactively evaluating, assessing, and training potential corporate representatives and expert witnesses in advance of litigation. The 30(b)(6) witness is a really important role and making sure th...

Dr. Steve Wood and Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. team up to talk about the increased incidents of aggressiveness and violence that we are witnessing on airplanes, at airports, sporting events, and more. Steve and Bill talk about what these fights and bad behavior mean for the jury pool since the people involved in these fights are jury eligible. They discuss the psychology behind this behavior and what th...

Brian Thompson, Founder of Law & Motion, joins the podcast to talk about physical fitness for attorneys and others in the legal profession. Brian is a practicing attorney who made a lifestyle change at the start of his legal career to put more of a focus on his physical fitness. He talks with Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. about the stresses of the attorney profession and how those demands make it easy...

Jay Blobner, Senior Safety & Risk Manager with International Transportation Services Inc., joins the podcast to speak with Steve Wood, Ph. D. about how the trucking industry has changed over the years. Jay shares a bit about his extensive experience in the transportation field and talks about the changes he has seen in the trucking industry over the years. He also gives his thoughts on what he...

Chantal Roberts, Principal & CEO of CMR Consulting, joins the podcast to talk about litigation and the insurance industry. Chantal serves as an expert witness for claims handling standards and procedures and has a wealth of knowledge about the claims process. Chantal and Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. talk about the shortsightedness of the insurance defense industry and what the reasoning is behind how...

Steve Wood, Ph. D. talks about what he's been witnessing lately with attorney presentations in mock trials and focus groups, how those attorneys are being perceived by mock jurors, and the impact that has on jurors' impressions of the attorney's credibility. Steve shares the research and insights he's collected on attorney credibility and the impact attorney credibility has on case outcomes. Persu...

Dr. Steve Wood joins Dr. Bill Kanasky to discuss the topic of buyer's remorse in litigation consulting. Bill shares some recent examples of clients who have invested in witness training and/or jury research, win their case or otherwise get a favorable result, but then have buyer's remorse when they get the invoice. Steve talks about the psychology of what causes that perspective, the underlying hu...

Justin Ratley, Attorney with Munsch Hardt in Houston, TX, joins the podcast to talk about his background in military intelligence and federal law enforcement prior to going to law school to become an attorney. Justin discusses with Dr. Steve Wood how his experience in law enforcement has influenced his work as an attorney, including how he approaches interviewing witnesses at deposition and how it...

Mike Bassett, Senior Partner of The Bassett Law Firm, joins the podcast to talk about his new book "The Man in the Ditch". Mike shares with Dr. Bill Kanasky what "The Ditch" is and what inspired the book, which is described as a story about undeserved privilege, unlimited potential, hard work, and hustle. A story about self-inflicted wounds, hubris, insecurity, shame, and abandonment. Mike also ta...

Defense attorneys Melissa Graves and Rick Joslin from Collins Einhorn Farrell join the podcast to talk with Dr. Steve Wood about trucking litigation. They discuss their approach to defending trucking cases by focusing on both the liability angle and damages. They talk about the importance of starting work on the case early with reviewing evidence and speaking to witnesses and emphasizing the criti...

Author and former Washington Post reporter Jefferson Morley, one of the world’s most credible authorities on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, joins the podcast for the second of a two part episode to talk all about the JFK assassination. Mr. Morley is the editor of the blog JFK Facts (jfkfacts.org).  In this episode, Morley and Dr. Bill Kanasky discuss video and audio from the day o...

Author and former Washington Post reporter Jefferson Morley, one of the world’s most credible authorities on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, joins the podcast for the first of a two part episode to talk all about the JFK assassination. Mr. Morley is also the editor of the blog JFK Facts (jfkfacts.org) and shares his background on how, when, and why he became interested in the topic...

Steve Wood, Ph. D. and Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. discuss the litigation risks and dangers for companies that make statements like "Safety is our top priority." Steve and Bill talk about how and why that seemingly innocuous statement is neither true nor accurate and how the plaintiff's bar has successfully used this type of language against companies and witnesses to great success. Bill provides a...

Kellie Howard-Goudy, Attorney with Collins Einhorn Farrell, joins the podcast to talk about strategies for settlement negotiations. Since over 95% of cases settle, honing the skills and process to manage settlement negotiations is a critical skill for litigators. Kellie shares her strategy for settlement negotiations with Dr. Steve Wood including developing a risk/benefit analysis. Communication w...

Steven Bryan, CEO and Doug Marcello, Chief Legal Officer, of Bluewire join the podcast to talk about their new company that uses software to help trucking companies identify reputational vulnerabilities in the defense of their litigation. Steven provides some background on how the company came about and their areas of focus. Bluewire has identified reputation as a key contributor to nuclear verdic...

Sean Murphy, Practice Leader, CSI Critical Communications joins Dr. Steve Wood to talk about the myth that safety is the top priority for most businesses. Many company communications, mission statements, and handbooks default to stating that the safety of their employees/customers/shareholders/community is the foremost priority of their business, but this unnecessarily blanket claim can create pot...

Our guest for this episode of The Litigation Psychology Podcast is Punam Kaji, Assistant General Counsel for Ben E. Keith. Punam is focused on employment and litigation matters for the company and is the 2021 winner of the Outstanding Young Lawyer Award of Tarrant County (TX) Young Lawyers Association. She shares with Dr. Steve Wood some of her background as a young attorney and how her experience...

A special episode for the 75th edition of The Litigation Psychology Podcast. Dr. Bill Kanasky answers questions that have come in from podcast viewers and listeners. The questions asked and answered: - Should I do my mock trial in the actual venue of the lawsuit? - How should I handle confidentiality and do you recommend using real names in the mock trial? - My witness is not responding back to me...

Attorney Matt LaBeau with Collins Einhorn Farrell joins Dr. Steve Wood to discuss preparing emotional witnesses for deposition. Matt talks about the different types of emotions that witnesses might be struggling with (sadness, anger, nervousness) and how important it is to identify in advance if your witness may be an emotional one so that the attorney and consultant can offer the proper level of...

In this episode of The Litigation Psychology Podcast, Dr. Bill Kanasky talks about preventing nuclear settlements at deposition by doing a better job of managing the cognitive fatigue of witnesses during deposition testimony. Scientific evidence makes clear that witnesses begin to fatigue mentally at around the 35-minute mark, so the "take a break once per hour" philosophy of most attorneys is a m...

Eric Miersma, Attorney with Balestreri Potocki & Holmes, and a former commercial truck driver, joins the podcast to discuss both trucking and construction litigation. Eric compares and contrasts the two different types of litigation, noting that construction players often have lots of experience with litigation but with most of the smaller trucking companies that he works with, they often have...

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Whitney Burkett, Associate Attorney with Anderson, Rasor & Partners, and CSI Litigation Consultant Dr. Alyssa Parker join Dr. Steve Wood to discuss mental health, and in particular the mental health of witnesses. Whitney and Alyssa discuss the importance of assessing the mental state of witnesses in advance of their preparation for testimony and understand...

Rick Joslin, Attorney with Collins Einhorn Farrell, talks to Dr. Steve Wood about Traumatic Brain Injury cases and some of the considerations when managing these types of cases. Rick and Steve discuss the challenges in defending traumatic brain injury cases which aren't always as visible as a physical injury and how the plaintiff's bar uses neuropsychological testing in making their case. Rick sha...

Tim Christ, Vice President of Growth for Claimatic, joins Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. to talk about how the insurance claims process has evolved over time. Tim provides some background on Claimatic, an intelligent decisioning software that automatically and quickly triages, routes, and assign thousands of claims in complex workflows and then shares how the claims process has evolved from highly manual t...

With in-person trials beginning to ramp up again after the shutdowns caused by COVID-19, dusting off trial skills becomes important. In this episode of The Litigation Psychology Podcast, Dr. Bill Kanasky speaks to trial attorneys Paul Motz of Segal McCambridge and Georgianne Walker of May Oberfell Lorber about the art and science of cross examination. Paul and Georgianne discuss their individual p...