The Litigation Psychology Podcast

Holly Howanitz, Managing Partner, Tyson & Mendes joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about cross-examination of expert witnesses. Holly highlights that you need think about your goals when cross-examining expert witnesses especially since experts often have more experience testifying than a fact witness. Bill and Holly talk about strategic decisions such as when to bring up "bombs" for the...

Kent Doll, Trial Attorney & Owner, KND Law joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to share his litigation philosophy, Bill and Kent discuss the difference between a trial attorney and a litigator. They discuss trial technology and Kent's approach to jury selection and how important it is to get jurors to open up and share so you can understand their biases and perspectives. Bill and Kent talk about o...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. and Steve Wood, Ph. D. conclude our med mal litigation series by talking about trial preparation for medical malpractice cases. Steve and Bill discuss important tips about managing and preparing witnesses for trial testimony, working with witnesses as early as possible before trial, and helping them understand the difference between direct and cross examination and what t...

Steve Wood, Ph. D. talks about preparing witnesses for trial testimony. Steve mentions several key tips including teaching witnesses to take their time when responding both during direct examination and cross-examination. It is important for witnesses to be consistent with how much time they are taking to answer both direct and cross questions so jurors don't perceive any discrepancy. Taking time...

Dr. Jordan Romano joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to discuss expert witness testimony in medical malpractice cases. Dr. Romano has served as an expert witness on numerous medical malpractice cases and talks about how he got started as an expert witness, how he got up to speed on the litigation process, and what he does as a hospitalist. Bill asks Dr. Romano about the differences between working as...

Steve Wood, Ph. D. & Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. join host Ava Hernandez to talk about what they have been seeing in the cases they have been working on recently. Steve shares that he's been seeing more jurors who are expecting fact witnesses to remember all details from the incident and talks about how to address this issue. The group discuss the pros and cons of the legal strategy of withholdi...

Medical malpractice defense attorney Michael Denning of Heyl Royster joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about the timeline of litigation in medical malpractice. First, Michael and Bill touch on the mental stress of being named in a lawsuit and the importance of making sure the physician or named defendant is doing okay and checking in on their mental health. They discuss the process of buildi...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. joins host Ava Hernandez to discuss his background and how he got into the litigation consulting industry. Ava and Bill talk about how their backgrounds in clinical psychology allow them to assess and prepare witnesses in a way that attorneys are not trained to. They also discuss the ethical challenges with the tension that can occur in working with witnesses, the emotion...

Chuck Ingram, Partner with Estes, Ingram, Foels & Gibbs, P.A., joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about the discovery stage of medical malpractice litigation. Chuck discusses the importance being proactive during the discovery phase in med mal cases and how he approaches discovery differently based on which plaintiff firm has filed the suit. Bill and Chuck also talk about developing young...

Shane O'Dell, Member, Naman, Howell, Smith, and Lee & Mike Bassett, Trial Attorney, The Bassett Firm, join Steve Wood, Ph. D. to talk about some of the misperceptions of the defense bar. The group discuss what the Reptile Theory is really all about and that the purpose of the Reptile Theory is less about scaring the jury and more about empowering them.  Mike, Shane, and Steve discuss the evolu...

Kristi Harrington, Certified Mediator and Arbitrator with Kristi Harrington Dispute Resolution, joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to discuss mediation and alternative dispute resolution in medical malpractice cases. Kristi shares her background and the help she offers clients with alternative dispute resolution and mediation. They talk about issues they encounter in medical malpractice cases and way...

Leah Miller, Fractional CFO, LNM Financial Services LLC joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about law firm finances. Leah and Bill define key financial terms such as revenue, expenses, profitability, and talk about the complexities that crop up as a firm grows. Leah shares the guidance she gives her clients on how often they should be looking at their numbers and describes what a Fractional CF...

In part 4 of our medical malpractice litigation series, Ava Hernandez joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to discuss preparing mid to higher-trained nurses for deposition testimony. BSNs, MSNs, Nurse Practioners, Nurse Managers, Charge Nurses, and similar nurses have significant responsibilities and often come into their deposition with a different perspective than an LPN or less-experienced nurse mig...

Will Stute, Partner at Orrick, joins Steve Wood, Ph. D. to discuss the work he did on Gee v NCAA in which he won a defense verdict. Will provides some personal background and ways he has honed his craft and then relates his experience with defending mass tort cases. He gives an overview of the strategy behind this bellwether case (Gee v NCAA) he worked on, plus his insights on leveraging jury rese...

Jeff Willis, MD, Owner/Physician Consultant of On-Call MedLegal Consulting joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about consulting for medical malpractice attorneys. Dr. Willis specializes in pre-litigation and pre-trial services, working as a member of the legal team from intake through resolution. Dr. Willis provides case merit analysis, precision medical expert matching, case strategy developm...

Trial Attorney Cody Gomora from The Wolf Law Firm, P.C. joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to discuss how younger attorneys can navigate their role as civil litigation defense attorneys. Cody shares how his experience in the district attorney's office and trying criminal cases gave him invaluable courtroom experience that he now applies in his civil litigation defense work. Bill and Cody also discuss...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. talks about the role and impact of expert witnesses in medical malpractice litigation. Bill shares that typically expert witness testimony doesn't get you very far in med mal cases in terms of juror decision-making. This is due to the fact that the expert witness is unable to directly evaluate the patient unlike expert witnesses who can, for example, evaluate defective pa...

Steve Wood, Ph. D. & Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. commemorate the 200th episode of The Litigation Psychology Podcast and discuss the misunderstanding many have about the correlation between juror anger and outsized verdicts. Steve and Bill share the scientific data that Courtroom Sciences has collected and analyzed to understand the role that juror anger does or does not play in nuclear verdicts....

In the first part of a series of episodes about medical malpractice litigation, Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. talks about nurses sitting for deposition, in particular, the LPN, and the importance of the initial meeting and communication with these nurses. These lower-level nurses often struggle at deposition due to their nervousness about the process, fear of the ramifications, potential blame issues,...

Steve Wood, Ph. D. is joined by Sean Murphy, Practice Leader of CSI Critical Communications & Brent Turman, Partner with Bell Nunnally to talk about social media in the courtroom. Sean begins by talking about cameras in the courtroom and gives the example of the narrative around Donald Trump's upcoming trials and his team's request for allowing cameras in the courtroom. Brent shares how import...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. is joined by Brendan Dawson, Founder of Accident Plan, to talk about how the Accident Plan software helps guide truck drivers to manage and secure an accident scene when an incident occurs and capture the critical data to be shared with others offsite. Brendan shares how the training for truck drivers using Accident Plan allows them to be more prepared and follow a proces...

Steve Wood, Ph. D. & Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. kick off 2024 with another episode answering podcast listener mail. Questions addressed: -  How can I deal with anchoring by plaintiff's counsel? -  Is it okay if my witness wears a nose ring to her video deposition? -  How can I deal with an ex-employee who is not willing to cooperate in their deposition prep? -  Does it sound bad for a witness t...

Steve Wood, Ph. D. & Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. talk about the impacts of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) on witnesses in litigation. PTSD can occur in several different types of litigation and isn't exclusively just in cases involving vehicle accidents or bad medical outcomes. Steve and Bill provide a checklist for defense attorneys on what to look for when working with witnesses to iden...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. talks about how to manage the teaching moment during trial testimony. When your expert witness or defendant is put on the stand with the goal of teaching the jurors something, your witness must meet the jury where they are. It's important to remember the concept of juror cognitive lag, which is that jurors will lag behind in their cognition and your witness has to underst...

Bryan Aghakhani, Partner, Bordin Semmer joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about the attorney perspective on the deposition. Bryan states that cases are won or lost at deposition and that the preparation before deposition, and being actively engaged at deposition with objections, is key for defense attorneys when defending depositions. Bryan and Bill discuss the difference in preparing a fact...