The Litigation Psychology Podcast

Steve Wood, Ph. D. & Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. talk about the misperception that humanizing the corporation is valuable and relevant to jurors. Often, defense counsel and the companies they represent want to talk at trial about how their company is made up of individuals just like the jurors, how much the company gives in charity, how many volunteering activities they do, and more. Steve and B...

Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. talks about the science behind how depositions begin. Most opposing counsel start off being friendly and nice and asking very simple, non-threatening questions at the beginning of the deposition to get the witness's guard down. The witness's brain gets comfortable with these easy questions which allows opposing counsel to take advantage of their comfort with later que...

Dr. Mark Manera, Founder and CEO of Supply Chain Fitness, joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about fitness in trucking and transportation. Mark is a physical therapist and founded his company after identifying the level of unhealthiness in the trucking industry. Bill and Mark discuss the challenges with helping transportation companies understand the value and return on investment in health a...

Ava Hernandez joins Steve Wood, Ph. D & Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to discuss competing priorities at deposition prep. The client, attorney, and witness are all involved at different levels in the deposition prep though sometimes the goals for each aren't aligned and may be in conflict with one another. The group discusses the witness's perspective and how their brain is wired to survive which,...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. talks about the importance of effective listening skills by the witness during testimony. Listening is a skill that must be taught by a neurocognitive expert because the brain is not wired naturally to listen, particularly to the degree required during questioning. Bill dispels the myth that witnesses should engage in active listening during their testimony. Active listen...

Steve Wood, Ph. D. & Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. discuss part 2 of the operant conditioning topic and how opposing counsel uses operant conditioning to derail witnesses during both deposition and trial testimony. Operant conditioning is the creation of an association between a behavior and the outcome and can include positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and punishment. It's important...

Brenda Smith, Attorney with Dvorak Law Group, joins Bill Kanasky, Jr. Ph. D. to discuss the importance of conducting an early, thorough assessment of witnesses before beginning deposition prep and to make a connection with witnesses before even starting prep. This early assessment allows the litigation team to address any issues in advance of deposition prep so the preparation can be more impactfu...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. talks about the biggest mistake defense attorneys are making at deposition, which is the erroneous assumption that the beginning of the deposition, when plaintiff's counsel is questioning the witness on background information, is not important. The witness (and the attorney) need to understand that those background questions are part of the setup for the plaintiff attorne...

Dr. Jonathan Glenn, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Alma College, joins Steve Wood, Ph. D. to discuss mentorship. Jonathan talks about the power of mentorship and describes both formal and informal mentorship and how they differ. Jonathan shares how great mentors are able to see things within others that they can't see within themselves. Strong mentors challenge "safe dreams" and push other...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. shares the issues with a witness he is training for trial testimony and the witness's problem with pivoting, which he did extensively in his deposition. This witness's deposition included responses that went on way too long, responses that came way too quickly, including speaking over the questioner, and most of his responses to questions about facts were pivoting respons...

Fred I. Lederer, Director of the Center for Legal & Court Technology (CLCT) and Daniel Shin, Cybersecurity Researcher for CLCT join Steve Wood, Ph. D. to discuss the topic of deepfakes in litigation. Fred and Daniel provide the background and history of CLCT and how the center has expanded its focus to new and emerging technologies including machine learning and AI. Daniel defines what a deepf...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. answers podcast listener mail: - How can my client be better prepared for litigation before the court case is even filed? - Do online jury projects work? - If the witness only has two hours, is that enough for witness preparation and training? - How long does it take to properly train a witness? - When should I talk about damages at trial? - My witness is using marijuana...

CSI Litigation Consultant Ava Hernandez, M.A. joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to discuss witness mental health. Often, fact witnesses that are preparing for deposition may be suffering from psychological issues that could impact their performance during prep and especially during the actual deposition. Bill and Ava talk about how witnesses that have been summoned to testify could be dealing with a...

Steve Wood, Ph. D. & Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. discuss the concept of operant conditioning and how it can be used with witnesses, particularly during deposition prep. Dr. Wood defines operant conditioning as the creation of an association between a behavior and the outcome. There can be both positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement, though its important to understand that negative rei...

Bill Mitchell, Founding Partner, Cruser & Mitchell joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to discuss negotiation in litigation. Bill Mitchell shares his philosophy on managing litigation and comments on the lack of focus on the negotiation phase of litigation vs. the outsized focus on trial, when fewer than 1% of cases go to trial. Bill talks about mistakes that he sees defense attorneys making inclu...

Gene Kissane, Partner at Cole Scott & Kissane, John Nunnally, Attorney at Ragsdale Liggett, and Billy Davis, Partner at Bovis, Kyle, Burch & Medlin join Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about the hottest topic in the legal industry today: Artificial Intelligence. The group discuss their initial perspectives on how they think AI is going to impact the legal field and litigation, what the d...

CSI Litigation Consultant Ava Hernandez, M.A. joins Steve Wood, Ph. D. to discuss the concept of dogmatism in jurors. Ava defines what dogmatism is and shares the different perspectives of psychologists about whether dogmatism is a personality trait or is domain specific. Steve and Ava talk about open and closed systems of thinking and how dogmatism doesn't allow an individual to change their pers...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. continues his conversation on trucking litigation with plaintiff trucking attorney Joe Fried, Founding Partner of Fried Goldberg LLC. In this episode, Bill asks Joe about the behavior of some plaintiff attorneys who express disdain for the insurance company, who refuse to settle or negotiate, and take a very aggressive stance in dealing with the defense. They also discuss...

Plaintiff trucking attorney Joe Fried, Founding Partner of Fried Goldberg LLC, joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about a wide range of topics in trucking litigation including the importance of sincere and effective communication in the litigation process, the definition of a nuclear verdict, how Joe approaches a case from the outset, and how juror anger is only one of the factors influencing...

Jacqueline Altman, Partner at Naman Howell & Jason Goodnight, Partner at Fraden, Farris, Quillin, Goodnight, Roberts + Ward join Steve Wood, Ph. D. to talk about the gig economy. They discuss the complications and challenges from a litigation perspective for this growing, but still relatively new, industry. Jacq and Jason describe what the gig economy is, how broad it is, and how little case l...

Steve Wood, Ph. D. and Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. answer podcast listener questions:  - How will AI change the legal industry and who will benefit the most, plaintiffs or defendants? - Are all nuclear verdict juries angry? How do I spot angry jurors in voir dire? - How do I handle witnesses who are dealing with personal issues? - Why do witnesses have such a deep desire to pivot and why are Yes/No...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. talks about attorneys who "parachute" into a case late. These parachuting situations are happening more often, especially when the excess carrier gets involved and brings in their heavy hitter, but the geographic and culture differences of an outsider can have a material impact on jurors. It is possible for parachuting attorneys to win over a jury but there are some very...

Oscar Lara, Shareholder at Rincon Law Group, joins Steve Wood, Ph. D. and Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about translators for non-native English speakers or foreign-born witnesses and the challenges of working with interpreters during witness preparation and for testimony. Much of Oscar's  practice involves working with many Spanish-speaking witnesses and he shares the challenges of working wi...

Steve Wood, Ph. D. & Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. talk about their latest paper published in CLM Magazine on Preventing Nuclear Settlements at Deposition and the dangers of pivoting during deposition. Steve and Bill discuss the risks to witnesses who are encouraged by defense counsel to pivot during testimony and how cases where witnesses are told to pivot settle for higher amounts than they shou...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. talks about the difference between witness prep and witness training and how the combination of the defense attorney with a witness training expert is the perfect partnership. Some attorneys don't understand or appreciate the difference between witness prep and witness training. Witness prep is the attorney's job going over documents and exhibits and developing the legal...