The Litigation Psychology Podcast

Dr. Steve Wood shares what to look for in a corporate representative and a list of five (5) essential elements for someone to serve as an effective 30(b)(6) witness: 1) Humility - The individual has to feel comfortable saying "I don't know".  2) Patience - The witness needs to wait for the questioner to finish asking their question before responding. They also have to be patient with the  depositi...

Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. talks about a list of words that the brain normally doesn't think of as bad words but which can be really bad words if a witness says them, or agrees to them, in deposition or trial testimony. These are trap words that lock witnesses into inflexible positions and are a big reason why witness effectiveness training, prior to testimony, is crucial to litigation success. The Bad...

Dr. Kyle Boone, Clinical Neuropsychologist and Clinical Professor at UCLA, joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to talk about Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) in litigation. TBI claims are increasing exponentially and Dr. Boone gives an overview of concussions and mild traumatic brain injuries and discusses assumptions, myths, and truths about the diagnosis of a mild TBI. Dr. Boone and Dr. Kanasky, Jr. d...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. talks about egregious conduct in the trucking and transportation industry. Bill describes the importance of accurately assessing your case early with focus groups to find out what jurors might think about the case. Bill also lists specific behaviors and topics that jurors consistently have issues with in trucking and transportation cases: 1) Dash cam video; 2) Unenforced...

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. and Steve Wood, Ph. D. discuss who's to blame when things go poorly with a case. Bill and Steve share stories of when and how jury consultants get blamed or are set up as the fall guy for situations when depositions, jury selections, or trials turn out badly for the defense. They talk about the risk in accuracy, reliability, and predictability when cutting corners with ju...

Holly Howanitz, Partner, Wicker Smith joins Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. to talk about ways to prepare opening statements that attract and hold juror attention and engagement. Holly talks about using visual stimuli in openings, her thoughts on the length of her openings, and how she decides how long her openings will be. In addition, Holly discusses managing turnover within the firm when associates or at...

Dr. Steve Wood discusses the topic of humanizing the corporate defendant. The data doesn’t support that making the argument to jurors that the corporation is made up of regular people who just go to work and try to do their best. Mock trials and actual trials have consistently demonstrated that jurors see through these arguments and don't buy into this. Jurors also discount arguments made about ho...

Sorena Fallin, Partner & Matt Cassman, Associate Attorney from Ragsdale Liggett join Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph. D. to discuss the recently signed tort reform bill in Florida,  HB 837. The changes apply to causes of action accruing after the effective date of March 24, 2023 and prior to the bill becoming law, reports state that plaintiffs’ firms filed approximately 100,000 lawsuits. Sorena outlines...

Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. talks about jury selection and why demographics and intelligence are not predictive of pro-defense jurors. A mistake defense counsel often make is identifying a few demographic criteria and then selecting a jury based on those criterion. Instead, voir dire should be conducted to gain a deeper understanding of a juror's attitudes, experiences, personality, and beliefs which ar...

Aaron Rolen, Senior Counsel with The Bassett Firm, joins Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. to talk about managing your career as a younger attorney. Aaron shares his perspective as a younger attorney and the advantages he has realized from staying with the same firm for a number of years versus bouncing around to chase new opportunities. He also talks about what defense attorneys can do better strategically a...

Doug Marcello, Chief Legal Officer with Bluewire, joins Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. to talk about the latest report from the American Tort Reform Foundation on Judicial Hellholes. Doug shares his analysis of the report including some of the common denominators: anchoring and changing jury demographics in some areas. Bill and Doug also discuss how much of a danger nuclear settlements are and how little a...

Sean Murphy, Practice Leader for CSI's Crisis Communications Practice,  talks with Dr. Steve Wood about handling the crisis response to cybersecurity breaches. Sean offers good and bad examples of companies involved in cybersecurity crises, how they handled those situations, and what were the outcomes.  Sean shares a guide that companies who have successfully navigated cybersecurity breaches and r...

Attorney Larry Schnapf and author and JFK assassination expert Jefferson Morley join Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. to continue the discussion about the legal issues and challenges being mounted to obtain the release of all government documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Larry, Jeff, and Bill talk about the Schlesinger memo, the actions of the CIA in the early 60s, including...

Attorney Larry Schnapf and author and JFK assassination expert Jefferson Morley join Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. to discuss the lawsuit they have filed to obtain the release of all government documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Larry, Jeff, and Bill discuss the results of the multiple mock trials that have been conducted related to the assassination, the JFK Records Act,...

  Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. describes how to assess jurors more accurately during the jury selection process by implementing specific measures. There are two primary ways to measure something: using dichotomous variables or continuous variables. Dichotomous is a singular (i.e. binary) choice between two options (e.g. yes/no).  Continuous variables offer multiple options, such as rating on a scale from...

Zack Fletcher, Senior Associate with Wood, Smith, Henning, & Berman in Chicago joins Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. to talk about a recent unique jury trial in which Zack had to defend his client against a pro se litigant in Cook County, Illinois.   Zack shares details of the litigation process, including the fact that there were very few settlement negotiations that took place and the plaintiff decide...

Attorneys Jason Hendren & Jackie Clark, both Partners with Hall Booth Smith, join Dr. Steve Wood to talk about medical malpractice cases. The group discusses which med mal cases are the most difficult to litigate (birth trauma; wrongful death; paralysis cases) and the challenges with managing juror sympathy in cases with young injured parties. They talk about how juror perceptions of the reput...

Dr. Steve Wood and Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. talk about witness testimony and a concept in psychology called 'cognitive momentum' (the "Yes" train). Opposing counsel will rapidly throw out easy, factual questions to get your witness used to saying 'yes', speeding up their responses, lowering their defenses, and then eventually they fall prey to questions for which the answer should not be 'yes.' Witne...

Dr. Steve Wood and Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. talk about witness testimony and the problems and dangers of pivoting during deposition questioning. They discuss how defense attorneys don’t realize how they are opening the door to counterattacks from opposing counsel when they encourage their witnesses to pivot and answer questions with phrases like "Yes, but..." Steve and Bill describe the psychology be...

Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. is joined by trial attorneys Shane O'Dell of Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee and John Nunnally of Ragsdale Liggett to talk about new year's resolutions and what they are changing or doing differently in how they manage their litigation. Shane and John share how they are encouraging their clients to be more proactive in their litigation and not wait for plaintiff's counsel to m...

Dr. Steve Wood and Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. close out 2022 with a podcast Year in Review. They talk about what they've learned this year including starting to see some clients operating more proactively and early in litigation and the benefits they are realizing by doing so. Steve and Bill discuss other topics covered during the year, and in particular, the importance of episodes dedicated to mental...

Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. talks about the risky language in company policies and procedures and the language and information on company websites. Many companies create a level of expectation for safety that is unattainable and put these organizations at risk of being attacked by plaintiff attorneys during litigation. Using language about safety being the top priority in manuals, training materials, po...

Wellness Specialist Jen Donovan joins Dr. Steve Wood for the second part of this episode focused on wellness and managing stress. In this episode, Jen demonstrates different simple exercises and movements as ways to relieve stress, including multiple breathing tips. Jen also talks about sound healing and sound therapy exercises. Lastly, Jen shares tips for how to get started, managing the timing o...

Wellness Specialist Jen Donovan joins Dr. Steve Wood for a two-part episode about wellness topics, including the benefits of Rawfood Nutrition, and demonstrates some exercises to help manage the stresses of work and the holidays. Jen shares tips on eating properly, sleeping properly, breathing properly, and moving our body properly and the importance of devoting at least 3 weeks to any change to m...

Dr. Bill Kanasky, Jr. shares what and whom he is grateful and thankful for. Watch the video of this episode: https://www.courtroomsciences.com/r/oAJ