Archive | Magnus Research

High Anxiety

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On May 27, 2021

Category: Careers, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Jury Consultants, Jury Research, Litigation Consultants, Litigation Research, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Small Business Success, Trial Consultants, Trial Consulting

Magnus’ clients are attorneys involved in high stakes litigation. Whether they represent the plaintiff(s) or defendant(s), they are under a great deal of pressure to get the best result for their clients. Even when they don’t show it, we know this is a high stress situation. Putting together a mock jury research project is intense. […]

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On May 27, 2021

David’s title, “High Anxiety,” instantly reminded me of the 1977 Mel Brooks movie of the same name. However, that’s where the similarity both begins and ends. While Mel Brooks’ movie was a farcical comedy, Magnus’ cases are anything but comedic. Many of our cases are tragic and all of them involve high stakes. The attorneys […]

The Major League

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On May 25, 2021

Category: Business Frustrations, Business Partnerships, Business personalities, Careers, Common Courtesy, Getting the Job Done, Jury Consultants, Jury Research, Litigation Consultants, Litigation Research, Litigation Tips, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Trial Consultants, Trial Consulting

My family is a baseball family. My dad, the late Park T. Pigott, Sr. played baseball, coached baseball, and generally speaking, lived much of his life for baseball. I am not usually fond of sports analogies, however, recent experiences with clients of Magnus Research Consultants have reminded me of baseball. Almost all of Magnus’ clients […]

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On May 25, 2021

This minor leaguer experience was one of the strangest situations we have had in years. We had been, to keep up with the baseball analogy, “scouted” by the end client (that is the entity/person paying our bill). Our ability to work with the lawyer was limited until that scouting was completed. Admittedly, this process was […]

Politics of Litigation

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On May 20, 2021

Category: Entrepreneurship, Getting the Job Done, Jury Consultants, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Trial Consultants, Trial Consulting

Magnus is hired for many reasons. To evaluate the liability issues in the case. To assess the damages potential. To determine at whom to point fingers. To get a plaintiff to understand the realities of their case. To get a defendant to understand the realities of their case. Is it a case to try? Is […]

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On May 20, 2021

Category: Entrepreneurship, Getting the Job Done, Jury Consultants, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Trial Consultants, Trial Consulting

The behind the scenes intrigue in many of our clients’ cases is often more important to our clients than the outcome of their jury research. One of my all time favorite clients, now deceased, was a wonderful attorney who worked for a government agency. Until he hired Magnus to work on several of his cases, […]

Holiday Inn

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On May 18, 2021

Category: Business Frustrations, Business Travel, Getting the Job Done, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, RoadWarrior, Travel, Trial Consulting

I wish it were possible to know the number of Holiday Inns where I have stayed and the number of nights I have stayed in them. When my parents and I traveled across the “lower 48″ states in the United States, our hotel of choice was Holiday Inn. Often, we planned our itinerary around the […]

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On May 18, 2021

Category: Business Frustrations, Business Travel, Getting the Job Done, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, RoadWarrior, Travel, Trial Consulting

It has been interesting to see the world adjust to a pandemic with microscopic particles scaring us all. Not that we are staying at hotels frequently like we did pre-pandemic, but for business and family reasons, we have, I have, traveled a little in the pandemic times. All hotel chains are making adjustments and taking […]

Retainers

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On May 13, 2021

Category: Business Frustrations, Business Relationships, Entrepreneurship, Getting the Job Done, Jury Consultants, Jury Research, Litigation Consultants, Litigation Research, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Small Business Success, Trial Consultants, Trial Consulting

Call it a deposit; call it a retainer. Magnus doesn’t start work without one (except in rare circumstances beyond the scope of this post). We need money, we want money; importantly, other people want money. We learned, the hard way, that clients need to “show us the money.” One of our first cases blew up […]

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On May 13, 2021

No one works for free. By definition, work is performed in exchange for compensation. (The obvious exceptions, such as slavery, human trafficking, etc., are beyond the scope of this post.) The fact that one of the largest law firms in the U.S.A., as well as its client, one of the largest corporations in the world, […]

Heuristical thinking

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On May 5, 2021

Category: Getting the Job Done, Jury Behavior, Jury Research, Litigation Research, Litigation Tips, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Psychology, Trial Consultants, Trial Consulting

Biases and heuristics often, but not always, go hand in hand. While bias is attributed to the absence of reflective thought, leading to limitations in judgment, heuristics are used intentionally when making inferences. Heuristics are common sense reasoning strategies employed by laypersons. They are “shortcuts” that accelerate the decision making process. Heuristics may or may […]

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On May 5, 2021

Category: Getting the Job Done, Jury Behavior, Jury Research, Litigation Research, Litigation Tips, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Psychology, Trial Consultants, Trial Consulting

Magnus’ reports often contain a section entitled “Heuristics” and, when I’m showing our sample report to prospective clients, I usually have to explain what a heuristic is and why it is important. I typically explain that heuristics are the ways that the jurors relate to a case – in their own language. Whether it is […]

Social desirability

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On April 27, 2021

Category: Business Frustrations, Business personalities, Careers, Employment, Jury Behavior, Jury Consultants, Litigation Tips, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Managing Employees, Psychology, Small Business Success

Social desirability has important implications in jury selection. Social desirability refers to the phenomenon of saying or doing something because “everybody else” does. For example, when an attorney or a judge asks a prospective juror whether he/she can put aside all biases, predisposed beliefs, and personal feelings and instead, be an impartial judge of the […]

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On April 27, 2021

Answering a question in a socially desirable way implies there is a “right” or expected answer, to some degree. In the basic courtroom questioning of prospective jurors as to whether they “can be fair,” it is pretty obvious that one is not expected to say “no”. Being fair is a fundamental trait that most people […]

Hard Work

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On April 15, 2021

Category: Business Frustrations, Careers, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Litigation Research, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Managing Employees, Small Business Success, Trial Consultants

Always learning – that’s the reality of life, and in operating a business. A lesson learned many years ago happened when we hired a young woman as a research associate. She fit all of our hiring criteria for education, background, etc. She was attractive and well dressed. Her appearance was important to her as evidenced […]

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On April 15, 2021

Hooray for Jessica! As David mentioned, after our experience with one of our former employees, who resigned over too many broken fingernails, we were delighted to hire Jessica Nurek (now Jessica Palomino) because, not only was she qualified for the research associate job, she was not afraid of performing hard work. Cleaning animal stalls is […]

Templates – Creating and Using

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On April 8, 2021

Category: Business personalities, Careers, Entrepreneurship, Getting the Job Done, Jury Research, Litigation Research, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Managing Employees, Small Business Success, Trial Consultants

We spent some time recently updating the templates we use at Magnus. From day 1, I’ve worked on developing templates and, over the years, modifying them to keep up with changes as necessary. We have templates for reports, for contracts, and countless forms that help us keep track of our work. The only thing standardized […]

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On April 8, 2021

David likes forms and templates more than anyone I have ever known. When we are in the process of developing a new service, David routinely advocates for using a template to ensure things are standardized. Although all of my questionnaires are custom designed to assess mock jurors’, survey respondents’, and other research participants’ attitudes about […]

Hiding behind Email

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On April 1, 2021

Category: Business Frustrations, Business Relationships, Careers, Common Courtesy, Entrepreneurship, Getting the Job Done, Jury Research, Litigation Consultants, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Marketing your Business, Small Business Success, Trial Consultants

Prompted by my posts about “different direction” and “ghosting,” a related phenomenon is hiding behind email, especially as a way to deliver bad news. Maybe it is just me, but it seems a matter of professionalism and fairness that, if one asks someone else to do something like prepare a proposal for consulting services, the […]

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On April 1, 2021

I love to discuss, and write about, etiquette. As a social psychologist, I am keenly aware of the social norms involved in etiquette, which involves far more than knowing which fork to use. There is a certain etiquette involved in communicating with others, in both professional and personal settings. This includes “responding in kind” to […]

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Archive | Magnus Research

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

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