Archive | Getting the Job Done

The Major League

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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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, […]

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Holiday Inn

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 […]

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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 […]

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Retainers

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 […]

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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, […]

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Thanks Mindi!

Melissa and I had the pleasure to watch a live stream concert recently – a full band concert of Mindi Abair and the Boneshakers. They played Mindi’s new CD, “The Best of Mindi Abair.” We’ve had the pleasure of seeing Mindi in concert a few times. She puts on a great show! Mindi is a […]

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I share David’s sentiment: Thanks, Mindi!  And, thanks, Eric!  David and I have spent countless hours during the pandemic watching Mind Abair’s live streamed concerts.  Most of them involve her, solo, but others have included some of her famous and talented friends and band mates.  In these times when many musicians and other performers are […]

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Heuristical thinking

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 […]

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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 […]

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Don Williams

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On April 29, 2021

Category: Careers, Getting the Job Done, Giving Back, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Small Business Success

Recently, I was “chatting” with a family friend, Don Williams. (Don and my parents have been friends for longer than I’ve been alive. Don calls my Dad “Humman” – his southernized version of Herman.) Our chat was via email and, though it was on an unrelated topic, I starting thinking about how he helped me, […]

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Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On April 29, 2021

Category: Careers, Getting the Job Done, Giving Back, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Small Business Success

David’s parents, Carole and Herman, have (or in Carole’s case, had) some wonderful friends.  Herman, like me, has many friends from childhood, including someone with whom he attended kindergarten.  Among Carole and Herman’s friends are a tight knit group fondly referred to as “the dinner club.”  This group of friends used to go out once […]

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Your Momma Doesn’t Work here…

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On April 22, 2021

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

This topic has been on my list for a long time. It is another example, among many, where Melissa and I have been surprised at the actions of employees and we have learned something along the way. “Your momma doesn’t work here” might be the start of certain admonitions, such as “Your momma doesn’t work […]

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Readers of David’s and my post may think we sometimes “color the truth” to exaggerate the experiences we have had as employers, small business owners, and consultants with attorneys as clients.  We don’t.  It’s all true.  The truth is, in many instances, more wacky than any story I could invent!  I often think of my […]

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Hard Work

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 […]

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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 […]

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Templates – Creating and Using

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 […]

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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 […]

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