Archive | Getting the Job Done

Billing Expectations

As a follow up to my post on professionalism based on my recent experience of being a lawyer’s client, I want to discuss billing expectations. As I told my family’s lawyer during an extremely unpleasant phone call, what he did to us was like taking one’s car to the repair shop, getting an estimate, then […]

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Almost everyone wants to know the price of something before they purchase it.  This is true regardless if someone is buying a hot dog, a car, or paying for legal services.  Things can look fine, but if they are too expensive, in consideration for what they offer, there will be a disconnect between the product/service […]

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Arbitration Research

Most attorneys retain Magnus Research Consultants for pre mediation or pre trial jury research, but arbitration is increasingly used to resolve cases. After all these years, it is interesting to note attorneys’ surprise when they find out that we conduct pre arbitration research. They ask us, “How can we do that? Where can we find […]

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This is one of those areas where our attorney clients must “think out of the box.”  (I actually detest that phrase, but it seems so common that it is well understood to mean be creative.)  Unfortunately, I know all too well how what we are, what we do, is put in a “box” of sorts, […]

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“If I Don’t Drive the Bus…”

I am writing this post on the birthday of one of my former bosses. As the absolute worst boss I ever had, this person will remain nameless. (This being said, many readers will be able to identify my former boss, having heard her use this expression on numerous occasions.) As much as I dislike her, […]

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Many years ago, too many to consider, an uncle of mine took me for a ride in his Beechcraft Bonanza, V tail and all.  I got to ride with him a few times – it was thrilling!  One memory I have of flying with him was that the yoke was connected in the middle of […]

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Biggest Marketing Changes in 30 Years

Recently, Melissa and I have been talking with a long time client about an issue we have, and he has, identified as being a challenge for us, and him, as a trial lawyer/mentor. That is, the “new generation” of litigators/trial lawyers lack experience with trial consultants. In a recent, eye-opening, conversation that included his young […]

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The current generation of associate attorneys and their lack of awareness of the existence of trial consultants reminds me of the years I worked as an adjunct professor.  (As a side note, for many years after I earned my Ph. D., I had 2 jobs, a full time job in the corporate world and a […]

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Help When There’s a “Cause”

Almost everyone has a “cause” or sometimes, more than one, that they support. Many people support causes by merely talking about them, while others volunteer their time and provide financial assistance to their favorite cause. For example, the Humane Society in many people’s hometown depends on monetary contributions, donations, and volunteer staff members to fulfill […]

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I’m not sure what prompted Melissa to write her post. Goodness knows, she has supported many “causes” whether friends, families, or strangers.  We both have in various ways, including working on cases pro bono when the cause was just.  What struck me though, in reading her post is how often the act of helping others […]

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Show, Don’t Tell

Melissa and I wrote employee policy manuals and other training materials before we had employees. I am thinking about those today because I added a small update to the policy manual yesterday, thinking that it had been a long time since I had added anything. But, while the policy manual is pretty well set, the […]

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David never ceases to amaze me.  I cannot believe he missed a perfectly good opportunity to relate his post to a song by his favorite band, RUSH.  The title of the song is “Show Don’t Tell,” which is the title David used for this post. The premise of the song, written (of course) by Geddy […]

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Hitting the Ground Running

As noted in a prior post, Melissa and I have built in a “vacation” each year during the last 2 weeks of December, returning to work just after January 1. This is, in some part, due to the reality that we cannot do our “real work” of mock juries, etc., in that time period. In […]

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During our recent vacation, David and I had lunch with childhood friends of mine, both of whom are retired.  One of these friends has been retired for several years and the other, for several months.  They both extolled the virtues of retirement, which, for them, has provided considerable benefits over their careers, which they spent […]

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Making It Up As You Go

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On December 29, 2022

Category: Business Partnerships, Entrepreneurship, Getting the Job Done, Jury Consultants, Jury Research

For no imaginable reason, one of the (heavy) rock and roll stations that Melissa enjoys on Sirius XM Radio has been playing a song by the country star, Blake Shelton. I love the line from the song, “There ain’t no map, there ain’t no plan.” The song appears to be about a romantic breakup, but […]

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Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On December 29, 2022

Category: Business Partnerships, Entrepreneurship, Getting the Job Done, Jury Consultants, Jury Research

The key to making things up as you go along is acting like you know what you are doing.  I have been doing this for as long as I can remember.  The first time in my career that I acted like I knew what I was doing, when I actually had no idea about the […]

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Holiday Plans

I’m writing this near year end, but as is often the case, things are hectic as we wrap up the work for the year, and prepare for work early in the new year. Melissa and I have diligently tried for all these years to treat the last 2 weeks of the year as a break, […]

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David and I often work on holidays and during vacations.  Our business, and the world of litigation, don’t close just because we are not in the office.  I have distinct memories of: (1) doing an intake on a new case on Christmas Eve, in my mom’s Florida room, mere minutes before we opened our gifts: […]

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Constant Giving Psychology Away

I am honored to have been a member of the American Psychological Association (APA) since the early 1980s, when I was in graduate school. The APA is the largest professional organization for psychologists in the world, with over 133,000 members. On the day I am writing this post, I have renewed my APA membership for […]

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I have supported Melissa in her giving away psychology efforts for over 35 years.  Admittedly, some of the efforts she enumerated hopefully help with business development.  But, I agree that when someone has a special skill, talent, or knowledge, there are times when sharing that expertise is somehow warranted by our societal values.  I suspect […]

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