Archive | Litigation Consultants

Tallahassee Old Friends

I have always been fortunate to be the kind of person who makes friends easily. Regardless of the situation in which I find myself, I always find one or more kindred spirits with whom I can socialize. Some of my friends, in fact, refer to me as a “social butterfly,” whatever that means! On a […]

Continue Reading

I am fortunate to have met these Tallahassee people and get to know them to varying degrees. (And, I’ve met many of Melissa’s friends in, or from, Fort Myers in various other places as well.) I’ll say Melissa is fortunate to know them, and they, her. Good friendships are like that – two way streets. […]

Continue Reading

Is your consultant qualified? How do you know?

A story in the news this election season reminded me of the relevance of this topic. A candidate for the Florida House of Representatives was “outed” for reporting she had a college degree that she could not have had – the university she reported having attended never offered the degree shown on her (fake) diploma, […]

Continue Reading

I have decided to adopt the writing style of the famous author, Carl Hiaassen, for my part of David’s post. For those readers of our blogs who aren’t familiar with Carl Hiaassen, I will provide a brief introduction. Carl Hiaassen is an author who has written more than 20 books, as well as a long […]

Continue Reading

Traits of a good houseguest

David and I have lots of overnight house guests. Some people stay with us for a day or two while others stay longer. Some people come from far away and some come from nearby. Some people stay at our house once, then not again for many years, while others are frequent visitors. Although David and […]

Continue Reading

One reason I enjoy having guests is because they give us an excuse to play tour guide and take them to explore some of the fun spots we’ve found while living in south Florida. In that regard, they sometimes give us an excuse to go visit places we have only read about. So, another positive […]

Continue Reading

When will you arrive and when will you leave

I am a busy person. I live “life in the fast lane.” Or, as the late, great, B B King famously said, “I’m pretty fast myself.” As a result of having too many things to do in too short a time, I am very time oriented. When someone is coming to visit me, I want […]

Continue Reading

I think that, to those of us whose schedules stay pretty full, and who are planners in general, knowing important details seems normal to us. We always try to communicate details when visiting or staying with others so that they can plan as necessary. But, over the years, we’ve frequently experienced times when we expect […]

Continue Reading

Getting the Most from Research – Digging In

A recent Wall Street Journal article (August 11-12, 2018) entitled “To Get the Most Out of Polls, Delve Deeper” prompted this post. Though this post was about political polls and pollsters, there were several points relevant to the world of trial consulting. One quote caught my attention, “…, remember that neither a candidate’s polling percentage […]

Continue Reading

I enjoy, immensely, working with attorneys on their cases. Most of the attorneys who retain Magnus are intelligent, sophisticated people who are hiring us because they know they are experts on the law, but they are not experts on human decision making. There is a small subset of our clients who do not seem to […]

Continue Reading

Get it Right – The First Time & Every Time

Not too long ago, I attended a lawyers’ luncheon at which the speaker was the president of the Florida Bar. He made a few comments about various challenges lawyers face with their clients, specifically, the expectation by the client that they essentially have all of the answers so that they get it right the first […]

Continue Reading

Attorneys do not usually have advanced degrees in psychology or social science. As such, many attorneys do not have a full understanding of the scientific method, scientific research techniques (including proper sampling of research participants), human decision making, group dynamics, etc. That is why, of course, attorneys routinely turn to Magnus (or one of its […]

Continue Reading

Laugh at yourself

Some people take themselves too seriously. No one is infallible; everyone makes mistakes. Some mistakes are made by us, other mistakes are made by someone else, and many are more situationally than personally based. How each person chooses to respond to mistakes, negative situations, and life, in general, is an important part of his/her personality. […]

Continue Reading

I see the humor – the absurdity – of showing up at the fancy hotel, feeling like I was Jed Clampett limping along in his jalopy. In my defense, my lack of humor in this situation was primarily fear that we would not safely make it to our destination. There was no way I could […]

Continue Reading

Shaman Trial Consultant

I’ve been on a bit of a “tear” lately about caveat emptor. Hiring a trial consultant requires due diligence because, unfortunately, it doesn’t take much to hold oneself out as a trial consultant. A lawyer, a physician, a plumber, an electrician or a hairstylist has to be tested and licensed. We don’t. While there has […]

Continue Reading

Just for the fun of it, I verified that a Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated Ph. D., is the highest academic degree awarded by any university. That’s right, dear reader, the highest degree. Whatever other degrees anyone may have, it is not possible to have a degree higher than a Ph. D. Please excuse me for […]

Continue Reading

Act like the cat

As everyone who knows me will confirm, I love cats! I have spent a lot of time with a lot of cats, including my own cats, other people’s cats, and the cats who were available for adoption when I worked at the Humane Society in Miami during college. Cats, unlike humans, rarely appear to make […]

Continue Reading

I kicked our cat the other night. It was an accident, really it was. One thing about many cats, ours included, is that they can be stealthy when they want to be – it’s all about survival. Rex sneaked up behind me when I was packing – an activity he has learned to dislike because […]

Continue Reading

Have favorite things

I try to approach life with a sense of curiosity and wonderment. I also like to have fun! My dad instilled a sense of curiosity, wonderment, and fun in me early in my life. During our family’s dinner time, Dad would ask Mom and me what we did that day, as well as what was […]

Continue Reading

I’m not quite as big a favorite thing person as is Melissa; I sometimes have difficulty telling her my favorite song or similar detail from a concert. Even in RUSH shows where the songs, and visuals, compete with each other, it is difficult for me to pick a favorite. I have some favorites, like my […]

Continue Reading

Powered by WordPress. Designed by WooThemes