Archive | Litigation Research

Leadership styles

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On July 13, 2021

Category: Jury Behavior, Jury Consultants, Jury Deliberations, Litigation Consultants, Litigation Research, Litigation Tips, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Psychology, Trial Consultants, Trial Consulting

Many people wonder how leaders emerge. Some people endorse the view that certain people are “born leaders,” while others believe leadership is a skill that is acquired. Organizational psychologists have studied leaders, leadership, and leadership styles for decades to determine what traits separate effective leaders from leaders who lack effectiveness, the situations in which leadership […]

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On July 13, 2021

Category: Jury Behavior, Jury Consultants, Jury Deliberations, Litigation Consultants, Litigation Research, Litigation Tips, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Psychology, Trial Consultants, Trial Consulting

I often learn new things in reading what Melissa has written. As someone whose graduate work was in the Organizational Behavior field (the business school version of I/O psychology), leadership is a familiar topic. But, considering her perspective on how leadership plays out in the jury decision making process is enlightening. Melissa is the expert […]

Price based decisions

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On July 1, 2021

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

Melissa and I recently made a big purchase. A roof. It was not something I’ve shopped for willingly. The failure of the old roof after storms made it a necessity. It is a big purchase, bigger than anything we’ve ever bought, other than a house. Shopping for a roofing company was a reminder of how […]

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On July 1, 2021

When it became necessary to shop for a roofing contractor, I went about it in the same way I search for just about anything. I researched local roofing companies, asked people for referrals, and checked ratings from various sources. I eventually obtained 4 bids and 1 refusal to bid (due to the complexity and danger […]

Do You Still Need to Practice?

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On June 29, 2021

Category: Careers, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Jury Research, Life Outside of Work, Litigation Research, Litigation Tips, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Psychology, Small Business Success, Trial Consultants

Recently, I remarked to my bass guitar teacher, Phill Fest, that many of my friends question my need to take bass lessons, due to the fact I have been playing the bass guitar for over 20 years. (This was the subject of a previous post, in which I mentioned that, although I have been playing […]

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On June 29, 2021

I took piano lessons as a child, but fishing seemed much more fun than piano, so I didn’t play piano long! But, call it what you want, practice, playing, fishing, getting better, and staying strong at anything takes time and effort. I’ve written about Dr. Fran Kinne before. She started playing piano at age 3 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

I’m a Professional Judge of Character – Trust my 1st Impression

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On March 30, 2021

Category: Business Frustrations, Business Partnerships, Business personalities, Business Relationships, Employment, Entrepreneurship, Getting the Job Done, Jury Consultants, Litigation Consultants, Litigation Research, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Managing Employees, Marketing your Business, Mental Health, Psychology, Small Business Success, Trial Consultants

There have been several notable examples of my, and others’, questioning my first impressions of someone. On all of these occasions, my first impression was correct and unfortunately, questioning it caused negative turns of events. In that, as a psychologist, I am what most people would consider “a professional judge of character,” I have tried […]

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On March 30, 2021

One aspect of owning a business never gets easier – hiring. I feel like it is always a gamble. And, I’m apparently not a good gambler because I’ve taken chances on hiring people who turned out to be ill equipped to do our work, or worse, a really bad fit, a bad choice, maybe a […]

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Archive | Litigation Research

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

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

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.

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