Archive | Magnus

If things can go well, they will

I have a button pinned on the inside of my well worn briefcase I carry on research days that says, “If anything can go well, it will.” Notice that it says “well,” not “wrong.” I have found that, by focusing my energy on positive forces, instead of fretting about all of the negatives in life, […]

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Being positive beats its alternative – pessimism – in many ways. Though, in other posts I’ve noted having one or more “Plan B.” For me, that is not because I think something is going to go wrong. I know it may, but I’m positive that we can overcome most obstacles if we approach them with […]

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Never Assume – Juror Profiling

During a recent mock jury session, one of the most outspoken mock jurors caught the attention of our client who was watching the proceedings remotely. This client, the general counsel of a large corporation, made a comment along the lines of “nothing about that juror’s profile would have made me think she would be good […]

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Profiling. Stereotypes. Bias. Prejudice. Most of us make “snap judgments” of others on a routine basis. Sometimes, we are right, but sometimes, we are wrong, wrong, wrong. I cannot count the number of times I have been asked, “Will men or women be better for us as jurors?”, leading me to respond, “Which men? What […]

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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 […]

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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. […]

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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, […]

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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 […]

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Traits of a bad houseguest

The parallel post to my previous post about traits of a good house guest is, of course, those on the opposite end of the spectrum, the not so good house guest. I have no idea of the number of parties David and I, or I, before I knew David, have hosted, nor do I know […]

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As I noted in the prior post, we only extend invitations to visit to people we think we’d find to be good guests. But, sometimes, especially if they are, for example, the significant other of a well known friend, or perhaps a child, there is a bit of a gamble involved. Yet, one expects that […]

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I don’t know what you do – don’t assume you know what I do

A frustration I’ve had over the years is when an attorney, a claims adjuster, a paralegal, or even a vendor of ours acts as though he/she knows how to do my job, our job. I’ll never forget the story Melissa, and others on our consulting team, told me of a case for which I was […]

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I have never understood why someone who “knows it all” bothers to retain my services, thereby paying for my expertise. After all, if one truly knows everything there is to know, what could be the benefit derived from paying someone to find out something already known? Wouldn’t it be better to merely bask in one’s […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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. […]

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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 […]

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