Archive | Magnus Research

If You Break it, Speak up!

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On February 28, 2019

Category: Business Frustrations, Careers, Common Courtesy, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Managing Employees

When writing these posts, Melissa and I work from a list of ideas that have come to mind over time. We often do not write them, however, in the order in which they are added to the list. This post is one of those. Knock on wood, with our current staffing, the issue I’m writing […]

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My mom used to enjoy browsing in antiques stores. I remember one store that had annoying little signs all around that said, “You break it, you bought it.” As annoying as those signs were to me, I learned, as a young child, not to touch anything, lest I break it, due to the fact I […]

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Be ready/stay packed

I have traveled far and wide for most of my life. When I was a child, my parents and I went on numerous cross country vacations, with the 2 to 3 week road trip we took every summer being the highlight of my year. In between, we regularly traveled in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, […]

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Ready, set go. A great motto for road warriors or even beginning ones. Travel, for business or pleasure, is stressful enough even when using tried and true techniques to reduce the stress, such as being ready to go at all times. I’m not talking about those who have a bag with them in a car […]

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Feed the Photographer

Many years ago, my first career path was photography. I specialized in corporate media, including annual reports, public relations, event coverage, portraits, families (including a few dogs – the 4 legged kind) and I photographed quite a few weddings. Photographing a wedding is unique when compared to most of these other types of photography. But, […]

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Let’s face it. Some people are thoughtless. Withholding food from someone is rude, slightly mean, and for some people, can be dangerous. Many of my friends are professional musicians who, like David when he worked as a professional photographer, often work while others are having fun. I have heard countless stories from my musician friends […]

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“Cool” is as “Cool” does

Several years ago, a childhood friend of mine called to ask me if I thought he was “cool” during elementary, middle, and high school. (It seems that famous, attractive, intelligent, humorous people have self doubts like everyone else.) I didn’t have to think about my answer, which was a definitive “Yes!” to which he replied, […]

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Cool should mean more than being in the “in crowd.” And, Melissa’s definitions are beyond that. Being tolerant, being understanding, celebrating things that bring joy and happiness are among other aspects of this. Standing up for others – i.e., being a “stand up person” by standing up to injustice fits here as well. Cool often […]

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Leverage

One uses a lever to gain leverage in order to be able to move something easier than moving it without the lever. I don’t know a great deal about physics, but I get this. And, it is important to look for leverage in life, in business, and in our world, the world of litigation. There […]

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I have lost count of the number of times in my career when an attorney retains Magnus in order to gain leverage over his/her client regarding the value of a lawsuit. We have worked on cases for plaintiffs’ attorneys whose clients believe that, because the insurance (or other) company has the financial resources to pay […]

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Vitamins

Do you take vitamins? (I do, especially vitamin C, after meeting Dr. Linus Pauling, and spending a day photographing him, during a visit he made to Jacksonville University. He got a Nobel prize for his research on Vitamin C.) How about a baby aspirin? (I do that too, why not, it’s cheap and it is […]

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Taking vitamins is a health precaution some, but not all, people believe in. In addition, there are certain types of people who avoid going to see a medical doctor, dentist, or psychologist, or who avoid taking their beloved pet to a veterinarian, until they are on “death’s door,” then there are other types of people […]

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Crazy Courthouse Story #4 911

I have studied the phenomenon known as autobiographical memory since I was in graduate school. Autobiographical memory is a distinct type of memory due to its shared meaningfulness to many people. For example, most people of a certain age can remember where they were when President Kennedy was assassinated. This tragic event was shared by […]

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Also sometimes called “flashbulb” memories, events such as 911 tend to stay with us with some degree of accuracy. I was attending a meeting near the Broward County Courthouse on that fateful morning. We were meeting in an office which had considerable video capabilities. Though the news was not turned on in the conference room […]

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Cindy’s Question

We recently experienced one of our worst nightmares in our trial consulting business. A case on which we had been working for many months, and for which we had been planning a large scale mock trial, settled a few weeks before the mock trial was scheduled. I’m sure it was a good result for the […]

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The expression, “easy come, easy go” has no applicability to the situation David just described when we have been preliminary retained for a case that will bring in sizable revenue, only to have it cancel due to the settlement of the case. Although we always charge a sizable portion of our fees as a retainer, […]

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Crazy Courthouse Story #3 Bombscare

My first crazy courthouse story happened in the Lee County Courthouse in my hometown, Fort Myers, Florida and this post, the third in the series, is also about an event that happened in the Lee County Courthouse. As with rental cars, airplanes, hotels, and other places and things I frequent, I spend a lot of […]

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Melissa’s courthouse experiences have run quite the gamut. I’m sure our clients have many crazy stories to tell as well. As for me, all I can add is that I’m glad in instances like the bombscare, or the 9-11 attacks, that those who work in the courthouses are well trained. I’m sure that, in today’s […]

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Juror Background Checks

The only universal recommendation we make to clients these days regarding trial strategies is to be prepared to have background checks conducted on the potential jurors. Though this practice must be done with some care, and with the observation of a few Bar rules, it is important to prepare for background checks early. I have […]

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The voir dire process (which is defined as asking questions of potential jurors to de-select those who cannot be fair and impartial), as arduous as it may be, is never exhaustive enough to provide all of the information we need to know about every potential juror. There are time limitations, particularly time limitations related to […]

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