The CSI Blog

Critical Communications    |    Records & Depositions    |    Litigation Psychology


The impact of social inflation on insurance - a webinar
Insurers complain of a rise of large jury awards, juror anti-business bias and investor-funded litigation. A panel of claims and legal experts examine what social inflation is, what's driving the nuclear verdicts often associated with social inflation, which types of claims are affected most, and...
CSI - Courtroom Sciences Inc
— October 2020 — 771 views Enterprise risk management Jurors Jury consulting Nuclear verdicts Trial consulting Webinars


Best practices in case research - part II
In the first part of this topic , we provided a primer on juror psychology and introduced the first three factors affecting juror case evaluations. In the final part of this topic, we continue the factors affecting juror case evaluations and discuss the importance of research in evaluating a case...
CSI - Courtroom Sciences Inc
— October 2020 — 661 views Confirmatory research Exploratory research Focus groups Jurors Jury consulting Litigation psychology Mock trials Presentations Research Trial consulting


Addressing the challenges of healthcare litigation
It's no secret that the healthcare industry has a high volume of litigation. So, what can healthcare companies and healthcare insurers do to better prepare to d efend themselves in their litigation? Our multi-part series on the healthcare industry covers a variety of tools and services that health...
CSI - Courtroom Sciences Inc
— September 2020 — 862 views Anti-reptile Confirmatory research Depositions Exploratory research Focus groups Health care / med mal Jury consulting Litigation psychology Mock trials Reptile Research Scientific method Trial consulting Witness training


Best practices in case research - part I
Introduction When managing litigation, every  decision should be made with as deep  an understanding as possible of what  a  future jury would do. But few things are as  complex as trying to predict jury decisions. Valuing a  case requires a deep understanding of the  law,  access to appr...
CSI - Courtroom Sciences Inc
— September 2020 — 669 views Confirmatory research Exploratory research Jurors Jury consulting Litigation psychology Mock trials Planning Research Trial consulting


The secret weapons of opening statements - part II
In part one of this blog post on the primacy and recency effects of opening statements, we discussed how this concept is often misunderstood by litigators and the philosophy that trial attorneys need to adopt for their opening statements. In the second part, we provide examples of different openi...
Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D.
— September 2020 — 690 views Jurors Jury consulting Litigation psychology Mock trials Planning Presentations Research Trial consulting


The secret weapons of opening statements - part I
The primacy and recency effects  are arguably the most misinterpreted psychological constructs in litigation. Most trial attorneys simply understand them as “jurors most remember the first and last things you say to them.” However, it is not that simple. By definition, true primacy and recency eff...
Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D.
— September 2020 — 788 views Jurors Jury consulting Litigation psychology Mock trials Planning Presentations Research Trial consulting


Assessing your litigation risk
At the start of any litigation, there are more questions than answers. Everyone involved wants to know "what's our liability?", "what's this going to cost us?", "how will this impact our reputation?", "what are the potential damages?", "how long will this go on?", "who might need to testify?", and...
CSI - Courtroom Sciences Inc
— September 2020 — 858 views Enterprise risk management Exploratory research Focus groups Litigation psychology Research Scientific method


The Litigation Psychology Podcast  - Episode 33
On this episode of The Litigation Psychology Podcast, Dr. Lorie Sicafuse and Dr. Steve Wood discuss the topic of attorney credibility. Dr. Wood has researched attorney credibility for a number of years and shares his insights on the importance of the credibility of both plaintiff and defense attor...
CSI - Courtroom Sciences Inc
— August 2020 — 945 views Jurors Jury consulting Litigation psychology Mock trials Research Trial consulting


The Nuclear Verdict blog series
In the first 3 parts of our nuclear verdicts series, we covered an overview of the definition of a nuclear verdict, some historical context, and the five causative factors of nuclear verdicts. In part 4 , we outlined specific examples of how a scientific approach to litigation research has result...
George R. Speckart, Ph.D. & Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D.
— August 2020 — 920 views Anti-reptile Confirmatory research Exploratory research Focus groups Jurors Jury consulting Litigation psychology Mock trials Nuclear verdicts Reptile Research Scientific method Trial consulting Witness training


The Nuclear Verdict blog series
In the first 3 parts of our nuclear verdicts series, we covered an overview of the definition of a nuclear verdict, some historical context, and the five causative factors of nuclear verdicts. In part 4, we outline – with specific examples - how a scientific approach to litigation research has res...
George R. Speckart, Ph.D. & Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D.
— August 2020 — 988 views Confirmatory research Exploratory research Focus groups Jury consulting Litigation psychology Mock trials Nuclear verdicts Research Scientific method Trial consulting Witness training


The reverse reptile - turning the tables on plaintiff's counsel
Dr. Bill Kanasky was interviewed for the A.M. Best Insurance Law Podcast on the topic of the reverse reptile and how defense attorneys can turn the tables on plaintiff's counsel. Dr. Kanasky describes the evolution of the Reptile Theory and its success in driving nuclear settlements and nuclear v...
CSI - Courtroom Sciences Inc
— August 2020 — 1162 views Anti-reptile Depositions Litigation psychology Nuclear verdicts Reptile Trial consulting Witness training


The Litigation Psychology Podcast - Episode 31
This video episode of The Litigation Psychology Podcast features Dr. Bill Kanasky and Dr. George Speckart discussing the hot topic of nuclear verdicts and nuclear settlements. Dr. Kanasky and Dr. Speckart wrote an extensive article on the nuclear verdict phenomenon and talk about their insights a...
CSI - Courtroom Sciences Inc
— August 2020 — 1118 views Anti-reptile Jurors Jury consulting Litigation psychology Nuclear verdicts Reptile Research Scientific method Witness training


The Nuclear Verdict blog series
In part 1 of our nuclear verdicts series, we covered an overview of the definition of a nuclear verdict, some historical context, and the first of the five causative factors of nuclear verdicts. In part 2 , we provided detail on two additional causative factors: egregious conduct and punitive (s...
George R. Speckart, Ph.D. & Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D.
— July 2020 — 962 views Jury consulting Litigation psychology Mock trials Nuclear verdicts Trial consulting


The Litigation Psychology Podcast - Episode 30
Mike Bassett, Senior Partner, The Bassett Firm in Dallas, TX joins The Litigation Psychology Podcast to discuss a number of topics in trucking litigation including the challenges with preparing truck drivers for testimony , how to manage the relationship with drivers and the on-going problem of n...
CSI - Courtroom Sciences Inc
— July 2020 — 1119 views Anti-reptile COVID-19 Jurors Jury consulting Litigation psychology Mock trials Nuclear verdicts Reptile Trial consulting Trucking & transportation Witness training


The Nuclear Verdict blog series
In part 1 of our nuclear verdicts series, we covered an overview of the definition of a nuclear verdict, some historical context, and the first of the five causative factors of nuclear verdicts. In part 2, we continue with the next two causative factors: egregious conduct and punitive (stealth) j...
George R. Speckart, Ph.D. & Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D.
— July 2020 — 1026 views Jurors Jury consulting Litigation psychology Nuclear verdicts Reptile Research Scientific method Trial consulting Witness training


The Litigation Psychology Podcast - Episode 29
Trucking Attorney Mark Perkins of Perkins and Associates joins the podcast to discuss jury selection for trucking defense in light of catastrophic events in Louisiana such Hurricanes Katrina and Hurricane Rita, the BP Oil Spill and now COVID-19! ...
CSI - Courtroom Sciences Inc
— July 2020 — 1282 views COVID-19 Jurors Jury consulting Litigation psychology Nuclear verdicts Trial consulting Trucking & transportation


The Nuclear Verdict blog series
The “nuclear verdict” is a term recently coined to refer to unexpectedly high damage awards that appear to exceed rational parameters in civil cases . However, verdicts with monetary awards that far exceed expectations, and/or that are considered to be inflated, outlandish or even destructive, hav...
George R. Speckart, Ph.D. & Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D.
— July 2020 — 1183 views Anti-reptile Jury consulting Litigation psychology Nuclear verdicts Reptile Witness training


Survey: Juror attitudes & decisions in the wake of COVID-19
We are living in unprecedented times. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the world in ways that few have ever seen, nor could they have imagined. The novel coronavirus has impacted almost every facet of our lives. It has led to changes in the way we perform our job functions, the way we shop, and ...
CSI - Courtroom Sciences Inc
— June 2020 — 1939 views COVID-19 Jurors Jury consulting Litigation psychology Research Trial consulting


Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on jurors' attitudes & decisions
In part 1 of this topic , we discussed the concept of polarization and mortality salience, in part 2 we examined ingroup favoritism and outgroup bias, and in part 3 , we focused how crisis situations create an increased reliance on intuition, emotion, and heuristics in attitudes and decision-ma...
Lorie Sicafuse, Ph.D. - Litigation Psychology
— June 2020 — 1619 views Anti-reptile COVID-19 Jurors Jury consulting Litigation psychology Reptile Research Trial consulting


The Litigation Psychology Podcast - Episode 21
This video episode of The Litigation Psychology Podcast features two guests: Matthew Moffett, Partner with Gray, Rust, St. Amand, Moffett & Brieske, LLP and Dr. Lorie Sicafuse, CSI Litigation Consultant. Matt and Lorie join Dr. Bill Kanasky to discuss virtual depositions, the exposure that is bein...
CSI - Courtroom Sciences Inc
— June 2020 — 1548 views Confirmatory research COVID-19 Exploratory research Focus groups Jurors Jury consulting Litigation psychology Mock trials Reptile Research Scientific method Trial consulting Witness training