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PODCAST

The Litigation Psychology Podcast

Courtroom Sciences

The Litigation Psychology Podcast presented by Courtroom Sciences, Inc. (CSI) is a podcast for in-house and outside defense counsel and insurance claims personnel about the intersection of science and litigation. We explore topics of interest to the defense bar, with a particular emphasis on subjects that don‘t get enough attention. Our hosts are experts in Clinical Psychology, Social Psychology, and scientifically-based jury research with a wealth of knowledge about psychology, science, jury

science social sciences

All Episodes

43:16

#331 - Using Early Jury Research to Guide Discovery

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/10/05

CSI Litigation Consultant Sarah Burton, Ph.D. joins Steve Wood, Ph.D. to discuss early jury research. Sarah shares details about a case in which she conducted a focus group very early in the case, while discovery was still open, to understand what jurors thought about an important piece of evidence that the defense was expecting to base their case on. And it turned out that this evidence was not important to the jurors - they understood the evidence, however, they were not persuaded by it which led

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34:34

#330 - Conducting Jury Research on Highly Sensitive...

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/09/28

CSI Litigation Consultant Linda Khzam, M.A. joins Steve Wood, Ph.D. to talk about jury research in highly sensitive cases, such as sexual abuse and molestation, child abuse, racially sensitive situations like police shootings, etc. Linda and Steve discuss the challenges that jurors have in evaluating the evidence in sensitive cases and how the jury research has to be approached in these types of cases. The way in which the case is presented becomes critical in cases with sensitive situations so

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23:28

#329 - Reptile Question Sequencing - The Risk Is In...

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/09/21

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. talks about a deposition topic that doesn't get enough attention: the question sequencing in a Reptile deposition. Bill describes how the setup questions that precede the transition point to Reptile/Edge questions lull the witness's brain into a state of safety which prevents them from recognizing the subtle transition to the dangerous Reptile/Edge questions. The witness's brain becomes comfortable with the basic, simple, fact-based questions being asked and doesn't realize

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51:48

#328 - The Do's and Don'ts of Jury Research in...

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/09/14

Sarah Burton, Ph.D. joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. to talk about some do's and don'ts of jury research in medical malpractice cases.Sarah's Don'ts: - Don't go into a focus group expecting to predict the verdict - the purpose of focus group research is to understand how jurors interpret the evidence and what does and does not resonate - Don't start your research with a mock trial - focus groups (exploratory research) should be the first step in jury research rather than mock trials which are

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40:16

#327 - Hot Seat and Trial Technology

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/09/07

James Smith, Senior Technology Consultant with IMS Legal Strategies, joins Steve Wood, Ph.D. to discuss trial tech. James describes his responsibilities as a Hot Seat operator before and during trial. James and Steve talk about the different ways that attorneys work, meeting their diverse expectations, and how he prepares for different scenarios at trial. James shares a couple of war stories from trials and also provides tips for attorneys on how to help make the process of working with Hot Seat

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41:40

#326 - Expert Witness for Dental Malpractice Cases

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/08/31

Endondist Chanelle Small, DDS joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. to talk about her experience as an expert witness on dental malpractice cases. Dr. Small describes the most common types of dental malpractice cases she sees and how she approaches the reviews that she is asked to do, particularly when there are questions about causation. She also shares a couple of stories of wild cases she has worked on as well as her experience with testifying. Lastly, Dr. Small talks about how she explains complex

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42:45

#325 - The Current Litigation Landscape: A Defense...

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/08/24

Brad Hughes, Member at Clark Hill, joins Steve Wood, Ph.D. and Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. to talk about what he's seeing in the current litigation landscape including the latest on what the plaintiff's bar is doing pre-suit, early in litigation, and at trial. The group discuss the importance of selecting the right cases to take to trial and Brad shares insights on what he has learned about how plaintiff attorneys approach their cases. Brad also offers his perspective on what the defense side gets

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48:45

#324 - The Best Approach for Counter-Anchoring - Part 2

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/08/17

Linda Khzam joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. for part two of their discussion on anchoring and counter-anchoring. Linda begins by talking about the focus groups CSI has been doing to test voir dire questions and also focus groups testing opening statements. Linda and Bill describe the goals for the disruptive voir dire system, the questions asked of the mock jurors to help identify the questions that work and those that don't, as well as the indoctrination that is necessary to tie voir dire to opening

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42:21

#323 - Insurance Defense at a Crossroads: The...

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/08/10

Trial Attorney Tad Eckenrode of Eckenrode-Bauman joins Bill Kanasky, Jr, Ph.D. to talk about an article he recently authored for CLM Magazine titled "The Elephants Are Multiplying" about major issues in the insurance defense industry. Tad shares his thoughts on the challenges with the compensation model for insurance defense firms, recruiting and retaining new attorneys, issues with carriers cutting their firms' bills, the experience levels of younger attorneys, the expectations around the use of AI

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47:04

#322 - Listener Mail

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/08/03

Steve Wood, Ph.D. & Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. answer the latest podcast listener/viewer questions:- How do I know when my witness is ready for their deposition? - Are smarter witnesses more dangerous? - What is the ideal sample size for a focus group? - How important is likeability to credibility? - What are the top mistakes you see in focus groups? - Can big data predict jury outcomes? Watch the video of this episode here: https://youtu.be/yCjnYizUN0E

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51:50

#321 - Video Evidence in Litigation

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/07/27

CSI Litigation Consultant Erin Daugherty, Ph.D., BCBA joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. to talk about video evidence in litigation. Erin and Bill discuss how cases with video as evidence play out, whether police body cam, surveillance video, dash cam, security cam footage, etc., and how video evidence influences and affects juror perceptions about the facts of the case. They talk about what jurors expect from video footage and how their perceptions about what occurred is often influenced by what the

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18:30

#320 - Managing Witness Testimony Slip Ups During...

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/07/20

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. talks about how to get a witness back on track when they slip up during the deposition. Since it is nearly inevitable that mistakes will be made by the witness during questioning, this must be addressed directly with the witness during the prep to help forewarn and desensitize them to when they make a cognitive mistake during the deposition. The much more difficult mistakes to overcome are emotional mistakes that witnesses make when they go into the survival responses of

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43:05

#319 - The Best Approach for Counter-Anchoring

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/07/13

CSI Litigation Consultant Linda Khzam, M.A. joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. to talk about anchoring. Bill and Linda discuss how plaintiff attorneys approach developing their anchor and Linda shares results from several recent jury research projects where damages were discussed with mock jurors and what their reactions were to the anchors and counter-anchors. They explain the importance of testing and re-testing cases with mock jurors in focus groups in order to understand what jurors think about the

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22:41

#318 - Focus Groups Are X-Rays For Your Case

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/07/06

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. compares focus groups in jury research to x-rays in medical evaluations. X-rays are fast, reliable, and inexpensive early tests to reveal critical, structural issues prior to more advanced testing like an MRI. Similarly, focus groups conducted early in a case can be executed quickly and inexpensively and can reveal core foundational issues and opportunities in your case prior to more advanced testing like a mock trial. Virtual focus groups are exploratory in nature and

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56:59

#317 - State of the Union in Healthcare and Medical...

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/06/29

Trial Attorney Tad Eckenrode of Eckenrode-Bauman joins Bill Kanasky, Jr, Ph.D. to talk about the current state of medical malpractice litigation. Bill and Tad discuss the reasons for a lack of trust in the healthcare system. They talk about questioning strategies in voir dire to identify more specifically where juror frustrations with the healthcare system stems from and the challenge with not being able to discuss insurance with jurors. Tad and Bill also discuss the challenges with medical

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34:10

#316 - The Legal and Crisis Perspectives on the...

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/06/22

Brent Turman, Attorney with Munsch Hardt, and Sean Murphy, Practice Lead of CSI's Crisis Consulting services, join Steve Wood, Ph.D. to talk about the recent verdicts against Meta and Google and what the juries in those cases found. Brent compares social media platforms to tobacco companies in the fact that these platforms were developed to be addictive. Brent also talks about how the representatives of these companies performed on the witness stand and the internal documentation that these

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43:47

#315 - Perspectives of an Emergency Room Nurse Expert

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/06/15

Triple board-certified legal nurse expert Marilyn McCullum, joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D., to talk about her experience as an emergency room nurse expert witness. Marilyn works with attorneys on both sides to review emergency room medical records, which can be more nuanced than regular medical records. Marilyn talks about the differences between working with plaintiff and defense attorneys and her experience and philosophy for depositions. Marilyn also shares her thoughts about the ER triage

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40:08

#314 - Avoiding the Competence Trap

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/06/08

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. defines the competence trap with witnesses. Bill shares why there is often a perception that witnesses who are highly competent in their jobs will perform really well as witnesses during testimony and why this often isn't true. He describes several reasons why some witnesses who are highly skilled in their professional positions may not make good witnesses. Bill talks about having to break down and rebuild highly accomplished witnesses in order to get them ready for success

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50:45

#313 - Illogical Thought Patterns of Witnesses

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/06/01

CSI Litigation Consultant Linda Khzam, M.A. joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. to talk about illogical thought patterns of witnesses. Often witnesses have misconceptions about the litigation process or concerns about ramifications of their performance in the deposition, which need to be addressed before any prep can start. Bill and Linda share how they help witnesses open up so they can address any distracting thinking patterns that will prevent the witness from doing well in the prep and also talk

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30:25

#312 - Med Mal Perspectives from an Attorney,...

The Litigation Psychology Podcast ·

2026/05/25

Paul Molinaro, M.D., J.D. joins Steve Wood, Ph.D. for part 2 of their conversation about medical malpractice litigation from Paul's unique perspective as a Physician, Attorney, Mediator, and Arbitrator. Paul talks about his role as a mediator, shares his philosophy on managing mediations, and how he approaches different mediation scenarios. Paul gives examples of two types of mediations: facilitative and evaluative. Steve and Paul also talk about anchoring in mediation and the power of the "middle

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331 results

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