The Litigation Psychology Podcast

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 process and how she manages being asked to criticize the performance and decision making of nurses and physicians. She also talks about the challenge of communication issues with the number of healthcare personnel who may be involved in ER cases. Lastly, Bill and Marilyn discuss policies and procedures, the standard of care, and the toughest cases they work on.

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 about the biggest issue that they deal with which is witnesses trying to "win" the deposition. They explain why witness brains are hard-wired to certain thought patterns and how they have to ""rewire"" the brain in order to break these ingrained ways of thinking.

Paul Molinaro, M.D., J.D., who is a Physician, Attorney, Mediator, Arbitrator and founder of MD JD Dispute Resolution, joins Steve Wood, Ph.D. to share his background on his many roles and experience with medical malpractice cases. Paul and Steve discuss the standard of care, how Paul evaluates the cases that he is approached to work on, how patients and jurors judge physicians, how they perceive the standard of care and the expertise of physicians, and the role of expert witnesses in med mal cases. They also talk about the business of medicine and how that can impact patient care. Steve and Paul dive into the reactions and concerns they deal with when physicians get sued and what has changed in medical malpractice litigation over the past 20 years, particularly with the advent of AI.

CSI Litigation Consultant Sarah Burton, Ph.D. joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. to talk about training witnesses to prepare them for testimony. Sarah shares how she approaches getting to know witnesses before the training formally begins to help put them at ease and to evaluate their mental and emotional state. Bill and Sarah discuss how challenging it is for witness's brains to be concise when they are so used to explaining and giving details in day-to-day life, and how they help witnesses understand the importance of brevity. They also describe how they go about giving feedback to a witness during the training, how they handle Reptile/Edge Theory questions, and the differences between training a fact witness vs. a corporate representative. Bill and Sarah talk about how they train witnesses to accept bad facts and why witnesses have to avoid pivoting. Lastly, they explain the importance of simulating the actual deposition experience to ensure that the witness is fully prepared for manipulative tactics or other psychological tricks that the questioner may use.

CSI Litigation Consultant Linda Khzam joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. to share the breakdown of a recent case and the jury research process that was used. Bill and Linda take a deep dive into the who, what, when, where, and why of Case Assessment Panels, which are virtual focus groups, and are the primary methodology for conducting exploratory jury research. Case Assessment Panels can be conducted at any stage of the litigation and can be used to explore juror insights on parties, evidence, liability, apportionment of fault, witnesses, and damages. They also discuss the importance of validity and reliability in jury research and how much they matter in the confidence and certainty around the results. Linda also describes the process that was used when mediation was not successful in this case and the jury research that was conducted in preparation for trial, including testing of opening statement and visuals to avoid missteps prior to trial.

Carlos Rincon, Founding Shareholder at Rincon Law Group, P.C. joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. to talk about tips and lessons learned from Carlos’s decades long career as a trial attorney. Carlos shares tips for lawyers on the topics of voir dire questions, jury research, developing a narrative, opening statements, direct and cross-examination of witnesses, demonstratives, nerves while preparing for trial, not being afraid of taking cases to trial, the value of jury research as preparation for trial, proximate cause, and anchoring.

Chantal Roberts, Principal & CEO of CMR Consulting, joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. to talk all about insurance. Bill and Chantal discuss the all-out blitz against the insurance industry by the plaintiff's bar and the issues with policyholder's confusion and misunderstanding about insurance. They discuss the relationship between defense attorneys and adjusters and suggest how they can work better together. Bill and Chantal talk about the evolution of Reptile and the expansion of Reptile questions beyond safety and risk to other areas such as claims handling in bad faith cases and fairness in employment cases. Lastly, they discuss where things are headed in the insurance industry and the impact and future of AI in insurance.

CSI Litigation Consultant Linda Khzam joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. to talk about early jury research. Linda describes the format of the virtual focus group model and benefits that clients and attorneys realize from conducting these education and evaluation jury research projects. Bill and Linda discuss how focus groups differ from mock trials, and how, especially when conducted early, help identify hidden vulnerabilities in your case. They also talk about the advantages of the test/retest model in jury research and how focus groups can, in certain circumstances, be more useful for trial prep than a mock trial. Lastly, they discuss other uses of the focus group model including testing counter-anchors, damages, liability, voir dire, opening statements, and exhibits.

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. shares recent feedback he has received from corporate and insurance clients with regards to a reluctance by some of their defense attorneys to take a different approach in how they manage their client's litigation. Some corporate and insurance clients are wanting more proactivity and aggressiveness from their counsel and are running into resistance from some, which is leaving them frustrated. Bill tells a couple of stories from recent interactions as examples of how corporate and insurance clients are thinking about the working relationship with their firms and makes suggestions about how attorneys can get better alignment with their clients on how they want their files handled.

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. describes the surprising connection between Meat Loaf's 1993 hit song I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) and the Reptile Theory. Bill breaks down the correlation between the lyrics of this love song and the unreasonable expectations and standards that are present in Reptile questions. He explains how attorneys need to help witnesses understand that circumstances and judgment play a pivotal role when responding to classic Reptile questions in deposition.

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. describes what he calls the dead zone in opening statements. The dead zone is the middle part of the opening where juror attention is at its lowest. Bill lays out a 3 x 3 framework for the dead zone in the opening: 3 core issues supported by 3 high impact facts. He talks about how the opening statement should be focused on teasing and framing your case, not getting into the weeds, and letting your witnesses handle the details later. Lastly, Bill describes the concepts of dilution and repetition in opening statements.

Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. and Steve Wood, Ph.D. take a look back at some cases the CSI team worked on during 2025 and share stories, takeaways, and lessons learned. Bill and Steve talk about what causes witness deposition failures and why leveraging neurocognitive witness training leads to improve deposition testimony. They talk about why the work attorneys do to prep witnesses are often inadequate and why its not the attorney's fault. Bill and Steve also provide updates on recent changes in how CSI conducts jury research and how focus group research has transformed case development and strategy for attorneys. They describe the importance of validity and reliability in jury research and how conducting exploratory research like focus groups vs. confirmatory research like mock trials can significantly improve litigation management decisions. Lastly, they discuss alternatives to traditional jury selection and why a focus on voir dire questioning strategy (i.e. disruptive voir dire) and opening statement construction is much more useful than having a jury consultant sitting next to the legal team during jury selection.