Jury Selection in the Age of Conspiracy Theories and Distrust with Tara Trask

April 4th, 2024|Categories: ELP, HB Emerging Law Notes|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

In this episode, we discuss picking juries in an age of misinformation, general distrust, tribalism, unleashed social media surfers, and unorthodox legal strategies unfolding on a daily basis with Tara Trask of Trask Consulting, jury and trial expert. "Jury service is an opportunity for everyday Americans to interact with an important institution, our courts, and play their part as citizens,"Trask says. "The court system could very well be our saving grace in trying to hang on to our democracy." Listen now.

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Modernizing Our Court System (but Don’t Attend Trial from Your Car) with Hon. Scott Schlegel

February 15th, 2023|Categories: ELP, Emerging Litigation & Risk, HB Tort Notes, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

The judicial system is overburdened for a number of reasons, and greater efficiency is a must if court systems are to achieve their important objectives. Technology and openness to all that it offers is a key solution, something that was tried, tested and proven during the Covid pandemic which closed courthouses and law offices around the nation. Along with technology, improvements can be made by reexamining their orthodoxies about how things should be done based on decades of "that's how we've always done it." This is a matter of importance to judges, lawyers, plaintiffs, defendants, and numerous others whose lives are impacted directly or indirectly when either the civil or criminal justice systems are inefficient, cumbersome, costly, confusing, slow, and even inaccessible. If only we had an example of at least one judge who is trying to do something about it. But wait ... Listen to my interview with the Hon. Scott Schlegel who presides over criminal civil and domestic matters in Louisiana's 24th Judicial District Court in Jefferson Parish. Judge Schlegel was elected to the bench in 2013, and quickly earned a reputation as a modern judge using technology to bring his court into the digital age, even before the pandemic forced the change on other jurists. He partnered with tech companies to develop efficiency tools like chat bots and [...]

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Greatly Exaggerated: The Impact of Bankruptcy on Mass Torts with Jennifer Hoekstra

January 12th, 2023|Categories: ELP, Emerging Litigation & Risk, HB Tort Notes, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

When large companies face massive mass tort litigation, one way they can survive is to file for bankruptcy protection and reorganize.  3M recently put its Aearo Technologies subsidiary into bankruptcy in the face of more than 230,000 claims that's its defective earplugs caused hearing loss.  When it came to filing bankruptcy 3M said Aearo was solely responsible for the product. But for several years of litigation 3M argued that it, as the parent, was solely responsible, not its various subsidiaries. That was a strategy that was beneficial to the company in multidistrict litigation. Why did 3M suddenly change course? What impact does bankruptcy have on claimants? Could corporations use bankruptcy law to neuter mass tort litigation for all eternity?  And how did the strategy sit with the federal magistrate judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation? Joining me to discuss this incredibly complex litigation is Jennifer M. Hoekstra, a partner with Aylstock Witkin Kreis & Overholtz. Jennifer has been involved in all varieties of complex litigation since 2007, focusing on mass torts, drug and device litigation, and others.  She has a J.D. from Tulane, which she earned while also completing a certificate in Environmental Law. She has actively served as trial counsel or an integral member of the trial team in several of the 3M Earplug trials securing nearly $300 million in compensatory damages [...]

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Under Pressure: Courts and Lawyers Trying to Deal With It with Diana Manning

January 6th, 2023|Categories: ELP, Emerging Litigation & Risk, HB Emerging Law Notes, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

The pressure on trial lawyers, judges, plaintiffs, defendants, and court systems is only increasing. The backlog of cases in New Jersey, for example, nearly quadrupled between February 2020 and 2021, the first year of the pandemic, according to NJ Spotlight News (NJSN). The state is also facing a historic shortage of jurists, NJSN reported, “leading to overworked judges, huge case backlogs and nearly 7,000 defendants in jail without bail, some 500 of them for more than two years despite a law that essentially requires a trial within two years for anyone detained." As reported by NJSN, one court official told the state Assembly Budget Committee about the impact of the pandemic on the court system: “Buildings were closed to most in-person trials for more than a year, although other proceedings continued virtually. The business closures and high unemployment led to a housing crisis that resulted in more than 46,000 pending cases that involve landlord-tenant issues . . . . But with all courts open and staff back to work in person, it is impossible to eliminate the backlog of cases with so many open judge seats.” The problem is attributed to the state Senate, where the process is mired, even though the governor is making appointments. According to the National Counsel for State Courts, backlogs at one third of [...]

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Lawyers for Good with Tara Trask and Jason Flom

December 22nd, 2022|Categories: ELP, Emerging Litigation & Risk, HB Emerging Law Notes, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

If you're feeling bad about being a lawyer, or just maybe tingling with the holiday spirit of giving back, this episode is for you. Listen to three professionals (well, maybe two "professionals") who deeply admire for the legal profession, the important role attorneys play in society, and all the potential they have to make the world a better place. When there is strife, there is a supporting organization, and with them are lawyers. Wrongful convictions. Voting rights. Environmental protection. The rights of women, people of color, workers,  LGBTQ, immigrants, asylum seekers.  Lawyers are in a unique position to do something about all of this. And they do. And we hope more will. Join me as I interview nationally acclaimed trial consultant Tara Trask and music industry star-maker Jason Flom. Tara Trask is the President of Trask Consulting, a boutique litigation strategy, jury research and trial consulting firm. Tara  focuses complex commercial litigation, from intellectual property to antitrust, from products liability to insurance, and oil and gas. She has extensive experience assisting institutions and individuals in matters involving regulatory enforcement and white-collar defense. Tara has been involved in more 450 jury trials. Music industry executive Jason Flom is  CEO of Lava Records, Lava Music Publishing, and Lava Media, LLC.  He is former  CEO at Atlantic Records, Virgin Records and Capitol Music Group. [...]

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Settlement Psychology: Who is in Control? Homer Simpson or Mr. Spock? | Complimentary Webinar

April 1st, 2019|Categories: Emerging-On-Demand-CLE, Featured On-Demand, Torts-On-Demand-CLE|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Settlement Psychology Who's in charge? Homer Simpson or Mr. Spock? Cognitive obstacles to finding common ground. Complimentary On-Demand Webinar From HB! 1 CLE credit CLE questions? CLE@LitigationConferences.com Questions for speakers? Questions@LitigationConferences.com SPEAKERS Jeff Trueman Mediator / Negotiator John Philip Miller Baltimore City Circuit Judge (ret.) This course is also available via the West LegalEdcenter. Improve your negotiation strategy and outcomes. Mediator, arbitrator and settlement conference neutral Jeff Trueman says the lawyer’s mind can sometimes play tricks on them when it comes time to settle a claim. “The central question on the minds of counsel, their clients, and insurance professionals in civil litigation is, of course, ‘What’s the case worth?’ For mature torts there is enough historical settlement and verdict data exist for counsel to argue why a particular case should or should not fit within a certain settlement range. In the midst of these discussions, the human brain plays tricks on us. For example, litigators sometimes assume that their trial experience can determine how jurors will negotiate with one another and resolve factual discrepancies after closing arguments. This assumption is a ‘heuristic’ – a cognitive shortcut called attributional error or illusion of control.” Backed by his decades of psychological and economic sciences research, Trueman says there is a lot of room [...]

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