Services / Witness Preparation
Testimony that holds up under pressure, because it was prepared under pressure.
Deposition, hearing, arbitration, and trial preparation for fact witnesses, corporate representatives, experts, and criminal defendants, grounded in the psychology of how people testify and how fact-finders judge them.
New York to Kansas Federal and state venues across the 8th, 9th, and 10th Circuits and the Northeast
Remote and in person Every service offered in the courthouse city, at your office, or on a secure remote platform
Capital cases undertaken Death-eligible matters, including pro bono engagements
ASTC members American Society of Trial Consultants, bound by its Professional Code
A witness who knows the facts can still lose the case. Jurors and judges evaluate testimony on more than accuracy; they read confidence, consistency, defensiveness, and whether the witness seems to be answering the question or managing it. The firm prepares witnesses by working on both substance and behavior, using video review, realistic cross-examination, and a frank assessment of how each witness comes across, delivered in a way the witness can actually use.
The work is done in person at counsel’s office or the witness’s location, or remotely by secure video, which has become the norm for deposition preparation and works well for most witnesses. Preparation of criminal defendants, including in capital cases, follows the same principles with additional attention to the stakes and the constitutional protections involved.
Pro bono is part of the practice, not a sideline Every year the firm takes on matters where the stakes are as high as they get and the budget is nonexistent: indigent capital defense, wrongful conviction work, and civil rights cases. Those engagements have shaped how we work for paying clients. They demand research designs that produce reliable answers on small samples and short timelines, and they keep the firm connected to the jury pools and defense bars of communities that larger consultancies rarely see.
Grounded in original and continuing research The firm’s principal conducts his own jury research and continues formal academic work in psychology with a forensic emphasis. That means the methods used on your matter are informed by the current peer-reviewed literature on juror decision-making, group deliberation, and persuasion, not by folk wisdom accumulated in the 1990s. It also means the firm can speak the language of Daubert and Frye when research must be defended as evidence.
Insurer bad faith, on either side of the v. The firm has a particular concentration in insurance bad faith and extra-contractual litigation, representing both policyholders and carriers. Those cases turn on how jurors reason about promises, fine print, delay, and corporate decision-making, and on how they translate anger into a number. We know the attitudes that predict which way a panel leans, and we design research to measure them rather than assume them.
What the engagement includes
Witness Preparation services
Each component can be retained on its own or as part of a broader trial program. Scope, timeline, and budget are set with counsel at the outset and adjusted as the case develops.
Deposition Preparation
Sessions built around the deposition’s actual purpose in the case: preserving testimony, limiting exposure, or building a summary judgment record. We rehearse the hard questions on video, review the footage with the witness, and work on the habits that produce bad transcripts, volunteering, guessing, arguing, and absolutes.
- Video-recorded practice examinations
- Document-handling and privilege-awareness rehearsal
- Remote and in-person sessions
- Preparation for videotaped depositions shown to the jury
Trial Testimony
Preparation for direct and cross that treats the witness as a teacher first and a target second. We help the witness understand what the jury needs from them, develop a direct examination outline with counsel that uses the witness’s natural voice, and rehearse cross until the witness can stay composed and responsive.
- Direct examination outline development with counsel
- Cross-examination rehearsal with realistic pressure
- Demonstrative and exhibit handling
- Demeanor coaching informed by juror research on credibility
Corporate Representatives and 30(b)(6) Witnesses
Preparation for the witness who must speak for the organization, often on topics outside their own experience, and who will be the face of the company to the jury. The focus is on command of the designated topics, disciplined answering, and the human presence that jurors look for in a corporate witness.
- Topic-by-topic readiness assessment
- Handling of ‘I don’t know’ and scope objections
- Tone and presence for the corporate witness the jury will judge
Expert Witnesses
Experts are usually strong on substance and weaker on communication. We work on translation, structure, and the discipline to concede small points while holding the opinion, and we prepare experts for the Daubert and cross-examination attacks that target methodology.
- Explaining methodology to lay audiences
- Daubert and reliability challenge preparation
- Concession strategy and opinion defense
- Visual support for expert testimony
Criminal Defendants and Capital Case Witnesses
Preparation of defendants who choose to testify, and of family and mitigation witnesses in penalty-phase proceedings, where emotional regulation and authenticity matter more than polish. Much of this work is done pro bono with appointed and institutional defense counsel.
- Defendant testimony decision support for counsel
- Penalty-phase and mitigation witness preparation
- Trauma-informed approach to vulnerable witnesses
Hearing and Arbitration Testimony
Preparation calibrated for a professional fact-finder. Arbitrators and judges reward precision and punish evasion differently than jurors do, and a witness prepared for a jury can misfire in front of a panel. We adjust the preparation to the audience.
- Bench trial and arbitration formats
- Administrative and regulatory hearings
- Written direct and declaration-based testimony
How we work
Three roles, one goal: a witness who can be trusted.
Good preparation requires the consultant to be counselor, teacher, and coach in turn: calming the witness enough to learn, teaching how testimony actually works, and drilling until composure under cross becomes habit. Skipping any of the three shows in the transcript.
- Assess the witness honestly A first session establishes how the witness naturally communicates, where they are strong, and what will hurt them. The assessment is shared with counsel plainly, including when a witness should not be called if there is a choice.
- Teach the rules of the room Most witnesses have never been cross-examined and have a television understanding of what it involves. We explain what the questioner is trying to accomplish, why the witness’s instincts are often wrong, and what a good answer looks like.
- Rehearse on video Practice examinations are recorded and reviewed with the witness. Seeing oneself is the fastest way to change behavior, and it replaces the consultant’s opinion with evidence the witness can evaluate.
- Build the direct with counsel For trial witnesses we work with counsel on a direct examination that lets the witness teach in their own voice, sequenced for the jury’s understanding rather than the file’s chronology.
- Pressure-test and adjust Later sessions increase the pressure and introduce the worst documents and the most hostile lines. Preparation ends when the witness’s composure survives contact with those, not before.
Remote
Mock trials, focus groups, witness sessions, and strategy work run on a secure video platform with jury-eligible participants recruited from the actual venue. Remote formats widen the recruiting pool, shorten lead time, and cut travel out of the budget, which matters for pro bono and public defender matters as much as for commercial clients. Deliberations are recorded and observed live, with counsel able to pass questions to the moderator in real time.
In person
Traditional facility-based research in or near the trial venue, in-court jury selection, and on-site witness preparation. In-person work is the default for capital cases, for multi-day mock trials with live witnesses and demonstratives, and whenever counsel wants to sit behind the glass and watch the deliberation unfold. We travel; the firm’s practice has always been regional and national rather than local.
Where we work
From New York to Kansas, in the courtroom and on the screen.
The firm’s practice spans federal and state courts across the 8th, 9th, and 10th Circuits and the Northeast, in civil, criminal, capital, and regulatory matters. We are members of the American Society of Trial Consultants and work within its Professional Code and Practice Guidelines.
Civil litigation
Plaintiff and defense work in commercial, professional liability, personal injury, products, employment, energy, and environmental matters, with a particular concentration in insurer bad faith on both the policyholder and carrier side.
Criminal and capital defense
State and federal criminal matters including death-eligible cases, from pretrial venue and cross-section motions through penalty phase. A substantial share of this work is pro bono or reduced-fee for appointed and institutional defenders.
Regulatory and high-publicity matters
Administrative and enforcement proceedings, and cases tried under media scrutiny where the jury pool’s prior exposure is itself a litigation issue.
Questions counsel ask
Before you retain us.
One to three for most deposition witnesses, more for a key trial witness or a corporate representative with a broad designation. We will tell counsel after the first session what we recommend and why.
Preparation conducted at counsel’s direction and in counsel’s presence is generally protected, and we structure sessions to preserve that. Video recordings are handled according to counsel’s instructions. As with all such questions, your lawyers make the call.
No. We help witnesses tell the truth clearly, completely, and without volunteering, and we help them understand the questions they will face. Substance comes from the witness and counsel.
That is most of the work. Anxious, angry, over-confident, and traumatized witnesses each need a different approach, and the firm’s background in psychology is most useful here.
Yes, and for deposition preparation it is now the most common format. Trial witnesses generally benefit from at least one in-person session before they take the stand.
Discuss a witness preparation engagement. Remote or in person, anywhere the case is.
An initial conversation about the matter, the venue, and the timeline costs nothing. Pro bono and reduced-fee inquiries from appointed and institutional defense counsel are welcome.