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Bill Kanasky Jr., Ph.D. | Courtroom Sciences
Dr. Bill Kanasky is recognized as a national expert, author, and speaker in the areas of witness preparation and jury psychology. He provides top-quality litigation research and consultation to defense counsel involved in civil lawsuits. Bill has expertise in all aspects of litigation research and consulting, including:
● Witness Preparation: Special proficiency in pre-deposition and pre-trial witness effectiveness training, particularly with corporate executives, healthcare professionals, foreign-born witnesses, and 30(b)(6) witnesses.
● Trial Science: Expertise in all aspects of jury research, including research design, sampling methods, multivariate statistical analysis, and juror profiling; also skilled in juror questionnaire and voir dire development, jury selection, opening statement construction, case strategy analysis, and persuasive visual aid creation.
● Settlement and Mediation Science: Expertise in early case assessment, empirical damages prediction, and witness effectiveness assessment.
● Critical Communications: Specialization in framing messaging to prevent Reptile attacks on fact and expert witnesses, spokespersons, and corporate representatives.
Bill’s success with training witnesses for deposition and trial testimony is remarkable. His systematic witness training methodology is efficient and effective, as it is designed to meet each witness’s unique needs, while concurrently teaching core principles of persuasive communication. Clients benefit from Bill’s ability to transform poor or average witnesses into extraordinary communicators.
Bill earned his B.A. in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Florida. He has been a faculty member at several trial academies where he has taught voir dire development, jury selection methodology, and witness preparation techniques. Bill is a published author in the areas of communication science and jury psychology, and has presented at numerous State Bar conventions, corporate counsel organizations, corporate legal departments, law schools, and major law firms.
J. Thaddeus Eckenrode | Eckenrode-Maupin, Attorneys at Law
Tad Eckenrode is the founder, managing officer and chief trial attorney of Eckenrode-Maupin, Attorneys-at-Law, a boutique St. Louis-based insurance defense firm practicing in Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas. He focuses on the defense of high-stakes and complex tort litigation in both state and federal courts, with an emphasis in the areas of medical malpractice, civil rights (correctional medicine), wrongful death, nursing home and product liability litigation. Mr. Eckenrode has completed over 90 jury trials to verdict in various courts throughout the states of Missouri and Illinois. He carries the AV “Preeminent” rating by Martindale-Hubbell and is listed in both Best Lawyers in America and SuperLawyers in the areas of Medical Malpractice Defense and Personal Injury Defense and was the 2018 St. Louis “Lawyer of the Year” in the area of Medical Malpractice Defense.
Mr. Eckenrode is a graduate of Siena College in Albany, New York, and received his JD from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. He has authored a number of articles published in various national legal and professional publications, as well as a book chapter on issues related to correctional medicine and civil rights claims. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and seminars across the country., and is a member of the Defense Research Institute, Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers, American Society of Healthcare Risk Management, and was the national lead chair of the Medical-Legal Committee of the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance.