Our Business Mission:

To assist trial attorneys and their clients in successfully applying theory and practice from the fields of persuasion, communications, decision-making, social research, group dynamics and human behavior to optimize the impact of testimony and evidence at trial.

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We Offer:

• Trial and jury consulting services for small to medium-sized law firms

• Special expertise in professional liability defense

• Litigation stress management for health care professionals

• Seminars, presentations, and CME/CLE programs

Case Experience Areas:

• Medical malpractice defense

• Wrongful death

• Employment

• Gender/race discrimination

• Product liability

• Police actions

• Insurance coverage/bad faith

• Personal injury

• Civil right/privacy invasion

• Business fraud/contract disputes

• Sexual abuse/child abuse

• Environmental contamination

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Attorney Consulting Services:

• Witness preparation for deposition

• Witness preparation for trial

• Juror-sensitive trial strategy

• Case assessment

• Focus groups and mock trials

• Jury de-selection and voir dire

• Post-trial juror interviews

• Trial communications

• Seminars and CLE programs

Attorney Consulting Services

Combining legal expertise with jury persuasion and communication skills is an unbeatable formula for success in litigation. Our practical case preparation strategies assure that your legal tactics will have maximum impact on jurors. Our clients’ high level of satisfaction comes from our expertise, our cost-consciousness, and our flexibility. We can effectively help attorneys by:

• Improving communication skills of witnesses before deposition or trial

• Assessing your case from the juror’s perspective

• Analyzing case strengths and weaknesses objectively

• Conducting focus groups to assess reactions of potential jurors to your case

• Showing you how to develop a compelling case narrative and central themes

• Helping you plan an effective jury selection strategy

• Preparing High Risk Juror profiles, juror questionnaires, and voir dire questions

• Coaching on the most effective juror questioning techniques

• Assisting with in-court jury selection

• Interviewing jurors after the trial to determine how the panel reached its verdict

Litigant Consulting Services

Being involved in litigation puts substantial stress on defendants, as well as families, colleagues, staff, and others. Coping with the litigation process and participating effectively in one’s defense is crucial to a successful outcome. We can assist by helping you and your clients to:

• Deal with litigation stress syndrome (see LITIGATION STRESS MANAGEMENT - #4 below)

• Understand the emotional impact of litigation

• Prepare for the process of witness preparation for deposition and trial

• Better manage negative emotion such as anger, depression, and denial

• Improve appropriate courtroom dress and demeanor

• Address pre- and post-trial decision-making challenges

• Cope with courtroom anxiety

John H. Ryan Ph.D. is a litigation psychologist based in the Seattle/Tacoma area of Washington State. Dr. Ryan has worked on several hundred civil lawsuits, consulting with attorneys on witness preparation for deposition and trial, conducting pre-trial focus groups and mock trials, and assisting with juror assessment and jury de-selection by preparing juror questionnaires and voir dire examination questions. He has conducted several hundred legal focus groups and applied results to the development of effective trial strategy. Litigation stress management for physicians and other professionals has also been an important element of his practice.

Much of John’s trial consulting work has focused on medical malpractice defense and a variety of personal injury, school and workplace discrimination, wrongful death, police action, and sex abuse civil lawsuits. He is co-author of the attorney guidebook, Preparing Witnesses to Give Effective Testimony, and The Better Witness Handbook, a guide for witnesses required to give testimony in all types of litigation. He has special expertise in working with highly anxious and antagonistic witnesses.

Dr. Ryan’s related prior experience includes maintaining a clinical psychology practice for over 25 years, consulting on state and federal projects for individuals with disabilities, coordinating community development projects, and providing market research consultation services.

John earned his Master’s Degree in Counseling (1977) from Troy State University in Alabama, and his doctorate in Professional Scientific Psychology (Combined Clinical and Counseling) in 1983 from Utah State University. He is a graduate of the US Air Force Academy (1969) and served honorably as a pilot in the USAF.

Research has shown that more than 95% of physicians who are sued for medical negligence are affected emotionally and/or physically by the lawsuit. Litigation Stress Syndrome is the stress-associated symptoms that defendant physicians can experience when involved in malpractice litigation. It can affect not only the physician, but the physician’s family, staff and oftentimes other patients. Litigation Stress Management (LSM) provides defendant physicians with the tools necessary to better manage the stress associated with impending malpractice litigation. By gaining an understanding of the emotional impact of being involved in a lawsuit, physicians can develop effective coping skills to help guide them through the legal process. Often this can include spouses, who play an important supportive role and are equally impacted by the litigation process. LSM is an effective adjunct to the more formal process of Witness Preparation for Deposition and Witness Preparation for Trial. Specific areas of focus often include addressing and coping with or resolving:

• Negative emotions of anger, frustration, defensiveness, and resentment

• Self-doubt, diminished confidence, and over-analysis of care

• Concerns about financial impact, professional embarrassment, consequences to the practice, and national data bank reporting

• Underlying issues of loss of control, professional stressors, demands of the profession

• Advising and involving family members and friends

• Hostility toward and distrust of the legal system

Dr. Ryan has extensive experience in stress management and the development of practical and effective coping strategies. As a litigation psychologist with over 35 years of clinical experience, John helps physicians to understand their emotional responses to litigation, the impact those responses have on their behavior and their practice, how to effectively manage those emotional responses, and how to minimize the negative impact on themselves their families, and their patients. The goal is to empower physicians to take back control of their lives at a time when they feel an anxiety-provoking loss of control.

Sessions can be conducted individually, in groups, over a period of time, or in one concentrated block of time, depending upon needs. Dr. Ryan is also available for seminars and workshops for groups of health care providers to better prepare them to assist productively with their defense in the event of litigation, and how to reduce the probability of litigation through improved patient communication.

John H. Ryan, Ph.D.jryan@dodgeconsulting.com Direct cell: (509) 998-9672