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Musings, Litigation Consulting, and Published Articles
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Lawyers Discuss Experience with First Paperless Trial
In September 2004 the first ”Paperless Trial” in Texas was conducted in Austin. I was asked to provide the technical support for the school districts in that trial. The trial lasted 26 days, presented testimony from 32 witnesses, and had over...
Wisdom Wrap
Josai Toda Second president of the Soka Gakkai, in explaining the 15th chapter of the Lotus sutra coined a phrase to describe the Bodhisattvas who had “emerged from the earth” during the “ceremony in the air”. To emerge from the earth means to come...
Focus Groups and Mock Trials in Preparation for Trial Events
“Trial Events” can be anything from a deposition to a motions hearing to a trial. It includes mediations, arbitrations, focus groups and mock trials. It’s a broadly inclusive term because while each of them requires a different kind of preparation...
Witness Preparation Also Requires Witness Training
Original Publication Date February 7, 2018 by Ric Dexter McKenzie was the perfect witness. The associate who interviewed him said so after the first time they talked. He was personable and he knew everything that had happened at the company. His...
Witness Training – Ditch The Magic List
There is a 2500 year old story about a young counsellor who was trying to help a couple of guys find a path to greater wisdom. One was a blacksmith, the other was a tailor. The young man told the blacksmith to concentrate on how all things are...
Honoring Rodger Gigax
Rodger was married to Patsy, Cathy’s older sister. I first met him at a Roach Family Thanksgiving dinner. Cathy had 3 brothers and a father, and they all wanted to protect their little sister. As the 4 of them looked askance at this...
The Chairman Speaks
I was invited to a meeting of the Tuesday Night Irregulars. The Irregulars were mostly judges, legal luminaries, and ex-Bar Association presidents. I was younger than most of them and the only non-lawyer in the room. At the head of the table was...
Video Depositions Part 1 – Taking a Video Deposition for Trial
Take yourself back a moment to 1978. Gas was 63 cents a gallon, the Dow was 805, the Camp David Accord was signed hopefully bringing an end to the troubles in the Middle East, the television series “Dallas” premiered, and I recorded and played back...
Video Depositions Part 2 Building an Effective Video Deposition for Trial
We took the long way around to get back where we started. How can you make what is essentially 2-6 hours of a talking head something people will want to watch? In the previous installment our dialogue focused on how to take a video deposition with...
Litigation Consulting
Focus Groups and Mock Trials in Preparation for Trial Events
“Trial Events” can be anything from a deposition to a motions hearing to a trial. It includes mediations, arbitrations, focus groups and mock trials. It’s a broadly inclusive term because while each of them requires a different kind of preparation...
Witness Training – Ditch The Magic List
There is a 2500 year old story about a young counsellor who was trying to help a couple of guys find a path to greater wisdom. One was a blacksmith, the other was a tailor. The young man told the blacksmith to concentrate on how all things are...
Video Depositions Part 1 – Taking a Video Deposition for Trial
Take yourself back a moment to 1978. Gas was 63 cents a gallon, the Dow was 805, the Camp David Accord was signed hopefully bringing an end to the troubles in the Middle East, the television series “Dallas” premiered, and I recorded and played back...
Video Depositions Part 2 Building an Effective Video Deposition for Trial
We took the long way around to get back where we started. How can you make what is essentially 2-6 hours of a talking head something people will want to watch? In the previous installment our dialogue focused on how to take a video deposition with...
Witness Preparation ≠ Witness Training
Originally written as HaynesBoone Trial Consultants Digest 2015 #2 You’ve prepared your witnesses. You are sure they are comfortable with all the facts, but have they been trained to walk into a room with which even you are not familiar . McKenzie...
5 Million PowerPoints a Day Can Be Wrong!
Originally presented as HaynesBoone Trial Consultants Digest 2015 #1 5 Million! That is how many PowerPoint presentations are estimated to be shown in the world every day. One researcher estimated that the legal industry alone spends 3.6...
Published Articles
Lawyers Discuss Experience with First Paperless Trial
In September 2004 the first ”Paperless Trial” in Texas was conducted in Austin. I was asked to provide the technical support for the school districts in that trial. The trial lasted 26 days, presented testimony from 32 witnesses, and had over...
Witness Preparation Also Requires Witness Training
Original Publication Date February 7, 2018 by Ric Dexter McKenzie was the perfect witness. The associate who interviewed him said so after the first time they talked. He was personable and he knew everything that had happened at the company. His...
Philosophy
Wisdom Wrap
Josai Toda Second president of the Soka Gakkai, in explaining the 15th chapter of the Lotus sutra coined a phrase to describe the Bodhisattvas who had “emerged from the earth” during the “ceremony in the air”. To emerge from the earth means to come...
Maitreya’s Question
Copyright © Ric Dexter 1999 SGI-USA has a place in Florida where members can meet and study the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren’s Buddhist teachings. The Florida Nature and Culture Center has regular conferences. I wrote this at a 1999 conference on the...
Poetry on Trial
MARSHALL LAW
Copyright © Ric Dexter 1992 In 1991, while I was a legal videographer and trial presentation specialist, a trial was called in a case where a chemical company had sued an insurance company. I was hired to help in that trial. I wrote this, to the...
Daily Life
Honoring Rodger Gigax
Rodger was married to Patsy, Cathy’s older sister. I first met him at a Roach Family Thanksgiving dinner. Cathy had 3 brothers and a father, and they all wanted to protect their little sister. As the 4 of them looked askance at this...
The Chairman Speaks
I was invited to a meeting of the Tuesday Night Irregulars. The Irregulars were mostly judges, legal luminaries, and ex-Bar Association presidents. I was younger than most of them and the only non-lawyer in the room. At the head of the table was...
3 days after Katrina
Copyright © Ric Dexter 2005 On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, 80% of the city was flooded, causing a reported $125 billion in damage. That doesn’t include the human damage. One thousand two hundred people died. One million five...