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Aaron Abbott, Ph.D.
Dr. Abbott helped pioneer the field of trial consulting nearly 30 years ago when he started his practice in 1981 and founded Jury Behavior Research, Inc. His firm helps trial lawyers anticipate the behavior of juries and turn this knowledge into winning courtroom strategies. JBR is recognized as one of the premier research and consulting practices in the country and has consulted on many high profile civil and criminal cases throughout the United States.
As a social psychologist, Dr. Abbott specializes in persuasion and group dynamics. He has studied and interviewed thousands of mock jurors, focus group and survey participants, and actual jurors. He uses his expertise and experience to help trial lawyers and witnesses to better understand how jurors perceive them, how to theme a case, and how to improve the persuasiveness of a case presentation. He is a frequent speaker at DRI, Trial Attorneys of America, FDCC, Trial Advocacy College, and many other legal forums.
Dr. Abbott earned his B.S. from Oregon State University in 1976, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Notre Dame in 1978 and 1981, respectively. He taught statistics and research methods at the University of Notre Dame and Indiana University, and now uses a variety of correlational and multivariate analysis techniques to study how to predict and influence juror decisions. While his work is highly sophisticated, Dr. Abbott also has a special sensitivity for translating technical results into usable, applied strategies within the constraints and realities of the courtroom.
Selected Publications:
- Abbott, Aaron. Jury Signs: Coded messages from the jury box. Physicians Insurance Association of America. Second Quarter, 2009.
- Abbott, Aaron and Gus von Bolschwing. Testing the Comparative Negligence Affirmative Defense. For The Defense. Volume 43: No. 12. 2001.
- Abbott, Aaron. Exposing juror misconduct. Rx Lexis Law Publishing Law & Medicine Report. Volume 2: No. 1. 1999.
- Abbott, Aaron. Objection! This case is going to settle anyway! (So, why do research?). Rx Lexis Law Publishing Law & Medicine Report. Volume 1: No. 1. 1998.
- Abbott, Aaron. How to select a jury research and consulting firm. In Zaremski, Miles J. and Frank D. Heckman, Supplement to Reengineering Healthcare Liability Litigation. Virginia: Michie Law Publishers. 1998.
- Abbott, Aaron. Managing jury trials. In Zaremski, Miles J. and Frank D. Heckman, Reengineering Healthcare Liability Litigation. Virginia: Michie Law Publishers. 1997.
- Abbott, Aaron and Adam Davis. How to use expert public opinion testimony. The Practical Lawyer. Volume 35: No. 6. 1989.
- Abbott, Aaron and Frank D. Heckman. Juries and child death cases. Case & Comment. Volume 94: No. 6. 1989.
- Abbott, Aaron and Adam Davis. Pre-trial assessments make witness testimony pay off. Risk Management. June, 1989.
JBR scientists and trial consultants include doctorates in social psychology, clinical psychology, statistics, market research, and law. We also utilize selected members of the American Society of Trial Consultants for added expertise and nationwide coverage of cases when necessary.
JBR also utilizes a vast network of preferred vendors to provide other services to support its research and consulting services. These include:
- Recruiters and facilities for mock trial and focus group respondents. We can field research in any community in the country.
- Survey respondent pools of over 2.5 million people covering any county in the country for our online Internet surveys.
- Computer, graphics, and multimedia specialists to design courtroom exhibits.
- Technicians to set up and run courtroom presentation systems.
Jurors rely on more than the evidence presented to them. They incorporate their own experiences, values and attitudes to augment the importance of testimony that confirms their belief systems, and to discount testimony that contradicts their beliefs. This results in a process of selective perception that affects jurors' interpretations of the facts and distorts their memory of testimony.
Our job is to uncover the underlying motivations and belief systems that drive juror perceptions. We translate that knowledge into usable trial tactics.
Research shows that jurors cognitively organize and recall evidence based on just a few conclusions formed early in the case. These are their Persuasion Icons™. They are usually based not only on the evidence and arguments presented, but also on jurors’ own attitudes, experiences, and world views.
Identifying and presenting a case built around the appropriate Persuasion Icons™ for that case is pivotal in managing the course of jury deliberations and the ultimate outcome of the case. Every argument and piece of evidence must be anchored to the specific Persuasion Icons that jurors will use to decide the case.
Our job is to research, develop and recommend specific Persuasion Icons™ for your case. All of our pre-trial research and consultation services are based on the belief that trials are won when the presentations are directed to maximize juror understanding and comprehension. We will make recommendations about how to organize and present witnesses and other evidence.
The last thing any trial attorney needs on the eve of trial is a 300 page report comprised of page after page of tables, graphs, and appendices filled with verbatim responses or transcripts. While such a “data dump” may look substantive, it offers little guidance to the trial team.
Our clients expect us to reduce the data down to real world, practical, trial tactics that can be used in court. They expect our strategic recommendations to be data-based, science-driven, and guided by experience. They expect us to be able to account for our recommendations; but they do not want to become data analysts. That’s what they hired us to do for them.
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