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“We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature.”
— Edmund Burke
Dr. Peter J. Weinberg is the Principal Consultant and Owner of Lītigāre, a litigation consulting firm. Lītigāre began with the realization that psychology is in every facet of life. The skill is to identify that psychology and apply it in a more nuanced and purposeful manner. Dr. Weinberg began applying this to cases he worked in Chicago. He began to see a pattern. When litigation was looked at from a whole person perspective, a multitude of research could be applied to very specific issues in a case. The effect was juries and judges alike were connecting to key aspects of the case resulting in increased verdicts and attention to key pieces of evidence. Dr. Weinberg honed these skills into what is now known as Lītigāre’s Critical Diagnostic offering a unique legal-psychological strategy for litigation.
This diagnostic was essential in forging the path on strategies to present Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Pain-Induced-Depression as physical injuries. This is especially important for those states where caps exist.
Throughout his career Dr. Weinberg has presented and instructed CLE’s on several litigation topics. Please feel free to contact us and inquire about Dr Weinberg’s CLE and presentation topics. One of his favorites presentations was a discussion panel titled Judge Judy and the Courts sponsored by The Thompson G. Marsh American Inn of Court. Dr. Weinberg offered his expertise on the effects that TV court shows have on public perceptions of court, and how it affects bias. There were a number of experts from various fields that crated a rich atmosphere.
Lītigāre’s Critical Diagnostic offers a unique legal-psychological strategy for litigation.
There is power in psychology and when science is applied by a professional with surgeon like precision, that power can be focused and channeled.
Lītigāre’s conception was also a desire to level the playing field. Early in his career, Peter saw an imbalance between the resources available to a plaintiff and defendant in personal injury litigation. It seemed to him that there needed to be a litigation consultant who was not part of norm, or establishment; he did not want to be the consultant that charged 5 to 15 thousand dollars for a phone call or one day discussion. Instead, Peter wanted to make the power of psychology available to those who needed it most; to him that meant the injured party. Peter originally had Lītigāre operate as a contingency fee based firm, which brought a lot of attention, mostly positive. There were concerns, mostly from his competitors, that this would be fee splitting. This was not true. Peter had conducted extensive reviews before Lītigāre’s launch and published multiple ethics rulings from a number of states to support equal access to litigation consulting services.
As Lītigāre’s reputation grew, so did the demand for Peter to work on various types of high risk cases. “I have never turned down a case; I would love to say please bring me your easy cases, it just is not a reality”. This quote by Dr. Weinberg, while entertaining and repeated every year to his trial consulting students, is important. Lītigāre has been reconceptualizing litigation strategy for 15 years with a 92% success rate. There is power in psychology and when science is applied by a professional with surgeon like precision, that power can be focused and channeled. This is why Peter attends the trials where he has consulted. Life is always in flux, and like research, what is discovered at that moment in time was in that moment of time. By the time a case goes to settlement or trial a simple news story can change things. “Sometimes strategy has to change midstream and the only way to know how to change it is to be there watching, every day”. The best way Peter knows how to support the trial team is to attend settlements and trial to offer a real time analysis of how well the strategy is performing. When asked about this, Peter replied
“Some of my best experiences in settlement conferences were educating the mediator on being trauma informed and how PTSD is a physical injury to the brain. I have worked with clients with very severe traumas. From my experience, these were some of the strongest people I have ever met. It takes courage to face that trauma and even more courage and fortitude to manage those PTSD symptoms in a world that is not sensitive to mental illness. Now put on top of that the fact that someone else’s reckless choices caused this person’s PTSD. I don’t think enough people understand this and I take every opportunity, like I am right now, to advocate for more understanding about mental illness and PTSD”.
When asked about his favorite cases and strategies, he said,
“There are a few trial strategies that come to mind that really played out well and I found that being able to experience the jury as the process unfolded was essential. In one case we set a sub-strategy to expose the depth of weakness and fallacy in the opposing counsel’s arguments. At one point, we heard the jury laughing from the jury room, and not at us. Another was a strategy based on time. It was a bench trial. A strategy was built based upon profiles of the court and opposing counsel. The closing in that case was the shortest, most succinct, and one of the more powerful I have seen. That closing won the case and it happened in less than 9 minuets. That was a fun one.”