Litigators leave nothing to chance, juries included. While most trial lawyers feel comfortable selecting and working with a jury, a jury consultant is an invaluable addition to your trial team. Magna jury consultants work hand in hand with your trial team to plan, refine, and retool arguments, evidence, and visual communication strategies in order to strengthen your case with the jury.
Court reporting is an essential aspect of the litigation process. From depositions to closing arguments, shorthand reporters ensure that a detailed record of all proceedings is maintained for the record. Even the most skilled experts in this field, however, should continuously practice their skills to keep up with the fast-paced environment of courtrooms and depositions. Here are a few tips on how you can constantly improve:
This past November, legal professionals across the country converged in Atlantic City for the annual Chopped for CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) competition. The event featured a micro panel workshop and mock trial that pitted four respected attorneys against each other. With $12,000 worth of donations to CHOP on the line, the event promised and delivered an exciting and unexpected two days.
If you are not billing consistently, you will not make enough money—it is that simple. If you are a new attorney, you probably just don’t have a mature referral network, and even if you have been practicing for years, you know that over time, business fades, and there is a continual need to replenish your client base.
The Internet is a storehouse of records, and some of these can be found merely by using a search engine. Attorneys that have been successful in locating assets, for example, may feel that record retrieval should stay in-house, and that record collection services are an unnecessary additional expense. However, experienced lawyers realize that in-house record retrieval does not always save money, and by outsourcing record retrieval, law firms can let their administrative and legal staff focus on case analysis and case strategy instead of haphazardly trying to retrieve records.
PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CIVC Partners, L.P. (“CIVC”), a Chicago-based middle market private equity firm focused on investments in the business services and financial services industries, is pleased to announce the firm’s investment in Magna Legal Services (“Magna” or the “Company”), in partnership with the management team.
Magna provides litigation support services to over 2,000 law firms and corporations across the United States. The Company supports its clients through each phase of the litigation process including court reporting, jury evaluation and consulting, translation, video, graphic design, and record retrieval services. Magna was founded in 2007, and over the last 11 years has established itself as one of the leading and fastest growing providers of litigation support services in the industry. For additional information on Magna, visit www.magnals.com.
Magna’s entire senior management team will remain in place following the investment and will maintain a significant ownership position in the Company. The partnership will support Magna’s continued growth, both organically and through acquisitions.
The Company’s President, Bob Ackerman, said, “We are thrilled to be partnering with a CIVC team that enthusiastically shares our vision for Magna. CIVC has been an active investor for nearly 30 years and has extensive experience partnering with founder-led companies. We expect CIVC to be a value-added partner going forward as we execute on our growth strategy.”
Scott Schwartz, a partner at CIVC, commented that, “Magna is one of the leading companies of scale in a highly attractive industry defined by recurring revenue, limited cyclicality, and a fragmented base of smaller competitors. We are excited to partner with Bob Ackerman, Mark Calzaretta, Peter Hecht and Jon Ackerman to support the company in accelerating organic growth and pursuing strategic acquisitions.” Doug Potters, a principal at CIVC, added, “Magna is a tremendous investment opportunity for CIVC and a strong fit with our experience investing in growing business services companies that operate in highly fragmented industries benefiting from strong outsourcing trends.”
The partnership with Magna builds on CIVC’s investment experience in the outsourced business services industry. Other representative investments within outsourced business services include KPA (provider of compliance services), Yellowstone Landscape (provider of commercial landscape services), Magnate Worldwide (provider of asset-light logistics services), and GPRS (provider of private utility locating services).
About CIVC Partners, L.P.
CIVC Partners is a Chicago-based private equity firm investing in high growth middle market companies in the business services and financial services sectors. Since 1989, the team has invested $1.6 billion in 62 platform companies and currently invests from CIVC Partners Fund V. More information on CIVC Partners and its portfolio companies can be found at www.civc.com.
If you have an opportunity that may be an acquisition candidate for Magna, please contact Scott Schwartz ([email protected]) or Doug Potters ([email protected]).
CIVC Press Contact
Patty Walker
CIVC Partners
(312) 873-7300
[email protected]
Thanks to courtroom dramas, the “CSI effect” and Netflix documentaries, there’s often an unrealistic evidentiary expectation in courtrooms. This makes it difficult for the average person to predict jury decisions in the modern world. By using online focus groups, it’s possible to remove some of this uncertainty. These focus groups provide the benefits of analytics in trial prep, and they can help you recognize and correct weaknesses in your legal strategy.
Technology is increasing everywhere, including in the legal field and when offering testimony at a trial. Attorneys use video depositions when they want key witnesses in front of a court but the witnesses are unable to give live testimony. A video deposition allows an expert witness to present their professional perspective or a fact witness their story. Videos can show all of the nuanced body language and demeanor cues that a written affidavit or deposition transcript alone cannot convey. This effective use of technology serves the courts and the interested parties well.
When Mark Calzaretta watches a jury, hearing evidence in a high-stakes lawsuit, it isn’t necessarily an impartial panel of citizen peers he sees. Rather, Calzaretta sees 10 human beings with emotional biases that, if studied diligently, can help lawyers predict, with startling accuracy, the outcome of a case, often before it is tried.
