Magna Legal Services Expands in Georgia, Partners with Regency-Brentano, Inc.
PHILADELPHIA, PA—Magna Legal Services (Magna LS), an ALM award-winning court reporting, medical record retrieval and litigation consulting industry leader, and Regency-Brentano, Inc. (Regency) announced today the combination of their firms. Atlanta-based Regency was founded in 1986 and has grown into one of the leading court reporting firms in the Southeast. The two companies combined operations on October 18, 2023. Regency partners well with our Atlanta law firm office.
With a workforce of 653 employees and over 4,000 court reporters, 2,000 interpreters and 100 litigation consultants in 24 locations across the U.S., the union of Magna LS and Regency positions them as one of the largest litigation support and consulting firms, both in terms of scale and the range of services offered. Clients of Regency will now have easy access to Magna’s full suite of services, including document translation, interpreting, medical record retrieval, social media surveillance, visual communications, jury consulting, and court reporting services.
“Today marks a significant milestone in our journey,” said Regency Managing Partner, Harvey Schulman. “Our clients and staff will truly benefit from the added value Magna LS will deliver with all of the litigation support services they provide.”
Peter Hecht, Co-Founding Partner and Executive Vice President of Sales at Magna LS, added, “The merging of these companies strengthens Magna LS’s position as the industry leader in court reporting services nationwide and provides Regency clients with additional service offerings to support their cases.”
Mark Williams, CEO of Magna Legal Services, extended his excitement about the merger, stating, “We look forward to taking the best practices of both of our organizations to create a better and stronger future together. We are confident this is another acquisition and partnership that will continue to create more opportunity for our clients, employees, and court reporters.”
To schedule a deposition or learn more about the end-to-end litigation services provided by Magna Legal Services, click below!
Magna Legal Services Doubles the Size of their Litigation Consulting Team with the Acquisition of TrialGraphix
PHILADELPHIA, March 16, 2023 —Magna Legal Services (Magna LS), an ALM award-winning litigation consulting and support provider of jury consulting, visual communications, court reporting, medical record retrieval, and language services, and TrialGraphix, a visual communications company, announced the combination of their firms.
The two companies will combine operations on March 16, 2023, with partners Guy Joubert, Tony Canzanella, Dave Johnson, Scott Carlin, and Adam Brucks all joining Magna.
With more than 700 employees, 100 litigation consultants, 3,500 court reporters, and 2,000 interpreters in 22 locations across the U.S., together, Magna LS and TrialGraphix will be one of the largest litigation support and consulting firms both in size and services offered.
Founded in 2006, “TrialGraphix became the industry leader by focusing on powerful visuals and the technology to present evidence in court,” said TrialGraphix Managing Partner Guy Joubert. “Partnering with Magna allows us to support our clients with new strategic resources to enhance their case outcomes. We are thrilled about the next chapter for our clients and team.”
“I have been impressed by TrialGraphix for many years and I am delighted to have them join my team at Magna LS,” added Founding Partner and Executive Vice President of Litigation Consulting at Magna LS, Mark Calzaretta, “Our combined forces cement Magna’s position as the nationwide leader in providing trial lawyers with jury, graphics, and trial technology consulting services. Together, we have the deepest bench of experienced professionals available.”
“We are overjoyed to welcome the TrialGraphix team to the Magna family. TrialGraphix built one of the most respected brands in litigation consulting. I am delighted that the entire management team and partners will continue with us at Magna LS,” added Magna Legal Services CEO Mark Williams.
The two-day CLE program took place on December 7th and 8th, 2022 at The W South Beach in Miami, FL.
The event featured interactive micro-panel exercises involving teams of outside counsel, in-house counsel, claims executives and audience members working together alongside real life experts.
Micro panels worked on preparing their moderators and experts for direct examination role plays, and outside counsel moderators and experts went head to head in a “Battle of the Experts” in front of a judge and jury!
This free virtual Magna LS CLE originally aired live on May 18, 2022.
This presentation discussed the proliferation of nuclear verdicts around the country, some of the psychological reasons behind such verdicts, and provided practical advice for defendants as to how to avoid being on the receiving end of a nuclear verdict. Traditional versus new and recommended defense approaches to damages were discussed – specifically, the concept of low anchoring – supported by academic research as well as jury research case studies.
PANELISTS INCLUDE:
Rachel York Colangelo, Ph.D., National Managing Director of Jury Consulting, Magna Legal Services
Caryn L. Lilling, Esq., Partner, Mauro Lilling Naparty LLP
Richard Montes, Esq., Partner, Mauro Lilling Naparty LLP
HOSTED BY:
Jessica Gimbel, SVP of Business Development, Magna Legal Services
Peter Hecht, Partner & Executive Vice President of Sales, Magna Legal Services
Jurors not only instinctively pick up on the way in which other attorneys, judges, etc. treat female litigators, but also often hold gender biases of their own, before ever setting foot in the courtroom. Magna Legal Services hosted a virtual CLE, examining the history of women in the courtroom with an emphasis on how past perceptions can influence jurors’ judgement of female attorneys in today’s world. Drawing upon data collected from various psychological research initiatives across the country, this webinar focused on the legal implications of the inherent implicit and explicit gender biases held by jurors. Strategies for combatting gender bias in the courtroom are also discussed.
Watch a recording of the webinar below, which originally aired live on Wednesday, May 12th at 4PM (ET):
Panelists include: – Elizabeth McBride, Applied Materials, VP, Global Litigation, Compliance and Privacy – Effie Silva, Cargill, Ethics & Compliance Leader – Heather Stern, Whole Foods, General Counsel & Senior Vice President of Legal Affairs – Rachel York Colangelo, Magna Legal Services, National Managing Director of Jury Consulting – Honorable Sue L. Robinson (ret.), Farnan LLP
Brought to you by: – Peter Hecht, Magna Legal Services, Partner & Executive Vice President of Sales – Lee Diamondstein, Esq., Magna Legal Services, Vice President of Strategic Accounts
Virtually all construction or property related decisions should be made with costs in mind. But some people are afraid of math.
Regardless of whether you’re an attorney, insurance professional, property owner, or manager, you need to be able to focus on the “vital few” issues, and virtually ignore the “trivial many.” This means knowing how much things cost – not to the penny, but rather a reasonable approximation. The best place to start, when working to make smart economic decisions, is on the BIG expensive issues. You begin by chopping a project into logical parts, and estimating the cost of those chunks, so you can see the forest AND the trees. The earlier in the process you do this, the better.
Magna Legal Services hosted a webinar on January 27, 2021 (recording below), which featured expert panelists explaining the framework behind analyzing and monetizing construction defect claims.
“There’s a lot of parties involved [in a construction defect case]. You have to understand the structure and you have to speak the language… whether it’s the folks on the ground or in the board room, you have to be able to do both,” said Paul Danner of Goldberg Segalla.
Aileen Schwartzof Hill International, Inc. says she makes sure to bring in experts early on to prevent dragging out litigation. “I’ve had cases that were brought in and there were no damages against us. If there are no damages, there is no case”, she said.
If the case ends up going forward, it’s important that it is not a jury trial, Aileen noted, saying “nobody on a jury wants to listen to your construction defect claim. They’re falling asleep. You really need a judge who knows what you’re talking about to hear the cases.”
Every party wants to get the case settled sooner to avoid costly and timely litigation. Magna’s Scott Horwtiz said “Magna’s jury consultants are getting involved more and more on the early side of things to test theories and test themes to see if a small amount of money up front could take care of all of this”.
When preparing your case, organization is key. Pete Fowler explained the importance of starting with “a discreet list of issues — whether its one issue, or hundreds of issues.” In conjunction with the list of issues, Fowler utilizes “a sensible list of costs associated with each issue, and a sensible list of all the people who might be involved with each of those issues.” “It gets to be this big horrible matrix,” he added.
Watch the full webinar recording below to hear our expert panel break down these complex cases.
Contracts, Employee Handbooks, Disclosures, Signage & other Important Information
Covid-19 took the whole world by storm. Now more than ever, your communication needs to be up-to-date, informative and accurate — no matter what language it is read in.
To protect your organization from liability, make sure the documents/disclosures that matter most are regularly updated and accurately translated. A lousy translation can open your organization up to unwanted litigation, possibly offend others, or otherwise harm your credibility.
Use high-quality translations for the important stuff:
Employee Manuals, Policies & Procedures
Safety Protocols
Contracts & other Agreements
Disclosures
Website Language
Updates, Alerts & other Communication
Signage & Information Posters
Can I trust Google Translate?
Business Insider noted a bizarre Google Translate fail for translating a list of countries from English to Spanish. “Ten of the 30 countries got cut from Google’s version of the list, and for some reason, Honduras is repeated four times, while Guatemala and the United States appear twice”
Machine translation engines like Google Translate don’t recognize context and also tend to translate more literally. If someone is viewing your website in another language, are you confident that what they are reading is accurate?
Magna offers post-machine translation review & editing. Our experienced translators will review existing translations for accuracy, saving you time and money versus translating from scratch.
However, translating from scratch will always give you the highest-quality translation while preserving the right context and tone.
Legal Translation Services
Magna Legal Services provides added value compared to traditional stand-alone translation agencies through first-hand industry expertise and knowledge of the specific needs of our clients.
Our translators are all college-educated professionals with extensive experience in legal, medical, technical and business fields.
All Magna translators sign confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, so your confidential information is always secure with us.
Save 25 – 30% when you bundle your translation needs with Magna. Magna offers custom-tailored translation solutions, so you only pay for what you need!
Whether you need one language or many, full translation from scratch or review/editing of existing translations, or a combination thereof — Magna can handle it all.
Contact Magna to request a no-obligation translation quote or to learn more about Magna’s translation and interpreting services.
Magna Legal Services is honored to be named a Best of 2020 winner by the Legal Intelligencer. We would like to sincerely thank everyone who voted us as the “Best of” in Pennsylvania for:
Magna Legal Services was founded in 2013, and to this day, no other company matches its range of services. Magna is the only company with organic roots providing services throughout discovery, pre-trial and trial. When clients talk, Magna listens, and that is why Magna is an ALM “Best Of” winner every year. Magna is there for their clients with 24/7 scheduling and dedicated customer service.
This year, COVID-19 forced everyone into a new virtual world. Magna was able to quickly and seamlessly transition to 100% virtual platforms for its end-to-end litigation services. Completely remotely, clients can continue to hold depositions, arbitrations, meetings, witness communication training, focus groups, mock trials, and other jury research sessions.
Magna’s online research tools, JuryConfirm and JuryEvaluator software completely changed how attorneys prepare for trial. Instead of building products to attract clients, Magna found what clients needed and developed products and methodology to fit those needs.
Everyone at Magna recognizes our client relationships have made us who we are today. We would like to thank our communities for their trust and support. For more information about this contest, and how winners are selected, please visit the Legal Intelligencer’s website.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware again postponed all jury trials last week, including what would have been one of the first to be held in person in the country since the COVID-19 pandemic limited court proceedings nationwide.
Sunoco Partners Marketing & Terminals LP’s intellectual property case against energy companies Powder Springs Logistics LLC and Magellan Midstream Partners LP, which has been pending for almost three years, was scheduled to go to trial beginning August 3, with a combination of in-person appearances and remote witnesses, but has been postponed indefinitely.
U.S. District Chief Judge Leonard P. Stark of the District of Delaware issued an order July 16 stating the decision to postpone federal jury trials in Delaware at least through the end of August was made as a safety precaution in an attempt to both minimize the large gatherings that jury selection would entail and cut down on travel for those involved in court matters.
U.S. District Chief Judge Leonard Stark of the District of Delaware. Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM
In a memorandum order issued at the beginning of the month, Stark outlined what were intended at the time to be precautions taken during the Sunoco trial, including having witnesses testify remotely and limiting the number of people permitted in the courtroom.
“This is something of an experiment,” Stark wrote in the order, which concluded by noting the possibility of a continuance. “I expect I will follow different procedures in other cases and at different times and I strongly suspect my colleagues (in the District of Delaware and elsewhere) will do things differently than I plan to do at this trial. I am entering this order as the presiding judge in this specific case, not as chief judge of the district.”
If the trial had gone forward, it would have been preceded by only a handful of in-person jury trials to have begun in the U.S. since court systems began determining individually how to address the pandemic. In April, during what may have been the first attempt at a jury trial since courts closed, jury selection for the trial of a man in Ohio ended abruptly when the defendant became short of breath and the trial was postponed.
Federal jury trials have only just begun in Texas, and New Jersey has resumed trials that were cut short months ago, though the state isn’t currently beginning new jury trials. Similar to the District of Delaware, an order was issued over the weekend pushing back jury trials in Florida, which had planned to resume jury trial proceedings Monday.
“By what I can tell and what’s been reported, they’ve all been running relatively smooth. They’ve not surprisingly had a couple technical issues,” said Dan Wolfe, senior director of jury consulting for Magna Legal Services, of the trials that have taken place recently. “In terms of just getting people in and out and things of that nature, they seem to be going fairly well, by all accounts.”
As is the case throughout most of the country, trials are also on hold in Delaware’s state courts, with in-person jury trials not to take place until the Delaware Judiciary reaches Phase 3 of its four-phase reopening plan, though trials that don’t require a jury have been underway. Currently, Delaware courts are under Phase 2 of the plan. On July 6, Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz Jr. extended the state’s judicial emergency and said it’s expected to stay in Phase 2 until Aug. 6 and likely longer.
Wolfe said, based on the trials that have proceeded so far, he’s seen two predominant factors that seem to be key in a court system’s ability to resume trials. First, he said, courts have ensured they have access to a space large enough to hold everyone needed for a trial while maintaining social distancing guidelines, whether that be a large courtroom or a location such as a gymnasium or theater.
Second, Wolfe said, the courts that have been able to successfully start jury trials have been those in judiciary systems with good communication. He said it’s expected that people will be more likely to show up for jury duty if the court system has communicated to them the procedures in place for their safety beforehand.
“People have been fairly accommodating and understanding and appreciative that the court personnel have tried to work really hard to accommodate the jurors,” Wolfe said. “Anecdotally, several people have reported everybody being ‘more patient.’”
Magna recently surveyed 500 people nationwide in an attempt to gain insight on how prospective jurors’ attitudes might have been impacted by COVID-19. While the results of the survey are still being analyzed, Wolfe said 60% of those surveyed said they would be less critical of those working in health care than they might have been prior to the pandemic, while more than 80% said they were concerned about the safety of health care workers who are dealing with the virus directly, and 23% said they, a family member or a close friend has been a first responder who has addressed COVID-19.
“Certainly, (in) cases like medical malpractice cases, it’s that notion of a halo effect,” Wolfe said. “We saw this post-9/11 for firefighters and law enforcement officials, this positive perception. So certainly, we’re seeing that here.”
Wolfe said Magna has also noted that during both mock jury trials and proceedings involving remote witnesses during actual trials, jurors reported approval of seeing people speak via video call, rather than in front of them in a courtroom.
“They actually report a more positive experience because they can see the witnesses more closely, whereas in a courtroom, they might be more distant and it might make it more difficult for them to judge facial expressions and the like,” Wolfe said.
This piece originally appeared in Delaware Law Weekly on July 22, 2020.
