EXPERIENCE
Since 2018, we have conducted more than 50 neutral litigation focus groups for attorneys across Louisiana, Arkansas, and East Texas. Led by Todd Benson, our lead facilitator, these sessions provide unfiltered feedback from people who mirror the local jury pool and have proven valuable in refining themes, testing exhibits and ideas, strengthening arguments, and walking into mediation or trial with greater confidence.
Who Conducts the Focus Groups
Lead facilitator Todd Benson is a civil litigator with Ayres, Shelton, Williams, Benson & Paine, LLC in Shreveport, Louisiana. For more than 30 years he has handled personal injury, commercial litigation, successions, LLC and corporate disputes, civil rights claims, and more — trying cases before Louisiana state and federal judges and juries. That frontline experience shapes every focus group.
You get neutral facilitation from someone who understands the pressures of real litigation in this region — plus a personal, responsive working relationship.
In 2021, Todd was named Best Plaintiff Personal Injury Lawyer in Shreveport by Super Lawyers.
Todd obtained a jury verdict in excess of $8,000,000 in a wrongful death case in 2019 (Williams v. CenterPoint Energy Resources Corp., et al; No. 600,967; First Judicial District Court, Caddo Parish, Louisiana). Todd also obtained a verdict of $2,000,000 in a personal injury case in federal court in Nashville, Tennessee in 2002. In addition, Todd obtained a $500,000.00 verdict (which included $250,000 in punitive damages) in federal court in Shreveport in 2008 in a wrongful arrest civil rights case. Further, Todd obtained a $555,636 jury verdict in a Caddo Parish FELA case in 2017. Todd has tried jury trials in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee.
Todd received his undergraduate and law degrees at Louisiana State University Law Center, where he was a member of the Louisiana Law Review and the Order of the Coif, an honorary society of the top ten percent of each graduating class. Todd is also a member of the Paul M. Hebert Law School Hall of Fame. After graduating, he served as a law clerk to the Justice Catherine D. Kimball of the Louisiana Supreme Court.
Todd was admitted to the Louisiana bar in 1995 and to the State Bar of Texas in 2001. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the United States District Court for the Western District, Eastern District and Middle District of Louisiana, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Louisiana state courts, and Texas state courts. Todd has practiced law since August of 1996, including a time as General Counsel for Tango Transport, Inc., a large trucking company.
Todd Benson, Lead Facilitator
TESTIMONIALS
“In every lawsuit that might end in a trial, whether defense or plaintiff, whether judge or jury, we call Todd Benson to conduct our focus groups. Todd’s groups are exceptional in terms of his jury recruitment, his presentation methodologies, and his reliability in getting to the heart of every important case issue. The ability to test our arguments against the opinions of unbiased, ordinary citizens is invaluable, and their candid, unvarnished opinions help us hone our trial presentations. The chose jurors are always diverse, attentive, and satisfy our demographic needs, and their clear, honest insights often expose weak spots in our legal strategy. The final result is always the same – better, more efficient arguments targeted to the strengths of our case. We can’t recommend Todd Benson enough!”
— Jim Colvin, Colvin, Smith, McCay & Bays“The focus groups were a tremendous help in a large civil case we tried to a jury. In my opinion, the insight we gained was a significant factor in leading to our multi-million dollar jury verdict for our client.”
— Ross Downs, Jr., AttorneyPast results are not a guarantee of future success.
As a plaintiff trial lawyer, I have always subscribed to the idea that you shouldn’t be afraid to spend a little extra case expense money to make a lot of extra money for your client. My experience with Todd Benson’s focus groups has proven the wisdom of this idea.
My client worked for the railroad as a switchman. While working in the rail yard, a passing tank car splashed sulphuric acid on him. The acid burned through his safety vest, sweatshirt and pants. He desperately ran to the emergency eyewash station/shower to wash the acid off. It didn’t work. He then ran to the office building where he desperately tried to use water from a sink to get the acid off his body. It was a slow and ineffective process.
Needless to say, it was great case of liability. But, how to maximize damages? That is where the focus group came in.
As Todd sequentially fed additional facts to the focus group, we able to see what facts truly resonated with them. Did the acid splash on him? Spill on him? Slosh on him. Drench him? Splash was the clear winner for suggesting the severity of the event. But even more telling was the focus group’s reaction to my client’s sweatshirt. We preserved the sweatshirt. It had a dozen silver dollar holes burned through it. I thought this was going to be our prized exhibit. But, the almost universal reaction of the focus group was “Gee, we thought it was worse than that!”. That blindsided us. But, on reflection we realized that sometimes an oral description of an event is much more powerful that a visual depiction. That sweatshirt never made it into the courtroom.
But the most powerful thing that we learned from the focus group was that we were chasing damages on the wrong path. I had assumed that acid burns on your neck, chest, arms and legs – about 20 silver dollar size burns – would generate significant pain and suffering money. And while the focus group certainly assigned real value to those burns, they were much more interested in the psychological injury. The immediate horror of the initial splash. The frantic search for a safety shower. The recurrent nightmares. The fear of everything associated with railroads. We knew we had the foundations of a PTSD diagnosis as a basis for damages. But the focus group taught us that it should be the primary basis. So, we devoted considerable effort to working up the PTSD side of the case. And we focused on it at trial.
By now you probably know this story has a happy ending. We went to trial and received a verdict that was many multiples of the defense offer. Defense counsel lamented that the burns didn’t seem so bad! It was the focus groups insights that paved the way for our win.
Hire him. You won’t regret it.
— James H. Wettermark
Wettermark Keith LLC“Any lawyer who tries jury trials knows how unpredictable juries can be. Trying to figure out what facts, evidence and argument jurors will find most persuasive and what will turn them off can be impossible tasks. A focus group done right can demystify the entire process and give lawyers and litigants crucial inside knowledge about how evidence and argument will be perceived, what will persuade the jury, and what to avoid in your effort to try and win the case. Todd Benson has been a lead facilitator of focus groups for a decade. He knows how to put focus groups together, how to present a case to a focus group, and how to get the most out of the process. The focus groups were crucial to the successful resolution of several of my cases. I also referred several other lawyers to the focus group service, and each and every one found the information gained to be invaluable to their handling of their own cases.
If you have an important case going to jury trial, you cannot afford to go to trial without focus grouping the case first. You also cannot afford to waste the time and money on unproven services. Get the most out of your time, resources and your focus group with this service. You will be glad you did.”
— Randy Street, Attorney“I am an attorney practicing in Little Rock, Arkansas. I used focus groups this past year for two complex medical malpractice cases. Todd handled the groups himself, managed all recruitment, and did an excellent job presenting the cases neutrally so the participants never knew whether he was working for the plaintiff or the defense. I was very pleased with the insights generated and will definitely use this service again.”
— Melody Piazza, Attorney at Law, Little Rock, AR
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