Focus Groups: Hitting the Bull's-Eye

Phillip Miller and Paul Scoptur navigate the process for selecting and crafting focus groups cost-effectively to maximize results and prepare the most persuasive case. Topics include question structure and phrasing, critical thinking and creativity, and using focus groups to find case themes.

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Authors Phillip Miller and Paul Scoptur bring an innovative and essential look at focus groups in their latest book. This highly anticipated book will change how you think about and conduct focus groups. In the minds of many, focus groups are required in any substantial case. Unfortunately, the belief by trial lawyers is that focus groups are often too expensive with results that are not helpful.

In this book, Miller and Scoptur navigate the reader through the process of selecting and tailoring focus groups. They discuss and dismiss the myths about focus group research and give a formula that gets you the information you need without spending a fortune. Your comfort level with the process, economics, and outcomes will change radically.

Phillip H. Miller is a trial lawyer and deposition/trial strategist who lives in Nashville. His firm has been recognized by Martindale-Hubbell as one of the “Pre-eminent firms in the United States.” He is a board certified civil trial specialist, “Super Lawyer,” “Top 100 Trial Lawyers.” He has been recognized by the Nashville Business Journal as one of the “Best of the Bar.”

Phillip limits his practice to no more than 15 personal injury cases at a time, and he spends 50 percent of his time doing deposition and trial strategy for firms nationwide. As part of the case strategy developed for many of these cases, Phillip has run focus groups across the United States and has interviewed thousands of focus group jurors.

Phillip has been published in Trial, the American Journal of Trial Advocacy, and in trial lawyer publications in eight states and three Canadian provinces. He has been a repeat speaker on  AAJ’s National College of Advocacy (NCA) programs at Harvard University and other venues nationwide, and has been an invited speaker at programs across the United States. He coauthored Advanced Deposition Strategy and Practice with Paul Scoptur, which was released by AAJ Press and Trial Guides in 2013. Phillip is a member of the American Association for Justice. Learn more about Phillip at www.philliphmiller.com or call (615) 356-2000.

Paul J. Scoptur has been a trial lawyer representing plaintiffs exclusively since his graduation from Marquette University Law School in 1978. He is a past trustee and past cochair of AAJ’s National College of Advocacy (NCA) and was an adjunct professor of law at Marquette University Law School, where he taught litigation and trial skills. He has been named one of the “Best Lawyers in America” continuously since 2002 and is one of Wisconsin’s top 50 Super Lawyers. He is a Diplomate of the NCA and was one of the first lawyers to complete the Advanced Studies in Trial Advocacy (ASTA) curriculum offered by the NCA.

He is a member of the American Society of Trial Consultants. He has a broad practice both as a trial lawyer and as a trial consultant and uses strategic case planning and focus groups extensively, both in his cases and in assisting other lawyers in preparing the discovery and trial of their cases across the country and in Canada. Paul is coauthor of Advanced Depositions Strategy and Practice (AAJ Press/Trial Guides) and has produced a DVD of the same title. He also produced the “Deposing the Defense Medical Examiner” DVD with Phillip Miller. Aiken & Scoptur, S.C., is a member of the American Association for Justice’s Leaders Forum and is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Learn more about Paul at www.plaintiffslaw.com and www.paulscoptur.com, or call (414) 914-2803.