Dennis P. Stolle is both a lawyer and a social psychologist. Dr. Stolle is a partner in the Litigation Department of the firm's Indianapolis, Indiana office, where he concentrates his practice on trial consulting, jury research, and litigation. He is also the President and a founder of ThemeVision LLC, which is a jury research and litigation consulting firm affiliated with Barnes & Thornburg LLP.
Dr. Stolle has selected juries throughout the country, including juries in high-stakes patent trials, white-collar criminal trials, product liability trials, and commercial trials. He has also conducted focus groups and other empirical jury research in venues throughout the continental United States and in Hawaii. He has been a member of national product defense teams for Fortune 500 companies in multiple industries, providing advice regarding judicial and jury decision making, theme development, jury selection, demonstrative evidence, and trial and settlement strategies.
Dr. Stolle has written numerous articles and other materials, and is a sought-after speaker on topics of legal psychology generally, and jury decision making in particular. His academic writings have been favorably relied upon in published opinions from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He is also a co-editor of a book on legal psychology, published by Carolina Academic Press in 2000. Favorable reviews of his book have been featured in ABA Journal, New York Law Journal, Florida Bar Journal, and Judicature. More recently, Dr. Stolle has published empirical research on the deliberation and decision-making processes of criminal juries in Indiana. He has also studied the impact of new media and the visual display of evidence on jury decision making.
Dr. Stolle received his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Nebraska's Law & Psychology Program. His doctoral research was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation and a portion of that work was later published in a leading, peer-reviewed, social science journal. Prior to completing his Ph.D., he graduated with high distinction from the University of Nebraska College of Law, where he served as research editor of the Nebraska Law Review and became a member of the Order of the Coif. He received his Master of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Nebraska and his Bachelor of Science in psychology summa cum laude from St. Louis University.
Dr. Stolle is also frequently contacted by journalists for his input on high-profile jury trials. He has been quoted in the Washington Post, the New Jersey Lawyer, the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette, the New Jersey Law Journal, The Indianapolis Star, the Indiana Lawyer, the Louisville Courier-Journal, and many other publications. He is a member of the Media Arts and Science Program Board of Advisors at Indiana University's School of Informatics, a barrister in the Sagamore Inn of Court, a member of the American Society of Trial Consultants, and a member of the American Psychology and Law Society.
In addition to jury research, his litigation practice has included products liability defense, complex commercial litigation, and trade secrets litigation. He is admitted to practice in Indiana and Nebraska.
Publications
01/01/2009, Strength of evidence, extraevidentiary influence, and the liberation hypothesis: Data from the field
01/01/2008, Five principles for ensuring the effective use of focus groups and mock trials
01/01/2007, Deliberation quality: A preliminary examination in criminal juries
11/01/2005, Using jury research to help overcome the challenges of common-sense causation
08/01/2005, Unauthorized disclosure and jury research: Potential protections against the rogue mock juror
01/01/2003, Defending depositions in high-stakes civil and quasi-criminal litigation
01/01/2002, Fractional factorial designs for legal psychology
01/01/2000, Practicing Therapeutic Jurisprudence: Law as a Helping Profession
01/01/1998, Advance directives, AIDS, and mental health: TJ preventive lawyering for the HIV-positive client
01/01/1998, Better legal counseling through empirical research
01/01/1997, Integrating preventive law and therapeutic jurisprudence
01/01/1997, Preventive law and therapeutic jurisprudence: A symbiotic relationship
01/01/1997, Standard form contracts and contract schemas: A preliminary investigation of the effects of...
01/01/1997, Therapeutic jurisprudence and preventive law: A combined concentration to invigorate the everyday...
01/01/1997, Trial consulting: Jurors' and attorneys' perceptions of murder
01/01/1996, Prof. responsibility in elder law: A synthesis of preventive law and therapeutic jurisprudence
01/01/1996, Revoking motor vehicle and professional licenses for purposes of child support enforcement...
01/01/1996, The perceived fairness of the psychologist trial consultant: An empirical investigation
01/01/1995, Bringing community psychology to the state legislative arena: The reform of child support...
01/01/1995, The FTC's reliance on extrinsic evidence in cases of deceptive advertising: A proposal...
01/01/1993, Psychological jurisprudence and the information processing paradigm
Events
03/05/2010, Attorney Presentation - Flash animation in courtroom presentations and electronic briefs
12/09/2009, Attorney Presentation - Selecting Jurors and Coping with Juror Misconduct in the Age of Web 2.0
08/27/2009, Techniques and Strategies for Unraveling and Presenting the Complex Business Case
07/14/2009, Voir dire: Effective techniques for getting and using the information you need
03/19/2009, Attorney Presentation - ICLEF's Trial Advocacy Skills College
10/07/2008, Attorney Presentation - Complex Litigation
11/02/2006, Dennis Stolle & Christina Studebaker Speak About Trial Themes
09/29/2005, Dennis Stolle Presents on Jury Research at Litigation Management Symposium
04/16/2005, Dennis Stolle Speaks to Pre-law Group
A Field Study of the Relationship Between Jury Demographics and Verdicts