A Team of Experts
How We Work
With over 40 combined years of trial consulting experience, we have developed the methods, and expertise to distill even the most complicated cases down to their most critical and persuasive elements. We partner with you to provide valuable insight, but we do not stop there. We leverage our clinical, social, and experimental psychological experience to help you communicate your story as effectively as possible. At Trial Innovations, we begin and build that partnership by listening to you. How can we help answer the critical research questions in your case? What does the community think and feel about your case? How can we help the jury understand your story? What do you need? It all begins with listening.
A commitment to listening is what empowers us to understand. Understanding is how we help you communicate your story. The right story is your advantage.
The Principal Consultants
David Cannon
David Cannon, Ph.D.
Dr. Cannon is co-founder of Trial Innovations and works out of our Los Angeles area office, although he is frequently onsite as the lead trial consultant in cases across the country. Those cases range from insurance defense and corporate litigation to capital cases and white-collar crime. He is actively involved in witness workshops, focus groups and mock trials, online juror surveys, voir dire and jury selection consultation, and post-trial juror interviews.
He uses his clinical and communications expertise to prepare witnesses for deposition and trial testimony and has worked with witnesses from various ethnic and cultural groups throughout the country. He also provides psychological snapshots of prospective jurors for jury selection, conducts voir dire training, and has developed special expertise in the effects of diversity in the courtroom and the effects of lawyer characteristics on juror decision-making.
Due to his deep experience with research and statistical methodology, Dr. Cannon is able to conduct online juror surveys and community attitude surveys, develop statistical profiles of high-risk jurors, design juror questionnaires, and conduct focus groups and mock trials.
Dr. Cannon earned his Masters’ and Doctorate degrees at the University of Alabama – one of the few institutions in the country that offers a concentration in clinical psychology and law. His academic and applied experiences provide a rare blend of expertise in clinical psychology, communication, research methods, and law. He has been active in the industry since 1998.
Dr. Cannon began his career working on civil rights era trials that included surrounding U.S. v. Bobby Frank Cherry (the 16th Street Church bombing case), and U.S. v. Ernest Avants. As an active member of the American Society of Trial Consultants, Dr. Cannon previously served as a board member and treasurer. He is also a member of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Cannon regularly gives presentations throughout the country on a wide variety of industry-related topics.
Bryan Edelman, Ph.D.
Dr. Edelman is co-founder of Trial Innovations. When he is not onsite with clients, he operates primarily out of the firm’s offices in Oakland. Dr. Edelman began working as a trial consultant in 1998. Over the course of his career, he has worked as a consultant on civil and criminal cases across the country. In this capacity, he conducts focus groups, mock trials, and surveys designed to provide data that can be used to help make strategic case decisions. Dr. Edelman relies on his background in social psychology and group dynamics to assist with trial strategy, jury selection, and trial monitoring.
Dr. Edelman has also been retained as an expert witness to evaluate the impact of pretrial publicity on the jury pool and the potential need for a change of venue. Dr. Edelman has served as an expert witness in state and federal courts across the country. He has been retained on more than 40 high profile cases including the Flint water crisis, the Aurora theater Batman shooting, the Jason Van Dyke police shooting, and others.
Dr. Edelman earned a Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno, and an LL.M. in International Law from the University of Kent in the United Kingdom. At the University of Nevada, Dr. Edelman developed a broad foundation in research methodology and statistics. Specializing in the application of social psychology to the legal system, Dr. Edelman worked closely with leading academics and research centers in the field of psychology and law, including the National Judicial College and the Grant Sawyer Center for Justice Studies.
In addition to presenting at national and international conferences, Dr. Edelman has published a book on the impact of race and empathy on sentencing in capital cases, as well as articles on the influence of graphic images on perceptions of liability and damages. He is also a co-author of the “Changer of Venue” chapter in California’s Continuing Education of the Bar’s annual publication, California Criminal Law Procedure and Practice.