Education:

Jo-Ellan Dimitrius received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975 from Scripps College in Claremont, California; her Masters in 1977 from Claremont Graduate School; and her Ph.D. in 1984 from Claremont Graduate School, where her doctoral dissertation was “The Representative Jury: Fact or Fallacy”. The course of study leading to her doctorate was wide ranging – – from psychology to sociology to criminology to government.  When asked to describe what she learned in graduate school, she’s fond of saying – – “I learned about people and about life.”

Career Highlights: 

While in graduate school Dr. Dimitrius was the director of a private elementary school in Pasadena, California. She intended to teach at the college level after receiving her Ph.D., and did briefly before directed elsewhere by her fascination with people and the role they play in the court system.

In 1984 she appeared in court for the first time to pick a jury. Since then she has consulted in over 600 trials and picked over 400 juries.  She has evaluated over 10,000 jurors, witnesses, lawyers and even judges during trial and at least that many more in pretrial focus groups and mock trials.  Her astonishing ability to understand and predict the behavior of jurors, witnesses, lawyers and judges led to her being nicknamed “The Seer” by the American Lawyer magazine, and her selection as the jury consultant in many of the most high profile cases of the past twenty years including: the Nightstalker (Richard Ramirez), McMartin Preschool, Rodney King, Reginald Denny, John duPont, Francis Ford Coppola [“Pinocchio trial”],  O.J. Simpson, Jayson Williams, Scott Peterson, Kobe Bryant, Robert Blake, Joseph Nacchio (CEO of Qwest) and criminal and civil cases related to the Enron prosecution.

During her thirty years as a trial consultant, Dr. Dimitrius has amassed an unparalleled track record in civil cases, including the selection of the jury which awarded $80,000,000 to her client, Frances Ford Coppola, in his lawsuit against Warner Bros., and just weeks later, picking the jury which awarded $223,400,000 in damages to her client in the Piscitelli v. Friedenberg, et al. case. Recently, Dr. Dimitrius selected the jury and monitored an MTBE trial in which the City of New York was awarded $104,700,000 in damages against Exxon.

Dr. Dimitrius has not just conducted pre-trial research and picked juries, she has advised many Fortune 100 companies about how regular people – like those who would be on their juries – would respond to their witnesses, claims and defenses.  She has addressed the credibility, motivation and general appearance of hundreds of witnesses.  And she has worked with hundreds of other witnesses – including actors, doctors, lawyers, CEO’s and people from almost every other walk of life – – to help prepare them for trial.

Dr. Dimitrius co-authored a book entitled Reading People, which was released in June of 1998, by Random House.  Her current book, Put Your Best Foot Forward was released in February of 2001, by Simon & Schuster.  Additionally, Dr. Dimitrius co-authored a book entitled Jury Selection in Civil and Criminal Cases, which is a West publication targeting the legal audience.

Media Highlights:

Dr. Dimitrius’ talents have brought her into the national spotlight, where she has been featured in such publications as:

People Magazine

            Newsweek

            Time

            Parade

            USA Today

New York Times

            Los Angeles Times

            Wall Street Journal

            Playboy

            US Weekly Magazine

            Cosmopolitan

And television broadcasts ranging from:

News Programming:

CBS Evening News

NBC Nightly News

ABC World News Tonight

The Today Show

Good Morning America

CBS This Morning

MSNBC

Face the Nation

CNN’s Crossfire

Fox News

AM Canada

News Magazine Shows:

60 Minutes

48 Hours

20/20

Primetime Live

Dateline

Entertainment Tonight

Legal Affairs Programming:

Nancy Grace

CNN’s Burden of Proof

Primetime Justice

Judge Jeannine Piro

Talk Shows:

Piers Morgan

Oprah

Larry King Live

The View

CNN’s Talkback Live

Hardball with Chris Matthews

Politically Incorrect

Late Night with Tom Snyder

O’Reilly Factor

And radio broadcasts for:

National Public Radio

The British Broadcasting Co.

The Canadian Broadcasting Co.

Japanese Radio

CBS Radio

KFWB

KABC TalkRadio – Guest Host

Dr. Dimitrius’ input has been sought out on an amazingly broad range of topics – – from the serious to the frivolous. She has been asked to read the appearance and behavior of newsmakers as diverse as Casey Anthony and Jodi Arias to presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.  She has been asked by People magazine to comment on “before and after” makeovers of celebrities on trial; has responded to Cosmopolitan’s questions about how to tell if a man is good in bed from across the room; Allure’s inquiries of what to make of celebrities who chew gum in public; and New Woman’s request for her insights into dressing for success – – to name but a few such requests.

Additionally, Dr. Dimitrius is a current member of AFTRA, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.   She was the body language expert for the third season of ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars.”

Awards:

Dr. Dimitrius is the 2007 recipient of the Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. award from the National Trial Advocacy College

Dimitrius & Associates, LLC

Dr. Dimitrius is President of Dimitrius & Associates, LLC, a full service trial consulting firm based in Reno, Nevada consulting in cases throughout the United States.

Dimitrius & Associates provides a full range of trial consulting services including social media data mining and analysis; local and national surveys; focus groups; mock trials; jury questionnaires; witness preparation; and thematic development.