Dr. Stephen Joy is a Senior Jury Consultant with Trial Behavior Consulting. Dr. Joy has a strong and diverse background that focuses on the law, psychology, and scientific research methodologies. He is highly proficient at designing and conducting research, analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data, and then synthesizing and presenting results. Steve helps plan and conduct a variety of different types of research, including broad case assessment and analysis of key issues, focus group research, and mock trials intended to test key elements on both sides of a case. Steve also designs phone and online surveys and assists in witness evaluation and preparation.
Steve has picked dozens of juries in both state and federal courts across the country in many types of cases, including toxic tort, wrongful death, personal injury, breach of contract, employment discrimination, fraud, antitrust, and aviation disasters, among others. He also routinely conducts post-trial interviews with seated jurors and alternates to better understand their reactions to key evidence and arguments from both sides during trial, including how that influenced deliberations.
Steve graduated from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a minor in Sociology. He started his legal career working as an assistant for a boutique criminal defense firm in North Carolina before attending the University of Illinois to obtain his J.D. while clerking for a firm in Illinois. Steve next decided to further his education and training by pursuing graduate degrees from Florida International University, where he earned his Master’s and Ph.D. in Legal Psychology with an emphasis in Social Psychology. His dissertation specifically examined the effects of different emotional states on how jurors perceive, interpret, and encode information, as well as how their emotional states can influence overall perceptiveness, witness credibility assessments, and determinations of liability. He has presented the results of his research at multiple national conferences, and he has co-authored several published articles related to his research in peer-reviewed journals, including Law and Human Behavior. He is a member of the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological-Law Society, the American society of Trial Consultants, and the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance.
Steve is located in Chicago.