Alumna establishes fellowship to support Ph.D. students in legal field

When Geri Fischman Ph.D. ’17 pursued her doctorate in legal psychology at FIU, she recognized her experience was unique. She had already worked in the legal field, holding jobs in a law firm and as a trial consultant before starting the doctoral program. Her classmates didn’t have the same real-world exposure in the legal consulting field.

“I realized there was an academic focus in the doctoral program, but my peers didn’t have access to mentors to introduce them to the possibilities of trial consulting,” said Fischman.  

As the founder of Focus Litigation Consulting, Fischman decided to give back to her alma mater by creating a new partnership with FIU. Her company has funded a fellowship to give doctoral students valuable experience in the trial consulting world. The nearly $40,000 fellowship provides financial support for the fellow.

Deborah Goldfarb, associate professor and psychology and cognitive neuroscience graduate program director, says the fellowship allows students to gain hands-on consulting experience. They get to travel, participate in mock trials, interact with lawyers and learn about the trial consulting field.

“We are thrilled to have an alumna establish this new partnership. Fischman understands our students and wants to make the program beneficial for them,” said Goldfarb.

Trial consultants are retained by government institutions, general counsels of corporations and trial teams. The overarching role of trial consultants is to help trial teams be in the best position to try or settle their case.

“This could be in a civil lawsuit involving a high dollar amount or a criminal case where the trial team feels the need to better research or prepare going into trial,” said Fischman.

FIU is one of the few universities in the world with a doctoral concentration in legal psychology. The program offers students broad training in experimental psychology, which uses scientific methods to study human behavior. And now with the fellowship, Goldfarb says students can gain hands-on experience.