White Collar Defense & Investigations partner Murad Hussain was recently featured in the Washington Lawyer column, "Seeing What Isn't There," where he discussed how personal and structural biases can affect how lawyers litigate and investigate cases. Hussain, who studied social psychology prior to pursuing law, shared his insights on confirmation bias, how publication bias confounds criminal case law research, and persuasive storytelling.
"Whether you're a defense attorney or a prosecutor or [an] investigator, the legal system gives us all a role to play that shapes how we seek out and interpret the facts for our cases," Hussain said. "The trick is making sure that our roles don't blind us to new information that might undercut our theory of the case or paint the facts that we already know in a whole new light."