David Ball

David Ball

Jury Consultant

Website: consultmmb.com
Phone: (919) 682-1839

Education

  • Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
    Electrical Engineering, 1963
  • Alfred University, B.A., English, 1965
  • University of Maryland, M.A., English, 1966
  • University of Minnesota, Ph.D.,
    Speech, Communications, and Theatre Arts, 1970

Academic Positions

  • Campbell School of Law,
    Adunct Professor of Law, 1993–95
  • Deep Springs College, Professor, 1993
  • Duke University, Professor, Chair of Drama,
    Senior Artist in Residence, 1985–91
  • Carnegie-Mellon University,
    Professor and administrator, 1977–85
  • Lawrence University,
    Professor and administrator, 1976–77
  • University of Minnesota, Instructor, 1969–70
  • Peace Corps, University of Kabul, Afghanistan, Professor, Royal Ministry of Information and Culture, 1967–68
  • University of Maryland, Instructor, 1965–66

David Ball is the founding partner of Malekpour & Ball Consulting in North Carolina. He is a nationally known trial consultant, communications expert, and best-selling author who specializes in focus groups, case analysis and presentation, advocacy skills, damages strategies, and jury selection.

He is best known for his insight into methods of explaining difficult cases, identifying and dealing with case weaknesses, turning case problems into strengths, and focus group techniques. He is also regarded as the major authority on damages.

David Ball teaches trial advocacy coast to coast. He also has taught law students at Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and at Campbell University as Adjunct Professor of Law. A frequent teacher for the North Carolina Advocates for Justice, and AAJ’s National College of Advocacy, Dr. Ball received the 2002 Charles Becton Award for Excellence in Teaching Trial Advocacy.

He is a noted pioneer in adapting methods of film and theater presentation for use in trial. He comes to jury and trial consulting from a career as a widely recognized director, playwright, and producer. His credits include Broadway and off-Broadway, major regional theaters, television, and film. He was Literary Director at Minneapolis’s Guthrie Theater, and Professor of Drama and Director of Graduate Playwriting at Carnegie-Mellon University. At Duke University, he was Senior Artist-in-Residence, Director of Undergraduate Studies, and Chair of Drama, creating that department’s nationally-famous "golden era" of the 1980s. His theater students now work in every area of theater, film, and TV, and have won Oscars, Obies, Emmies, and Tony awards.

David Ball works on a wide range of civil and criminal cases across the country. He wrote the National Institute for Trial Advocacy’s best-selling Theater Tips & Strategies for Jury Trials, as well as its How to Do Your Own Focus Groups (book and video), and the groundbreaking David Ball on Damages, the nation’s best-selling trial advocacy book since it was first published.