Todd Betanzos is a full-time litigation consultant and dispute resolution professional, providing strategic support on and mediating civil litigation venued throughout the United States.

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Before leaving the practice of law, Todd spent 17 years representing both plaintiffs and defendants in a broad array of litigation matters throughout Texas and the United States. His diverse practice involved matters such as complex commercial disputes, professional liability claims, insurance coverage and bad faith, construction disputes, products and premises liability, employment disputes and litigation involving wrongful death and catastrophic personal injury. Within Texas, Todd appeared in matters venued in numerous federal district courts and in state district courts in approximately 40 different counties. Outside of Texas, he represented litigants in matters filed in 13 different states. Todd’s ability to listen thoughtfully, to simplify and communicate complex cases to audiences from the conference room to the courtroom, and to work closely with clients to achieve both business and legal objectives, transcended his practice and helped him to assist litigants in realizing successful outcomes in jurisdictions across the country. Todd continues to be licensed to practice law in the State of Texas and the Texas federal courts.

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As a litigation consultant since 2010, Todd has engaged in extensive study and practice of communication science, persuasion theory, and the human-behavior aspects of litigation and jury trials. As a result of his consulting study and work, and his prior experience as a trial lawyer, he has a unique understanding of the communication challenges in every aspect of complex litigation and has become a highly sought-after expert in assisting litigants nationwide with the preparation of key witnesses for testimony and the development of juror-focused trial strategies and tactics. He has also developed a specialty in summarizing complex, industry-specific issues using elegantly simple, lay-friendly storytelling with which juries and other decision makers can readily identify. Todd’s work as a consultant also frequently involves the overall development of dispute resolution plans built upon carefully tailored focus group and mock trial studies.

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In his dispute resolution practice, Todd combines his unique experience, insight and skills as a litigation consultant and former trial attorney to assist litigants to identify the strengths and weaknesses in their cases, to evaluate their best alternatives to a negotiated resolution, and to work together toward a mutually acceptable resolution of their disputes. Todd has served as a neutral in scores of cases throughout Texas involving business disputes such as partnership disputes and complex commercial transactions, probate and trust disputes, employment and discrimination disputes, insurance coverage and extra-contractual litigation, design and construction defect matters, and wrongful death and catastrophic personal injury cases – among others. He has developed a reputation for working tirelessly before, during and after mediation to drive cases to resolution and for employing creative strategies for helping parties to find the potential for resolution where none seemed possible. As an arbitrator, Todd strives to bring all of his background, training and experience, and a clear focus on justice and equity, to his service for all of the parties before him.

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Education

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Todd received a B.A. from the University of Arizona (1993) and a J.D. from the Southern Methodist University School of Law (1997).

 

Affiliations, Honors & Publications

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Todd is a member of the American Society of Trial Consultants and the Texas Association of Mediators. Texas Monthly selected him as a Texas Rising Star attorney from 2006 to 2011 and a Texas Super Lawyer from 2012 to 2023 based upon the votes of his peers.

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Todd has published on a number of litigation topics, including DO YOU SOLEMNLY SWEAR? A CPA'S PRIMER ON DELIVERING TRUTHFUL AND POWERFUL TESTIMONY (Today's CPA Nov/Dec 2017). He is also a contributing author of WITNESS PREPARATION: A MANUAL FOR ATTORNEYS (Campo, Simon, Betanzos; Create Space 2011) and co-author of WITNESS COMMUNICATION TRAINING: HELPING WITNESSES LEARN TO DELIVER AND DEFEND THE TRUTH UNDER ADVERSE EXAMINATION (Simon, Betanzos, Campo; Amazon 2016).