Lynbrook litigation consultant acquires rival company

The Lynbrook-based legal advisory firm Doar Litigation Consulting has acquired a well-known rival in the jury selection field. 

Doar, with expertise in pre-trial discovery, jury selection, witness preparation and trial strategy, has bought Julie Blackman & Associates, of Montclair, N.J. 

"…The two companies will merge to create the largest, most sophisticated and experienced jury consulting practice in New York," Doar said in a Wednesday news release. 

The founder of the acquired company, Julie Blackman, will join Doar as a vice president and managing director. 

Doar said the merger will significantly expand its jury consulting expertise and knowledge.

Financial aspects of the deal were not disclosed. 

Newsday in 1999 profiled Doar’s courtroom presentation technology, and in 2000 Newsday described Doar’s wiring of the federal U.S. District courthouse in Central Islip. 

Blackman's company has consulted "on some of the most high-profile and important litigations in recent history, including major white collar criminal defense trials, intellectual property cases and other high stakes civil matters."

Newsday, in 1992, reported on her work for one of mobster John Gotti’s trials, for racketeering and murder: “In whittling down the final pool of 40 people to the 12 jurors and six alternates, Gotti's defense team had the help of psychologist Julie Blackman, an author and expert witness in battered women cases," a story said.

Blackman had also interviewed Hedda Nussbaum, who in 1988 was charged in the death of 6-year-old Lisa Steinberg. “The charges were later dropped after prosecutors agreed that Nussbaum had been so severely abused that she could not have prevented the child's death,” Newsday reported.

Photo, from 2002, shows an overview of the Digital Courtroom by Doar Litigation (Newsday Photo/Jean Chung)