Dustin Williams, PhD

Dustin Williams, PhD is the Director of Research and a Senior Trial Analyst at Rick M. Goldberg & Associates. A social psychologist by training, Dustin brings deep expertise in cognitive science, statistical modeling, and juror decision-making to high-stakes litigation. He currently serves as an assistant professor of psychology at East Central University, where he teaches courses in cognitive and social psychology, research methods, and psychometrics—the very disciplines that power his analytical work with the firm.
 

Dustin earned his Ph.D. in Business Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, where his doctoral research focused on how individuals approach high-involvement decisions—an area of inquiry directly relevant to how jurors weigh evidence, evaluate risk, and form group consensus.
 

At Rick M. Goldberg & Associates, Dustin leads the design and analysis of focus groups, mock trials, community attitude surveys, and voir dire models. He builds quantitative and behavioral tools that allow trial teams to isolate narrative pressure points, track shifts in juror attitudes, and forecast verdict trajectories. His work combines psychological theory, statistical modeling, and behavioral research to answer the most pressing question in trial strategy: what’s really driving juror decisions—and how do we change them?
 

Dustin is also instrumental in preparing facilitation frameworks, identifying cognitive bias patterns, and crafting research questions that simulate courtroom dynamics with surgical precision. Whether testing damages anchors, refining witness narratives, or scoring high-risk jurors, Dustin’s work provides the analytical engine behind many of the firm’s most successful outcomes.