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What happens when a lawyer who has always had a heart for the little guy and no love for corporations comes out of law school, works first at a plaintiff's personal injury firm, then at a firm representing transit police officers and Metro North railroad police when they got into disciplinary trouble, forms a partnership in 1992, In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Jay, a New York City personal injury attorney with over three and a half decades of experience handling automobile negligence, pedestrian knockdowns, Jay explains the triangle he uses to evaluate every case before he takes it: level one is liability, because without clear fault you have nothing to build on; level two is damages, whether injuries, lost wages, or both; and level three is coverage, because you can win completely and still recover nothing if the at-fault party has no insurance worth going after. He also explains the thirty-day deadline for filing a no-fault application in New York They also discuss the May 2006 change to New York personal injury law that eliminated the ninety-of-one-eighty provision — the rule that used to let people with a disability lasting at least ninety out of one hundred eighty days recover damages in automobile cases — and replaced the entire liability framework with a requirement that you be over fifty-one percent not at fault just to recover anything, a change Jay attributes directly to Uber spending ten million dollars in lobbying to get the governor to force through the modification. He explains why you should never give a recorded statement to any insurance company, including your own — because the no-fault file is discoverable by the other side and any admission you make in it can be used against you later Jay is a New York City personal injury attorney in private practice since 1999, with an office at 260 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan near Grand Central Terminal. He is a former counsel to the Hispanic Society of the New York City Transit Police and the New York Shields, and has been featured in Newsday and the New York Law Journal. He handles automobile negligence, pedestrian knockdowns, motorcycle accidents, and slip, trip, and fall cases throughout New York. Connect with Jay: Phone (office): 212-972-0000 Phone (cell / direct): 917-620-4802 Email: esqnychap@aol.com 260 Madison Avenue, Midtown Manhattan, New York City (Between 38th and 39th Street, a few blocks from Grand Central Terminal) Chapters 00:00 Introduction — Thirty-five years settling New York personal injury cases from three thousand dollars to four point six million 00:12 The New York Law Journal and Newsday case — transit police officers denied promotion after the NYPD merger, a class action that was not the norm 01:51 What first pulled him toward representing injured people instead of corporations — always a heart for the little guy 02:29 Straight out of law school? Not quite — plaintiff's firm, transit police firm, a partner from 1992 to 1999, and solo ever since 03:33 The legal assistant who is a former NYPD police officer — and why the combination of investigative instinct and medical interest made her a perfect fit 04:27 Office at 260 Madison Avenue, Midtown Manhattan — and why pedestrian knockdowns are something you associate specifically with New York City 05:07 The most interesting pedestrian knockdown case — a delivery company on a motorized bike, street cameras, and a sizable settlement 05:42 The four point six million dollar case — a drunk driver, a catering hall in Great Neck, a woman in a coma for thirty days, and a structured settlement she still receives today 07:06 What injuries did she have — collapsed lung, removed spleen, TBI, laminectomy, multiple fractures, and the long road back 08:06 What to do in the first hour after being hit by a car in New York 09:17 Do not decline the ambulance, go to the hospital, and complain about everything that hurts from head to toe 09:33 Do not give any statement to either insurance company — let your attorney handle all of that 09:55 The thirty-day no-fault application — fifty thousand dollars in medical coverage and the certified mail plus email system to prove you sent it 12:00 Why social media — not just posts about your case but posts about your life — can be discovered and used against you 12:27 Does the other driver say everything is fine and suggest you skip the police — should you call anyway 13:40 Uninsured motorist claims, underinsured motorist claims, and why a police or ambulance report within twenty-four to forty-eight hours is required to use them in New York 15:16 Why you should never talk to your own insurance company's adjuster without a lawyer 15:35 The friend's client who told his insurance company he actually lived in New Jersey — and lost coverage entirely #TrustcastShow #NewYorkPersonalInjury #PedestrianKnockdown #NewYorkAccidentLawyer #NoFaultApplication #NYPersonalInjuryLaw #InsuranceAdjusterTips #NewYork2006LiabilityLaw

What happens when a young woman goes to law school intending to work on the plaintiff's side, clerks and works for plaintiff's firms all the way through her training, graduates, and then ends up taking a job as a railroad defense lawyer fighting off injury claims from the exact people she always meant to help In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Feliz Rael of The Law Office of Feliz A. Rael in Albuquerque, New Mexico — a Super Lawyers selectee, AV Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell, a member of the American Association for Justice's Nursing Home Litigation Group, a podcast host Feliz walks through the case that launched the rest of her career: Gene Marie Gann, an 86-year-old woman at a senior living facility in Albuquerque who walked up four stairs every week to get her hair done, reached the top of the staircase one day, and grabbed for a railing that simply was not there — because the twelve inches of ADA-required railing at the top of the stairs had never been installed because a closet door was nearby She explains what a bed sore actually means and why it is almost always a sign of inadequate staffing rather than individual negligence, why complaining about a family member's care does not have to trigger retaliation if handled with documentation and a non-hostile tone that reaches the right people rather than the frontline workers who did not make the staffing decision, how to check nursing home staffing ratios at Medicare.gov while recognizing that assisted living facility numbers are not publicly available They also discuss the financial exploitation case Feliz has been working for over five years: a doctor with a traumatic brain injury who hired a housekeeper at fifteen dollars an hour, within three months watched her become power of attorney over himself and his wife, become CEO of his company, drain his bank accounts, sell his house, buy luxury cars, purchase a two million dollar home in Albuquerque, and then drop him at the hospital and tell the staff he had dementia and could not be believed Feliz Rael is the founder of The Law Office of Feliz A. Rael in Albuquerque, a Super Lawyers selectee, AV Preeminent rated, a member of the AAJ Nursing Home Litigation Group, and an attorney who has devoted two decades to protecting nursing home residents, group home residents, assisted living facility residents, and victims of financial exploitation across New Mexico. Connect with Feliz Rael: raelfirm.com Contact via the website contact form — email response is preferred Albuquerque, New Mexico — practicing only in New Mexico Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Feliz Rael 00:13 Railroad defense lawyer who always meant to be on the other side — and why it just weighed on her 00:32 Her heart was not in it, she got married, had a baby, and found her way back through a colleague's call 01:54 A woman who started her own nursing home firm needed an associate and the role fit immediately 03:00 The case that launched the rest of her career 03:11 Gene Marie Gann — four stairs, a missing railing, a fractured skull, and a $1.86 million verdict 05:30 The CEO who could not name a single safety repair his sixty-five-building company had ever made 06:10 A contractor who said installing the missing railing would have cost twenty-six dollars 07:23 The message the jury sent: elderly lives get more valuable, not less 07:57 My mom has a bed sore that was not there last month — is that neglect or does that just happen 08:48 I am scared to complain because I think they will treat my dad worse — how do you handle that 09:15 Documentation, a non-hostile tone, date-stamped photos, and who is actually making the staffing decision 10:39 Are nicer more expensive nursing homes actually safer — not necessarily, and here is why 11:20 The state-run New Mexico nursing home with the highest staffing ratio and the best outcomes in the state 12:10 Genesis, private equity, a third of New Mexico's nursing facilities, and what the bankruptcy left behind 13:29 Visits are critical — even video visits, even when it is hard to get there 14:07 How to check nursing home staffing ratios at Medicare.gov — and why assisted living statistics are not public 14:35 Ask about nights, weekends, and holidays — when the most harmful things happen and the fewest staff are on site 15:30 What are the cooking and laundry staff counted in the care ratio — and the question to ask 16:11 Warning signs to watch for on every visit: smell, urine stains, unexplained bruises and scratches #FelizRael #RaelFirm #TrustcastShow #NewMexicoNursingHomeLawyer #NursingHomeAbuse #ElderLaw #FinancialExploitationElders #NursingHomeNeglect #AlbuquerqueAttorney #VulnerableAdults

What happens when a Penn State Law graduate who sees himself as a trial attorney starts prosecuting drug and racketeering cases for the State of Arizona because that is where the courtroom work is, which is precisely what UIM coverage exists for, helps his friend gather medical records and draft the demand on a pro bono basis, and recovers in the UIM claim alone more than what the previous attorney had recovered in the entire liability proceeding — and then looks at what he just saw and decides to open his own shop? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Ed Parra of The Scottsdale Personal Injury Law Firm — a former Arizona criminal prosecutor, former state civil defense attorney on matters over a hundred million dollars, Super Lawyers selectee, and plaintiff's personal injury attorney who opened his own firm in April — about what the personal injury system in Arizona actually does for injured people, where it fails them when the numbers do not line up, and why the people who feel the most guilty about calling a personal injury attorney are often the ones who need one the most. Ed explains what to do in the first minutes after being hit in Scottsdale — exchange information, photograph the license plate, get police to the scene for documentation — and the two things most people do that cost them the case: saying sorry when they did absolutely nothing wrong, and giving a recorded statement to the insurance adjuster when they do not yet know what their injuries are, what treatment they will need, or what their case is actually worth. He also explains why Arizona's constitution prohibits damage caps in standard negligence cases They also discuss the hardest conversation in personal injury law — looking a catastrophically injured client in the eye after a full investigation and explaining that twenty-five thousand dollars is all there is, the at-fault driver has nothing to go after, and there is no more coverage to find — the $450,000 medical malpractice settlement from his prior firm at Berg Simpson that resolved only months after filing the complaint Ed Parra is the founder of The Scottsdale Personal Injury Law Firm, a Super Lawyers selectee, a former drug and racketeering prosecutor for the State of Arizona, a former state civil defense attorney, a Penn State Law graduate, and a plaintiff's personal injury attorney representing injury victims across Scottsdale, Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, and Tempe. Connect with Ed Parra: scottsdaleinjured.com / thescottsdalepersonalinjurylawfirm.com Email: eparra@scottsdaleinjured.com Phone: 480-378-3178 7525 E. Camelback Rd., Suite 208, Scottsdale, AZ 85251 Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Ed Parra 00:21 Drug and racketeering prosecution for Arizona, then defending the state against eight-figure civil lawsuits 00:40 Something was missing — the path from criminal prosecution to civil defense to criminal defense to plaintiff's work 01:45 The moment he switched to the plaintiff's side and never looked back 03:05 A friend's attorney told him his UIM claim was not worth pursuing — Ed had never heard that 03:20 Two cars fled the scene, a clear underinsured motorist case, and the pro bono demand that changed the outcome 05:01 Recovering more in the UIM claim than the previous attorney had recovered in the entire liability proceeding 05:53 Opening his own firm in April and starting from zero 06:00 How he built his client pipeline: SEO, Google pay-per-click, referrals, networking, and reputation on prior pleadings 07:20 Google's Gemini AI recommending him as the number one attorney to a new client 08:05 What to do in the first minutes after being hit by a driver in Scottsdale 10:37 Document everything: insurance, ID, license plate photos, and get police on scene 11:10 Do not apologize, do not give a recorded statement, and do not accept the early low-ball settlement offer 12:40 Even if you decide to handle your own claim — consult first 13:34 Consultations are free, clients never pay upfront, the attorney fronts all expenses and takes a percentage on the back end 16:03 How long does a personal injury case take in Arizona — from five months to three-plus years depending on severity 18:31 Arizona's constitution prohibits damage caps in standard negligence cases — what that means for a jury 18:51 How to evaluate case value: medical specials, life care planners, pain and suffering, and anchoring at trial 21:12 What happened to the friend — and the pro bono UIM recovery that planted the seed for the firm 22:14 The $450,000 medical malpractice settlement that closed months after filing — and why that almost never happens 23:33 The toughest cases since opening the firm: catastrophic injuries against $25,000 minimum liability limits #EdParra #ScottsdaleInjured #TrustcastShow #ScottsdalePersonalInjuryLawyer #ArizonaPersonalInjury #FormerProsecutorPlaintiffLawyer #UIMClaim #ArizonaNoDamageCaps #PersonalInjuryMyths #ScottsdaleAttorney

What happens when a Toronto personal injury lawyer whose South Asian parents emigrated from Nairobi to Canada in 1974 and sent her to private schools on high expectations grows up getting into trouble as a teenager so the expectations shift to her brother, watches law shows on television and decides she can see herself in a courtroom, And then a second nightclub. And then a third. In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Jasmine Daya — founding principal of Jasmine Daya & Company in Toronto, co-founder and COO of Geraci LLP in Irvine, California, author of Law Girl's Bump in the Road and the JD in the Kitchen cookbook series, serial entrepreneur, real estate investor, Jasmine explains how buying Pravda Vodka Bar — an iconic Toronto establishment known for its walk-in vodka freezer with over eighty varieties from around the world, aerialists flying from the ceiling, and drummers standing on bars — led to nightclub number two, then a conversation where her agent said there is a third one coming up for sale, and then a text to her mother with the monkey-covering-eyes emoji. She walks through how she got Smart Serve certified over a weekend and hopped behind the bar on a Friday night because she had only two bartenders when the venue needed three and could not stand watching people with money and no one to pour drinks, why her son started calling it the Adam Sandler look every Sunday in sweats and Uggs when she had been in heels at the bar all night and heels at the firm all day, and why flipping the second and third was always the plan even if the exhaustion was not. She also explains how meeting Anthony Geraci — the founder of Geraci LLP and the American Association of Private Lenders — brought her to Orange County, what stunned her most about American real estate closings (no lawyer, just escrow) They also discuss the Mitigate platform that builds insurance review directly into private loan documents so that a lender is not left foreclosing on a pile of ash after a property burns, the Regulate platform designed to untangle the patchwork of state-by-state licensing requirements that means a California private lending license does nothing for you in the next state, why she still takes children's personal injury files even though the contingency math does not reward it because it makes her feel good and she does not have to answer to a partnership anymore, the cross-border private lenders association bringing Canadian and American lenders together Jasmine Daya is the founding principal of Jasmine Daya & Company in Toronto, the co-founder and COO of Geraci LLP in Irvine, California, a graduate of Queen's University Faculty of Law and Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, a holder of a negotiation certificate from Harvard Law School, a digital marketing and analytics certificate from MIT Sloan, and the author of Law Girl's Bump in the Road, the JD in the Kitchen cookbook series, and the forthcoming Private Lender's Legal Handbook. Connect with Jasmine Daya: Toronto / Personal Injury / Private Lending Canada: jdlawyers.ca Geraci LLP — California / US Private Lending: geracillp.com Email (Toronto): jasmine@jdlawyers.ca / info@jdlawyers.ca Email (Geraci): info@geracillp.com Phone (Toronto): 416-967-9100 Jasmine Daya & Company — 2 St. Clair Ave. W., Toronto, Ontario M4V 1L5 00:00 Introduction to Jasmine Daya 00:14 Building one of Toronto's top personal injury firms and running three downtown nightclubs simultaneously 00:26 What lawyer buys a nightclub during a pandemic? This one. And here is exactly why. 01:03 Six months of court closures, clean closets, caught-up taxes, and then the real estate market did not crash 01:40 Pravda Vodka Bar — a walk-in freezer, 80-plus vodkas, aerialists from the ceiling, and drummers on the bars 03:03 Nightclub two, and then the agent lists the better one second on purpose so she buys both 04:12 What happened to the clubs — and the Adam Sandler Sunday morning sweatpants problem 06:28 Three clubs, a 60-person firm, three kids, and a full real estate portfolio — simultaneously 07:01 Switching from days to nights and back, and why Sunday was the one sacred day 08:05 Moving to California was not about the fires — she met Anthony Geraci 08:34 Learning private lending law in the US and immediately finding a gap nobody was covering 09:30 Wait — real estate closings in California do not require a lawyer? What? 10:22 Who is reviewing the insurance policy when a wildfire burns the collateral down? 11:00 Standing in front of 500 private lenders in Las Vegas asking why nobody is talking about this #JasmineDaya #GeraciLLP #JasmineDayaAndCompany #TrustcastShow #PrivateLendingLaw #TorontoPersonalInjuryLawyer #PravdaVodkaBar #PrivateLenderCanada #CrossBorderPrivateLending #LawGirlsGuide

What happens when a boy who spent his first ten years in Soviet Moscow — learning from a very early age which thoughts he could not say out loud, watching his parents stand in winter lines without knowing what was being sold because if there was a long line something worth having must be there, absorbing survival as the organizing principle of daily life — watches his parents risk everything to emigrate, arrives in the United States, discovers speed, becomes a competitive race car driver, goes to Amherst College magna cum laude, then to the University of Virginia School of Law, practices in California In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Roman Lifson, a partner at Christian & Barton in Richmond, Virginia, a thirty-four-year trial lawyer, championship race car driver, and co-founder of Mythic Adventure Travel, about why lawyers have the highest rate of depression and suicidal ideation of any profession, Roman explains the two causes he believes are driving lawyer depression: excessive adversariness that makes litigation more combative than clients need it to be, and a loneliness epidemic where lawyers are surrounded by people they cannot actually confide in — the difference between sharing the Facebook and Instagram version of your life where everything is brilliant and your dogs are beautiful and sharing what actually troubles you, what you are ashamed of, what you are afraid of. They also discuss the day-long program Roman and his wife Hallie developed for lawyers and their romantic partners — the morning ritual that takes five to ten minutes and asks what are the three things that matter to you today and how can I support you in them, the gratitude ritual where you speak what you want to accomplish as if it has already happened, and the ten guiding principles of couple relating built on the premise that there is me, there is you, and there is a third entity which is the relationship itself and it deserves its own consideration in every decision. Roman also tells the story of the man in his mid-forties who came to him having internalized a full year of childhood sexual abuse by a middle school teacher, used alcohol to numb himself for decades, finally disclosed to a criminal defense attorney after a third DUI, and arrived in Roman's office extremely fragile with a history of recent suicide attempts — and what happened when the judge who dismissed the case on statute of limitations grounds was humble enough to reverse himself on the only motion for reconsideration Roman has had granted in thirty-four years. Roman Lifson is a partner at Christian & Barton, LLP in Richmond, Virginia, a firm celebrating its hundredth anniversary, practicing products liability, commercial litigation, First Amendment and defamation, medical malpractice, motorsports law, and international law. He is a graduate of Amherst College and the University of Virginia School of Law, a Super Lawyer selected continuously since 2013, AV Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell, a former Chair of the Virginia Bar Association Civil Litigation Section, a championship race car driver, outside general counsel to Virginia International Raceway, and the co-founder of Mythic Adventure Travel with his wife Hallie. Connect with Roman Lifson: cblaw.com/roman-lifson Mythic Adventure Travel: mythicadventuretravel.com Phone: 843-377-4747 Christian & Barton, LLP — 901 E. Cary St., Suite 1800, Richmond, VA 23219 Chapters 00:00 Growing up in Soviet Moscow — knowing from early childhood which thoughts could not be said out loud 00:39 Long lines in the winter, the focus on survival, and parents who risked everything to leave 01:40 Arriving in America, a decade at the racing track, and the arc of a thirty-four-year trial career 00:01 (Part 1) What the guest calls his linear first career — wife Hallie as the catalyst for everything that changed 00:12 Sixteen years married, eighteen together — and why she became his entry into personal development 01:52 Mythic Adventure Travel — layering couples work onto trips to Santorini, Croatia, Italy, France 03:22 Thirty-four years of trial work — product liability, commercial litigation, First Amendment, medical malpractice, both sides 04:45 The advantage of variety — why doing both plaintiff and defense work makes him better at both 05:17 Being at a mid-sized firm for a century — how Christian & Barton approaches the generalist trial practice 06:29 My spouse says I bring cases home every night — how do I actually stop doing that 07:00 Rather than avoiding it, find balance — the cases that kept him up at night and what that actually looks like 07:40 Lawyers as problem solvers who too often become problem escalators — and what clients actually need 08:30 The loneliness epidemic and what the Surgeon General said about the lack of authentic human connection #RomanLifson #ChristianBarton #TrustcastShow #LawyerWellness #TrialLawyer #RichmondVirginia #MythicAdventureTravel #MotorsportsLaw

What happens when a kid from Miami earns his accounting degrees at the University of Florida, goes to the University of Miami for law school and his LL.M. in tax, joins the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, spends twelve years as a government attorney litigating the agency's most complex controversies — the last four as a Special Trial Attorney standing up in United States Tax Court on behalf of the United States, building litigation teams, managing expert witnesses, briefing executives, learning exactly how the IRS classifies a return for examination, what revenue agents are looking for in an initial interview, what makes a case go to Appeals and what makes it go all the way to trial In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Michael Kramarz, a tax principal and the head of Federal Tax Resolution at Kaufman Rossin in Boca Raton, Florida — the largest independent CPA and advisory firm in Florida and one of the top 100 firms in the United States — about what the IRS is actually doing when your return gets flagged, what your CPA is getting wrong in the first forty-eight hours, and why the Employee Retention Credit is now one of the most scrutinized items on the books of any business that claimed it. Michael explains the difference between a CP2000 matching notice and a formal examination — why one is mostly a correspondence exercise and the other involves a human revenue agent with a list of issues, an initial interview, a tour of your business, and the ability to find things that were not on that list if you give them the opening. He walks through what actually happens inside the IRS the moment your return is selected — the DIF score algorithm that flags fluctuations in income and expenses, the classifier who identifies which issues go to the field, the revenue agent who will Google you and your business before the first phone call, and the Large Business and International Division campaigns that target specific transactions and are publicly posted on the IRS website for anyone to check before entering a deal. They also discuss the two biggest mistakes CPAs make in the first forty-eight hours — not responding on time and giving the IRS far more than they asked for — why answering only the exact question being asked is as true in a tax examination as it is in witness prep, why the first ninety days of an examination are the most dangerous and the most likely to produce statements or document productions that open entirely new issues, Michael Kramarz is a tax principal and head of Federal Tax Resolution at Kaufman Rossin in Boca Raton, Florida, a former IRS Special Trial Attorney with twelve years at the Office of Chief Counsel and over two hundred engagements in and out of United States Tax Court, a graduate of the University of Florida and the University of Miami School of Law with a B.S. and M.Acc. in Accounting and a J.D. and LL.M. in Tax, and the Michael Scott of federal tax controversy — which is his actual middle name and he has heard every joke. Connect with Michael Kramarz: kaufmanrossin.com/professionals/michael-kramarz/ kaufmanrossin.com Boca Raton, Florida — federal practice, nationwide, also state tax matters Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Michael Kramarz 00:10 Twelve years inside the IRS as a Special Trial Attorney — and the moment he had to stop saying "we" 00:33 The billing adjustment: from all the time in the world to billing efficiently for clients 01:11 Why he left the IRS after twelve years and headed to greener pastures 02:22 Getting referrals from CPAs and attorneys when a client's IRS problem is more than they can handle 02:35 A client just forwarded an IRS letter and is panicking — what to tell them first 02:47 Take a deep breath: most of these are misunderstandings, it is a process, and here is what happens 03:39 How to know if you can handle it yourself or if it is time to bring in a specialist 05:25 The free thirty-minute consultation — why he offers it and what it actually covers 06:24 CP2000 matching notice versus a formal IRS examination — why which one arrived matters 06:32 What a CP2000 is, why it happens, and how it is usually handled 08:09 An honest omission — can you really get in serious trouble for something your accountant missed 08:47 The twenty percent accuracy-related penalty, what triggers it, and who actually goes to jail 09:36 Notice of deficiency — ninety days to file a Tax Court petition and what happens if you miss it 10:29 The jurisdictional issue, the circuit split on equitable tolling, and why you do not want to rely on it 11:07 The two biggest CPA mistakes in the first forty-eight hours after a return gets flagged #MichaelKramarz #KaufmanRossin #TrustcastShow #IRSAttorney #TaxControversy #IRSExamination #EmployeeRetentionCredit #FormerIRSAttorney #TaxCourtLawyer #FederalTaxResolution

What happens when a young man whose hardworking grandparents helped finance his education and left a trust fund that set the family up right goes to law school, becomes an Assistant Attorney General for Massachusetts, spends ten years in the courtroom on personal injury and property and insurance cases, hangs his own shingle in 2009, In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Jonathan White of Jordan & White, LLC — a firm whose lineage traces to 1938, when Sumner Lowe Raymond, a direct descendant of John Proctor who was hanged during the Salem witch trials, opened his practice in Danvers, Jonathan walks through the single biggest misconception he battles every day: the belief that having a will means your family avoids the probate court. The opposite is true. A will guarantees your family goes to probate. A trust avoids it — because the trust is a separate legal entity from you, and the assets inside it are not yours when you die, so there is nothing to probate. He also explains the critical step that most people miss entirely after signing a trust: actually funding it, which means recording a new deed at the registry of deeds so the house is inside the trust, retitling bank accounts and investment accounts, updating beneficiary designations, and signing what he calls the magic wand — an assignment that moves all personal property without paper title into the trust in a single stroke. Skip this step and the trust you paid for will not do what you built it to do. They also discuss the two ways families lose their home to long-term care costs — the voluntary choice the owner always has, and the Medicaid estate recovery lien that nobody explains until after the person dies and the government sends the family a bill for every dollar it spent on their care — how an irrevocable Medicaid Asset Protection Trust with a five-year look-back period keeps the house out of the probate estate and out of reach of that lien, why a revocable trust does nothing to protect the house for Medicaid purposes regardless of how many years have passed, what happens to your trust when you do not fully trust your children with the trustee role and what limited special powers let you fix that problem without losing your protection, and the creative ways people actually pay for estate planning when their wealth is in the house and not in the checking account. Jonathan White is the founding partner of Jordan & White, LLC, with offices in Salem and Medford, Massachusetts. The firm's lineage traces to 1938 when Sumner Lowe Raymond — a direct descendant of John Proctor, hanged during the Salem witch trials — opened his practice in Danvers. Jonathan is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and Suffolk University Law School, a former Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General, and a trusted estate planning, probate, and real estate attorney serving the North Shore of Massachusetts. Connect with Jonathan White: jordanwhitellc.com Email: jwhite@jordanwhitellc.com Phone: 978-744-2811 70 Washington St, Suite 312, Salem, MA 01970 Also serving clients from offices in Danvers and Medford Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Jonathan White 00:13 Sitting where your clients sit — experiencing estate planning from the other side even when you are already the attorney 01:38 From fixing broken estates to getting in front of them — how the family planning moment expanded the practice 03:29 Inheriting a firm rooted in 1938 in a town famous for the witch trials — and who Sumner Lowe Raymond actually was 03:51 The fire, the burnt files in the drawers, and Dana Jordan's mother running down Washington Street looking for a lease 05:53 How to open the uncomfortable conversation about aging parents and a will that has never been written 06:09 The belief statement, the curated agenda, and why the client should be doing most of the talking by the end 09:00 The three-meeting system — what happens at each meeting and why they are structured that way 10:04 Will versus trust — and the biggest misconception Jonathan has to dispel every single day 10:16 A will guarantees your family goes to probate — here is exactly what a will actually does and does not do 12:25 How a revocable living trust works as a separate legal entity and why that makes all the difference 13:10 The work that is not done when you sign your trust — funding it is the step most people miss entirely 14:05 The house — recording a new deed at the registry of deeds and why you cannot just write it into an exhibit 15:20 Bank accounts, beneficiary designations, 401ks, and the magic wand for everything else 15:57 Tax implications of revocable living trust planning in Massachusetts — and why most people are surprised by the answer #JonathanWhite #JordanWhiteLLC #TrustcastShow #MassachusettsEstatePlanning #SalemMassachusetts #WillVsTrust #ProbateAvoidance #MedicaidAssetProtection #NorthShoreMassachusetts #EstatePlanningMyths

What happens when a partner at an Ohio law firm who has been a highly specialized workers' compensation attorney for most of her career — her name on the side of the building, corner office, everything she thought she was supposed to want — follows her teenage kids onto TikTok during COVID just to see what is happening, starts making lifestyle videos about juicing and running and fabulous meals, And then her husband crashes his small airplane — the Ford Fiesta of the Sky, they called it — and in the ICU, as he starts coming out of everything, they have the kind of conversation people usually put off until something terrible forces it, In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Adrienne Hines — The Ladylike Lawyer — a thirty-year Ohio bankruptcy attorney, author, viral content creator with 230,000 plus followers across platforms, winner of the 2023 Best Bankruptcy Advice Award at the FinTalk Awards by Debtcom, Adrienne explains why the followers who find her through social media arrive at her door more qualified and more ready to move forward than referrals she has gotten across a thirty-year career — because they have watched hours of her content, they understand the landscape, they have already pushed through the shame before they ever dial the phone — and why her videos, shot completely off the cuff in her car and in TJ Maxx and walking through the grocery store and sitting in the doctor's office waiting room, have grown to over 4,000 without a single dollar spent on advertising. She also explains why debt settlement companies are winning clients that should be going to bankruptcy attorneys not because their services are better but because they have figured out the sales pitch of kindness and vulnerability that lawyers are specifically trained to avoid, why lawyers are currently less trusted than credit card companies and bank managers and what that actually costs the people who need help, and why growing up in the era when law firms literally turned each other in for advertising actually gave her a perspective that makes the authenticity on camera real instead of performed. They also discuss the referral network she built with a business partner sourcing attorneys exclusively from the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys so that followers in states she cannot practice in get connected to someone good rather than just someone who signed up for a database, why she monitors those relationships personally so that a bad experience gets flagged and addressed, Adrienne Hines is The Ladylike Lawyer, a bankruptcy attorney in northern Ohio admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court and U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio, a thirty-year attorney, a graduate of The University of Toledo College of Law and Ohio University, a Super Lawyer, a National Association of Distinguished Counsel honoree, a member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, Connect with Adrienne Hines: theladylikelawyer.com TikTok / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube: @theladylikelawyer Phone: 419-871-8085 Northern Ohio — U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Ohio (Indiana border to Pennsylvania border, north of the middle of the state) Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Adrienne Hines, The Ladylike Lawyer 00:41 The TikTok video that changed everything — mentioning bankruptcy in the middle of a lifestyle post and watching it explode 03:25 What happened to the practice before and after going all in on video 03:54 Twenty-seven years as a workers' compensation specialist, burning out, and starting to see bankruptcy differently 05:30 The Ford Fiesta of the Sky — her husband's near-fatal plane crash and the ICU conversations that changed everything 06:29 Why the plane crash gave her the permission to pivot she had been waiting for without knowing it 07:55 Making videos off the cuff in her car, in TJ Maxx, walking through the grocery store — the actual secret to authenticity on camera 08:27 ADHD, dramatic, outgoing, and completely comfortable talking to a phone — why this medium fits her 11:08 No scripts, no tripods, no prep — and how over time she learned to get to the meat faster 11:40 Advice for lawyers who are nervous about video and afraid of cheapening their brand 12:26 The deep fear people have about talking to lawyers — and why most attorneys have no idea how afraid people actually are 14:22 Growing up when advertising was a disgrace and law firms turned each other in for it — what that taught her about being real 14:23 Debt settlement companies are beating bankruptcy attorneys on one thing: kindness — what lawyers need to understand 15:57 Not making a pitch but giving away everything she knows for free — and what that actually produces in revenue #AdrienneHines #TheLadylikeLawyer #TrustcastShow #BankruptcyAttorneyOhio #BankruptcyIsATool #LawyerTikTok #DebtRelief #FinancialLiteracy #NorthernOhioBankruptcy #OrganicLeadGeneration

What happens when a native Iowan who graduates from Simpson College with honors in business management, gets a mentor before he even enters law school who tells him exactly what to practice and which company to go to first, skips private practice entirely and goes directly in-house to a Fortune 500 financial giant where he spends a decade as a senior compliance officer answering to the SEC and FINRA — and then hears that same mentor, now retired, say she thinks he would actually be a better fit in private practice In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Caleb Brus of BrownWinick in Des Moines, Iowa, about a corner of the law that almost nobody is talking about in veterinary medicine but that every veterinarian who owns a clinic will eventually have to navigate — what to do with the thing they built when it is finally time to stop building it. Caleb explains what an ESOP actually is — an Employee Stock Ownership Plan funded entirely by employer contributions and not a single dollar from the employees themselves, structured as a sale transaction where the company sells its stock to a trust that holds shares on behalf of those employees — and why it is simultaneously an exit vehicle for the departing owner, a retirement plan for everyone who shows up to work there, and the most effective tool available for keeping a clinic privately owned when the phone rings with an unsolicited offer from a corporate buyer who has been quietly rolling up practices before the owners even knew they had a value worth rolling up. They also discuss why a private equity offer almost always looks higher than an ESOP offer in the side-by-side comparison and why that comparison is almost always the wrong lens for a clinic owner who cares about anything beyond that number — what you can identify within fifteen minutes of walking into a private equity-owned vet clinic because the revenue conversation consistently arrives before the medical one, what happens to the founding veterinarians who stay on after the rollup and become employees of the entity that bought their equity, why an 80-year-old Iowa veterinarian who cannot find a buyer and has to wind down is a preventable outcome if the right conversation starts fifteen years earlier, the Management Service Organization structure that private equity actually invented to work around state ownership restrictions for licensed veterinarians — and that ESOP transactions can also use — why ERISA fiduciary duty is the highest standard in American law and why a clinic with a documented cybersecurity process but a breach will almost always come out better than a clinic with no breach and no process, and why Sally who just received shares in the company ESOP is convinced she should now have a say in where everyone parks their car. Caleb Brus is an attorney at BrownWinick in Des Moines, Iowa, practicing in employee benefits, ESOP transactions, corporate finance, and veterinary business law, a graduate of Simpson College and Drake University Law School, admitted to the Iowa Bar, and a member of the Board of Directors for Bravo of Greater Des Moines. Connect with Caleb Brus: brownwinick.com/attorneys/caleb-j-brus BrownWinick Law Firm, Des Moines, Iowa brownwinick.com Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Caleb Brus 00:10 Trading a Fortune 500 compliance office for private practice — and the mentor who guided every step 00:47 Going directly in-house after law school — why he never took the traditional private practice path 01:39 A decade answering to the SEC and FINRA at a Fortune 500 financial giant 02:20 Coffee on Thursday, interview Monday, offer Tuesday — what drew him to BrownWinick 03:34 What is an ESOP — and how is it fundamentally different from a 401k 04:06 ESOP as a retirement plan, an exit vehicle, and a defense against private equity 05:50 You love your employees, you want the most money, you are close to retirement — where do you start 07:00 Private equity almost always pays more upfront — but that is only one variable in the calculation 08:17 Tax implications of an ESOP versus an outright sale — the 1042 election, the trust exemption, and the company that stops paying corporate income tax 09:47 Will you actually net more money through an ESOP once you run the full long-term calculation 11:01 Fifteen years from retirement — seller notes, plan participation, and what the long-term play looks like 14:28 How a company stops paying income tax through an ESOP — and why it feels like a loophole but is not 15:08 Non-discrimination testing — how Congress built in checks to prevent this from being a pure tax play for owners 15:54 Retained earnings in an ESOP company — S distributions, dividends, and the emerging ESOP-to-ESOP investment model #CalebBrus #BrownWinick #TrustcastShow #ESOPLawyer #VeterinaryClinicESOP #VetClinicPrivateEquity #EmployeeStockOwnershipPlan #DesMoinesLawyer #VeterinaryBusinessLaw #ERISAFiduciary

What happens when a vocal music education major who spent four years teaching school in Pryor, Oklahoma moves back to her parents' house in Del City to attend the University of Oklahoma College of Law, falls in love with the courtroom and with arguing things about the law, spends the next seventeen years doing insurance bad faith And then that call with her father — who says no big deal, when are you gonna pay me back — forces her to stop beating herself up and start looking at the firm as its own separate entity, not herself and not her team but a baby that needs to be nurtured across five specific pillars, and over the next eleven years the firm's revenue grows more than thirteen times, the firm recovers more than one billion dollars for injury victims, she writes a book called The Setup that law firm owners across the country say was written specifically for them, and she spends more time coaching than lawyering because she finally outmaneuvered herself out of the job she had been doing since 1996? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Simone Fulmer Gaus, co-founder of Fulmer Sill in Oklahoma City and author of The Setup, about what it actually takes to build a law firm that works — not just to be a great lawyer inside one — and why those two things have almost nothing to do with each other. Simone explains the feast-or-famine reality that almost nobody in complex personal injury work talks about honestly — that big cases require fronting money for case expenses across two, three, or four years while the fee that looks enormous on paper may be nowhere near the bank, that some years she took nothing home, that leaders eat last and if they do not they will not be in business long, and why the arrival of a seven-figure check is almost beside the point if you have not mapped the pipeline in a way that shows you exactly how long it needs to last until the next one arrives. She walks through all five pillars of the Setup framework — people, pipeline, process, product, and profitability — why the pipeline pillar relieves chaos the fastest because it immediately eliminates the constant reaction mode that the traditional law firm hierarchy creates for everyone below the top of the org chart, why chaos in a firm is almost never a people problem and almost always a process or pipeline problem, and why the second thing to look at after the process is always yourself. They also discuss the cross-country teenage cycling tour that came through a dangerous construction zone highway south of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, the young man who died in over-100-degree heat when his bicycle wheel caught the ungraded road surface and he veered into the path of a car Simone Fulmer Gaus is the co-founder of Fulmer Sill in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a firm that has recovered more than one billion dollars for injury victims, a graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Law, a five-time LawDragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers honoree, a former president of the Oklahoma Association for Justice, Connect with Simone Fulmer Gaus: fulmersill.com Phone: 405-510-0077 The Setup: available on Amazon — search "The Setup Fulmer Gaus" Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Simone Fulmer Gaus 00:12 Built one of Oklahoma's most recognized plaintiff firms — and nearly lost it 00:44 The call to dad at 48 to borrow money to make payroll — and what that conversation actually looked like 01:44 Seventeen years at another firm, leaving to start something different, and underestimating what rebuilding really required 03:32 Why a personal injury firm can be doing great on paper and still not make payroll 04:10 Complex cases versus high volume — and why big-case firms live in feast or famine 05:10 Anticipating the pipeline — knowing when each case will resolve and what it will bring in 06:21 Leaders eat last — and the years she took nothing home 06:36 If there is a bottleneck in your firm, start by looking in the mirror 07:09 The five pillars: people, pipeline, process, product, and profitability 08:51 The pipeline pillar — flattening the hierarchy and mapping the full client journey 10:37 Profit First, tweaked for a contingency fee firm, and knowing where money is going before it arrives 11:37 What to do when a client with a strong case cannot financially survive the wait 12:20 Building psychological safety and trust from day one — and why clients will wait when you do 14:31 More than a billion dollars recovered — and why the willingness to go to trial elevates every case 14:56 Ninety-seven percent resolve before the verdict — but a large portion of those resolve on the courthouse steps 16:23 High-volume firms almost never go to trial — and why that matters for case value #SimoneFulmerGaus #FulmerSill #TrustcastShow #OklahomaPersonalInjuryLawyer #TheSetupBook #LawFirmOperations #LawFirmGrowth #ContingencyFeeReality #PlaintiffTrialLawyer #LawFirmLeadership

What happens when a trial lawyer loses his first jury trial, stands outside that courthouse going through every moment of what just happened, and realizes the problem is not that he lacks knowledge of the law but that nowhere in the entire plaintiff's bar is there a place to actually practice trial mechanics on your feet before the biggest case of your client's life — that every seminar is just someone presenting their greatest wins to a room full of people who take notes and go home still unable to introduce evidence without freezing, that defense attorneys are in court every single week doing the reps while plaintiff lawyers may go six months or a year between trials, that practicing skills exclusively during the Super Bowl is not preparation it is gambling with someone else's life — decides to build the thing that should have already existed, calls it Practice Trial San Diego with an acronym he chose deliberately, In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Rich Mackie of Mackie Injury Lawyers in San Diego and Virginia Beach, about what a lost first trial can teach you if you are willing to build from it, and what the personal injury system does to injured people who try to navigate it without someone running point for them. Rich explains why plaintiff attorneys face a structural disadvantage that almost nobody talks about — defense lawyers try cases every week and stay sharp while plaintiff lawyers may go a year between trials and only practice the mechanics of cross-examination and evidence introduction during the actual Super Bowl, and why the free monthly practice group he built exists specifically to let attorneys mess up safely in front of their colleagues so they do not do it in front of their jury. He also walks through why a clear rear-end collision where the other driver was one hundred percent at fault does not mean the case is over — it means the defense is simply going to spend the entire fight on causation and damages instead — and why the property damage trap, the gap-in-treatment trap, and the too-many-doctor-visits trap are actually opposite ends of the same weapon the defense deploys no matter what the injured person does, and why the only strategy that survives both of them is the same one every time: tell the truth and make sure the person telling it is prepared to be consistent. They also discuss why the recorded statement your own insurance company wants within days of your crash is not the routine administrative call it sounds like — it is a time-stamped document under oath that will be used to challenge every injury you report later that was not named on that call, why a quick settlement offer while you are still actively treating is the insurance company trying to close your file before they find out what they actually owe you, how that two thousand dollar check that feels reasonable in the moment can leave you sitting with tens of thousands in medical bills and no recourse, what happens when a naive injured person is deliberately preyed upon in that window and whether it can rise to the level of bad faith, and how to identify a settlement mill with two simple questions you can ask before you ever sign anything. Rich Mackie is the founder of Mackie Injury Lawyers in San Diego and Virginia Beach, licensed to practice in California, New York, Washington D.C., and Virginia, recognized by Best Lawyers in 2026 for Personal Injury Litigation — Plaintiffs, a graduate of the Jerry Spence Trial Lawyers College, and the creator of Practice Trial San Diego — now Working Group Wednesday — a free monthly trial mechanics training group for plaintiff attorneys held on the last Wednesday of every month in San Diego. Connect with Rich Mackie: mackieinjurylawyers.com Phone: 838-GET-RICH (838-438-7424) San Diego: 1245 Island Ave., San Diego, CA 92101 Virginia Beach: Virginia Beach, VA 23454 Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Rich Mackie 00:20 Losing the first jury trial and what it left behind 00:38 Standing up in front of a jury and going deer in the headlights despite reading every book and going to every seminar 01:37 You cannot learn to ride a bike at a seminar — creating Practice Trial San Diego with the acronym PTSD 02:40 Working Group Wednesday — how it runs today in partnership with Consumer Attorneys of San Diego 03:22 The structural disadvantage nobody talks about — defense attorneys do the reps every week while plaintiff attorneys practice during the Super Bowl 05:00 The group is always free and always will be — why that matters 06:13 Jerry Spence, the Trial Lawyers College, and a three-week intensive in West Virginia that was unexplainable and life-changing #RichMackie #MackieInjuryLawyers #TrustcastShow #SanDiegoPersonalInjuryLawyer #VirginiaBeachPersonalInjuryLawyer #WorkingGroupWednesday #PracticeTrialSanDiego #TrialLawyerTraining #SettlementMill #PersonalInjuryMyths

What happens when a kid from Austin grows up as best friends with someone who goes on to front one of the biggest indie bands to come out of the city, plays in bands with him all the way through high school and college, gives himself a hard three-year deadline at graduation to land a recording contract or walk away from music entirely, watches the only real offer on the table fail to materialize, says sorry guys and drives off to law school, starts as a temporary law clerk at a Houston personal injury firm in 1994 with no room for advancement and no plan to stay, ends up staying for thirty years, makes managing partner in 2020 under circumstances nobody planned for, and three in the morning and hanging up before the beep, and launches a podcast he had been sitting on for thirty years that profiles Houston-area mission organizations for free — and never once regrets leaving the band? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Paul Cannon of Simmons and Fletcher, P.C. in Houston, Texas, about what it actually takes to fight for injured people against trucking companies with unlimited resources, federal regulations, Paul runs through the myths that cost people their cases before they ever dial a lawyer — that a police report blaming you ends your recovery, that being partly at fault in Texas means zero, that only the driver can be held liable and not the company that trained him, and that a truck wreck is just a bigger version of a car accident when in reality it carries federal regulations, black box data, pre-trip and post-trip inspection logs, driver fatigue records, how the Werner trucking case — a $90 million verdict that got reversed on appeal — changed the way you can argue damages for a severely injured child, why the anchoring technique that trial lawyers used for decades to put a dollar value on pain and suffering has been restricted in a way that makes quantifying the unquantifiable harder than it has ever been, and what he wants Texas lawmakers to understand before Senate Bills 30 and 39 come back in 2027. They also discuss how Paul caught a radio advertising company faking phone volume by running calls between midnight and three in the morning from California to a Texas tracking number and hanging up before the recording could capture evidence of the fraud, why Google's AI may be generating lawyer ads that call you the best attorney in Texas without anyone at your firm ever approving the language — which is a Texas bar complaint waiting to happen — and why billing a contingency fee client for an AI tool that saves you time but saves them nothing is as close to double billing as he ever wants to get. Paul also explains why the database of over a thousand fake AI citations in court filings keeps growing even after the sanctions started, shares the case where an accident reconstructionist proved the wind tunnel created between two vehicles traveling in opposite directions on a farm-to-market road actually pulled the client's car into the truck rather than the other way around and reversed a police report to a $1.26 million recovery, and tells the story of the $11.9 million settlement for a man electrocuted when a bucket truck lifted him into a power line — and what those funds actually meant for someone who needed long-term care just to survive. Paul Cannon is a managing partner, shareholder, trial lawyer, and online marketing manager at Simmons and Fletcher, P.C. He is also the host of Meet Houston Missions and the Simmons and Fletcher Local Missions Podcast. Connect with Paul Cannon: simmonsandfletcher.com Phone: 713-932-0777 / Toll-Free: 1-800-298-0111 9821 Katy Freeway, Suite 590, Houston, TX 77024 Meet Houston Missions: simmonsandfletcher.com/meet-houston-missions Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Paul Cannon 00:11 Third grade with the future singer of Spoon, bands through college, and the three-year deadline that ended at law school 01:37 Turning down appellate work to be the one who does the arguing — why he chose trials from day one 01:50 Supposed to be a temporary law clerk at Simmons and Fletcher in 1994 — and then thirty years happened 02:39 From clerk to associate to partner to managing partner — and the 2020 circumstances nobody planned for 03:52 Three partners only — why your case at Simmons and Fletcher will never go to a baby associate 04:27 Rapid fire myth or fact: truck wrecks, police reports blaming you, Texas comparative fault, trucking company liability, dog bite homeowners coverage 06:46 Just got hit by an eighteen-wheeler on I-45 — what to do first and the one mistake that costs everyone 07:50 What evidence disappears the fastest after a truck crash and how fast is fast #PaulCannon #SimmonsAndFletcher #TrustcastShow #HoustonPersonalInjuryLawyer #TexasTruckAccidentLawyer #BoardCertifiedTexasTrialLaw #TexasHB19 #MeetHoustonMissions #TruckWreckMyths #ChristianTrialLawyers

What happens when a girl who majored in psychology and sociology because she was drawn to children and how family interactions shape everything they become starts her career as a foster care caseworker in New York at twenty years old, watches families without resources pass through a system that will permanently alter their children's lives and thinks she will do this work forever, applies to a master's in social work program, gets guided by someone to take the LSAT instead, spends the next twenty years building a personal injury practice — first as a paralegal, then as an attorney — while the original pull never fully lets go, loses her mother and needs to refill her purpose, In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Ana Milena Goncalves of AMG Law in Paramus, New Jersey, about building a bilingual English and Spanish family law practice in Bergen County from nothing — and what it meant to finally be doing the work she had been working toward since she was twenty years old watching biological parents lock eyes with their children during supervised visits and seeing the love there even when everything else had fallen apart. Ana explains why the moment divorce papers land on your doorstep is not the moment to figure out what you want — it is the moment to contact an attorney, know your deadlines, and write your goals and non-negotiables on paper before you say another word to anyone. She walks through the critical difference between a temporary and final restraining order in New Jersey — where a final restraining order carries no sunset clause, no automatic expiration, fingerprinting, a fine, and a permanent registry entry that can only be lifted by filing a motion back to court — why the two-prong Silver v. Silver standard means that a domestic violence victim who answers the judge's question with "no, I'm not afraid right now" because they feel safe in a courtroom full of officers has just lost their final restraining order hearing with that single word, and what a self-represented litigant who walks into that hearing without knowing that standard is up against before the first question is asked. She also covers what each family court docket in Bergen County actually handles — FV for domestic violence, FO for contempt of a TRO, FD for unmarried parents navigating custody and child support, FM for divorce — what the Case Information Statement is and why it functions as the financial Bible in any alimony or equitable distribution case and terrifies nearly every client who has to fill it out, and why the $499 divorce attorney is the single biggest myth about how divorce works in New Jersey. They also discuss the father who had not had a single overnight with his three-year-old son and walked out of court with overnights and the ability to travel, why Ana will represent both domestic violence victims and people accused of it but reserves the right as the founder of her own firm to interview a potential client and decline the representation on moral grounds — a decision that was never hers to make when a file landed on her desk at someone else's firm — what fostering taught her that law school never touched and she says the word with emphasis: empathy, bolded and underlined, Ana Milena Goncalves is the founder of AMG Law, LLC in Paramus, New Jersey, a bilingual English and Spanish family law attorney serving Bergen and Passaic counties, a certified mediator for economic aspects of family law cases through the New Jersey Courts, a graduate of Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, a member of the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, and a former personal injury attorney with nearly twenty years of legal experience who finally came home to the work she always intended to do. Connect with Ana Milena Goncalves: amglawllc.com Email: agoncalves@amglawllc.com Phone / Text: 201-474-5454 140 East Ridgewood Avenue, Suite 415, S. Tower #477, Paramus, NJ 07652 Se habla español. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Ana Milena Goncalves 00:12 Double major in psychology and sociology, foster care caseworker at twenty, and the person who said take the LSAT instead 00:41 Personal injury paralegal, night school, twenty years of practice, and the pull that never went away 02:03 AMG Law is born — three years ago, a goal, and a lot of passion 03:24 Exclusively family law in New Jersey with occasional assist to her personal injury family in New York 03:58 Starting with zero clients and zero New Jersey contacts 04:10 The first year — volunteering with Volunteer Lawyers for Justice to learn the system from the inside 05:01 Jumping into the deep end with mentors — what volunteering as a new attorney in an unfamiliar area actually looks like #AnaMilenaGoncalves #AMGLaw #TrustcastShow #BilingualFamilyLawNJ #BergenCountyFamilyLaw #NewJerseyDivorce #NJRestrainingOrder #HispanicFamilyLaw

What happens when a trial lawyer picks up the phone in his living room on a December evening in 2016 and hears a father sobbing on the other end, who has just learned that his twenty-one-year-old daughter was brought to a Utah jail while withdrawing from opioids, began vomiting the same night a guard saw her, spent five days deteriorating without receiving medical care, and died of dehydration in her cell — and the lawyer immediately says yes, formalizes the relationship the next morning, and then spends nearly nine years fighting through summary judgment rulings that wiped out the county and every jail guard in the case, an interlocutory government immunity appeal to the 10th Circuit specifically designed to buy two years of delay and take the wind out of his sails, a circuit court ruling that let the doctor out but sent the nurse back, the retirement of the original judge mid-appeal and the assignment of a new one who agreed on reconsideration that the county should never have been dismissed, a cert petition all the way to the United States Supreme Court over qualified immunity, and finally in April of 2025 stands before ten jurors who deliberate for six hours and return a verdict of more than fifteen million dollars for the family of Madison Jensen? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Ryan Hancey, a shareholder and trial lawyer at Kesler & Rust in Salt Lake City, Utah, about a case he took on a phone call from a grieving father in his living room and did not let go of for the better part of a decade — and what it took in legal strategy, case law research, judicial persuasion, and sheer stubbornness to see it through to a verdict. Ryan explains the government defendant's unique right to file an interlocutory appeal before any final judgment has been entered — a procedural tool no private defendant has, that can pause a case for years, that the government uses specifically because it knows it will drain the momentum and resources of the other side — and how the motion for reconsideration that brought Duchesne County back into the case on the eve of trial changed everything, including what a jury would feel when they looked across the courtroom. He also walks through the Tenth Circuit case law he found that established the systemic failure standard — that liability in a civil rights case does not require pointing to a single bad actor, that a collective environment so obviously broken that harm was virtually inevitable can be enough — and how Judge Barlow's willingness to apply that standard reset the entire trajectory of the case. They also discuss the breach of franchise agreement defendant who claimed to be a mind reader and what the jury did with that answer, the 2018 case Ryan lost because his clients were a dumpster fire on the witness stand despite a dozen rounds of preparation in his conference room — and the juror who called afterward to say they would have hired him personally but couldn't stand his clients — why he refuses to give anyone a percentage chance of winning because no honest lawyer can know that, and why a bottom line number that is not actually your bottom line number destroys the credibility and the leverage you need when the case goes sideways. Ryan also covers why his expertise is in litigation itself and not in any subject matter area, how a strong litigation system is essentially plug and play across construction, products liability, civil rights, and franchising disputes, and why by the time he took a mink ranching products liability case to a federal jury he could have opened his own mink ranch from everything he had to learn in preparation. Ryan Hancey is a shareholder and trial lawyer at Kesler & Rust in Salt Lake City, a firm established in 1980, admitted to the Utah Bar in 2001 and to the U.S. District Court District of Utah, the 10th Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a graduate of Utah State University and the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, has litigated cases in Utah, Delaware, Idaho, Colorado, Wisconsin, and other states, and has built his entire client base on referrals without a single billboard. Connect with Ryan Hancey: keslerrust.com Email: rhancey@keslerrust.com Phone: 801-532-8000 McIntyre Building, 2nd Floor, 68 South Main Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Ryan Hancey 00:23 December 2016 — a father sobbing on the phone and the case that would take nearly nine years 01:24 How a twenty-one-year-old dies of dehydration in a jail cell over five days 02:40 From 2016 to a 2025 verdict — the full arc of the Madison Jensen case 03:28 Three defendant groups: Duchesne County and the sheriff, the medical staff, and the jail guards #RyanHancey #KeslerRust #TrustcastShow #MadisonJensen #UtahTrialLawyer #CivilRightsLawyer #JailDeathLawsuit #QualifiedImmunity #SaltLakeCityAttorney #TrialLawyer

What happens when a Navy helicopter pilot who spent his early career hauling people out of impossible situations — stroke victims on cruise ships, lost families at sea, a person with a heart attack on a mountainside with nowhere else to turn — decides to go to night school and get his law degree, walks into his first plaintiffs job announcing he wants to be a plane crash lawyer or a maritime disaster attorney, gets force-fed insurance policy after insurance policy every single evening by a boss who docks his pay if he doesn't come in the next morning with the right answer, and slowly — against every instinct he had — discovers that the thing he was being made to learn against his will was actually the rarest and most valuable specialty in the entire plaintiffs bar, that very few lawyers who fight for people actually understand insurance law from the inside out, and ends up building a forty-four-year career doing exactly what he did in the helicopter — getting to people who have nowhere else to turn and bringing them to safety? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Jeffrey Liggio of Liggio Law in West Palm Beach, Florida, a decorated retired U.S. Air Force Major, a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer, a Super Lawyers selectee, and a recipient of the Florida Justice Association's Al J. Cone Lifetime Achievement Award, about what it actually takes to fight an insurance company that has unlimited lawyers, unlimited money, and institutional muscle behind every single denial. Jeffrey explains why the very first question after a health insurance denial is not what happened but where the insurance came from — because ERISA law, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, state government plans, and individual policies each carry a completely different set of rights, procedures, and traps, and confusing them before the appeal is filed can cost you your case permanently. He walks through the ERISA trap in detail — the federal law that applies when insurance is a benefit of private employment, that requires you to exhaust every internal administrative remedy before you can set foot in a courthouse, that limits your venue to federal court with no jury trial, and that restricts the judge to reviewing only the internal appeal record you created — which means the paperwork you file on your own, without a lawyer, may be the only evidence a judge ever sees. He also covers why a quick settlement check at your front door the day after an accident is almost always a sign that someone on the other side found something you have not found yet, and why the answer to a fast offer is almost always slow down and call someone first. They also discuss what Florida's gutted attorney's fee law actually left intact — the declaratory action statute, the HMO statute, the group health statute — and the proposal-for-settlement maneuver Jeffrey has used to generate court-awarded fees even where the statute no longer reaches, including a thirty-year story involving the same judge, the same opposing counsel, a $125,000 case, and a fee that ended up above $300,000. Jeffrey explains step therapy — the practice of forcing patients to try cheaper drugs that their doctors already know won't work before approving the medication actually prescribed — and why there is a Florida statute that most insurance companies simply ignore, the watchman device case where a man's insurer called an FDA-approved and Medicare-approved cardiac device experimental, which by federal law it legally cannot be, and the sixteen-year-old girl who now has a five-million-dollar judgment hanging over her entire adult life because her insurance company refused for two and a half years to pay the policy limits on a medium rear-end collision that her own insurer controlled the litigation on. He also covers what third-party administrators claiming no responsibility actually mean under agency law, what independent review doctors moonlighting for a couple hundred dollars and fed a conclusion actually produce, and why institutional fraud is not too strong a phrase for what happens when those reports get altered before they go back to the insurance company. Jeffrey Liggio is the founding partner of Liggio Law in West Palm Beach, Florida, a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer by both the Florida Bar and the National Board of Trial Advocacy, a decorated retired U.S. Air Force Major and former Naval Aviator, a Super Lawyers selectee from 2006 through 2023, and the recipient of the Florida Justice Association's Al J. Cone Lifetime Achievement Award. He has practiced for forty-four years, works exclusively in Florida state and federal courts, and is supported by a team that has been with him collectively for over fifty years. #JeffreyLiggio #LiggioLaw #TrustcastShow #FloridaInsuranceLawyer #HealthInsuranceDenial #BadFaithInsurance #ERISALaw #InsuranceLitigation #WestPalmBeachAttorney #MilitaryVeteranLawyer

What happens when a girl who grew up in Atlanta goes to MIT planning to be an architect, takes an office job doing technology transfer to fund her way through school and discovers for the first time what it feels like to sit at the intersection of law and business, builds a career in Boston for fifteen years, takes a detour to live in Madrid and work entirely in Spanish at a European law firm, returns to the United States and joins Nelson Mullins as a specialist, raises her hand for a document management system conversion that nobody else wanted and turns that visibility into a regional management role, spends years traveling office to office building teams and trust and structure inside a growing intellectual property practice — watching law firm founders grind through 70 and 80 hour weeks because they were the only person they trusted to do anything right — eventually walks away from all of it, and starts telling managing partners that the answer to their problem is not to take whoever has been loyal the longest and push them past what they are actually capable of, not to hire a mediocre COO on a limited budget and hope it works out, but to rent a great one — and realizes that twenty years of watching it go wrong from the inside was exactly the preparation she needed to finally fix it? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Melissa Hansel of Outlook Advisory Group in Charlotte, North Carolina, about helping law firms grow and scale by delivering the kind of executive-level operational guidance that most small-to-midsize firms cannot afford to keep in a full-time seat — and what it costs them when they try anyway with the wrong person or the wrong budget. Melissa explains why the first instinct every founder has when they hit their capacity ceiling — go hire somebody — is often precisely the wrong move, how a fractional COO gets firms farther faster at a price point that actually makes sense for where they are, and why the staff member who has been with the firm the longest and is most deeply trusted is almost never the right person to drop into a COO role even when they want to be. She also walks through what the Peter Principle looks like inside a growing law firm, how leadership development is part of the fractional engagement and not separate from it, and what it actually takes to overcome the "who is this interloper" resistance that surfaces in every firm when someone new arrives with seniority — the short answer being that titles and credentials do not do it, early wins do. They also discuss what Melissa does in the first 90 days of an engagement to lift the COO burden off the founder so they can be visionary again rather than operational by default, why firms trying to run 47 initiatives simultaneously never finish any of them and how prioritization alone can feel like a breakthrough to a team that has been stalled for years, why the question "when is the last time you truly took a vacation and actually unplugged" is one of the most revealing diagnostics she runs on any managing partner, and why the discovery audit she conducts at the start of every engagement — diving deep into accounting systems, intake flow, processes, and team dynamics and mapping all of it into a written plan — almost always changes what a founder thinks they need before they have spent a dollar implementing anything. Melissa also walks through the 40-hours-of-work test she uses to help firms figure out whether they genuinely need a full-time COO or a fractional one or simply a better-structured office manager, and why the biggest mistake she sees growing firms make is getting so reactive to week-to-week cash flow that they lose the thousand-foot view entirely and start making hiring and investment decisions off a single signal instead of the full picture. Melissa Hansel is the founder of Outlook Advisory Group in Charlotte, North Carolina, an MIT Sloan School of Management alumna, Lean Six Sigma and Legal Project Management certified, bilingual in Spanish and English, and a former regional operations leader at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough. She runs a monthly roundtable for law firm owners and managing partners and serves clients virtually nationwide. Connect with Melissa Hansel: outlookadvisorygroup.com Email: melissa@outlookadvisorygroup.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/melissahansel Instagram: @outlookadvisorygroup Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Melissa Hansel 00:12 Growing Nelson Mullins' IP practice from 13 offices to 27 and into the top 70 highest-grossing firms — and why she walked away to go fractional 01:15 The diluted COO problem — why small and midsize law firms keep getting this hire wrong #MelissaHansel #OutlookAdvisoryGroup #TrustcastShow #FractionalCOO #LawFirmGrowth #LawFirmOperations #LegalManagement #LawFirmConsultant #MITSloan #LawFirmLeadership

What happens when a lawyer who spent nearly twenty years sitting in claims management meetings for the world's largest insurance companies — watching how reserves get set, how excess layers get triggered, how a VP of claims and a room full of supervisors actually decide what a human injury is worth — finally has a friend look him across a table and say, well why don't you just do it, then spent about a year saving enough to give himself an eighteen-month runway, walked away from every institutional client he had ever built, started with zero files and zero clients on day one, got a call within a couple of weeks from a former adversary whose colleague needed help after her mother died falling down a staircase at a short-term rental, resolved that case in nine months, watched what that result did for that family, and realized that the thing he had been doing all along on the wrong side was exactly the training he needed to make the biggest possible difference on the right one? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Emanuel Galimidi of Galimidi Law in Miami, about the two decades he spent defending insurance companies that gave him something most plaintiff attorneys will never have — not just a working knowledge of how adjusters think, but a front-row seat at the table when the very best plaintiff firms in the country were litigating against him, letting him see exactly how the ones who win handle a case and exactly how the ones who don't fall short. Emanuel explains why a settlement check arriving the morning after your accident is one of the most alarming things that can happen to you and almost always means someone on the other side spotted something significant you have not found yet, why one in four drivers in Florida is operating a vehicle with either zero bodily injury coverage or the bare minimum of ten thousand dollars, and why the adrenaline still moving through your body at the scene of a crash is actively working against you — masking soft tissue soreness, suppressing neck and back pain, and concealing the mild traumatic brain injury symptoms that people mistake for stress and leave unreported for weeks. He also covers why what you say to the police officer in the first minutes after a crash is permanent in a way your memory of that day will never be, why the friendliest opposing attorney in a deposition room is almost always the most dangerous one, and what it actually looks like inside a claims hierarchy — from the frontline adjuster to the supervisor to the director to the VP of claims — when a case is large enough to require the full escalation. They also discuss the trial moment where a more experienced opposing counsel asked his expert witness if he wanted to tell a story, got exactly the story he did not want, and handed the case to the other side — and what that moment taught him about the one rule you cannot break at trial, the terminally ill parent whose injuries were compounded by a crash a carrier refused to take seriously until the right demand package changed everything, the coverage gap that swallows Uber and Lyft drivers who are simply waiting for a ping and get into an at-fault accident without a rideshare endorsement on their personal policy, and why he believes the coming wave of self-driving car crashes will be product liability cases rather than negligence cases — and why the early lobbying by companies like Uber to reduce minimum coverage for passengers already has him worried about what consumers will have left when those crashes come. Emanuel Galimidi is the founding partner of Galimidi Law in Miami, Florida, a Super Lawyers selectee from 2023 through 2025, a member of the Miami-Dade County Bar Association and the Miami Foundation's Professional Advisors Network, and a former head of the Product Liability Practice Group at one of the fastest-growing defense firms in the United States, where he handled catastrophic injury, wrongful death, sexual assault, and class action defense before bringing everything he learned across the aisle to the people who need it most. Connect with Emanuel Galimidi: galimidilaw.com Email: egali@galimidilaw.com Phone: 786-442-2873 66 W Flagler St Suite 1001, Miami, FL 33130 Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Emanuel Galimidi 00:11 Nearly twenty years defending insurance companies — and the friend who finally said why don't you just do it 01:57 Starting with zero files and zero clients — and the first case that came from a former adversary 03:08 The financial reality of plaintiff work nobody warns you about — advancing costs with no guarantee at the end 04:51 First case resolved in nine months — what a strong result actually does for a family #EmanuelGalimidi #GalimidiLaw #TrustcastShow #MiamiPersonalInjuryLawyer #FloridaPersonalInjuryLawyer #InsuranceDefenseToPlaintiff #FloridaCarAccidentLawyer #RideshareAccidentLawyer #SelfDrivingCarLiability #TrialLawyer

What happens when a kid who grew up watching his father leave before dawn and come home just before dinner, decided there had to be an easier way to make a living, went to college planning to be an English teacher, figured out that wasn't going to work financially, went to law school because what else does a philosophy and English major do, fell completely in love with it, and then found himself carrying a check to create a trial advocacy chair at his law school — and realized on that walk over that one case had touched a family, changed Alabama law about how commercial vehicles operate on public roads, and given something lasting back to the community — and thought, that is exactly what I want to do? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Erik Heninger of HGD Law Firm, about the day the firm secured the $110 million settlement that remains the largest personal injury recovery in Alabama history — a knife fight in a phone booth involving multiple law firms, new technology, and an insurance company that got tight when there was real money on the table — and what it actually takes to build a career that generates more than three billion dollars in client recoveries. Erik explains why the insurance company for the truck that hit you already has a team working on your case that night, why the answer to the insurance adjuster who calls is yes but not right now, and why Alabama's contributory negligence law — which technically bars recovery if you are even one percent at fault — sounds devastating but almost never plays out that way because juries will not hold that someone sitting still at a red light contributed to their own accident. They also discuss the sexual abuse case where no money changed hands at all but the client and her parents still refer friends to the firm years later, the cheerleading coach who was caught at the border with recordings of minors on his laptop and now has a $1.5 million default judgment sitting against whatever he ever earns, the open heart surgery malpractice case where two doctors pointed fingers at each other the entire trial and the jury got so confused they ruled for neither — and what Erik would do differently now — why depositions are far more critical than closing arguments even though closing arguments are more enjoyable, and what his firm's private AI focus group tool is doing for jury research in Alabama. Erik Heninger is a partner at HGD Law Firm in Birmingham, Alabama, three-time Medical Malpractice Lawyer of the Year, and one half of a rare father-son pair who have each won Alabama's Lawyer of the Year Award. Connect with Erik Heninger: hgdlawfirm.com Email: erik@hgdlawfirm.com Phone: 205-326-3336 Social: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok @hgdlawfirm Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Erik Heninger 00:38 Growing up watching his father work before dawn and after dark — and why that was intimidating not inspiring 01:44 English teacher to law school — and the moment something clicked 02:41 Carrying a check to the law school to create a trial advocacy chair and having the lightbulb moment 04:12 About five cases in a career that really fill you up 05:00 Smaller cases that matter just as much — the sexual abuse case where no money changed hands but the family still refers friends 07:09 Just got hit by a semi — the first thing to do and why the lawyer can wait but not too long 08:00 Why you should never wave off the ambulance even when adrenaline says you are fine 08:45 The insurance company for the truck already has a team out that night preparing their defense 09:38 Does the insurance company ever lead with their best offer — no, never, bolded and italicized 10:30 Do not talk to the insurance company because those conversations are always recorded 11:24 Your own insurance company — a different risk, same principle — yes but not right now 13:14 Alabama's contributory negligence law — one percent at fault means zero recovery — and why it almost never actually works that way 14:39 The woman sitting still at a red light that the insurance company tried to say contributed by leaving home that day 15:45 How do you prove fault when it is his word versus mine — technology, black boxes, in-cab cameras, apps 17:53 How do you figure out what my case is worth — the million-dollar question answered five times a day 18:45 Severity of conduct, severity of injuries, available insurance, identity of defendant, and venue all factor in 20:12 Rapid fire — soccer dad turning volleyball dad, clean desk, depositions versus closing arguments, jury consultants 21:43 The private AI focus group tool built specifically for Alabama and their case types 22:26 One word that makes a great trial lawyer — authenticity #ErikHeninger #HGDLawFirm #TrustcastShow #AlabamaTruckAccidentLawyer #MedicalMalpracticeAlabama #PersonalInjuryAlabama #TrialLawyer #LawyerOfTheYear #AlabamaCivilRights #SexualAbuseLawsuit

What happens when the person on the other end of the phone is frantic, emotional, angry, and hurt all at once — because somebody died on their watch — and the attorney they are calling has personally investigated over 400 workplace deaths, refinery explosions, pipeline blasts, and construction collapses, and has learned from every single one of them that the first 24 hours will either protect the company or haunt it for the next two and a half years of litigation? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with John Surma, partner at Fisher Phillips, about what a company needs to do in the first hour before a lawyer even arrives — call 911, preserve the scene, document everything, and get grief counselors moving before anyone starts talking — and why the three biggest mistakes in the first 24 hours are failing to preserve the scene, failing to notify the right authorities, and releasing a hastily drafted press statement that becomes the plaintiff attorney's roadmap. John explains the difference between a serious citation, a willful citation, and a criminal referral, why the criminal path almost never happens unless you lie to OSHA or destroy evidence, and why invoking your Fifth Amendment right is available but has to be used sparingly because doing it excessively looks like obstruction. They also discuss the case where a press release about process instability handed plaintiff attorneys a two-and-a-half-year lawsuit against a company that didn't need to be there, how John got six heat-related citations thrown out against a security company by challenging the multi-employer citation policy and drilling the opposing OSHA attorney until he agreed to vacate them, the maritime case where OSHA cited the wrong standard entirely and vacated once the error was pointed out to the solicitor of labor, the constitutional challenge to OSHA's in-house judges using the logic from the Jarkesy Supreme Court decision — and why OSHA keeps withdrawing citations rather than risk losing in district court — the $4.95 million recovery from an EPC firm that delivered a boiler project that failed to achieve its promised efficiencies or emissions controls, and why cooperating fully with OSHA is one of the most dangerous myths in workplace safety law. John Surma is a partner at Fisher Phillips, representing employers in OSHA investigations, workplace fatalities, regulatory compliance, and related litigation nationwide. Connect with John Surma: Email: jsurma@fisherphillips.com Phone/Text: 409-351-5824 fisherphillips.com Chapters 00:00 Introduction to John Surma 00:44 What the person on the other end of the phone sounds like when someone just died at their facility 01:44 How companies find John — word of mouth in the worst moments 02:49 Nine years as a trial lawyer in Beaumont and the slow shift to 100% workplace safety 03:41 How do you stay emotionally grounded when you are around death five hundred times 05:16 How you grieve differently after that much exposure to other people's loss 06:09 Counseling CEOs through survivor guilt while also protecting shareholder interests 07:05 Why John advocates strongly for grief counselors even at the highest levels of management 07:16 What to do in the first hour before you have even called a lawyer 08:46 How fast does OSHA usually show up after a fatality — and what that Sunday afternoon call looked like 09:48 Do employees have to allow OSHA interviews without representation — the nuance 10:56 The single biggest mistake a company makes in the first 24 hours — actually it is the big three 12:19 How to handle the press when you are also trying to preserve a legal position 12:53 Why you need a crisis management firm before anything ever goes wrong 13:54 The case where a press release provided the roadmap for plaintiff attorneys for two and a half years 15:53 The difference between a serious citation, a willful citation, and a criminal case 18:40 Can you just shut up with OSHA the way you can with police — the Fifth Amendment answer 19:54 Why cooperating fully with OSHA is a myth that gets companies in trouble 20:50 What OSHA is really looking for when they ask for your safety records 22:27 If you get cited is fighting it realistic or are you just negotiating the penalty 23:30 Everything is negotiable — the alleged violation description, the classification, the penalty, the abatement, and the payment plan 24:03 Does the playbook change by industry — and what is actually the same across all of them 25:54 General counsel hat versus pure litigator — how that changes the emotional and strategic relationship 27:29 Six heat-related citations thrown out at a tire manufacturing plant — what happened 29:36 Did throwing out the citations affect the personal injury liability — yes and how #JohnSurma #FisherPhillips #TrustcastShow #OSHADefense #WorkplaceSafety #WorkplaceFatality #OSHACitation #EmployerDefense #WorkplaceSafetyLaw #OSHAInvestigation

What happens when an attorney who minored in computer science, started her career in traditional commercial litigation watching founders bleed money in disputes that should never have reached a courtroom, jumped to a legal tech startup where she helped build AI-powered contract review tools, reviewed over 40 legal AI products and kept finding the same problem — brilliant engineers building things that didn't solve the actual problem practitioners face — and then decided to build an AI-first law firm from scratch specifically for the founders who know they need a lawyer but can't justify the hourly meter every time they pick up the phone? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Charein Faraj, founder of Innovation Attorney, about why growth-stage startups consistently make the same contract mistakes — using boilerplate warranties and limitation of liability clauses that don't match the actual transaction, sending non-attorneys to execute agreements, skipping data processing addendums because they assume the privacy policy covers everything — and why those decisions tend to show up years later as the exact litigation she used to handle on the commercial side. Charein explains the difference between a privacy policy and a data processing agreement, why SaaS agreements need to be customized depending on whether you're using a large language model, what third parties are touching your data, and what kind of information is being processed, and why Delaware incorporation is almost always the right call if you're planning to go through funding rounds. They also discuss the physician client who was about to sign a non-compete that would have blocked her from practicing within fifty miles of any location of a startup with practices everywhere — and how Charein negotiated her out of it and built in termination protections that held up when the client inevitably needed to leave — what she found when she reviewed 40-plus legal AI tools and kept telling the same founders their ICP did not match their product, how she builds custom AI agents for contract review and motion drafting that output fully formatted Word documents with captions and signature blocks rather than just text, and why she believes the flat fee model for transactional work and the monthly subscription for ongoing work are both better for clients than hourly billing that creates friction every time someone considers picking up the phone. Charein Faraj is the founder of Innovation Attorney, an AI-first law firm for technology startups and growth-stage companies, based in Michigan and serving clients nationwide for transactional work. Connect with Charein Faraj: innovation-attorney.com LinkedIn: Charein Faraj Free 15-minute consultation available on the website Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Charein Faraj 00:52 Starting in commercial litigation, watching outdated processes, and making the jump to legal tech 01:30 Working at LexCheck — building AI contract review tools and seeing firsthand what startups skip 02:00 Founders who avoid calling their attorney until they are already in litigation 02:56 The AI objection — how she addresses concerns about quality and hallucination 03:42 What the firm actually is — not a product, a law firm that uses custom AI agents for contract review and drafting 04:12 Why SaaS agreements, NDAs, and MSAs are all different depending on the product and what data is being processed 04:54 Early stage startup counseling — Delaware incorporation, shareholder agreements, governing documents, privacy policy, terms of service 06:55 Growth stage mistakes — salespeople executing agreements, promises being made that fall apart, slow hourly turnaround killing deals 08:30 What clean documentation means for due diligence when you want to get acquired or raise a round 09:17 What kinds of tech companies she works with in Michigan — cybersecurity services, custom software, MSAs and IP protection 10:20 The difference between a privacy policy and a data processing agreement — and when you need both 11:10 What happens when founders think the privacy policy covers everything and skip the DPA 12:26 The trap founders fall into with data processing — they do not even know they need it 13:18 If you are a SaaS founder what should be in your contracts that most templates leave out 13:42 Warranties and limitations of liability that make no sense to the actual transaction — why boilerplate does not exist 14:55 The firm uses AI more extensively than traditional firms — custom agents built for specific transaction types 15:33 How building her own agents with no overhead translates to lower cost for clients 16:09 A deal where she helped a client walk away before it became a disaster #ChareinFaraj #InnovationAttorney #TrustcastShow #StartupLawyer #AIFirstLawFirm #ContractReviewAI #TechStartupLegal #FractionalGC #SaaSContracts #LegalTechFounder

What happens when a litigator who spent his early years defending Fortune 100 companies in bet-the-company cases — taking the lead on a hundred depositions as a third and fourth year associate, getting pulled into environmental contamination lawsuits stretching from New York to the International Chamber of Commerce in the EU, and building healthcare tech compliance frameworks from first principles before telehealth was even a recognizable category — decides the most interesting thing he can do with 25 years of experience is spend it helping founders in AI, quantum cryptography, cannabis, blockchain, and other emerging technologies avoid the landmines he spent his early career watching companies step on? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Chris Werner, founder of his firm in Chicago, about why he named the firm after the Norse god of vengeance — because lawyers don't have to be loved, they have to get results — what a fractional general counsel actually does day to day, and why five to ten hours per month is the rough threshold where a flat-rate arrangement starts making more sense than hourly billing. Chris explains why the stereotypical lawyer who says no to everything and treats every decision like the sky is falling is the opposite of what entrepreneurs need, what the single most dangerous contract clause for growing companies is — indemnification, almost always written so broadly that founders sign away millions in liability they can't even remember agreeing to — and why he has never once taken equity as compensation despite being offered it, because he never wants even the temptation of his interests diverging from his client's. They also discuss what it was like to build AI governance frameworks for companies before there was a federal regulatory scheme to follow, why he gives away checklists, worksheets, and intellectual property self-evaluation tools for free to founders who cannot yet afford counsel, how he went up against a team of partners from a major Boston law firm representing the investor on a fundraising round and found it genuinely fun, why he prefers working his way out of jobs rather than holding on, and what drink order got him through nearly two months of trial in a suit and tie in West Palm Beach in August and September. Chris Werner is the founder of his firm in Chicago, serving fast-growing startups and emerging technology companies as fractional general counsel and outside counsel nationwide. Connect with Chris Werner: LinkedIn: Chris Werner Chicago, Illinois Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Chris Werner 00:31 Naming the firm after the Norse god of vengeance — and the real reason behind it was not wanting to rebrand constantly 02:06 The focus of the practice — emerging technology, AI, quantum cryptography, fractional GC for companies not ready for full-time counsel 03:36 Drinking from a fire hose on new technology — from casino licensing to cannabis to blockchain to AI 05:00 What gets him out of bed — the energy of entrepreneurs and always finding the next thing 06:05 Fractional GC versus ad hoc outside counsel — what the practice actually looks like day to day 06:50 Early litigation experience as a roadmap — all the things that can go wrong and how to prevent them 07:49 A recent regulatory landmine — HIPAA and FTC issues on a new technology play and how the conversation actually went 09:30 Never bring a problem without at least three solution options — and always have a recommendation 10:11 How to tell a founder something they don't want to hear without creating friction 12:39 How do I know if I need a retainer versus just calling when something comes up 13:30 The five to ten hours per month threshold where fractional GC starts making sense 14:30 Why hourly billing is the worst way for lawyers to sell their time and terrible for clients 15:30 A ten to fifteen minute call can save a startup from a lawsuit — why the friction of the meter kills that 16:17 What is the one contract clause growing companies get wrong most consistently 16:26 Indemnification clauses — why they are sneaky, written in legal ease, and can represent millions in hidden liability 17:34 How to write indemnification clauses on the other side — narrow them to real scenarios you can actually explain and insure 19:11 Do clients have to be in Chicago — no, and some have been in the UK with ICC arbitrations 20:01 When does a company outgrow a fractional GC — the fifty percent of time threshold 21:00 Going full-time as GC and COO through a private equity acquisition with one former fractional client 22:00 Helping clients find and hire their first full-time general counsel when they are ready 23:17 Working yourself out of a job — why that suits how his mind works #ChrisWerner #TrustcastShow #FractionalGC #StartupLawyer #EmergingTechnologyLaw #AIGovernance #StartupLegal #ChicagoAttorney #FractionalGeneralCounsel #FounderLegal

What happens when a PhD student studying eyewitness identification under groundbreaking research that would eventually inspire the Innocence Project decides that the most important unanswered question in the legal system is not whether the truth happened but whether a jury will actually find it — and then spends the next 45 years building a science around that question, helping attorneys win and settle thousands of cases worth billions of dollars, learning how to fly a plane in a simulator to understand an airline crash well enough to explain it to a mock jury, and watching insurance adjusters arrive at research day saying this case isn't worth anything and then change their minds before lunch? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Dr. Melissa Pigott, co-founder of Magnus Research Consultants, about what a mock trial actually looks like from the inside — twelve to fifteen hours, multiple groups per day, real cases, real verdict forms, real jury instructions, four-person forepersons who sometimes get selected because they were sitting at the head of the table — and why the deliberations are where the real revelations happen, including fights that have to be broken up, coalitions that form along unexpected lines, and jurors who seize on a tiny detail the attorneys brushed aside and carry the whole day with it. Melissa explains why attorneys' biggest blind spot is their own advocacy — they spend years on a case and cannot see what someone hearing it for the first time actually takes away — and why the most common shock in the room is watching a mock jury ignore a carefully prepared exhibit notebook and decide based on common sense instead. They also discuss why most clients now hire Magnus before mediation rather than trial because almost no cases actually go to trial anymore, how the plaintiff's attorneys in the Exxon dealers case lost a real trial, brought Magnus in to rebuild everything, and won $1.2 billion at the retrial, why pre-existing attitudes and worldviews matter more than the evidence when it comes to what a juror ultimately decides, why federal judges in some jurisdictions will hold you in contempt for checking a juror's social media during trial, how to identify in voir dire who is going to be a plaintiff juror and who is going to be a defense juror based on statistical profiles built from prior research, and why the foreperson is almost never who the attorneys predicted. Dr. Melissa Pigott is the co-founder of Magnus Research Consultants, a trial consulting firm she has led since 1993, based in Florida and working cases nationwide. Connect with Dr. Melissa Pigott: Magnus Research Consultants Contact: David Faust — partner and first point of contact magnusresearch.com Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Dr. Melissa Pigott 00:57 The strangest thing a mock juror ever said — and the plaintiff's lawyer who settled the case over a tie 01:26 Starting at FSU in 1980 studying eyewitness identification — and why eyewitnesses are usually believed but often wrong 02:15 The attorney who says they've tried hundreds of cases and never needed a jury consultant — what Melissa tells them 03:08 PhD in social psychology — the psychology of group decision making — and how that differs from what lawyers know 03:51 When to bring in a jury consultant — before discovery closes is the ideal and waiting too long has real costs 04:45 The Exxon dealers case — losing at trial, rebuilding everything, and winning $1.2 billion at retrial 06:15 Is a mock trial worth doing before mediation — yes and most clients now hire Magnus before mediation not trial 07:22 What a mock trial actually looks like — recruiting, setup, equipment, presentations, instructions, deliberations, surveys 09:06 Does Magnus work mostly for plaintiffs or defendants — and how that has shifted over 45 years 10:10 How mock jurors are recruited — census data, venue demographics, university-affiliated text-to-web recruiting 12:11 The one thing a mock trial reveals that attorneys cannot get anywhere else — case strengths and weaknesses through the eyes of the actual decision makers 13:15 The insurance adjuster who says this case is worth nothing and changes their mind by lunch 14:11 Do the mock jurors actually deliberate — yes and sometimes they get into fights 15:21 Where the gems get uncovered — coalitions, unexpected forepersons, and the deliberation dynamics 16:10 Pre-existing worldviews as a lens — why jurors walk in with their minds already partially made up 17:55 Voir dire — how Melissa builds a profile going in and what the four categories of jurors are 19:30 Back strikes in state court versus no back strikes in federal court 21:01 Pre-existing beliefs matter more than the evidence — why even good jurors cannot change their worldview #MelissaPigott #MagnusResearch #TrustcastShow #JuryConsulting #MockTrial #TrialConsultant #JurySelection #VoirDire #TrialStrategy #JuryPsychology

What happens when a son of an NYPD homicide detective who worked on Capitol Hill and always felt pulled toward public service goes to law school specifically to be a prosecutor, picks up and moves right around the corner from Yankee Stadium to be in the thick of it in the Bronx DA's office, spends five and a half years trying violent felonies — felony assaults, robberies, burglaries, attempted murders — then spends nearly a decade defending New York State as an Assistant Attorney General in White Plains, and then one day looks around at the layers of bureaucracy and the pace of AI adoption inside government and decides the now-or-never moment has finally arrived? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Joseph Scolavino, founder of Scolavino Law in Westchester, about what to say — and more importantly what not to say — when an officer asks if you've been drinking tonight, why your instinct as a human being to answer that question is exactly what the training is designed to exploit, and why saying officer I'd like to speak with an attorney is enough to shut down a line of questioning immediately. Joseph also explains what insurance adjusters are trying to accomplish when they call right after an accident sounding friendly, why you need to keep your answers about your injuries vague until you actually know what the injuries are, and what to do the moment surprise divorce papers arrive — which is get an attorney immediately and touch nothing, because the spouse who filed has already been through the entire emotional arc and is planning while you are still processing. They also discuss why family and matrimonial law has a financial structure unlike any other area of practice — flat fee criminal work pays out on day one, personal injury contingency aligns the attorney's incentive with the outcome, but hourly divorce billing means attorneys are actually disincentivized to resolve things early — how to probe a potential divorce attorney for whether their business model is mediation and resolution or churning hours, why the first six months of a solo practice are the hardest financially and what the cash flow logic is behind building criminal and family work alongside a personal injury pipeline, and what a lifetime on the basketball court taught him about thinking on your feet in a trial when you know your case cold but the courtroom stays predictably unpredictable. Joseph Scolavino is the founder of Scolavino Law in Westchester, New York, practicing personal injury, criminal defense, and family and matrimonial law. Connect with Joseph Scolavino: skolavinolaw.com Westchester, New York Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Joseph Scolavino 00:56 Almost twenty years inside government — what finally pushed him to open his own firm 02:00 AI adoption in government versus the private sector — and why timing felt right 03:30 Filing incorporation papers before Christmas 2025 and launching on his fifteen-year bar admission anniversary 04:37 Starting with zero clients — reaching out through the Rolodex of every attorney he had ever settled with 05:21 The attorney who wanted to pay it forward — how a big case and a wave of introductions followed 06:37 BNI networking chapter and reconnecting with an opposing counsel who became a referral source 09:37 Coming from a law enforcement family and going to the Bronx DA's office straight out of law school 10:47 Day one in the courtroom — arraignments, misdemeanors, felonies, grand jury, and the Rackets Bureau 12:40 The jump from the Bronx DA to the Attorney General's office in White Plains — staying in government but switching to civil 14:54 Three core practice areas — personal injury, criminal defense, and family matrimonial law 15:45 Crash course in family law through a three-year litigious divorce that went all the way to appeal 17:00 How the 18B public defender panel provides steady criminal volume while PI cases mature 18:43 The cash flow logic of building a new practice — flat fee criminal work and retainer family work supporting the contingency pipeline 19:03 Have you been drinking tonight — what you should actually say 19:50 You are not obligated to answer any question beyond pedigree information — and why that is hard for humans 21:40 Officer I'd like to speak with an attorney — how four words shut down the questioning 23:22 The insurance adjuster who calls right after an accident sounding friendly — what they are actually trying to do 24:46 Just got served surprise divorce papers — what is the first thing to do 26:00 Why acting on emotion after being served is how people dig holes 27:40 Why the spouse who filed is already way ahead — they have been through the emotional arc and are planning #JosephScolavino #ScolavinoLaw #TrustcastShow #WestchesterAttorney #CriminalDefenseNY #DivorceAttorneyNY #PersonalInjuryNY #DWIDefense #FamilyLawNY #NewFirmLaunch

What happens when someone who built one of the country's first home inspection companies in the 1980s, flipped over 70 real estate deals, spent nine years in boot camp under a mentor with a photographic memory who taught him everything from tax planning to financial structuring, sold his first firm to a private equity fund in 2014, and now co-leads a practice with $840 million under advisement decides that the most important thing he can do with four decades of knowledge is make sure business owners and physicians stop handing over to the IRS money they were never required to give? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Ken Himmler, co-founder of One Wealth Map, about the silent campaign that major financial institutions run against Roth conversions — not because Roth conversions are bad for clients, but because when a client converts a million-dollar IRA and pays 25% in taxes, the advisor's fee base just dropped by $250,000 — and why the online Roth calculators at Schwab, Fidelity, and Vanguard are built with a fundamental flaw that will give you the wrong answer every time. Ken explains why your IRA is not worth what it says on the statement because there is a tax lien on it, what a 664 trust did for a client with charitable intent that allowed him to convert a million-dollar IRA completely tax free, and why running a Roth analysis for just husband and wife misses two of the three scenarios that actually matter — what happens when the first spouse dies and files single, and what happens when the kids inherit an IRA under Secure Act 2.0 and face a ten-year distribution window that can push them into a 65% combined federal and state bracket. They also discuss why the C Corp is systematically ignored by CPAs despite never having produced double taxation in 42 years of use when structured correctly, why Apple sits on $900 billion in retained earnings without paying the 20% surcharge that CPAs warn about, why most business owners are working with the equivalent of a little league coach when they need a pro-level team, what multi-tiered structuring actually looks like and why it requires both a C Corp and an S Corp working together, how the Monte Carlo simulation that every major financial institution relies on is programmed with a conflict of interest baked in to keep you spending less and leaving assets under management longer, and what Fitnomic — launching in late 2026 — is designed to do that Mint, Monarch Money, and every other financial aggregator has failed to accomplish. Ken Himmler is the co-founder of One Wealth Map, a financial planning and tax strategy firm with $840 million under advisement, serving business owners, physicians, and high-income professionals nationwide. Connect with Ken Himmler: onewealthmap.com One Wealth Map — contact form for Fitnomic AFM waitlist Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Ken Himmler 00:42 The Rothinator — why major financial institutions run a silent campaign against Roth conversions 01:30 The fee math — why an advisor loses 25% of their fee base the moment a client converts 02:30 The IRA as a house with a mortgage — why you don't actually own the number on your statement 03:13 The 664 charitable trust that allowed a million-dollar IRA conversion at zero tax 04:08 Why does converting a Roth mean losing assets under management for the advisor 05:29 Devil's advocate — when does a Roth actually not make sense and who are the 30% 06:31 The financial propaganda campaign — why money stays in IRAs 79% longer than anywhere else 07:41 A profitable business owner who never has any money — what is actually going wrong 08:45 My CPA files my return and says I'm fine — why that is not enough 09:30 Tax planning versus tax preparation — what Joe the CPA told Ken about his monthly process 10:41 The biggest expense of your life is not your house — it is income tax 11:01 Structure first — why the S Corp default is costing business owners 13% in FICA taxes 12:15 The C Corp objection — double taxation and retained earnings — and why both are wrong 13:30 Apple's $900 billion in retained earnings and the annual projection that prevents the 20% surcharge 14:30 Multi-tiered structuring — C Corp holding company plus S Corp operating company 15:15 KPIs, measurement, and Peter Drucker — the second problem after structure 15:45 Upgrading your coaching as your revenue grows — little league to the pros 16:40 The $10 million business still using the same CPA from day one — what they are missing 17:03 What the first meeting with a new client actually looks like — culture fit before financials 18:00 The cost benefit analysis — charging $25,000 to save $100,000 as the basis for a relationship 18:58 The Rothinator versus a standard Roth calculator — why the online tools give you the wrong answer #KenHimmler #OneWealthMap #TrustcastShow #RothConversion #Rothinator #TaxPlanning #BusinessOwnerTaxStrategy #PhysicianFinancialPlanning #Fitnomic #TaxFreeRetirement

What happens when an Army brat who moved every three years, played soccer for the Black Knights at West Point, met her husband while they were both JAG attorneys at Guantanamo Bay, clerked for a Virginia Court of Appeals judge, and then built a practice that sits at the exact intersection of personal injury trial work and appellate law — where being a better trial attorney makes you a better appellate attorney and being a better appellate attorney makes you a better trial attorney? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Juli Porto, appellate and personal injury attorney at Blankingship and Keith, about the single most common reason appeals fail before they even start — error was never properly preserved at trial — and why an objection that is timely but makes the wrong argument is just as fatal as no objection at all because you have to give the judge the specific opportunity to correct themselves before the appellate court will review it. Juli explains why she has to ask every trial attorney who brings her a fresh appeal the same first question: can I even help you? She also walks through what good trial attorneys should be doing throughout the entire litigation — not just at verdict — to ensure the case is set up for appeal if needed. They also discuss why an Uber or Lyft accident is so much more complicated than a standard crash and why respondeat superior liability is still an unsettled issue across the United States, how she helped preserve a $10 million gift of stock as separate property in a divorce appeal by showing the trial judge had sufficient evidence to find it was truly a gift, her role as appellate counsel on the $9 million UVA shooting settlement, the ride-hail sexual assault case where the driver was not criminally prosecuted but she combed through the civil evidence and got past a demur when no one else had taken the time to look, why the other side's insurance company calling you right after a crash to settle fast is good for them and bad for you, and why missing the 30-day notice of appeal deadline in Virginia by even one day requires an emergency motion before the appellate court. Juli Porto is an appellate and personal injury attorney at Blankingship and Keith in Fairfax, Virginia, taking appellate consultations and referrals from trial attorneys at other firms as well as handling her own PI cases. Connect with Juli Porto: Email: jporto@bklawva.com Direct line: 571-789-0877 bklawva.com Fairfax, Virginia Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Juli Porto 00:38 Growing up as an Army brat, West Point, soccer for the Black Knights, and what constant moving taught her about understanding people 01:09 Clerking for Judge Rousey Alston at the Virginia Court of Appeals and meeting her husband at Guantanamo Bay 01:58 Appellate practice explained — not just after trial but consulting during trial to set up the record 03:33 Consulting with other attorneys during litigation — preserving error, making the right arguments 04:37 Personal injury trials as the bread and butter at trial level 04:55 Someone just got badly hurt in a crash — the first three things to do in the next 48 hours 06:25 The insurance company calls right after the accident and promises to settle fast — what to tell them 07:20 Your medical case can't get ahead of your legal case — why the timeline is longer than they want you to think 08:34 The client who already signed forms and turned over records — how badly did they damage their case 10:13 Withdrawing all authorizations as the first move when getting involved after the client spoke to the insurer 11:08 Hit by an Uber driver — why that case is far more complicated than a regular crash 11:16 Respondeat superior and why the employer versus independent contractor question is unsettled nationwide 12:55 When it makes sense to go after just the driver's insurance instead of fighting Uber 14:16 How you set up a personal injury case to successfully appeal it 15:09 The most common problem when trial attorneys bring her a fresh appeal — error was never preserved 15:40 How to preserve error — timely and specific objection giving the judge the chance to fix it 16:51 When error was not preserved — post-trial motions and whether they can save the appeal 17:46 Sometimes the judge just says you are right and fixes it — and the appeal becomes unnecessary 18:26 Ineffective assistance of counsel on the civil side — why that is not something you can fix on direct appeal 19:52 New evidence on appeal — what after-discovered evidence actually requires and why it is rarely available on the civil side 21:02 Hidden discovery and fraud on the court — how that gets handled on an indirect appeal 22:04 The other side is appealing my win — what does that mean for my money and my life right now #JuliPorto #BlankingshipAndKeith #TrustcastShow #AppellateLaw #VirginiaAppealAttorney #PersonalInjuryAppeal #ErrorPreservation #UberLyftAccident #VirginiaPersonalInjury #AppellateConsultant

What happens when an attorney who failed the bar exam by one point, appealed the result, won, and liked to say her first client was herself — then spent four years managing over a hundred active files at a workers' compensation and motor vehicle accident firm before the pivot that her father still occasionally questions — discovers that she can have more impact on injured people's lives by helping the attorneys who represent them understand what AI can actually do than she ever could trying cases herself? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Angela Ventro, account executive at Supio covering New England and upstate New York, about why PI firms that say they tried AI and it did not work were almost always burned by bad implementation rather than bad technology, what actually happens when an attorney sits with two thousand pages of records the night before a deposition looking for treatment gaps and undiagnosed injuries, and why a scattered trail of complaints about photophobia, fatigue, and migraines across three different providers over several months is exactly the kind of connection no single human reviewer would make but that AI flags immediately — which is how a $25,000 soft tissue case became a $250,000 TBI settlement. Angela also explains how Supio's integration with Westlaw is the only one of its kind in the personal injury AI market, putting medical record analysis and legal research in the same place rather than across two screens. They also discuss how Supio helped Tor Hormon Law secure a $495 million verdict against Abbott Labs by processing over 43,000 pages of records and 80-plus depositions — and why the managing partner specifically called out paralegal mental health as one of the benefits, because reading about injured babies all day in gross detail wears on a person in ways that are hard to quantify but very real — how defense firms and insurance companies are already using AI to bury smaller plaintiff firms in discovery and why Supio can answer a non-standard interrogatory in under a minute, why your conversations inside a closed enterprise AI system are likely protected as attorney work product while your client chatting with ChatGPT about their own case probably is not, and why paralegals using Supio are now comfortably handling ten more cases each without the firm hiring additional staff. Angela Ventro is an account executive at Supio, the AI platform purpose-built for plaintiff's personal injury firms, covering New England and upstate New York. Connect with Angela Ventro: Email: angela.ventro@supio.com supio.com LinkedIn: Supio Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Angela Ventro 00:51 Failing the bar by one point, winning the appeal, and her first client being herself 01:59 Four years managing over a hundred active files at a workers' comp and motor vehicle firm 03:12 The pivot from practicing law to selling AI to law firms — and what her dad said about it 04:22 Why the human element and client relationship side always felt more natural than the practice 05:19 When a PI firm says we tried AI and it did not work — what actually happened 06:15 Implementation and support on day 40 versus day one — the real barrier to adoption 07:14 What a PI attorney loses every time they personally review 400 pages of records instead of using AI 08:00 Treatment gaps, undiagnosed injuries, and the ten PM deposition prep experience 09:00 How Supio finds TBI complaints scattered across three providers that no single reviewer connects 09:56 Client stickiness and the referral network — why catching an undiagnosed TBI changes the relationship 10:42 The objection — I am better than the AI and I will find the pearls myself 11:15 Force multiplying yourself — 10 pearls in 10 cases instead of one pearl in 10 hours 11:45 Five years of training Supio specifically on plaintiff's personal injury law — doctor lawyer on your staff 12:33 How a trial actually works — NDA first, then upload, then regular checkpoints and success criteria 13:55 The aha moment — Supio finding something on a lawyer's own client file they were not aware of 15:14 Is Supio doing legal thinking or something else — firm level, case level, and document level intelligence 16:07 The Westlaw integration — why nobody else in the PI AI market has a research partner of this size 17:46 Putting case law and medical records in the same place — drafting a response to a summary judgment motion 18:49 The hallucination objection — the lawyer who got cited from the bench and had his license threatened 19:45 Courts are not saying don't use AI — they are saying use it irresponsibly and we will come for your license 20:42 Implementation — does the firm have to stop taking cases to set it up 21:45 Onboarding team, customer success, and training as new staff and new features arrive #AngelaVentro #Supio #TrustcastShow #LegalAI #PersonalInjuryAI #PIFirmTechnology #LegalTech #TBISettlement #WestlawIntegration #PlaintiffsAttorneyAI

What happens when a girl who grew up in poverty in Indiana, watched her grandfather walk into a rehab facility after his second stroke and get wheeled out in a wheelchair with a bag of clothes soaked in urine and feces because they kept passing him by at meals while he dozed in his room, becomes the first person in her family to attend graduate school, spends years as a prosecutor in South Florida learning how to try cases before she ever touches civil work, and then builds her own Milwaukee firm in 2025 dedicated entirely to one mission — holding nursing home corporations accountable when something goes horribly wrong? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Kristen Lojewski, founder of Lojewski Abuse and Injury Law, about how to know something is wrong at a nursing home before it is too late — ask for the care plan, visit at unpredictable times, attend the interdisciplinary team meetings — and why families almost always do see the warning signs but get talked out of them by the facility until it is too late to undo the damage. Kristen explains why Wisconsin caps wrongful death damages for adults at $350,000 and pain and suffering at $750,000, why that makes a million-dollar total exposure feel like a rounding error to a chain corporation, and why the legislature is essentially telling families that an elderly person's life is worth less than if the same thing happened across the border in Illinois. They also discuss how nursing homes are increasingly burying binding arbitration agreements deep inside admission paperwork given to families during the most emotionally pressured moments of their lives — and why signing one strips your right to a jury trial and public record — what sexual assault inside memory care facilities actually looks like and why residents with dementia are specifically targeted because perpetrators believe nobody will believe them, how facilities use the phrases just aging and unavoidable injuries as standard defenses even when they have not implemented a single reasonable safety measure, why the defense firm on the other side gets paid every time they answer an email and has every incentive to run out the clock on a surviving elderly spouse, and why Kristen's firm will never recover more than what the family recovers. Kristen Lojewski is the founder of Lojewski Abuse and Injury Law in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, serving families whose loved ones were harmed or killed by nursing home neglect or abuse. Connect with Kristen Lojewski: protectwi.com or loyeskilaw.com Phone: 414-999-3771 Instagram: @attorneykristen Milwaukee, Wisconsin Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Kristen Lojewski 00:44 Big buddy and little buddy — watching her grandfather deteriorate in a rehab facility and passing away in September 2020 02:35 From South Florida prosecutor to nursing home plaintiff lawyer — what the criminal courtroom taught her that civil lawyers miss 04:15 Something feels off about my mom's nursing home but I can't point to anything — where do I start 05:30 Request the care plan, visit at unpredictable times, attend the interdisciplinary team meetings 06:59 What are the warning signs families miss until it is too late 07:30 Families usually do see the warning signs — the problem is the facility reassures them out of acting 08:24 When the nursing home says everything is fine — how to push back and when to escalate 10:44 The nursing home says those injuries are just part of aging — is that ever actually true 11:24 Send your loved one to an independent hospital if you are concerned — what independent providers actually document 13:12 If your loved one has dementia and can barely communicate — does that make it harder to pursue a case 14:18 Sexual assault in nursing homes and memory care facilities — why residents with dementia are specifically targeted 15:52 How often is this actually happening — and how much goes unreported 17:11 Who is legally allowed to file a claim in Wisconsin 17:20 Adult children, spouses, parents — and why extended family do not have a wrongful death claim 18:14 Wisconsin caps wrongful death at $350,000 for adults — the hardest conversation she has with families 19:29 Total exposure for a nursing home wrongful death case — $1.1 million and why that is nothing to a chain corporation 20:01 The $750,000 pain and suffering cap and why the legislature undervalues elderly lives 21:23 What the first phone call with a family actually looks like — holding space before gathering facts 22:30 Honest conversations about damages caps, medical record review, and whether to try pre-suit resolution 23:15 Contingency fee — the firm advances all costs and never recovers more than what the family recovers #KristenLojewski #LojewskiAbuseLaw #TrustcastShow #NursingHomeAbuse #NursingHomeNeglect #ElderAbuseLaw #WisconsinNursingHomeLaw #WrongfulDeathWisconsin #ArbitrationNursingHome #ElderLaw

What happens when an ER physician who fled Iran during the revolution as a child, survived Scud missiles and bombings across multiple cities, made it through medical school in Belize, delivered babies as the only doctor in a 25-mile radius in a tiny Minnesota town called Olivia, switched into emergency medicine, and spent years getting lectured by his billing partners about every critical care encounter he was under-documenting — finally picks up a Python programming hobby he had since high school, calls his AI friend at AMD, and spends three to four months building a tool that is not a medical scribe, not a transcription app, and not a copy of anything else on the market? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Dr. Mohammad Chelehmalzadeh, ER physician and founder of Teb IQ, about why emergency room doctors are interrupted every 30 seconds, why their notes end up as skeletons of what they should be, and why an experienced physician who just saved someone's life after 20 minutes of CPR ends up billing at the same level as a strep throat visit. Dr. C explains medical decision making — MDM — and why the 2023 Medicare billing change made the thought process the driver of revenue rather than the length of the note, why thinking about stroke and then ruling it out without ordering a CAT scan is a billable event if you document it, and how his app increased his personal critical care billing rate from 8-9% to 22% and pushed his users from level three and four billing to four and five across the board. They also discuss the app's live evolving patient story that gets reanalyzed with every addendum and changes the final assessment as the diagnosis shifts, the HIPAA architecture that redacts the 18 protected variables before the story ever touches an LLM, the clinical scoring module that auto-calculates HEART score and other tools without the physician leaving the screen, the AI critique feature that reviews your entire patient encounter and tells you what you missed — the shoulder X-ray that was ordered but never mentioned, the tetanus shot with no follow-up — and why Dr. C refused to let surgical residents use the full version of the app because cognitive development in residency is too important to hand over to a machine. He also shares why getting into Epic costs over $100,000 before a single hospital ever sees your app, and what his path to scale actually looks like. Dr. Mohammad Chelehmalzadeh is an emergency medicine physician and founder of Teb IQ, an AI-powered clinical documentation and billing optimization platform being piloted across hospitals in Connecticut. Connect with Dr. Chelehmalzadeh: Email: chelehmal@tabscribe.com Phone: 610-945-8337 tabscribe.com Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Dr. Mohammad Chelehmalzadeh 00:46 The billing conversation that started everything — Dr. C's notes were billing at strep throat level after saving a life 02:30 Learning to code again with ChatGPT and writing Python billing cheat files that spread across the department 03:10 The AMD AI friend who said this is a perfect use case — three months of nightly iteration 04:10 The first web version took five minutes per note — then ten seconds 04:56 The director noticed critical care billing jump from 8% to 22% — and looked the other way 05:10 Becoming a company because the hospital group needed liability separation 05:45 Over 40,000 notes processed and users billing five to six percent more in critical care 06:20 Why this is not a scribe — it is a Swiss Army knife that keeps the chaos organized and timestamped 07:04 What it is like to be interrupted every 30 seconds in the ER and why notes become skeletons 08:00 The live evolving patient story — the AI reanalyzes the whole encounter with each addendum 09:30 The sign-out note feature — dictating an entire shift handoff with one record button 10:00 The supervisory note for PAs and NPs — the right blurb every time 11:38 The shift handoff as an analogy for losing tokens between Claude conversations 12:03 HIPAA compliance — redacting all 18 protected variables before anything touches the LLM 15:25 How the encounter stays linked to the right patient without PHI — diagnosis, age, sex, room number 16:30 End to end encryption, business associate agreements, and why no recordings are stored 17:58 The legal question — how do you protect yourself when data clears after 30 days 19:02 The gray zone around PHI data retention and physician responsibility for what they paste into the chart 20:21 Teb IQ — the name comes from the Persian word for medicine and Ibn Sina the father of modern medicine 21:02 Fleeing Iran during the revolution, surviving the Iran Iraq war, escaping through Australia to Canada and eventually Belize #DrMohammadChelehmalzadeh #TebIQ #TrustcastShow #EmergencyMedicineAI #ClinicalDocumentationAI #MedicalBillingAI #AIHealthcare #EMRDocumentation #CriticalCareBilling #PhysicianAITool

What happens when a young female attorney who worked as a paralegal before law school, spent time on the defense side, and then crossed to the plaintiff's side realizes that the women calling her from Wall Street banks and hedge funds are not just victims of harassment but are trapped in situations where the very person controlling their promotions, their performance reviews, and their entire career trajectory is the same person who assaulted them — and that the most powerful tools she has are not always the lawsuit but the non-disparagement clause, the neutral reference, and the non-disclosure agreement that follows the harasser for the rest of his professional life? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Christine Hintze of Phillips and Associates about what grooming actually looks like before the harassment becomes undeniable — wine subscriptions, comments about skin, offers to buy a pied-à-terre in the city — and why clients almost never recognize it while they are inside it. Christine explains why quid pro quo sexual harassment is not invalidated by a moment of apparent consent when the person with the power over your career is the one initiating, why the gray area around one night that felt consensual and then a cold shoulder and a reassignment is actually where most of these cases live, and what New York City's strict liability standard for supervisor harassment means in practice compared to the rest of the country. They also discuss the hedge fund associate who stayed at her job for months after being sexually assaulted by her supervising partner because she sent money home to her parents and helped her sisters — and who ended up in an outpatient treatment facility before Christine stepped in, negotiated continued pay through administrative leave, and eventually settled for $3 million — the C-suite executive fired after reporting quid pro quo harassment by the CEO whose company's entire defense was a performance complaint, the Kanye West Gender Motivated Violence Act case involving their client Jen Ann and a 2010 strangulation on a music video set in front of an entire production crew who said nothing, why the EEOC rescinding its 2024 harassment guidance changed the law not at all, and why contingency fee representation at a 60-40 split means nobody needs money to start a case. Christine Hintze is an attorney at Phillips and Associates in New York City, focusing on sexual harassment and employment discrimination in finance and high-stakes professional environments. Connect with Christine Hintze: phillipsandassociates.com New York, New York Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Christine Hintze 00:38 What happens the moment a client first calls — fear, shame, and the courage it takes to pick up the phone 02:21 These situations almost always involve someone in a position of authority — and it can start subtly 03:00 Grooming on Wall Street — wine subscriptions, skin care products, and offers to buy an apartment 04:00 Evidence clients think they don't have — Google Maps location data, subscription confirmations, and text threads 05:14 A client who thought she had no case — what creative evidence gathering actually looks like 05:37 The gray area of consent when your boss controls your promotions, your reviews, and your future 07:00 Quid pro quo sexual harassment explained — and why a relationship that felt consensual at one point does not close the case 08:00 New York City strict liability — if a supervisor did it, the company is liable, full stop 09:12 Protecting the career more than the lump sum — what really matters to women who have spent decades getting where they are 09:28 Non-disparagement clauses, neutral references, and positive references as the most powerful settlement terms 10:15 I reported internally and HR said they'd investigate — did I make a mistake 11:50 I still have to go to work every day and sit across from this person — what are my options 12:01 The case where Christine stepped in immediately and negotiated a resignation with a settlement 13:00 Living month to month in Manhattan — how to advise a client who cannot afford to lose income 15:44 Should I stay at work a few more weeks to gather evidence or leave immediately 17:30 Client mental health always comes first — when staying is not worth it 18:24 What the first few weeks look like after someone hires Christine — information gathering without re-traumatizing 20:27 The $3 million hedge fund settlement — a client on FMLA leave in an outpatient facility after months of reporting to her attacker 22:10 Negotiating continued pay through administrative leave while the case resolved 23:26 Is it hard to stay dispassionate — and why the trusting relationship is actually a strength not a liability #ChristineHintze #PhillipsAndAssociates #TrustcastShow #SexualHarassmentLaw #WallStreetHarassment #WorkplaceDiscrimination #NewYorkEmploymentLaw #QuidProQuo #KanyeWestCase #GenderMotivatedViolenceAct

What happens when a young attorney who started his career as a guardian ad litem — the volunteer voice for children placed in the system with no one fighting for them — takes $25,000 of his own money, teams up with his business partner Victor, opens a personal injury firm three months before a global pandemic, outgrows his first office by mid-year, moves into 10,000 square feet by October, and builds a staff of 75 people across South Florida, Tampa, and Chicago while also opening six restaurants, a 501(c)3 animal shelter, and a sports agency representing bare knuckle fighters and NFL players — all while learning that hiring on personality beats hiring on resume every single time? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Jeremy Dover, managing partner of Demesmin and Dover, about what to do in the first 24 hours after an accident — call the police, get checked out, and do not talk to any insurance company including your own — and why Florida's no-fault system means you have exactly 14 days to unlock $10,000 in personal injury protection before the other side can offset it against whatever they owe you. Jeremy explains why the insurance company sending you a check right after an accident is not a favor but a strategy to get you to sign away your right to everything you are actually owed, what bad faith actually means in practice and why it is more often laziness than malice, and what happens when you reject a written proposal for settlement and then recover less than 75% of that offer at trial. They also discuss why soft tissue injuries without broken bones have reached seven-figure verdicts, how Florida's 2023 House Bill 837 changed the comparative fault framework so that being more than 50% at fault now means recovering nothing, the casino analogy a mediator used to explain trial risk — you can take the money on the table or throw it on black and spin the wheel — why litigation fatigue is one of the most deliberate tactics insurance companies use to grind down claimants until they accept less, what it means to build a culture where people are happy to come to work rather than a machine that just churns out money, and why hire slow and fire fast is the lesson that cost the most to learn. Jeremy Dover is the managing partner of Demesmin and Dover, a full-service personal injury and multi-practice law firm based in South Florida with offices in Tampa and Chicago. Connect with Jeremy Dover: demesmindover.com South Florida, Tampa, and Chicago Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Jeremy Dover 00:42 Starting the firm with $25,000 each during the pandemic — burn the ships and never look back 02:09 From guardian ad litem to personal injury — how fighting for kids shaped how he fights for accident victims 03:30 Settlement versus trial — weighing finality against risk and making sure clients understand both 05:18 An accident just happened — what to do in the first 24 hours 06:00 Florida personal injury protection — the 14-day window to unlock $10,000 and why missing it costs you 06:56 The other driver's insurance company is already calling — should I talk to them 07:59 I feel fine after the accident — do I still need to go to the doctor 08:45 Why Jeremy steers clients away from the hospital unless absolutely necessary 09:11 What mandatory bodily injury coverage means — and why Florida does not require it 10:52 The other driver has no insurance but may have assets — how do you investigate and is it worth it 11:45 Florida's homestead protection — why you cannot take someone's home even with a judgment 12:28 Wage garnishment — the math on why it often costs more than you recover 13:55 The insurance company sends a check right away and says just sign it — should you 15:10 Why early settlement offers exist — minimizing risk before you know what you are actually owed 15:59 Can you ever exceed the policy limits of the other driver's insurance 17:17 What bad faith actually means — clear liability, clear damages, no response, and a failure to act in good faith 19:28 What possible justification does an insurance company have for acting in bad faith 20:52 How do you decide whether to settle or go to trial — and whose decision is it ultimately 22:30 The Hard Rock Casino analogy — take the money on the table or spin the wheel one time 23:43 How long do personal injury cases actually take from start to finish 25:08 The most common tactics insurance adjusters use to lowball accident victims 26:10 Litigation fatigue — deliberately drawing out cases until clients accept less 26:50 Florida's proposal for settlement statute 768.79 — what rejecting a written offer can cost you 29:28 Is a lowball written offer from the insurance company bad faith — why it is a one-way street #JeremyDover #DemesminAndDover #TrustcastShow #PersonalInjuryFlorida #FloridaCarAccident #InsuranceBadFaith #PIProtection #SoftTissueInjury #ProposalForSettlement #FloridaPersonalInjuryLaw

What happens when a seventh grader buries a time capsule in 1993 saying he wants to play football as long as his body allows, join the army, and become an attorney — and then 25 years later his teacher digs it up and sends him a note saying he did exactly that — after commanding troops in combat as a field artillery officer in Iraq, redesigning a cavalry troop from scratch, deploying to Europe, writing the military criminal jurisdiction playbook for the entire European theater at V Corps, and then building a solo firm in Kentucky where his children asked to stay because they had never met people as kind anywhere else in the world? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Joey Comley, founder of The Soldier's Advocate, about the single most dangerous thing running through a soldier's head the moment CID shows up or a command pulls them aside — the belief that the truth will set them free — and why every attorney who has ever represented someone in a criminal context would agree that it is dramatically harder to help a client who has already made a statement. Joey explains what an Article 15 actually is and why getting one does not automatically mean getting busted down in rank, when a soldier should use their free appointed military counsel and when they need to pick up the phone and call private counsel, and how military police have exactly the same legal authority to lie to a suspect that civilian police do. They also discuss the SHARP case where the alleged victim had told witnesses she knew how to get any leader removed from her supervision by filing a complaint — a case that had to be unwound through a board proceeding, a reconsidered 15-6 investigation in Mississippi, the Department of the Army Suitability Evaluation Board, and the desk of the Chief of the National Guard Bureau — how security clearance investigations interact with criminal cases and why losing a clearance can cost a transitioning soldier 20 to 30% of their annual earning potential, the joint terrorism task force interview where Joey had to physically stop his client from talking on no less than four or five occasions, the bench trial where the judge started packing up his things before the verdict and Joey's response from the podium that prompted an immediate not guilty on all charges, and why the most experienced NCOs in any formation almost always had at least one Article 15. Joey Comley is the founder of The Soldier's Advocate, a military criminal defense and federal investigation firm based in Kentucky, practicing worldwide under the UCMJ. Connect with Joey Comley: thesoldiersadvocate.com Phone: 270-360-0142 Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Joey Comley 00:55 The first thing running through a soldier's head when CID knocks — and why it gets them in the most trouble 01:45 The truth will not set you free — what the investigator's version of events actually is 02:36 The joint terrorism task force interview — physically stopping a client from talking four or five times 03:54 From field artilleryman to judge advocate — what a seventh grade time capsule predicted 05:22 ROTC scholarship, freedom from dad, and a first duty station in Schweinfurt Germany 06:28 Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom 2, and redesigning a cavalry troop from scratch 07:20 The funded legal education packet — why his boss said he had no shot and why he was wrong 08:46 What a typical client looks like and how they find him — zero advertising budget 11:10 The firm is intentionally one of one — why he does everything himself 12:23 Military criminal defense is about 80% of the practice 13:25 Does being willing to go to trial change how opposing counsel treats you 14:24 How attorneys poke at each other and why rising above it brings the managing partner to the table 15:59 A soldier finds out they're under investigation — the two or three moves that determine everything 17:20 Free military legal counsel — what it covers and what it cannot do 19:44 Are military prosecutors actually after the truth — and does it differ from civilian practice 21:37 A prosecutor who called after the preliminary hearing to say he no longer had probable cause 22:45 The bench trial — the judge packing up his things, the statement from the podium, and a not guilty from the bench 24:33 Can military police lie to a suspect the same way civilian police can 24:52 Article 15 — what it actually is, what it means, and why rank loss is not automatic 27:22 When should a soldier use appointed counsel and when should they call private counsel #JoeyComley #TheSoldiersAdvocate #TrustcastShow #MilitaryCriminalDefense #UCMJ #ArticleFifteen #SecurityClearance #SHARPcase #MilitaryLaw #JudgeAdvocate

What happens when a serial entrepreneur who wore a suit to elementary school at age eight, built a successful software company, invested his time and network into an early stage idea before anyone else believed in it, and then walked away from his own exit to go all in on a platform built around one simple but radical premise — that the most powerful thing you can do for someone who is struggling is connect them with another human being who has already been through exactly the same thing and come out the other side? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Derek Lundsten, President and CEO of LifeGuides, about why Employee Assistance Programs were well-intentioned 25 years ago and are now compliance tools with a 3% utilization rate that leave 97% of the workforce without any meaningful support, why the pandemic didn't just reveal the gap in mental health services but blew it wide open in a way that has driven healthcare premiums up 20% annually and created a provider shortage that clinical care alone cannot solve, and what peer support actually looks like when it is built on lived experience, HIPAA compliance, and a marketplace that lets you filter by age, demographics, religion, career path, and language — including Haitian Creole for a distribution center workforce that no EAP had ever been able to reach. They also discuss how LifeGuides recruits guides — targeting Facebook groups of people who have been through a specific experience and finding that the desire to help others is always far greater than expected — what a first session actually looks like from login to video call, why employers never see individual conversations but do receive blinded utilization data, how one large publicly traded education company quantified a 3% improvement in employee retention from LifeGuides and used that to anchor an ROI calculation, and why the math on $100 per year for unlimited family access versus $150 per therapy session changes the conversation with every CFO who asks why they need it. Derek Lundsten is the President and CEO of LifeGuides, a peer-to-peer support platform serving employers, health plans, and associations across the country. Connect with Derek Lundsten: lifeguides.com Social: @LifeGuides across all platforms Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Derek Lundsten 00:40 Meeting LifeGuides founder Mark at an entrepreneur's group and deciding to invest time and network before money 01:20 Exiting his last software company to go all in on commercializing LifeGuides 01:49 What LifeGuides actually is — a peer-to-peer matching marketplace for lived experience in any life challenge 03:43 Most clients are companies — why LifeGuides went B2B instead of direct to consumer 04:30 The stigma and access problem that existed before COVID and the demand explosion that followed 05:59 When an employer says we already have an EAP — the real answer 07:21 What EAP stands for, why it was created, and how it became a compliance tool instead of a support tool 08:42 COVID demand skyrocketed, EAPs couldn't keep up, medical coverage absorbed the overflow — and premiums followed 09:42 Crisis versus proactive support — and why the system has swung too far toward clinical care 10:24 Stigma as the reason EAP utilization sits at 3% nationwide 11:53 How LifeGuides recruited its first guides — Facebook groups, Alzheimer's Association ads, and the discovery that people want to help 13:10 How Dr. David Hester's team vets guides — credentials, HIPAA training, active listening curriculum, and financial incentives 14:44 What happens when an HR leader reads that only 21% of employees feel their company actually cares about them 16:13 Why doing well while doing good is not a contradiction — stakeholders versus shareholders 17:00 ROI for the CFO — $100 per year per family versus $150 per therapy session times ten sessions 18:30 Retention data — one client quantified a 3% improvement in employee retention directly attributable to LifeGuides 19:40 How capping healthcare premium increases translates to millions in financial value 20:14 What changes first when a company adds LifeGuides to its benefit stack — and what takes longer 21:38 Walk me through what actually happens from login to the end of a first session 23:01 Can employees return to the same guide — unlimited access and ongoing accountability 24:04 Can a guide on one topic refer to a guide on a different topic — the multi-guide model for complex lives 25:05 Employer confidentiality — individual conversations are never seen, only blinded utilization rates 25:54 How attribution works — quarterly client success reviews and business outcome alignment 26:25 Someone dealing with a sick parent, struggling kid, and demanding job all at once — three guides simultaneously #DerekLundsten #LifeGuides #TrustcastShow #EmployeeWellbeing #PeerSupport #MentalHealthAtWork #EAP #EmployeeBenefits #WorkplaceWellness #HRLeadership

What happens when an employment attorney who spent years defending some of the biggest employers in the country at the world's largest employment law firm finally sits in a trial he genuinely doesn't believe in, realizes he can't keep doing it, and crosses to the other side — where he gets to choose his own cases, fight for the workers those companies were trying to defeat, and never charges a client a single dollar until a check lands in his firm's mailbox? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Mike Guasco, founder of Guasco Law in California, about the single most important thing to do in the first 48 hours after something bad happens at work — document everything, write it down while it's fresh, and do it in a way that shows it was contemporaneous — and why going to HR is not optional even though HR is not there to protect you. Mike explains the difference between a hostile work environment in the legal sense, which has to be hostile because of a protected class, and a boss who is simply a horrible human being, which is unfortunately not illegal in California or anywhere else. He also walks through why filing with the EEOC or CRD and asking them to investigate is one of the most common mistakes employees make — because the agencies are so underfunded they almost never take cases, and then the defense attorney waves the no-finding letter around in court as if the government exonerated the employer. They also discuss what a contingency fee actually is and how it works in practice, why cases can take anywhere from six months to five years depending on which path they take, how Mike gets a right-to-sue letter in about three minutes by clicking a single button on the CRD website rather than asking for an investigation, the housing discrimination trial where he had to explain an extremely rare medical condition to a jury that initially understood exactly why the HOA said no — and then won a significant verdict anyway, why political views are a protected class in California but are balanced differently than other protected classes, and what his definitive legal guide on the rights of transgender and non-binary employees in California was actually designed to accomplish. Mike Guasco is the founder of Guasco Law, an employment and housing discrimination firm serving clients throughout California. Connect with Mike Guasco: Email: mike@guascolaw.com guascolaw.com Initial consultations always free Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Mike Guasco 00:46 Spending years defending major employers and then walking out of a trial he didn't believe in 01:31 Something bad just happened at work — what do I do in the first 48 hours 02:30 Why you shouldn't just call your cousin the lawyer — the value of a specialist referral 03:30 How do I know when a bad situation at work has crossed into illegal territory 04:21 My boss is just an ass and makes my life miserable — is that a hostile work environment 05:44 Hostile work environment has a legal definition — it only applies when tied to a protected class 06:17 Political views as a protected class in California and why there is a balancing test 07:47 My boss says it was a performance issue — how do I tell if that's real or a cover story 08:04 Watching for trends — performance reviews, assignment patterns, and comparators 09:14 A white male who was demoted when a DEI initiative brought in someone above him — is that discrimination 10:17 Why Mike would not personally take that case even though it may be legally valid 14:19 I'm still employed but things are getting worse — do I have to wait until I'm fired to take action 16:08 The fear that going to an employment lawyer will ruin your reputation and your career 17:14 Attorney-client privilege protects even potential clients who never sign with the firm 17:51 What should I never say to HR — and should I even go to HR 18:07 HR is not your friend — and that is exactly why you should go anyway 19:52 If this were your son — would you tell him to go to HR or go to a lawyer first 21:03 What to document and the right way to do it — Google Docs, journals, and contemporaneous records 22:21 Walk me through what happens from the moment someone calls you to when the case resolves 24:57 The routes a case can take — early resolution, mediation, arbitration, and full court litigation 25:58 What does it cost to hire you — the contingency fee model explained simply 27:24 The one exception — restraining order work on an hourly retainer 29:21 How long do these cases usually take — six months to five years depending on the path 29:55 The difference between filing with the EEOC or CRD versus just suing 31:33 The immediate right-to-sue button — how to get the letter in three minutes without asking for an investigation #MikeGuasco #GuascoLaw #TrustcastShow #EmploymentLawCalifornia #WorkplaceDiscrimination #HostileWorkEnvironment #HousingDiscrimination #EmployeeRights #ContingencyFee #CaliforniaEmploymentLaw

What happens when a law student who worked almost full time through law school clerks in the Baltimore City homicide division, gets to know the real people behind the characters in The Wire, learns what it actually takes to build a murder case from the inside, then spends five years on the prosecution side before crossing to the defense table — where 12 years and 30 jury trials later he still gets coolest when everyone else in the room is in full panic mode? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Kurt Nachtman, partner at Silverman Thompson in Baltimore, about the single most important thing to do in the first 24 hours after an arrest — shut up, be polite, and say the word lawyer — why Miranda rights are not triggered until custodial interrogation occurs and how much questioning can legally happen before you get there, and why a .09 on the breathalyzer is not the end of the case if you know where to look for sleep apnea, medical conditions, and procedural defects in how the officer read the DR-15. Kurt also walks through the ghost gun case where a firearms enthusiast who accidentally shot himself in the leg beat the charge when Kurt realized that the statute was so poorly written the state had to prove a negative — and the young prosecutor called afterward still not understanding what happened. They also discuss what happens when a professional license is on the line — why a nurse, paramedic, or daycare operator should never try to respond to a licensing board letter without a lawyer and why the complaint that brought them to your door is almost never what gets you — why insurance companies keep internal databases on which lawyers actually try cases and how that changes what they offer, the personal injury verdict that came in four times the last settlement offer after Kurt turned his client misidentifying her own injured leg into proof that she wasn't exaggerating, why the good neighbor is consistently the hardest insurance company to negotiate against and runs to the one yard line before making a reasonable offer, and what it was like as a 32-year-old newly minted private attorney to solve an unsolved suspicious death and get a family some measure of closure. Kurt Nachtman is a partner at Silverman Thompson in Baltimore, Maryland, practicing criminal defense, professional license defense, and personal injury. Connect with Kurt Nachtman: Phone: 410-385-2225 Email: kurt@silvermanthompson.com silvermanthompson.com Baltimore, Maryland Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Kurt Nachtman 00:38 What five years as a Baltimore City prosecutor did to the way he fights for defendants 01:18 Clerking in the homicide division as a law student — cell phone evidence, DNA, and the real people behind The Wire 03:20 My client just got arrested in Maryland — what are the most important decisions in the next 24 hours 03:35 Shut up — why talking to police almost never helps and why they're allowed to lie to you 05:08 But what if you're just being polite and explaining yourself 05:13 Polite but firm no — the right words out of your mouth and the right words in your text 06:40 Don't destroy evidence — why deleting text messages often makes everything worse 07:13 Miranda — when does it actually trigger and what is custodial interrogation 08:42 DUI and Miranda in Maryland — why you don't get your rights read on a traffic stop 10:00 Public defender versus private attorney — caseload, choice, and making lemonade out of lemons 11:39 When someone thinks a minor charge isn't serious — why the internet changed everything about that assumption 12:25 Expungement in Maryland and why a trespassing charge can follow you into a security clearance 15 years later 13:40 The ghost gun case — a firearms enthusiast shoots himself in the leg and beats the charge 14:00 Read the rule — how a poorly drafted statute fell apart when the state had to prove a negative 17:31 The young prosecutor called afterward and still didn't understand — how the lesson was delivered 18:32 Building a firm from two people to 11 over 12 years and then walking away to join Silverman Thompson 19:19 Trying a $2.5 million breach of contract case on two weeks notice with a hole in the calendar 20:37 The best parts of no longer running your own business — no clogged bathrooms, just trying cases 21:19 DUI — someone blows a .09 and thinks it is already over 22:07 Sleep apnea, medical defenses, and probable cause defects that most DUI attorneys miss 23:23 The teacher who had two drinks and didn't know he had sleep apnea — and how that became a half dozen cases 24:21 If you have a professional license — CDL, nursing, contractor — how does a DUI change the math 25:35 Should you refuse the breathalyzer in Maryland — and how the law changed two years ago #KurtNachtman #SilvermanThompson #TrustcastShow #CriminalDefenseMaryland #BaltimoreAttorney #DUIDefense #ProfessionalLicenseDefense #MirandaRights #GhostGun #PersonalInjuryTrial

What happens when a girl who grew up watching her single mom choose between $2 of gas and a loaf of bread in the Chicago suburbs goes to law school in Miami without knowing a single person to network with, takes the first job she can get at a small boutique in Woodstock, Illinois, discovers a passion for fighting for parents and children in the moments that matter most, and 22 years later leads a six-attorney firm that offers discounts to single moms and military members, serves as a guardian ad litem appointed by Kane County judges, and is still fighting to be the kind of change she never had? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Jenet Pequeno, founder of a Chicagoland family law firm and Illinois Super Lawyer, about what to do the moment you find out your spouse has filed for divorce — checking bank accounts, running credit reports, and watching for home equity lines of credit you never signed — what happens when a spouse has been secretly moving marital assets into a son's trust and how you sue the son to get it back, and why the single most important thing a parent can do if they're still living in the same house is not leave before getting a parenting schedule in writing. Jenet explains the difference between Illinois's old language of custody and visitation and the current framework of allocation of parental responsibilities, why alienation is like a cancer in a custody case that can flip a parent from primary to every-other-weekend, and why she tells attorneys for mothers planning to ask for 75% when they were doing 50-50 before filing — give me a reason, because what in the best interest standards says I should change it now? They also discuss the 17 best interest factors Illinois judges weigh when both parents want to be primary, why a mother who wants to move to Florida to live with a boyfriend she met online two months ago is asking a guardian ad litem to watch three children under five lose their father to a phone call, the case where a military father won primary residency just short of trial after allegations escalated from a one-night stand to a rape claim with no prior report, the social media behaviors that quietly destroy custody positions, and why the law is easy but people are hard. Jenet Pequeno is the founder of a Chicagoland family law firm serving parents and children across the collar counties of Northern Illinois. Connect with Jenet Pequeno: Phone: 847-616-0980 Northern Illinois — Chicago collar counties Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Jenet Pequeno 00:50 Growing up in a single parent household — choosing between $2 of gas and groceries, and why that drives every case 02:04 Licensed since 2004 — going straight into whatever job she could get and discovering family law 03:06 My spouse just filed for divorce — what do I do first 03:17 Checking bank accounts, running credit reports, watching for home equity lines of credit and forged signatures 04:34 The spouse who spends months planning before filing and moves all the assets first — how often does that happen 05:11 Moving marital property into a son's trust — suing the adult child to recapture it 06:29 The person who is left with nothing after the other spouse moves out — what the court can do on an emergency basis 07:30 Freezing accounts like an IRS lien — what happens once a judge hears the story 08:26 Is moving money before a divorce actually a crime in Illinois 09:14 How the financial misconduct taints the rest of the case — the tie goes to the innocent party 09:55 How long does an Illinois divorce actually take when kids are involved — Supreme Court Rule 922 and the 18-month rule 10:50 The old days of five-year custody battles with kids aging out of being minors 11:49 What the 15-month timeline looks like when there are no children 12:32 Both parties agree — do you still need a lawyer 13:31 The law is easy, people are hard — why even agreed divorces can fall apart over boilerplate language 14:31 The word custody is gone in Illinois — what allocation of parental responsibilities actually means 15:38 Parenting time versus primary residency — and why you should never leave the house before getting a schedule 17:17 The 17 best interest factors an Illinois judge weighs when both parents want to be primary 17:47 Alienation — the A word — what it is, what it costs, and why parents who schedule soccer during the other parent's time are playing with fire 19:44 Education, socialization, and private tutoring as non-statutory advantages 21:28 Do mothers still have an advantage in Illinois family court 21:41 Twenty-two years ago — the mother who could sit on her hands and still get sole custody 22:49 Gender bias still exists — what Jenet has seen as recently as a couple of years ago #JenetPequeno #TrustcastShow #IllinoisFamilyLaw #DivorceAttorney #CustodyLaw #GuardianAdLitem #ChildCustodyIllinois #ParentingTime #FamilyLawChicago #AlienationInCourt

What happens when a kid from the Arizona-Mexico border who grew up throwing rocks from his grandmother's backyard into Mexico, drops out of Stanford Law to follow armed Minutemen through the Sonoran Desert with a video camera, comes back, finishes his degree, and builds one of Phoenix's most feared immigration and criminal defense firms — one with 1,200 Google reviews, 50 people on staff, a worksite raid defense that became local counsel on the federal civil rights lawsuit that took Joe Arpaio down, an argument that made it to the Arizona Supreme Court on behalf of a client whose prior attorney told him the plea would be fine, and a book that ended up required reading at Harvard Law? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Ray Maldonado — Abogado Ray — about what is actually happening to immigrants under the current administration, why the claim that ICE is only targeting criminals is a thousand percent false, and what to do in the first hour after a family member is detained. Ray explains the difference between detention and deportation, what a U visa is and why most people don't know they qualify, what cancellation of removal requires — 10 years, qualifying relatives, and extreme and unusual hardship — and why the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is structurally different from immigration courts in a way that matters enormously for anyone trying to get a fair hearing. They also discuss what a motion to suppress evidence actually means and why winning on the government's constitutional violation is not a technicality but a vindication of the Bill of Rights, the Miguel Angel case where Ray took a worksite raid defense to not-guilty on all counts and the client eventually won a green card, why showing up to court scared that you'll be deported in handcuffs that same day is the most common sign of misinformation he sees, and why leading with passion and service rather than money has resulted in horses, five cars, and a multi-million dollar house while doing work that most people assume has no money in it. Ray Maldonado is the founder of Abogado Ray Law Firm in Phoenix, Arizona, practicing immigration law and criminal defense. Connect with Ray Maldonado: Phone: 602-910-4040 Social: @AbogadoRay on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Ray Maldonado 00:51 Dropping out of Stanford Law to follow armed Minutemen through the Sonoran Desert with a video camera 01:46 Being an immigration lawyer in the second Trump administration — winning a federal habeas corpus today 02:58 The habeas corpus case — bond hearings being denied for people with no criminal history and five US citizen kids 04:24 The claim that ICE only goes after criminals — why that is a thousand percent false 05:23 ICE shows up at your home — what to do right now 06:44 My family member was just detained — what do I do in the first hour 07:30 The difference between being detained and being deported and what options exist for each 08:20 Protections people didn't know they had — U visas, challenging the NTA, and the government's burden of proof 09:21 If someone has been here 15 years with US born kids — are they automatically protected 10:15 The 10-year magic number and cancellation of removal explained 10:44 Fear of talking to a lawyer — what attorney-client privilege actually protects 11:27 A DUI or minor drug charge that suddenly triggers deportation — how does that happen 12:30 Why non-citizens need both a criminal defense attorney and an immigration attorney 13:20 Growing up on the Arizona-Mexico border — throwing a rock from grandma's backyard into Mexico 14:19 Defending immigrants in Arizona state court and why it is harder than defending a citizen 15:23 What it means to win at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and why it matters for someone in Eloy Detention 16:44 Why the Ninth Circuit is different from immigration courts — and why every administration dislikes it 17:03 Motions to suppress evidence — using the government's own constitutional violations to win cases 18:54 Rapid fire — baseball or law, naming his sons Ray Emerson and Stokely Daniel, toughest courtroom opponent 20:45 The one thing a scared client says that immediately tells Ray they're misinformed 21:37 The Miguel Angel case — a worksite raid defense, a not-guilty on all counts, and a path to citizenship 23:45 How mission-driven practice leads to financial success — 50 staff, horses, five cars, and Japan trips 25:22 How a single worksite raid became local counsel on the federal civil rights case that took Arpaio down 26:32 Marketing a 14-year firm — 1,200 Google reviews and referrals compounding every day #AbogadoRay #RayMaldonado #TrustcastShow #ImmigrationLaw #DeportationDefense #CriminalImmigration #ICERights #HabeasCorpus #ArizonaImmigrationLawyer #KnowYourRights

What happens when a trial attorney spends 13 years inside the SEC building the exact kinds of cases that keep executives and general counsels up at night — including the securities fraud case against Volkswagen and its CEO for deceiving US bond investors during the emissions scandal, a case that earned him a framed picture of a carrion hawk from his colleagues after Judge Charles Breyer's opening remarks — and then crosses to the other side of the table to defend the companies and individuals the SEC is coming after? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Dan Hayes, partner at Venable LLP in Chicago, about what to do in the first 24 hours after the SEC contacts your company, the critical difference between receiving an informal document request and a formal subpoena, and why the executives who assume the SEC will figure out they did nothing wrong and just go away are operating on a dangerously incorrect assumption. Dan explains what a Wells Notice is and why it is not too late to change the SEC's mind once you receive one, what cooperation actually means in SEC terms versus simply complying with a subpoena, and why the most costly mistake companies make in the early stages of an investigation is failing to get experienced counsel immediately. They also discuss why the SEC can and does bring strict liability charges where intent is not required and good faith is not a defense, how the Volkswagen case required nearly two years of investigative work including testimonies taken from employees in foreign countries before the charges could be filed, why the strategy of fighting everything and giving the SEC as little as possible almost never works because these are smart lawyers from top firms who know what they are doing, what electronic discovery looks like now compared to sitting in a cold warehouse in South Bend sorting through boxes, and the single most important thing a company can do right now to reduce its SEC risk — starting with tone at the top. Dan Hayes is a partner at Venable LLP in Chicago, focusing on SEC and government investigations, commercial litigation, and white collar matters. Connect with Dan Hayes: Email: djhayes@venable.com Phone: 312-820-3434 venable.com Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Dan Hayes 00:48 Prosecuting the SEC's case against Volkswagen and CEO Martin Winterkorn — what it was like from the inside 01:34 The sheer volume of fraud that happens at major companies — and learning quickly not to be naive about it 02:31 Tom Petters, Bernie Madoff, and the Ponzi schemes that came before 03:05 Why he left the SEC after 13 years — timing, age, and the decision to switch sides 04:08 How Venable found him and why the culture and the chance to help build the Chicago office sold him 06:39 The SEC just contacted my company — what do I do in the first 24 hours 07:36 The critical difference between an informal document request and a formal subpoena 08:42 My lawyer told me never talk to the SEC without counsel — does that mean ever 09:49 Is there anything I can do during an active investigation to influence the outcome 10:43 How cooperation — real cooperation — differs from simply complying with a subpoena 12:07 Why his experience inside the SEC gives him an edge on the other side — knowing why they ask what they ask 13:14 What a Wells Notice is and whether it is already too late to change the outcome once you receive one 14:51 The most costly mistake companies make in the early stages of an SEC investigation 16:23 Why the public gets frustrated when companies pay fines but executives walk — and why that frustration is valid 17:57 What the SEC can and cannot do — fines and industry bars but not criminal prosecution 19:26 How electronic discovery has changed — from cold warehouses in South Bend to AI-assisted review 21:21 What cooperation with the SEC actually means and when it is not the right move 24:04 How often senior executives genuinely don't know what lower-level employees are doing 26:48 How the Volkswagen case was ultimately built — two years of investigation and overseas testimonies 28:07 Judge Breyer calling the SEC carrion hawks at the first hearing — and the framed picture that followed 30:03 If a company could do only one thing right now to reduce its SEC risk 31:41 Companies assume good intentions mean the SEC will go away — why that is wrong 32:24 Strict liability charges — where intent is not required and good faith is not a defense 33:27 The strategy of fighting everything and giving the SEC as little as possible — has it ever worked 35:39 The most effective defense lawyers he faced when he was at the SEC — what made them effective 36:35 When does Venable get called in — before a rule is passed, after a subpoena arrives, or mid-litigation #DanHayes #VenableLLP #SECDefense #TrustcastShow #SECInvestigation #SecuritiesFraud #WhiteCollarDefense #VWEmissionsScandal #WellsNotice #MarchmanAct

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, host Zane Myers sits down with Adam Wasserman, Managing Partner of Education Justice Law Group and co founder of ExamSoft, the bar exam software used in almost every state. Adam’s story is remarkable. After being told he would never ride a bicycle, play a musical instrument, or graduate high school due to ADHD, dyslexia, and major learning challenges, he spent childhood labeled lazy and not capable. Today, he is a special education attorney who personally attends IEP meetings, has represented over 1,000 families across 150 California school districts, and helped build technology that supports millions of students. What You’ll Learn • The moment at age 22 when Zig Ziglar’s voice changed everything • Growing up being told you are a Chevy Chevette instead of having potential • The school psychologist who destroyed his faith in public education • The silver haired former nun who said you will be my success story • What meta consciousness is and how it helped him break through ADHD and dyslexia • The metronome method 3.5 hours a day for 6 months that transformed his life • How music and consistent rhythm taught him to stop thinking and start listening • Developing ExamSoft after his typewriter broke during the bar exam • Taking the LSAT from bottom 10 to 15th percentile to top 15th percentile • The twin brother who became a doctor while others called Adam a failure • Why he personally attends IEP meetings instead of delegating • What an IEP is vs a 504 plan and why you should never accept a 504 as a consolation prize • How special education law creates federal obligations for school districts • Fee shifting statutes, when districts pay your attorney fees if you win • Running a social justice law firm with sliding scale fees • Compensatory education, getting funding for years of services the district did not provide • What happens when a child reads at 2nd grade level in 11th grade • Why Adam believes disabilities can become superpowers • Studying philosophy in Jerusalem and awakening his spiritual antenna • Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning and finding your why • Chris Voss and connecting with people who will not listen • Why Adam believes we all have a purpose bigger than consuming and acquiring The Big Idea • Winning in life is not about labels, it is about purpose • When you connect to why you are here, usually through service to others, everything changes • Adam’s disabilities became his superpower because they gave him empathy, drive, and insight to help families navigate a broken system Connect with Adam Wasserman Education Justice Law Group • Website: https://www.educationjusticelaw.com • Address: 26565 W Agoura Rd, Ste 200, Calabasas, CA 91302 Phone Numbers • San Fernando Valley, LA and Ventura Counties: (818) 570 8024 • East and West Side of Los Angeles: (323) 677 5587 • Northern California and Central Coast: (831) 240 4415 • Statewide Toll Free and San Diego County: (833) 340 9164 Online • LinkedIn: Adam Wasserman (educationjusticelawgroup) • Avvo Profile: Adam Wasserman, Clients’ Choice Award 2022 Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:03 Zig Ziglar You Can Be Anything You Want to Be 01:34 Meta Consciousness The First Ray of Sunlight 02:59 Born to Win What Does That Mean for People Like Us 03:52 I’ve Become Unstoppable 05:00 Growing Up with Learning Challenges Teachers Who Gave Up 06:22 The School Psychologist Who Called Him a Chevy Chevette 08:11 The Silver Haired Nun You Will Be My Success Story 08:52 The Alter Ego Voice Block It Out and Keep Going 09:38 What Is Meta Consciousness Can Anyone Harness It 11:23 The Metronome 3.5 Hours a Day for 6 Months 14:11 How Discipline Emerged from ADD 16:16 Creating ExamSoft The Software That Changed Everything 17:33 The Bar Exam Typewriter Breaking His Mission Born 18:28 Were Your Parents Around to See This Transformation 19:08 Labels That Still Sting I’m 16 Still Getting Over Middle School 20:08 Your Disability Helped You Understand How to Help Everyone 22:07 People Who Said Adam You’re Gonna Be Great 22:33 The Twin Brother Called Dr Wasserman Since Age 8 23:16 What Is an IEP Meeting And Why You Can Bring a Lawyer 26:12 IEP vs Gen Ed The Suburban with 95,000 Miles 28:00 The Financial Side How Families with No Money Get Help 29:16 Fee Shifting Statute Districts Pay If You Win 29:39 You Saved My Child’s Life What That Feels Like 31:32 School Districts and Limited Resources 33:41 Rapid Fire IEP vs 504 Plan Which Do Parents Confuse More 36:36 Why You Should Never Take a 504 as a Consolation Prize 38:17 Favorite Thing Learned Studying Philosophy in Jerusalem 40:33 Chris Voss Connecting with People Who Won’t Listen 41:30 Closing #SpecialEducation #ADHD #Dyslexia #LearningDisabilities #EducationLaw #IEP #TrustcastShow

What happens when a pediatric ICU nurse who spent years in high-stakes home health settings — training nurses on ventilator troubleshooting, running competency assessments for tracheostomy patients, and then investigating unexpected deaths and abuse allegations as a healthcare administrator — decides that the place she can do the most good is not inside a healthcare company but inside a courtroom, helping attorneys understand what the records are actually telling them and what the records they don't have are hiding? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Angela Barker, founder of Covenant Legal Nurse Consulting in San Antonio, about what happens when an attorney opens 4,000 pages of medical records without a clinical background, why the most dangerous mistake is not misreading what's there but failing to notice what isn't, and what a legal nurse consultant actually produces at the end of a review that a paralegal simply cannot. Angela walks through the wrongful death case of a woman who delivered a stillborn and then bled to death at three distinct missed checkpoints — where the attorney's case turned on a partial autopsy report that stopped at the lungs and never reached the reproductive organs that mattered — and explains how she recognized immediately that the report was incomplete and what it took to get the full record. They also discuss the competency case where a single piece of admission documentation — the granddaughter signing as medical power of attorney — proved the patient could not have knowingly transferred property and won the case, the case that looked like negligence until the records showed three dozen documented refusals of care from the patient herself, why home health and pediatric cases are fundamentally different from hospital negligence because there is no backup team and the nurse is alone making life-or-death decisions in someone's living room, how she locates and vets expert witnesses including checking license status and publication history, and why the 400,000 government recoupment demand she brought down to zero through documentation recovery and outside-the-box sourcing is the case she is most proud of. Angela Barker is the founder of Covenant Legal Nurse Consulting, serving attorneys and home health agencies nationwide. Connect with Angela Barker: LinkedIn: Angela Barker, RN San Antonio, Texas (serving clients nationwide remotely) Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Angela Barker 00:42 Running investigations into patient deaths and abuse allegations as a healthcare administrator 01:41 How unexpected death investigations worked in home health — was the nurse present, did they follow emergency protocols 02:51 The competency assessments and lab simulations she ran before sending nurses to high-acuity patients 03:36 Burning out after COVID — staffing shortages, no rate increases, always on call — and the pivot to legal nurse consulting 04:48 Starting the business in 2022, the mentorship program, and joining BNI to build referrals 05:17 Learning to sell to attorneys instead of case managers — the mindset shift required 06:31 An attorney just got 4,000 pages of records — what is the first thing they should do before opening the stack 07:46 What a medical chronology actually is and how it structures the timeline of care 08:23 The most dangerous mistake attorneys make reviewing medical records without clinical background 09:12 What she looks for first in any case — timeline, who was involved, what led up to the injury, what is missing 10:36 The most common missing documents that can make or break a case — autopsy reports, medication records, fetal heart rate reports 12:02 What the attorney receives at the end — the medical chronology, opinions on standard of care, definitions, research 13:32 How long a review takes — approximately 100 pages per hour and what affects that estimate 15:13 From initial conversation to delivery — the intake process, HIPAA compliant SharePoint, contracts, revisions 16:43 The types of cases she sees most and which are most medically complex 18:57 What makes home health and pediatric cases fundamentally different from hospital negligence 20:50 How she locates and vets expert witnesses — LinkedIn searches, license checks, disciplinary history, CV and fee schedule 22:36 What she gives an attorney that a paralegal cannot — knowing what is missing, medication interactions, specialty protocols 24:33 The competency case — the granddaughter signed as medical power of attorney and that single fact won the case 25:54 The wrongful death case — a stillborn delivery, three missed bleeding checkpoints, and a partial autopsy that stopped at the lungs 28:10 Was the partial autopsy intentional concealment #AngelaBarker #CovenantLegalNurseConsulting #TrustcastShow #LegalNurseConsultant #MedicalMalpractice #MedicalRecordsReview #HomeHealth #HealthcareCompliance #MedMal #NurseConsultant

What happens when a licensed marriage and family therapist who grew up in Los Angeles watching pastors, doctors, nurses, and high achievers give everything they had to the people around them while quietly neglecting themselves decides that the most important thing she can do is teach people how to refill before they run completely dry — and then extends that same mission to third graders who are still young enough to build those habits before they ever need to unlearn the bad ones? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Ash Reynolds, founder of Modern Day Wellness Group, about the difference between regular tiredness and actual burnout, why compassion fatigue is particularly insidious in caregiving and service professions because the people most affected love what they do and would never think to slow down, and why the client who looks like a shining star on the outside — thriving academically, active in student government, playing sports — can be the one most deeply struggling in private. Ash also explains why pastors who preach vulnerability from the pulpit are still people who need rest, and why community is supposed to hold them so they are not the only ones responsible for their own restoration. They also discuss emotional regulation — what it actually means, why it affects everything from relationships to career trajectories to physical health, and how a 16-year-old's suicidal ideation gradually resolved as he learned to name what was happening inside him and trust that the people around him would lean in and listen — the Wellness for Kids program Ash co-created with Chelsea Ferguson that teaches third graders the stop technique, deep breathing, and the difference between bullying and tattling, including the moment yesterday when a little girl grabbed the microphone and told 50 students the right response to bullying is to fight back and the whole room cheered, and what Ash's five-year vision looks like — clinicians under her license, school districts running the program at scale, an app that makes emotional regulation tools available to every child regardless of whether their parents can afford therapy. Ash Reynolds is a licensed marriage and family therapist and founder of Modern Day Wellness Group in Los Angeles, California. Connect with Ash Reynolds: moderndaywellness.org Psychology Today: search Ashinee Reynolds Wellness for Kids: wellness4kids.org Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Ash Reynolds 00:55 Growing up in LA watching ministry leaders, doctors, and nurses run on empty — and realizing burnout was the problem she was meant to solve 01:51 How do I know if it's burnout or just regular tiredness — the difference in that feeling of going through the motions 02:42 Compassion fatigue versus burnout — why they are similar and which one is more specific to service professions 03:08 If you love what you do, how can you still have compassion fatigue — the nurse who forgets to eat 03:54 What Ash actually does with her clients — one on one, the basics people forget when they are too busy 05:08 Why pastors and ministry leaders resist admitting they are struggling even when they preach vulnerability 05:52 Her current practice — one on one therapy, the Wellness for Kids launch, and the workshop she hosted yesterday 06:58 What emotional regulation actually means and why it matters 08:03 Wellness for Kids — the curriculum, what it covers, and why it was created 09:38 The program components — emotional regulation, bullying versus tattling, physical wellness, and mindfulness 10:09 Bullying versus tattling — why both words sound pejorative and what the distinction actually teaches kids 11:14 A success story from individual therapy — the 16-year-old who looked like a shining star and was quietly struggling with suicidal ideation 13:09 How he ended up in her care — referrals, and why word of mouth is the best marketing 14:00 Yesterday's Wellness for Kids workshop — the little girl who grabbed the microphone and told 50 students to fight back 15:44 How the Wellness for Kids program reaches schools and who pays for it — right now nobody does 17:11 Is the goal to turn Wellness for Kids into a business or keep it as a sidelight 17:51 What the five-year vision looks like — clinicians under her license, school districts, an app, and parent training 19:14 Her own story — Belize, St. Louis, Los Angeles, being told she would never get into Pepperdine, and why she believes mentors change everything 20:41 Where Modern Day Wellness Group is in five years — Wellness for Kids as a subsector, referrals into therapy, parent training layered in 21:44 The compassion fatigue workshop at Harvard — what surprised her about how the audience received it 22:42 Healing expands when we work together — what that phrase actually means in practice #AshReynolds #ModernDayWellness #TrustcastShow #CompassionFatigue #EmotionalRegulation #WellnessForKids #BurnoutPrevention #TherapistLA #MFT #ChildWellness

What happens when a psychiatric social worker who spent 12 years inside the mental health system before going to law school teams up with a former Philadelphia DA prosecutor who took 60 jury trials to verdict, got nominated to the Chester County bench by two separate governors, and sat in every division of the Court of Common Pleas — and they both end up at one of the oldest law firms in Pennsylvania doing what they each love most? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with John McKenna and Lou Mincarelli of MacElree Harvey about the full landscape of what they do — from Orphan's Court will contests and guardianships for incapacitated adults to criminal defense and civil litigation — and why the collaborative arbitration model John pioneered is quietly changing how families and businesses resolve disputes in the Delaware Valley. Lou explains what collaborative arbitration actually is — a hybrid where parties still participate and present their case like in mediation, but the arbitrator can make a binding decision at the end if the parties cannot reach agreement themselves — and why knowing that the arbitrator can step in and decide actually tends to push parties toward resolution faster than either pure mediation or traditional arbitration alone. They also discuss what actually happens inside a police interrogation room and why police are legally permitted to lie to suspects, why Miranda rights only kick in during custodial interrogation and not at the moment of arrest, what the one conversation families refuse to have that costs them the most in estate disputes — communicating the reasons behind their estate plan while they are still alive — what Lou's biggest pet peeve was in his courtroom when attorneys repeatedly broke the rules of civility, why 60 jury trials taught him that you can never take any particular set of facts for granted with a jury, and why the cost of preparing for trial is the thing clients almost never factor in when they refuse to consider mediation or arbitration. John McKenna and Lou Mincarelli are partners at MacElree Harvey, one of Pennsylvania's oldest and most respected law firms, serving clients across Southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland. Connect with John McKenna and Lou Mincarelli: maceleeharvey.com West Chester, Pennsylvania Chapters 00:00 Introduction to John McKenna and Lou Mincarelli of MacElree Harvey 00:38 First impressions — the judge meets the psychiatric social worker turned litigator 01:44 Lou's background — crime victim advocate, Philadelphia DA, 60 jury trials, two appointments to the bench 03:20 What Lou practices at MacElree Harvey — criminal, civil, family court, and mediation 04:40 What Orphan's Court actually is and why it is unique to Pennsylvania 05:27 John's role — wills, trusts, guardianships, and court-appointed mediator in Orphan's Court 06:52 My parent just died and the will is completely different from what we were always told — what is the first move 07:41 How mediation works in will contest cases and why it is usually resolved in one day 08:48 Why both mediation and arbitration exist — uncertainty, cost, time, and the risk of losing a case you should have won 10:42 Caucusing — separating parties and doing the arm twisting in separate rooms 11:50 The arbitrator explaining the difference between mediation and arbitration 15:18 Collaborative arbitration explained — putting people back in the process with a binding backstop 17:23 Is collaborative arbitration unique to Pennsylvania or to John's practice 18:25 The key advantage of collaborative arbitration — parties know how the arbitrator is leaning in real time 20:18 How arbitration differs from a jury trial — the cost and time savings explained 22:15 I just got arrested — what are the first two things I should do before saying a single word 22:35 Why police are legally permitted to lie to suspects and how interrogation tactics actually work 24:47 The misconception about Miranda rights — they only apply during custodial interrogation 25:55 When to speak and when not to speak — including federal grand jury subpoenas 27:27 Lou took 60 jury trials to verdict — what do juries most consistently misunderstand 28:42 How model jury instructions work in Pennsylvania and why attorneys have to hammer the law home in plain language 29:42 Can a judge overrule a jury — when and how 31:02 What happens when something prejudicial slips into a trial and whether a mistrial is the answer 32:25 Rapid fire — John on Sunday mornings, Lou on prosecution versus defense 33:27 The one conversation families refuse to have that causes the most estate disasters #JohnMcKenna #LouMincarelli #MacElreeHarvey #TrustcastShow #CollaborativeArbitration #OrphansCourt #WillContest #CriminalDefense #ChesterCountyLaw #PennsylvaniaLaw

What happens when a British kid who grew up watching his father build businesses from nothing comes to America for college, stumbles into a trial courtroom as a law school intern and knows within five minutes that's where he belongs, spends five years trying 200 jury trials including capital murder cases for Palm Beach County, walks away burned out, loses himself for a decade trying desperately not to be a lawyer, loses his father 11 months into a new practice, watches a family member get Baker acted two days after the burial, and then builds the firm that Florida families — and families from Oregon, Hawaii, New Jersey, and North Carolina — call at 2 a.m. when a loved one is disappearing into addiction? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Mark Astor, founder of the Mental Health Addiction Law Firm, about the Marchman Act, the Baker Act, and guardianship — the three Florida statutes that together give families legal authority to make the decision their loved one's hijacked brain cannot make — and why the disease itself is one of the reasons someone won't go to treatment, because the disease does not want its own antidote. Mark explains why a Baker Act detention has none of the due process protections of a criminal arrest despite the fact that the person being detained has done nothing wrong, why facilities with health insurance incentives are motivated to keep patients and document accordingly, and why he files more habeas petitions than any other attorney in Florida after watching those patterns up close. They also discuss what happens when a family calls at noon on Monday and how a pod of an associate, paralegal, and law clerk gets a petition filed and an order sought before the end of that same business day, why the belief that you can't force someone into recovery misunderstands what the disease has done to the person you are looking at, the statistic that if someone stays in recovery for one year there is a 70% chance they stay for life, the family whose son was a market genius until marijuana sent him into psychosis and why it took eight months of Marchman Act and guardianship before he started turning the corner, and the adopted daughter whose father had marchman-acted her multiple times before she walked out of treatment, overdosed, and died — the call that still stays with him. Mark Astor is the founder of the Mental Health Addiction Law Firm, based in Boca Raton, Florida. Connect with Mark Astor: mentalhealthaddictionlawfirm.com Boca Raton, Florida Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Mark Astor 00:41 Starting at Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office in 1994 and knowing within five minutes this was the place 01:32 200 jury trials in five years — and burning out completely 02:48 A decade of misery, a failed marriage, an LLM, a presidential campaign, and failing the California bar exam twice 04:28 Meeting R. John Robbins and discovering the business side of running a law firm 06:10 Finding the people who needed his help — behavioral health — and why nobody was doing it 07:30 14 months before the first behavioral health case, building from a library with cheap coffee and Vistaprint cards 08:15 His father dying 11 months in — and then watching a family member get Baker acted two days after the burial 09:00 The mission of the firm — saving families whose loved ones are disappearing into addiction and mental illness 10:37 The three statutes — Marchman Act, Baker Act, and guardianship — and how they work together 12:15 Can we also work the other side — representing respondents and why Mark will take those cases 12:44 My son is in Florida rehab and just called saying he's walking out — what do I do in the next hour 13:47 How the Marchman Act works on an ex parte emergency basis — same day filing and orders within hours 14:00 Baker Act versus Marchman Act — the key distinction between substance use and mental health statutes 15:23 Guardianship — broader relief but why courts are reluctant to grant it ex parte 15:18 How the Baker Act works — the 72-hour detention, sovereign immunity, and the incentive to keep patients 17:06 Why Mark has filed more habeas petitions than any other lawyer in Florida — and what started it 18:24 Two Baker Act cases that show how it goes wrong — the mother-daughter misquote and the 80-year-old husband 20:30 Children getting Baker acted for social media posts and T-shirts after Marjorie Stoneman Douglas 21:54 What a significant period of detention actually means — up to six months and how facilities buy extra time 23:59 Who actually stays in these facilities — and the insurance connection Mark won't say plainly but will imply clearly 25:29 My daughter is 24 and using fentanyl and says she has no problem — when does a family have legal options #MarkAstor #MentalHealthAddictionLawFirm #TrustcastShow #MarchmanAct #BakerAct #AddictionLaw #FamilyAddictionHelp #SubstanceUseDisorder #FloridaAddictionLaw #HabeasPetition

What happens when a five-year-old who watched her father help people in his Dallas law office decides she wants that same response from the world, becomes the youngest prosecutor ever assigned to crimes against children in Collin County at 27, spends two decades in courtrooms trying to protect kids, helps recover nearly $3 billion for Texas counties in the opioid epidemic, goes to Singapore to fight child trafficking with Interpol, and then comes home, becomes a survivor who finally told her own story, and wrote the book that distills everything she has learned into a step-by-step guide for the 57 million American women carrying this in silence? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with JoDee Neal, former prosecutor, author of Outcry Witness, and founder of Neal Now Legal, about what to do in the first 24 hours after a child discloses abuse, why the perpetrators control the evidence they leave behind and why child credibility is established through how the outcry takes place rather than physical proof, and why the legal system — as necessary as it is — cannot be the foundation of healing because you are giving your power away twice. JoDee explains what grooming actually looks like before any abuse occurs, why the child who goes silent afterward is not recanting but surviving, and why the bravest thing she has ever seen a human being do is say the truth about what happened to them in front of the person who did it. They also discuss what makes institutions like churches, schools, and daycares legally liable when an employee harms a child — and the pattern JoDee keeps seeing where perpetrators resign rather than get arrested and then move district to district with clean background checks — the DARVO defense that corporations deploy when an employee comes forward, why the person generating income for the company almost never gets removed and the victim almost always does, what the beach ball analogy explains about why locking trauma away and surviving is not the same as living, and what her consulting practice now offers to both survivors and businesses who want to get ahead of the liability before it costs them millions. JoDee Neal is a former prosecutor, author of Outcry Witness, and founder of Neal Now Legal, a consulting and legal practice based in Dallas, Texas. Connect with JoDee Neal: jodeeneal.com neilnowlegal.com Book: Outcry Witness — A Former Prosecutor's Guide to Healing and Justice After Sexual Violence Chapters 00:00 Introduction to JoDee Neal 00:48 Growing up in her father's Dallas law office at age five — what she saw that made her certain 01:30 Youngest prosecutor ever assigned to crimes against children in Collin County at 27 02:18 A child just told me something happened — what do I do in the next 24 hours 02:56 I'm terrified my child won't be believed — how does child credibility actually get established 03:48 Reporting to CPS versus law enforcement — when to choose one and whether you should do both 04:39 The person who hurt my child is a family member — does going legal blow up the entire family 05:38 My child is acting totally normal now and won't talk about it — did I imagine it 05:59 What grooming actually looks like before the abuse starts — how perpetrators weaponize kindness 07:02 The statute of limitations for child sexual abuse in Texas and whether it is ever too late 07:50 Why the legal system cannot be the basis of your healing 08:19 Walking through what actually happens from first disclosure all the way to the courtroom 09:30 Best practices — the Children's Advocacy Center, the video recorded interview, and vertical prosecution 11:40 How do you avoid re-traumatizing a child through the entire process 12:45 Kids in court — bringing survivors to the courtroom in advance so fear of the unknown is removed 13:17 Why testifying in person has a healing property that closed circuit testimony does not 13:52 Cross-examination of a child — the constitutional tension that nobody has solved yet 15:49 Can you sue civilly without a criminal conviction — and what makes it worth the effort 16:50 What makes institutions legally liable — and what most churches, schools, and daycares are not doing 18:24 Perpetrators who resign rather than face arrest and move district to district with clean records 19:22 What systemic failure with pattern and practice of coverup looks like in discovery 20:34 Can a company report an allegation to the next employer without creating defamation liability 24:12 Outcry Witness — the book, the primary message, and what a reader takes away 25:29 The 45% of American women who have survived contact sexual violence — and what that number means for society 26:29 An adult who has carried this for 30 or 40 years — what does the book offer them #JoDeeNeal #OutcryWitness #NealNowLegal #TrustcastShow #ChildSexualAbuse #SurvivorHealing #CrimesAgainstChildren #SexualViolence #WorkplaceHarassment #ChildProtection

What happens when a trauma therapist trained in EMDR, interpersonal neurobiology, and dialectical behavior therapy decides that the most important work he can do is not in a clinical setting but in a coaching practice built around a single observation — that the most capable, dependable, highest-functioning people around us are quietly carrying more strain than anyone can see, and that the maintenance tasks required to sustain a human being are the first things to go when performance becomes the only priority? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Drew Sewell, founder of Avora Coaching, about what invisible strain actually feels like from the inside — hollowness, irritability, disconnection, no patience, and eventually the darker versions that show up as substance use or thrill-seeking — and why telling a high performer to back off is exactly the wrong framing. Drew explains state shifting, the nervous system reset technique he developed from his EMDR and trauma therapy background that can be installed in a single session and accessed with one word, and why the goal is never to stop building but to stop burning through the fuel that makes building sustainable. He also explains why the people who are functioning perfectly on the outside and feel empty on the inside are exactly who he built this for. They also discuss why vacation does not fix the problem — and why going on vacation with kids is not actually a vacation — what happens in the body and brain when someone has been carrying high pressure for too long and starts borrowing from relational and emotional functioning to keep cognitive performance going, how this work translates to legal proceedings where a witness or client whose nervous system blows a circuit at the wrong moment can tank a case that took years to build, the concept of the mind as a house and what it means to actually build usable capacity rather than outsourcing stress to alcohol or affairs or hobbies that just create more demands, and why nobody wants to work anymore is almost always a red flag that someone is building a skyscraper on a foundation meant for a house. Drew Sewell is the founder of Avora Coaching, a performance and wellness coaching practice based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, serving high performers virtually nationwide. Connect with Drew Sewell: avoracoaching.com Phone: 338-629-5044 Email: drew@avoracoaching.com Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Drew Sewell 00:41 Restoring what success has cost them — what that phrase actually means 01:26 What invisible strain feels like from the inside — hollowness, irritability, and the darker versions 02:04 High performers who are always exhausted — is sleep really the answer 02:48 The cross-country road trip analogy — stopping for gas is not backing off 03:20 State shifting explained — accessing a nervous system state with more energy and clarity in minutes 04:39 What a neural loop is and why high performers get stuck in them 05:58 How the state-shifting install actually works — the walking technique from EMDR adapted for coaching 07:08 Building the magic room — what memory-based state activation looks like in practice 08:11 How many times you have to do this to lock in the link — one time 08:44 When to rehearse it and how to strengthen the neural pathway with 30 seconds a day 09:40 Does state shifting come at the beginning of the coaching program 10:06 Virtual versus in-person, and what happens administratively before you start 11:01 The first session — installing the state, walking through future stress scenarios, and designing the system 12:26 How this impacts family life — coming home without resenting it 13:52 A story from practice — the high performer who starts fighting at home and drinking to take the edge off 16:39 Building usable capacity versus just feeling better — the difference 17:47 Going outside the house — affairs, alcohol, and hobbies that create more stress instead of solving any 18:28 If everything looks great on the outside but feels hollow on the inside — is that enough reason to reach out 19:28 The three-month program — six sessions, every other week, and why you have to build it yourself 20:16 Rapid fire — what Drew does to actually recover, one book that changed how he sees people, the question that always means something deeper 21:55 The red flag phrase — nobody wants to work anymore 22:47 State-based functioning explained for a non-clinician 23:30 What happens in the body and brain after carrying high pressure for too long 24:48 Why vacation does not fix it — and why changing your oil once a year is not a maintenance plan 25:50 What success actually looks like at the end of working with Drew #DrewSewell #AvoraCoaching #TrustcastShow #HighPerformerBurnout #StateShifting #ExecutiveWellness #PerformanceCoaching #TraumaInformedCoaching #NervousSystemReset #BurnoutRecovery

What happens when a psychotherapist and women's life transition coach who has lived through her own relational trauma decides that the most powerful thing she can do with that pain is build a platform, write in thirteen anthologies, launch a nonprofit to help women leave toxic relationships, and spend her career helping other women recognize the difference between a partner who lost interest and a partner who was lying to their face for years? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Sonia Rodriguez, founder of Transition to Wellness, about why so many women override their own intuition even when something has felt off for a long time — often because they haven't found the physical evidence yet, or because they are being told they are crazy, jealous, or controlling by the very person they are trying to trust. Sonia explains the difference between heartbreak and betrayal trauma, why betrayal trauma is one of the most challenging forms of trauma anyone can experience because it causes you to question everything you believed was real, and why emotional pain shows up so profoundly in the body — in sleep, in appetite, in shoulder tension, in stomach issues — because the mind and body are not separate systems. They also discuss why there is no timeline for healing and why rushing someone through it is the worst possible thing to do, what self abandonment actually looks like in someone who doesn't recognize it — constantly giving up what you need to stay in a relationship — how the concept of self leadership shifts that dynamic by building non-negotiables, why love bombing is the reason so many women end up asking what happened to the person they fell in love with, what attachment style theory explains about why people repeatedly choose the same kinds of partners, and what the one thing is that any woman can do today before she ever books a session to start shifting things. Sonia Rodriguez is a psychotherapist, women's life transition coach, author, speaker, and founder of Transition to Wellness, serving women navigating relational trauma, toxic relationships, and major life transitions. Connect with Sonia Rodriguez: transition2wellness.com Instagram: @transition.to.wellness LinkedIn: Sonia Rodriguez She Wins Women's Network: shewinsWomensnetwork.com She Rises Studios: sherisestudio.com Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Sonia Rodriguez 00:34 Who Sonia is and what Transition to Wellness actually does 01:00 I feel like I'm going crazy — the anger, obsessive checking, and intrusive thoughts — is this a trauma response 01:20 The power of intuition and why something feels off before the evidence appears 02:20 Why women talk themselves out of what they already know — and the role gaslighting plays 03:19 Are women uniquely different from men in how they navigate these situations 03:57 The difference between heartbreak and betrayal trauma — and why betrayal is on another level entirely 05:40 My body is falling apart — why emotional betrayal shows up so physically 06:03 The mind-body connection — The Body Keeps the Score and releasing trauma from the body 06:59 People telling you to just get over it — and why there is no timeline for healing 07:20 Triggers that appear years later even when the healing work has been done 08:48 The first real clinical step forward — not take care of yourself, but the actual first step 09:37 What clinical therapy with integrative wellness and spiritual practices actually looks like 10:43 What a typical session looks like — anger, sadness, relief, and the small goals that matter 12:04 Thirteen anthologies on Amazon and a book coming out this year on turning pain into purpose 13:07 How her own relational trauma became the foundation of her coaching, nonprofit, and community work 14:07 Why some women seem to go from one toxic relationship to another — and how to break that cycle 14:58 Love bombing — what it is, how it hooks people, and why the glimmers keep them stuck 16:00 Attachment patterns rooted in childhood dynamics — and why you keep choosing the same partner 17:08 Attachment styles explained — anxious versus avoidant and why that pairing creates so much suffering 18:56 What if you fall in love with someone you shouldn't — and how to decide what you're willing to give up 19:18 Self abandonment — giving up what you need to stay in a relationship 20:37 You can't fix people — what you can do instead 21:50 From self abandonment to self leadership — recognizing your non-negotiables 23:38 Who her clients are — ages 13 to 68, primarily middle-aged women navigating life transitions 24:19 What betrayal trauma after 43 years of marriage would actually feel like 26:32 Is it possible to recover from anything — and yes couples do choose to repair and rebuild #SoniaRodriguez #TransitionToWellness #TrustcastShow #BetrayalTrauma #WomensHealing #RelationalTrauma #AttachmentStyle #ToxicRelationships #SelfLeadership #WomensLifeCoach

What happens when a lawyer who spent 15 years defending builders against construction defect claims — learning exactly how insurance companies calculate risk, what motivates adjusters to settle, and what plaintiff firms do that make cases harder to resolve — wakes up one morning after pulling an all-nighter to write ten motions, taking a deposition, and driving straight to the courthouse without sleeping, only to get grilled by an insurance rep about a plan detail that didn't matter, and decides that maybe the homeowners with leaking balconies are actually the good guys? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Mike Kennedy, construction defect attorney at Berding Weil, about how an HOA knows whether water intrusion is a maintenance problem or a construction defect the builder has to pay for, what the 10-year statute of limitations in California actually means and how to find when your clock started, and why letting the builder come out and do repairs does not close your claim unless a new California bill passes that the building industry drafted to do exactly that. Mike explains the forensic investigation process — walking the property, homeowner questionnaires, destructive testing — and how a case that started with rusting fire pit igniters and canvas awnings in South Orange County turned into an eight-figure claim once the balcony leaks and slope movement were uncovered. They also discuss what happens when the builder has gone out of business and the only path to recovery runs through the subcontractors, why filing with the HOA's own insurance is almost never the right answer and can make the affordability crisis worse, how the contingency fee structure means HOAs typically spend nothing out of pocket, the war story about settling a $700,000 case for $300,000 and somehow getting in trouble with the insurance company for it, and what his internal reaction is the moment a defense lawyer opens with a lowball number — he skips the counter and goes straight to trial. Mike Kennedy is a construction defect attorney at Berding Weil representing HOAs and building owners in California. Connect with Mike Kennedy: mkennedy@berdingweil.com LinkedIn: Mike Kennedy California State Bar searchable at calbar.ca.gov Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Mike Kennedy 00:34 The moment he realized he was on the wrong side — the all-nighter, the deposition, and the insurance rep 01:45 Waking up and deciding the property owners are the good guys 02:22 Growing up in Mission Viejo watching the builders cover everything and developing a vague resentment 03:52 First job out of law school on the defense side — student loans and the first best offer 04:16 An HOA president just found water intrusion in three units — how do you know if it's a defect or maintenance 05:43 The 10-year statute of limitations — and how to find when your clock actually started 06:25 City inspection sign-offs — does city approval mean anything in a defect claim 07:39 The builder already did some repairs — does that close the claim 08:17 The pending California legislation the building industry drafted to cut off claims after repairs 09:38 Becoming an involuntary lobbyist — working with trade groups in Sacramento on HOA legislation 10:44 How 15 years on the defense side gives insight into what motivates insurance carriers to settle 11:50 The war story — settling a $700,000 case for $300,000 and getting in trouble for it 14:30 How HOAs find a construction defect attorney — usually through the community manager 15:05 The forensic investigation process — site walk, homeowner questionnaire, destructive testing 16:45 The case that started with fire pit igniters and canvas awnings and became eight figures 18:20 What to do when emergency repairs are needed but the builder has the right to repair 20:08 When the builder calls and says don't worry we'll fix it — should you let them 21:52 Should the HOA file with their own insurance — and why that almost never makes sense 23:08 What happens when the builder has gone under and has no active policy 24:55 How much is this going to cost us — the contingency fee model explained 26:15 How to stretch the settlement across priorities and sometimes have money left over 27:05 The South Orange County eight-figure case from start to finish 30:02 Town halls every 90 days, coffee and donuts on Saturday mornings, and what you can and cannot say in public 31:15 When does a construction defect case go to trial versus arbitration 32:36 The four-week jury trial defending the repair contractor — and the defense verdict 33:36 Why juries key on something completely unrelated and how experienced trial lawyers account for that #MikeKennedy #BerdingWeil #ConstructionDefect #TrustcastShow #HOALaw #CaliforniaHOA #BuildingDefect #ConstructionLaw #HOAAttorney #HomebuildersLiability

What happens when a Queens DA prosecutor who spent six years putting felony offenders away in domestic violence and special victims cases discovers that everything she learned about expert witnesses, burden of proof, and preparing witnesses for hostile questioning translates perfectly into defending physicians — and then teams up with a partner who grew up inside a medical family, watched her physician father do expert work on malpractice cases, came out of Hofstra already thinking in anatomy and science, and built her specialty around seeing every case as a chess match where you are always thinking about the appellate record before the trial even begins? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Jennifer Higgins and Melissa Goldberg, partners co-leading the Medical Malpractice Defense Division at Abrams Fensterman, about what is actually going through a physician's mind the morning they open a summons, why talking to a colleague who has also been sued is one of the most legally dangerous things a doctor can do, and why the belief that the truth will simply come out at trial is one of the costliest assumptions in the field. Jennifer walks through the Perry Mason moment she actually experienced — forcing the plaintiff's expert to admit that the book he edited was authoritative, then hammering him on the specific chapter her client had followed to the letter, until he announced he didn't care about the book and sent his water cup flying — and explains how she used pasta to help a jury understand the difference between an arteriovenous malformation in the lung versus elsewhere in the body. They also discuss the causation defense that Melissa used to win a rheumatic fever case at the appellate division after losing summary judgment — where even a correct diagnosis on the day of the visit could not have changed the patient's outcome — why the hospital or employer is not always on the physician's side, how the appellate record has to be built during trial before anyone knows whether an appeal will be needed, and why Abrams Fensterman's one-stop-shop model gives physicians something most malpractice defense firms simply cannot offer. Jennifer Higgins and Melissa Goldberg are partners co-leading the Medical Malpractice Defense Division at Abrams Fensterman in Lake Success, New York. Connect with Jennifer Higgins and Melissa Goldberg: abramslaw.com Phone: 516-328-2300 Lake Success, New York Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Jennifer Higgins and Melissa Goldberg 00:54 Jennifer's path — six years as a Queens DA in domestic violence and special victims, then pivoting to physician defense 02:11 What pulled her out of the DA's office — student loans, a love of complexity, and the courtroom 03:23 Working with DNA and medical experts as a prosecutor — and how that prepared her for retaining defense experts 03:53 Melissa's path — growing up in a medical family and going straight into healthcare defense 05:09 A doctor opens a summons on a Tuesday morning — what is happening inside that person's mind 05:41 The first call to the insurance carrier — notify immediately and request preferred counsel 06:43 Doctors who don't even know who the plaintiff is — how that happens and how the team handles it 07:50 Over 95% of physicians experience significant emotional distress when sued — what Jennifer sees across the table 08:13 Hand-holding through every step — phone calls on weekends and bringing the blood pressure down 09:30 When malpractice leads to OPMC licensing issues — working hand in hand with the full-service team 10:01 Jennifer as the litigator, Melissa as the strategist and appellate thinker — how the two roles work together 11:09 Seeing every case as a chess match — anticipating every move before making any decision 11:25 How often cases actually reach trial — and why preparing every case for trial is the standard anyway 11:48 The discovery process — medical records, depositions, and the path to resolution 12:43 Path A versus path B — thinking through long-term ramifications of every litigation decision 13:08 Building the appellate record during trial — why having appellate counsel in the room matters 14:06 Notifying the insurance carrier and what to say and what never to say on that first call 15:19 The cardinal rule — talk only to your carrier and your lawyer, nobody else 16:55 The physician deposition — talking too much is the single biggest mistake 17:43 How deposition differs from trial — open questions versus controlled cross-examination 18:39 Preparing physicians for deposition — you do not throw them to the wolves 19:32 Taking apart the plaintiff's medical expert — cross-examination and prior contradictory testimony #JenniferHiggins #MelissaGoldberg #AbramsFensterman #MedicalMalpracticeDefense #TrustcastShow #PhysicianDefense #NewYorkMalpractice #StandardOfCare #HealthcareLaw #MalpracticeAttorney

What happens when a clinical child psychologist goes to Russia as a graduate student to study children in baby homes — places where zero to four-year-olds may see 60 to 100 different caregivers in their first two years and never the same caregiver on two consecutive days — observes firsthand what sensitivity and consistency do when they're introduced into that environment, and then brings that insight back to co-create a seven-session therapy that is now turning around parent-child relationships in foster care settings and private practices across the country? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Dr. Brandy Hauck, clinical child psychologist and CEO of Red Leaf Psychology in Sacramento, about what she saw in those baby homes that confirmed what most people intuitively know but almost no institution was willing to act on, and how the directors of the control homes responded when shown the data — they said they didn't believe it, and what they were doing was better. Brandy explains the three things always at play when a child is melting down and nothing works — the child, the parent, and the relationship between them — and why the fastest sign that a child is struggling emotionally is actually the one most parents celebrate: the child who is perfectly behaved, never gets in trouble, and never takes a chance. They also discuss why the zero to five window is the most powerful period to intervene but it is never too late regardless of a child's age, how PC Care builds a positive relationship in the early sessions before ever touching the hard stuff like commands and consequences, the foster care story of a little girl who was terrified of her new foster father and how PC Care brought them to a place where he and his wife requested to move toward adoption, why foster children with disruptive behaviors get caught in a terrible cycle of placement changes that makes everything worse, and how PC Care's introduction into Sacramento's foster system during the first 90 days of placement measurably reduced that cycle. Dr. Brandy Hauck is a clinical child psychologist and CEO of Red Leaf Psychology in Sacramento, California, and co-developer of PC Care therapy. Connect with Dr. Brandy Hauck: redleafpsychology.com Email: info@redleafpsych.com Social: @TheNerdyPsychologistBookClub on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Dr. Brandy Hauck 00:34 Going to Russia as a graduate student — what the baby homes actually looked like 01:03 The baby home system in Russia — why children with disabilities were relinquished at birth 03:38 Three different baby homes in the study — no intervention, training only, and structural plus training 05:03 Sixty to one hundred different caregivers in the first two years — never the same face on back-to-back days 06:01 What happened to kids in the homes where sensitivity and consistency were introduced 07:21 Presenting the data to the other baby home directors — and being told they didn't believe it 08:07 How that research informed the creation of PC Care with Susan Timmer and Lindsay Armendariz 09:10 Seven sessions seems too short — why most of the gains happen in the first seven weeks anyway 10:02 My kid's melting down and nothing works — is this a parenting problem, a child problem, or something else 11:17 How do I know if what my child is doing is a phase or something that needs professional help 12:00 The sign parents miss most — the perfectly behaved child who never gets in trouble 13:04 What is actually going on behind the perfect child — over-control, anxiety, and the cost of the facade 13:38 My child went through a divorce, a move, or a loss and their behavior completely changed — what is happening 14:24 How the nervous system adjusts to stressful events and what that looks like in behavior 15:07 Is there a window where the parent-child relationship becomes too damaged to repair 16:09 Zero to five is the most powerful window — but it is never too late 17:07 A parent loves their child but genuinely does not like being around them right now — can therapy help 18:19 How playing together in session creates a moment where the parent discovers their kid is actually cool 19:27 Family therapy conflict causing families to quit — how PC Care avoids that by starting with easy 20:35 The seven sessions broken down — what happens in each one 23:00 One parent is all in and the other thinks therapy is pointless or is actively working against it 25:24 Where to find PC Care — Sacramento in person, virtual coaching, paraprofessional parent coaching, and group classes 27:13 For therapists — PC Care trainings in San Francisco in August and ongoing training across the country 28:41 The foster care story — a little girl terrified of her foster father and how it ended in a request for adoption #BrandyHauck #RedLeafPsychology #PCCare #TrustcastShow #ChildPsychology #ParentingTherapy #FosterCare #ParentChildRelationship #ChildTherapy #NerdyPsychologistBookClub

What happens when a molecular biology student who wanted to be a doctor until she worked in a hospital, pivoted to law school with healthcare in mind, picked up her patent bar along the way, and then took a mentor's advice to try FDA law — and discovered that most brands selling health and wellness products online are one Instagram post away from a problem they don't even know is coming? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Natasha Taken, founder of The Advertising Lawyer, about the single most dangerous mistake founders make when writing copy for a health product — copying what competitors are saying without knowing their science, their ingredients, or what's happening to them in the background — and why a several hundred thousand dollar settlement can flow from a single claim on a pack that may or may not have been substantiated. Natasha explains the critical distinction between a structure/function claim and a disease claim, why saying your supplement supports healthy sleep is legal while saying it fixes insomnia makes it a drug, and why the FTC and FDA are always watching regardless of how small your brand is. They also discuss why a civil investigative demand from the FTC is actually scarier than an FDA warning letter and can lead to 20 years of paperwork and headaches, what the FTC updated in its endorsement guides and why most brands in e-commerce still don't know about it, why hashtag ad is often not enough disclosure for influencer partnerships, what the current GLP-1 comparison minefield looks like and why supplement brands comparing themselves to Ozempic are asking for trouble, why a ton of glowing testimonials about a supplement curing serious illness will draw enforcement faster than almost anything else, and what a brand that has its advertising compliance dialed in is actually doing that most brands aren't. Natasha Taken is the founder of The Advertising Lawyer, an FDA and FTC advertising compliance practice serving e-commerce brands, supplement companies, and health and wellness founders. Connect with Natasha Taken: theadvertisinglawyer.com Email: natasha@theadvertisinglawyer.com Social: @theadvertisinglawyer on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Natasha Taken 00:46 One Instagram post away from a serious problem — was there a specific moment 01:03 The first year out of law school — a several hundred thousand dollar settlement over pack claims 02:29 From molecular biology to FDA law — why she left the hospital path and found the intersection 03:57 The single most dangerous mistake founders make when writing product copy 04:43 What is the difference between a structure function claim and a disease claim 05:32 Why supplements can say they support healthy sleep but cannot say they fix insomnia 05:56 Do nutritional companies make this mistake frequently — and why newer brands get it wrong 07:04 What the FDA and FTC are actually looking for — and how often they are watching 08:16 They're always watching — even small brands are not invisible 08:44 The made in USA claim crackdown the FTC is running right now 09:12 Can the FTC fine you for a customer review you never asked for 10:48 What makes a testimonial a legal liability versus just a review 11:01 What makes an influencer partnership a legal liability for a brand 12:01 Why hashtag ad is often not enough disclosure under FTC rules 12:32 Native advertising — when a news story is actually a paid ad and nobody discloses it 13:51 My competitor is making bolder claims than me and nothing is happening — does that mean I'm being too cautious 14:32 FTC investigations are quiet until they're made public 15:08 What changed in the FTC's 2023 updated endorsement guides 16:01 Fake doctors, AI-generated endorsers, and employees posing as customers 17:14 The speeding analogy — just because others are doing it does not mean you will not get caught 17:21 I sent free samples to influencers without a contract — what is the brand's liability 19:01 Rapid fire — the product claim that made her physically wince, favorite travel destination, dream FDA committee 20:19 What she does on weekends to completely not be a lawyer 20:37 What actually happens in the first 24 hours after a brand gets an FDA warning letter 21:31 FDA warning letter versus FTC civil investigative demand — which one should scare you more 22:36 A civil investigative demand can lead to 20-plus years of paperwork and headaches 23:44 What a brand with its advertising compliance dialed in is actually doing that most brands aren't 24:40 When a company realizes mid-investigation that their own documents don't make them look great 25:55 How Natasha helps a brand figure out what claims they can actually make #NatashaTaken #TheAdvertisingLawyer #TrustcastShow #FDACompliance #FTCMarketing #HealthProductClaims #InfluencerMarketing #SupplementLaw #AdvertisingLaw #EcommerceLaw

What happens when a certified athletic trainer who played three sports in high school and four years of college baseball, spent his first career taping ankles and rehabbing hamstrings on the field, walks into a clinical operations role at a multi-location healthcare practice and discovers he loves the data, the KPIs, the marketing cycles, and the standard operating procedures just as much as he ever loved the field — and then builds an entire personal and professional philosophy around three words he wears on his wrist every single day? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Frank Mayo, COO of NJ Sports Spine and Wellness in New Jersey, about what Never Miss Twice actually means and how Atomic Habits shaped the way he thinks about consistency, discipline, and forgiving yourself for missing one day without letting it become two. Frank walks through the three KPIs that tell him the most about the real health of a clinical practice — referral source, cancellation rate, and retention rate — and why the most meaningful one is always where the patient referrals are coming from, because that number tells you whether the community actually trusts what you're doing. He also explains why he tells every provider he manages that he works for them, not the other way around, and what it actually looks like to practice servant leadership in a clinical environment where the stakes are people's health. They also discuss what it costs a clinical practice to fight with insurance every single year — declining reimbursement rates, rising deductibles, and the internal billing team that makes it survivable — why private equity ownership filters all the way down to the front desk and how patients feel the difference between a practice owned by clinicians who still treat patients versus one owned by a firm chasing benchmarks, why the gold is always underneath your feet rather than somewhere else you haven't looked yet, and why if you're not evolving as an independent practice every single year, you're dying. Frank Mayo is the COO of NJ Sports Spine and Wellness, a multi-location sports medicine and orthopedic practice with offices in Matawan and Marlboro, New Jersey. Connect with Frank Mayo: njsportsspineandwellness.com Phone: 908-8NO-PAIN Instagram: @Frank.J.Mayo Matawan and Marlboro, New Jersey 00:00 Introduction to Frank Mayo 00:34 The Never Miss Twice philosophy — where it came from and what it actually means 01:30 Atomic Habits, building consistent patterns, and forgiving yourself for missing one day 02:50 The wristband that keeps the mantra in front of him every single day 03:39 From Salisbury University to head athletic trainer at Stepinac High School to clinical operations 04:03 The mentor who told him the gold is underneath your feet — and what that changed 05:00 Why influencing multiple providers beats treating patients one at a time with two hands 06:35 What NJ Sports Spine and Wellness actually does — conservative and medical services under one roof 07:34 What the typical patient looks like — spine, orthopedics, concussion, and everything in between 08:41 Retooling from athletic training to spine rehabilitation when he made the clinical transition 10:54 Being intimately involved in KPIs every single day — and why data alone is never enough 11:30 Why great COOs go into the office and talk to the people driving the numbers instead of just reading reports 12:22 The discharge paradox — your goal is to get patients better and out the door 13:55 Referral source as the number one KPI that reveals the health of the company 15:04 Cancellation rate and retention rate — what those two numbers actually tell you about your providers 17:53 How patient volume is managed across providers without putting marketing pressure on clinicians 18:20 The marketing team's role — digital, community, schools, tournaments, and seminars 20:15 When a patient referral asks specifically for their provider — how the schedule gets managed 21:15 Servant leadership in a clinical environment — I work for them, not the other way around 22:52 Private equity is buying up independent practices — is staying independent worth the fight 24:20 Why the owners being chiropractors who still treat patients changes everything about the culture 25:15 Insurance reimbursement declining, deductibles rising, and why evolving every year is not optional 27:11 Where NJ Sports Spine and Wellness is headed in the next three to five years 28:34 Two offices in Matawan and Marlboro — serving Middlesex and Monmouth County 29:23 How to reach the practice and book same day or next day #FrankMayo #NJSportsSpineWellness #TrustcastShow #NeverMissTwice #ClinicalOperations #HealthcareLeadership #ServantLeadership #SportsMedicine #IndependentPractice #PhysicalTherapy