Explore every episode of the podcast Trial Lawyers University

Four years ago, Jenn Gore came to Trial Lawyers University running a volume pre-lit firm in Atlanta, looking to build up its litigation department. Since then, she grew Atlanta Personal Injury into one of the largest female-owned firms in the country, sold it to Sweet James, and left firm ownership to coach lawyers full-time. Back at TLU in Huntington Beach, Jenn reunites with guest host Andrew Pickett, one of her first coaching clients. Their conversation turns to a blind spot she sees again and again: brilliant trial lawyers who struggle to run a business. Tune in to hear why Jenn says owning a firm comes with a fiduciary duty to be a good business owner.

☑️ Jenn Gore | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok

☑️ Evergreen Business Coaching | LinkedIn

☑️ Andrew Pickett | LinkedIn

☑️ Andrew Pickett Law, PLLC | LinkedIn

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 & 2027 Programming

☑️ Joe Fried & Joe Camerlengo's Trucking Bootcamp, Dec 8–12, 2026, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ TLU AI Conference, February 18–19, 2027, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ Phillip Miller's Advanced Deposition College, Feb 18–20, 2027, Huntington Beach, CA

• After meeting Dan Ambrose through Darryl Isaacs at a mastermind, Jenn came to TLU in 2022 while running a volume pre-lit firm in Atlanta, eager to build up its litigation department.
• Building a personal brand gave Jenn an asset that outlasted the sale of her firm Atlanta Personal Injury, and she explains why every owner should build one.
• In her coaching, Jenn pushes owners to get visibility into six areas of their firm, plus one wild card factor that no two firms share.
• Contingency practice demands what Jenn calls nerves of steel, and she breaks down the financial realities that make it such a hard business to run.
• Looking ahead to 2030, Jenn is building out Evergreen's services, including fractional COOs who want to coach others on being the number two in command.
• Who are you using as an unqualified therapist? Jenn poses that question to people who avoid therapy, then shares why she is now exploring EMDR.
• Owning a firm brings duties beyond the courtroom, and Jen has blunt advice for trial lawyers who only want to try cases.

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The defense blamed a 16-year-old mother for the crash that left her 10-month-old daughter paralyzed from the chest down. But Joe Camerlengo of The Truck Accident Law Firm saw it differently: Would a jury blame her, or the truck driver who had driven 29 of the previous 31 hours? Joe and his team turned down $90 million before settling just shy of $100 million the Friday before trial. A former insurance defense lawyer who now exclusively handles trucking cases, Joe joins host Dan Ambrose to explain how they valued the case and stood by that valuation. He also shares how “clean language” can turn a truck driver into a damages witness and why intensive client prep can increase case value.

☑️ Joe Camerlengo | LinkedIn

☑️ The Truck Accident Law Firm | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 & 2027 Programming

☑️ Eric Oliver: Case Story Bootcamp, Oct 20–24, 2026, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Joe Fried & Joe Camerlengo's Trucking Bootcamp, Dec 8–12, 2026, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ TLU AI Conference, February 18–19, 2027, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ Phillip Miller's Advanced Deposition College, Feb 18–20, 2027, Huntington Beach, CA

• Raised by a nurse and a brick and block mason after his father was killed in Vietnam, Joe lived in a tent twice: once by choice and once after his family lost everything.
• Seven years at one of State Farm's largest outside defense firms trained Joe to believe that soft tissue injuries didn't exist — until his own crash left him with one.
• Joe’s first tractor trailer case, the death of a 19-year-old on a county road, ended with a national trucking company agreeing never to run double trailers on Florida county roads again.
• Borrowed from psychology, Joe explains that the clean language style of questioning draws out what witnesses would rather not describe, and how he’s made it work over Zoom and through an interpreter.
• Rather than crucify the truck driver, Joe asks permission to save the crash for the end of the deposition, a show of respect that gets the driver to draw the damages picture.
• The same injury that makes a $1 million car wreck case can make a $5 or $10 million trucking case, Joe says, if you do the trucking case right and get to the aggravated liability issues.
• Joe's witness prep runs at least three full days, moving from learning the client's story to a hard cross, and then building them back up with themes that can answer any attack.
• Clients who testify with all five senses let jurors picture their own homes and families. That shared common experience, according to Joe, is how these cases are won big.

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The city’s best offer was $50,000 for a case most lawyers wouldn’t take. Sharif Gray’s team represented a homeless client who had spent 17 years in prison and gone at least six months without treatment after a library railing gave way behind him — and persuaded the jury to award $2 million. A former Army JAG now practicing at Gray Broughton Injury Law, Sharif joins host Dan Ambrose to explain the four questions his firm uses to build difficult cases. Drawing on that verdict and a $20 million result for a 13-year-old dragged at a psychiatric facility, he shows how disciplined case framing and getting your reps in the courtroom can accelerate a trial lawyer’s growth.

☑️ Sharif Gray | LinkedIn | Instagram

☑️ Gray Broughton Injury Law | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 & 2027 Programming

☑️ Eric Oliver: Case Story Bootcamp, Oct 20–24, 2026, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Joe Fried & Joe Camerlengo's Trucking Bootcamp, Dec 8–12, 2026, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ TLU AI Conference, February 18–19, 2027, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ Phillip Miller's Advanced Deposition College, Feb 18–20, 2027, Huntington Beach, CA

• Attending TLU Vegas on a scholarship in 2022 opened Sharif's eyes to what was possible in personal injury law, sending him home with more than 20 takeaways for his colleagues.
• Why does Sharif's firm hire former criminal lawyers? They already know the hard stuff, from taking a witness to getting in front of a jury, and can learn civil procedure in about three to six months.
• AI is here to stay, according to Sharif, whose firm uses Eve for medical records, demands, drafting, and legal research, though he questions whether he'd want AI feedback while he's in trial.
• Sharif's firm builds its cases on four "Gray questions," a framework the team applies at almost every phase of case workup and trial presentation.
• Suing the City of Richmond after its neglected library railing gave way beneath their client, Sharif's team showed jurors why the case mattered by opening with a photo of the courthouse railings they had all used.
• Borrowing a concept from Joe Fried, the team tried that case around what the client's herniated discs took from him rather than the injury itself.
• Sharif shares how a focus group reshaped the damages ask in another case, which produced a $20 million verdict for a 13-year-old dragged by his shirt at a psychiatric residential facility.

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In his early twenties, Sterling Hawkins and his father sold the company they built to a Silicon Valley group and raised over $550 million. When the housing market collapsed, so did the company, and Sterling went from a penthouse to his parents' house. At rock bottom, he chose to turn toward discomfort. Now the bestselling author of Hunting Discomfort and creator of No Matter What Adventures, Sterling joins host Dan Ambrose as the first non-lawyer guest on Trial Lawyers University. He shares how discomfort is a muscle that can be exercised and explains how to take that first step with a “no matter what” commitment. Tune in for insights on how a pattern interrupt can reignite a lawyer's spark.

☑️ Sterling Hawkins | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | X

☑️ No Matter What Adventures

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 & 2027 Programming

☑️ Eric Oliver: Case Story Bootcamp, Oct 20–24, 2026, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Joe Fried & Joe Camerlengo's Trucking Bootcamp, Dec 8–12, 2026, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ TLU AI Conference, February 18–19, 2027, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ Phillip Miller's Advanced Deposition College, Feb 18–20, 2027, Huntington Beach, CA

• After selling the company he built with his father in his early twenties, Sterling went from a penthouse to his parents' house when the housing market collapsed.
• Terrified of public speaking, Sterling replied to junk mail for a conference in Singapore, landed the keynote, and rehearsed for five months to get ready.
• Citing University of Michigan research, Sterling explains that the brain and body process mental, emotional, and physical discomfort identically.
• During the 2020 shutdown, Sterling broke out of a slump by taking on David Goggins' 4x4x48 challenge of running four miles every four hours for 48 hours.
• Sterling contrasts working harder and working smarter with what he calls the real work: making what was formerly uncomfortable, comfortable.
• Even very successful lawyers can lose their spark to routine, and Sterling explains how a pattern interrupt reconnects them with themselves and a community.

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Nine jurors blamed Kurt Zaner's client, a homeless man sleeping under a trailer, not the truck driver who ran him over. Still, when Kurt visited him afterwards, the man was as happy as if he'd won $10 million because someone had finally fought for him. That spirit drives Dragon Slayers, the listserv that Kurt, a Colorado trial lawyer and TLU instructor, built with inspiration from a fantasy author. Members share wins, raw losses, and referrals, guided by ideals like putting the journey before the destination and accepting that some clients cannot be saved. Tune in as Kurt tells host Dan Ambrose what AI still can't do on cross and how befriending defense counsel can mean less fight back.

☑️ Kurt Zaner | LinkedIn

☑️ Zaner Law | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 & 2027 Programming

☑️ Claude Cowork Masterclass, October 8–9, 2026, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Eric Oliver: Case Story Bootcamp, Oct 20–24, 2026, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Joe Fried & Joe Camerlengo's Trucking Bootcamp, Dec 8–12, 2026, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ TLU AI Conference, February 18–19, 2027, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ Phillip Miller's Advanced Deposition College, Feb 18–20, 2027, Huntington Beach, CA

• After realizing his talks all drew on fantasy novels, Kurt started Dragon Slayers, a listserv whose trial lawyer members stand between their clients and "dragons" like insurers and corporations, sharing wins, raw losses, and referrals.
• Kurt answers Gerry Spence's warning that you can't be a great lawyer and a great father with "informed consent": consciously choosing what to sacrifice instead of defaulting to nonstop work.
• Despite two years on a knee cart, Kurt still exercises daily and explains why lawyers need to stay healthy for their clients, their families, and themselves.
• Kurt's firm uses Supio to write every pre-litigation demand, draft discovery, summarize depositions, and draft directs and crosses, but he credits human creativity for his most explosive cross material.
• Because a case might still end in a loss, Kurt makes a point of embracing every victory, from a $50,000 settlement to winning a deposition or a motion to compel.
• After passing on a workers' comp bad faith case that Sean Claggett successfully tried to a $145 million verdict in Colorado, Kurt learned to be happy that the client found the right lawyer at the right time.
• For the last five years, Kurt has sincerely tried to befriend defense trial lawyers, which he says makes trials more enjoyable and has even led to case referrals.

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About half of any jury pool arrives assuming the game is rigged, and trial consultant Eric Oliver says you can't deny it. In his 41st year working with trial attorneys, Eric joins host Dan Ambrose to preview his new book, Assuming It to Be True, which tackles two hurdles jurors bring into the courtroom: unspoken assumptions and impaired attention. Eric explains why lawyers should approach every case as if it were a punitive case and frame damages as the deserved consequences of the defendant's wrongful conduct. Tune in to hear how the name you give the defendants can make their wrongdoing look worse, and how too much good evidence once cost a case against a cigarette company.

☑️ Eric Oliver | LinkedIn

☑️ MetaSystems Consulting | YouTube | LinkedIn

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 & 2027 Programming

☑️ Claude Cowork Masterclass, October 8–9, 2026, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Eric Oliver: Case Story Bootcamp, Oct 20–24, 2026, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Joe Fried & Joe Camerlengo's Trucking Bootcamp, Dec 8–12, 2026, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ TLU AI Conference, February 18–19, 2027, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ Phillip Miller's Advanced Deposition College, Feb 18–20, 2027, Huntington Beach, CA

• Eric cites research showing one distracted moment can cost you a juror’s attention for an average of 23 minutes — long enough to lose half of a 45-minute opening.
• Many jurors are more motivated to punish a wrongdoing defendant than to help an injured plaintiff, so Eric establishes the wrongdoing before asking jurors to value the harm.
• About half of today's jury pool are "post-truth deciders" who share a fear that the people in charge don't have their interests at heart.
• Using the story model of decision-making, Eric structures cases in the sequence every good story follows: the situation and characters, then the action, and then the aftermath.
• In a delivery trauma case, Eric explains how simply calling the defendants "the delivery room doctors" sets up a norm that makes a largely absent supervising OB look far worse.
• Most lawyers speed up on cross-examination, and Eric pinpoints the two reasons it happens.
• How do you lose a case because you have too many incriminating documents? Eric shares what a Florida tobacco case taught him about good evidence backfiring.
• When a client blows a deposition, Eric turns the question back on the lawyer and explains how the right preparation shapes how jurors see your client at trial.

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According to host Dan Ambrose, now is the "greatest time ever to become a trial lawyer" because all the strategy is out there. Fresh off his 59th five-day bootcamp, the TLU founder debriefs four working trial lawyers who came in frustrated by inconsistent verdicts, out-of-state competitors landing nine-figure results, and ingrained habits like rushing through openings. Using a truck versus motorcycle wrongful death case to practice opening statements and performance skills, they drilled the fundamentals that carry across every aspect of trial, from pace and breath to micro-connecting with jurors and creating space so a scene comes alive. Tune in to find out how mastering control of yourself can help deliver more impact in the courtroom.

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU Beach

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

• Fresh off bootcamp number 59, Dan explains that the same core skills of eye contact, hand movement, and voice control carry across all aspects of trial.
• Years ago in Iowa, Dan's mentor Dave Clark set him on this path with one idea: when you make the unconscious conscious, you become dangerous in the courtroom.
• Having completed his sixth bootcamp, Johnny Bond describes the training as a layered progression where at the advanced level, cross-examination becomes a trance built with the witness.
• Rick Sandoval explains why he joined the bootcamp: after nearly 30 years of practicing, he was sick of out-of-state lawyers pulling nine-figure verdicts in New Mexico.
• Steven's biggest takeaway from opening statements is micro-connecting with each juror so that they feel like a participant in the trial rather than one face in a box of twelve.
• After 38 years and well over a hundred trials, Sean Simpson admits he never trained pace and shares how this oversight prevents lawyers from connecting with jurors.
• Dan has no patience for lawyers who hand a client's deposition prep to an associate, and then blame the associate (or the terrified client) when it goes sideways.
• According to Dan, voir dire is essentially a script, and the best trial lawyers all repeat the same proven lines.
• Whether it's a jail, an airplane, or an asbestos exposure, the participants practice creating space so jurors don't just hear the story, they witness it.

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After 26 years trying cases, and several scheduled attempts he never followed through on, Sagi Shaked finally attended a Trial Lawyers University bootcamp, inspired partly by his son Tomer, an incoming Georgetown Law student who trained alongside him. In this conversation with host Dan Ambrose, Sagi shares what he took from five days of training: mastering the rhythm and hand placement of cross-examination, building visual space and illusion of movement, and practicing witness prep that helps a witness relive, rather than recall, an event. He also explains how he applies these lessons to building traumatic brain injury cases, distinguishing them from routine orthopedic claims. Tune in for insights on cross-examination, courtroom visuals, and witness prep.

☑️ Sagi Shaked | LinkedIn

☑️ Shaked Law | LinkedIn | X | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

★ After seven scheduled attempts, Sagi Shaked finally completed a Trial Lawyers University bootcamp, motivated in part by training alongside his son Tomer, an incoming Georgetown Law student.

★ Sagi and Dan Ambrose walk through the bootcamp's cross-examination fundamentals: leading questions, present-tense phrasing, effective flip-chart use, and controlling breath and voice.

★ Sagi describes how rotating between the roles of lawyer, witness, and juror during training revealed how hand movement and eye contact "lock in" a witness or jury.

★ Working through his own upcoming intersection-crash trial, Sagi practiced building visual space and the illusion of movement to make courtroom storytelling more persuasive.

★ During witness prep for a civil rights case, Sagi and Dan worked to help a badly beaten witness relive his story instead of simply recalling it.

★ Sagi explains why mild traumatic brain injury cases require a different approach than orthopedic cases, describing TBI cases as functioning like wrongful death cases for the family left behind.

★ Sagi shares how he uses TLU On Demand and his own conference presentations to pass along what he's learned to other plaintiff trial lawyers.

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From failed minister to car salesman to Oregon Secretary of State, Shemia Fagan has taken one of the more unconventional roads to plaintiff employment law. Now managing partner of six HKM Employment Attorneys offices and running over 200 active cases as the sole attorney on her team, Shemia joins guest host Stephen King and her partner Matthew Westerbeck to show how she does it: with Claude. Together they walk through a practical framework for trial lawyers — using the acronym TRIAL — covering AI-driven triage, research, intake review, advocacy prep, and continuous learning. Tune in for concrete strategies on email automation, judge simulation, deposition prep, and how AI frees lawyers to focus on the human skills no machine can replace.

☑️ Shemia Fagan | LinkedIn

☑️ HKM Employment Attorneys LLP | LinkedIn

☑️ Matthew Westerbeck | LinkedIn

☑️ Stephen King | LinkedIn

☑️ Kings Justice Law

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU Beach 2027

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

• Shemia dropped out of a bachelor of divinity program at Boston University, sold cars for a couple of years to save for law school, then graduated from law school in Oregon in 2009 — building persuasion skills at every stage.
• While working at a corporate defense firm, Shemia simultaneously served in the Oregon legislature, passing paid sick leave and wage transparency laws — and quickly realized she would never make partner at a firm whose corporate clients were her political adversaries.
• Representing her mother in an age discrimination case, produced a settlement that let her mom buy her first home ever; that moment of purpose drew Shemia fully to the plaintiff side.
• After discovering Claude Cowork, Shemia spent the entire following weekend building email triage and expense-report automation — a "camel's nose under the tent" that transformed how she runs her practice.
• The episode introduces the TRIAL acronym — Triage, Research, Intake, Advocacy, Learning — as a practical roadmap for how plaintiff lawyers can deploy AI across every phase of their practice without sacrificing professional responsibility.
• Shemia used Claude to download all prior deposition transcripts of an opposing attorney 30 years her senior, extract their patterns and rule citations, and build a cheat sheet.
• Stephen King describes sleeping only an hour and a half per night during trial because AI had already anticipated every contingency — letting him stay fully present for the jury instead of managing logistics in his head.

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Depression. Insecurity. Seven-figure verdicts that didn't feel like enough. Michael Cowen — national trucking lawyer, trial veteran with 130+ cases, and host of his own podcast — had achieved the kind of success most lawyers dream about, and it still wasn't working for him psychologically. The turning point came when he stopped chasing a specific result and started trusting the process. In this conversation with guest host Przemek Lubecki, recorded live at TLU Huntington Beach 2026, Michael opens up about the mindset overhaul that unlocked eight-figure verdicts, the mantra he still repeats while waiting for a judge to take the bench, and the firm-wide case review system he uses to prevent his lawyers from undersettling cases.

☑️ Michael Cowen | LinkedIn

☑️ Cowen Law on Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube

☑️ Przemek Lubecki | LinkedIn

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

★ Michael graduated from law school, clerked on the Fifth Circuit, and joined a big law firm in New York City.

★ After moving back to Brownsville, Texas for his future wife, Michael joined a plaintiff firm under mentor Ed Stapleton, tried four cases in his first year, and inherited his own law firm just four years out of law school.

★ Michael describes a prolonged period of cyclical depression, weight gain, and insecurity — driven by taking too much personal responsibility for case outcomes.

★ His mindset transformation came through intensive coaching with Sari De La Motte, daily use of "The Miracle Morning" routine, and a mantra about trusting judges and juries that he still repeats silently in the courtroom.

★ Michael explains that truly earning courtroom confidence requires two experiences: winning a case to prove it's possible, and losing a big one to prove you survive it.

★ At Michael's firm, no commercial-policy case is allowed to proceed to a demand or mediation until the attorney has first presented it to the full firm at their weekly Tuesday lunch — a structured review designed to prevent undersettling.

★ Michael's Big Rig Bootcamp (July 9) will feature live cross-examination demonstrations, medical testimony training, and a deep dive on why facet joint injuries treated with radiofrequency ablation are million-dollar cases.

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Some lawyers find the work. Others are found by it. Patrick Kang, founder of Ace Law Group in Las Vegas, watched lawyers in suits change his family's life when he was a child — and never forgot it. When his father, a GM factory worker, had an engine fall on him, the settlement became seed money for a shoe store — and a chance at a better life. Patrick joins guest host Chris Hammons at TLU Beach. After three straight defense verdicts in 2017 nearly broke his confidence, Patrick stopped mimicking the “reptile” script and won by adapting it to his authentic style. Tune in for insights on a $15 million slip-and-fall verdict, a 15-year sexual harassment crusade, and why non-economic damages are where cases are truly won.

☑️ Patrick Kang | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook

☑️ Ace Law Group | Facebook | Instagram

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

• Patrick's father, a GM factory worker, suffered a serious on-the-job injury when an engine fell on him; the resulting settlement funded a shoe store in Detroit and a move to Bloomfield Hills, Michigan — a turning point that Patrick now believes drove him toward law.
• After graduating from John Carroll University and Cooley Law School, Patrick moved to Las Vegas on his father's advice — the city had a fast-growing Korean population and zero Korean attorneys serving it, making him an immediate commodity at his first firm.
• Patrick founded Ace Law Group in June 2009 — the name chosen to work in both worlds: the Las Vegas playing card and the Korean cultural term for a standout individual.
• After three consecutive defense verdicts circa 2017 trying to deliver “reptile” scripts verbatim, Patrick decided to adapt the method to his own authentic style and began winning.
• A $15 million verdict against the Cosmopolitan hotel in Las Vegas for a slip-and-fall client who suffered a complete hamstring tear was built on non-economic damages.
• A 15-year personal crusade against Las Vegas sexual harassment defense culture ended with a $1.49 million jury verdict — won in part by a corroborating witness who spontaneously named the porn sites she caught the defendant doctor watching.
• Patrick builds client confidence heading into trial by wallpapering his office with 20 giant Post-it notes laying out the full trial plan: order of proof, key evidence etc. — then bringing clients in to see it.

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Most lawyers leave legal conferences with a notebook full of ideas and no plan to use them. Mohamad Ahmad left TLU Beach 2026 having already texted his tech team to implement what he heard — and he hadn't even left the session yet. A plaintiff attorney and TLU veteran, Mohamad joins host Dan Ambrose for a candid debrief on what made this year's conference stand apart — starting with the pre-conference bootcamp, where his biggest takeaway was a surprisingly simple one: breath training. When a trial lawyer stops breathing under pressure, the jury feels it. Train the breath, and the performance becomes natural. Mohamad also breaks down the workshop he led on demonstratives and his team's lecture on extracting evidence from government agencies that routinely withhold it.

☑️ Mohamad Ahmad | LinkedIn

☑️ Kermani LLP | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | X

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

★ Mohamad Ahmad describes TLU Beach 2026 as "the best 10 days of legal everything,” adding that he was genuinely sad when it ended.

★ His biggest takeaway from the TLU Bootcamp: breath training — when you stop thinking and just breathe, the jury senses confidence instead of tension, and your performance becomes natural.

★ Trial is like flying a plane with 25 moving parts; the bootcamp breaks each part down one at a time so that, in the courtroom, it all runs like a synchronized orchestra.

★ Mohamad led a packed workshop on demonstratives for trial: using metaphors, props, the classroom space itself — and his partner Michael Carter's principle that "you yourself are a demonstrative."

★ In a wrongful death case, Michael Carter places a casket in the courtroom "in a somber, credible way" and never violates that space — a powerful example of how physical demonstratives shape jury perception.

★ Mohamad and his team gave a lecture on extracting information from public entities — police reports, ambulance and fire records, DA files — because government agencies, by choice or incompetence, routinely withhold evidence at first try.

★ Brian Panish, in the middle of a trial that produced a $176 million compensatory verdict, showed up to TLU Beach on Saturday with a boot on his foot — a reminder that the top of the game still shows up every day.

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Topgolf was warned in 2012. A risk manager photographed the exact spot, flagged it, recommended safety barriers. Almost a decade later, a nine-year-old boy was struck in that same spot at a Portland birthday party and left with a traumatic brain injury — three metal plates now holding his skull together.

Anne Foster, founding member of Smith Foster King in Portland, tells guest host Chris Hammons how she built the case around a decade of ignored warnings, turned Topgolf's own marketing tagline against the blame-the-parents defense using focus groups, and forced Topgolf to pay the full verdict plus an undisclosed amount to avoid punitive damages.

☑️ Anne Foster | LinkedIn

☑️ Smith Foster King | LinkedIn

☑️ Chris Hammons | LinkedIn

☑️ Laird Hammons Laird Law | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

• After 25 years defending at Dunn Carney in Portland, Anne transitioned to plaintiff's work and found it transformed her career: "I found my life's dream. It wasn't just being in the courtroom, but I was actually helping to change people's lives."
• On Veterans Day 2021, a nine-year-old boy attending a birthday party at Topgolf Portland was struck in the head by a golf club — suffering a fractured frontal lobe requiring three permanent metal plates — when Topgolf's Bay host failed to provide the required safety tour to any of the bays that day.
• Philadelphia Insurance's risk manager had visited Topgolf locations as early as 2012 and recommended installing physical barriers, even photographing people standing exactly where the boy was later struck; Topgolf was told more than 10 times to put up a railing and never did, even as the chain expanded from a handful of stores to 100 locations nationwide.
• Anne found Topgolf's own website marketing language for kids' birthday parties — "You invite the kids, we'll take care of the rest" — and tested it in focus groups; skeptical mock jurors who had blamed the parents immediately shifted when confronted with that phrase.
• West Coast incident data produced in discovery showed hundreds of injuries over five years, the majority involving children, with 90% being strikes to the head and neck.
• To convey the brain injury's impact to the jury, Anne went beyond medical evidence — using adult family friends who were both teachers to testify about the boy's behavioral changes, and building the examination around stories she could reference visually in closing.
• Topgolf ultimately paid the full jury verdict plus an additional undisclosed amount rather than proceed to a punitive damages trial; the resolution followed a jury finding that the boy had done nothing wrong.

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Juries tune out — so Aaron Broussard tries his cases at what he calls "TV pace or TikTok pace," sometimes putting on 10 to 15 witnesses in a single day to keep jurors awake and engaged. The Lake Charles, Louisiana trial lawyer spent his first five years as a self-described "settlement lawyer," handling roughly 200 cases his father's firm didn't want. After attending the Trial Lawyers College, he tried 30 jury trials in five years. His biggest result came this past year: a $35 million wrongful death verdict after a cement truck hit a family on their way to daycare, killing an 8 year-old girl. Broussard joins host Dan Ambrose ahead of TLU Beach to discuss the slippery settlement slope and how he redefines "reasonable" for a jury.

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☑️ Broussard Knoll Law Firm | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

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2026 Programming

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

• Aaron's father, a lawyer and judge, was shot in his dominant left arm at 18 in 1968 and learned to do everything — including shooting shotguns and fishing — with his right hand.
• Growing up on the family farm, Aaron's father dictated each day's chores onto cassette tapes that Aaron played back on his boombox every morning.
• Aaron's first jury trial was a forcible rape case he won by acquittal — and his client paid him by painting the foreclosure house Aaron had just bought.
• After one good injury case earned his firm more money than his previous 90 cases combined, Aaron started shifting toward higher-quality cases.
• The Trial Lawyers College transformed Aaron's career: he tried 30 jury trials in the five years after, compared with just one before [44:30].
• To stop jurors from tuning out, Aaron now runs "speed trials" at TV or TikTok pace — sometimes putting on 10 to 15 witnesses in a single day.
• Aaron built a written "Sprint process" for his firm designed to move cases rapidly from the filed petition straight to the first set of depositions, eliminating the bottlenecks that leave files sitting in early stages.
• In his record $35 million wrongful death case, Aaron asked the jury for $90 million against only a $1 million insurance policy.
• The "equal trade value" damages argument never rang true to Aaron — there's no equal trade for the loss of a little girl — so he now confronts the money question head-on.

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A peaceful protester was left to bleed out in Seattle after paramedics fled the scene. Evan Oshan asked for $100 million and won $30.5 million against the city — without ever identifying the shooter. In this episode, Evan joins guest co-host Mohamad Ahmad at the TLU Beach House to break down the Antonio Mays Jr. case, including roughly $24 million in non-economic damages. He also shares how he got expelled from Hastings Law School, had the governor intervene to reinstate him, and built the solo practice that took on Seattle. Listen in to hear what it takes to defeat governmental immunity and the thing that actually drives him — it's not the money.

☑️ Evan Oshan | LinkedIn

☑️ Oshan and Associates

☑️ Mohamad Ahmad | LinkedIn

☑️ Kermani LLP | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | X

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2026 Programming

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

• Evan discovered he had severe dyslexia late in his college career and spent years learning through tape recordings and one-on-one conversations with professors, rather than reading.
• After a ruptured appendix knocked out most of his first year at Hastings, Evan returned at his father's urging, failed civil procedure, and was told "No, you're done" — until his father took the dean's letter to the governor, who got him reinstated the following year
• Evan struggled with the bar exam at first but eventually passed in Washington state on his first attempt there — a jurisdiction he'd chosen in part because it didn't use multiple choice, a format he found challenging.
• When Antonio Mays Jr., a Southern California man shot while peacefully protesting in Seattle's CHOP Zone, needed representation, nearly every other attorney had turned the case down; Evan took it anyway, despite threats made against himself and his family.
• A pivotal win in the case was getting past governmental immunity by establishing that city paramedics delayed the treatment of Mays Jr., which led to his death.
• Of the $30.5 million verdict, approximately $24 million was in non-economic damages — with no medical bills to anchor the number, only the truth of what Evan's client suffered.
• Evan is a sole practitioner with an upcoming case against the New York City Housing Authority involving a 2017 Harlem fire that killed six people.

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“Walking into Ozaukee County and telling the jury that it was worth $40 million was completely unheard of. I mean, people thought I was crazy.” In this conversation with host Dan Ambrose, Al Foeckler sets the stage for his wrongful death case on behalf of the family of a woman who was buried alive when a retaining wall collapsed on her. In addition to the conservative nature of the jurisdiction, Al also faced Wisconsin’s rules on damages in wrongful death cases: They are capped at $350,000 for adults and $500,000 for children, so value comes through showing pain and suffering. The case turned on a counterintuitive pre-trial decision: dropping the adult children's wrongful death claims after Big Data studies predicted doing so would nearly double the pain and suffering damages. Tune in to hear how Al won $15 million.

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2026 Programming

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

• In Wisconsin, wrongful death damages for adults are capped at $350,000 and for children at $500,000, so case value is built on establishing non-economic pain and suffering damages.
• Al’s wrongful death case centered on a woman who died from injuries sustained after a retaining wall at the senior community where she lived collapsed on her.
• Six weeks before trial, the defense offered $176,000 each to the decedent’s two adult children — just over the $350,000 wrongful death cap. But if accepted, the children couldn’t testify about their loss. Rejecting it meant risking paying the defense's costs if the jury didn't beat the offer.
• A Big Data study showed that dropping the children's wrongful death claims would nearly double the predicted pain and suffering verdict, so Al restructured the case.
• When the judge barred Al's large-scale recreation of the retaining wall as a demonstrative exhibit, he relied on building the scene spatially in the courtroom instead.
• Al is launching lawyersinthearena.com, a plaintiffs-only newsletter featuring trial skills and war stories, and will present three workshops at TLU Beach – including a deep dive into this wall collapse case.

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"Insurance bad faith cases provide an opportunity for those attorneys to get seven- or potentially eight- or even nine-figure results on cases that would otherwise be perceived as low-limit cases," says George Sidiropolis, a West Virginia trial lawyer who focuses his practice on these unique cases. In this episode recorded from TLU's recent bootcamp in Hermosa Beach, George joins host Dan Ambrose to share insights about how he holds insurance companies accountable. A must-listen episode for anyone interested in unlocking the potential of these cases.

☑️ George Sidiropolis | LinkedIn

☑️ The Injury Right Law Firm | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook

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2026 Programming

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

• As a newly minted law school graduate, George discovered that the go-to expert witness in a major bad faith case was being prosecuted for child molestation — forcing him, with no expert-finding experience, to cold-call Gary Fye, the "godfather of unfair claims settlement practices."
• George ultimately earned an in-person meeting with Fye that "changed my life" and opened up the inner workings of major insurance companies.
• George unpacks his motorcycle double-amputation case where his client was accused of driving drunk without a helmet and crossing a center line.
• His trial team prevailed on a motion to exclude “11th-hour” testimony from a state police officer who said that he had watched a pole cam video showing the client driving erratically; the team reframed the officer as a hero who identified the mark in the road that the crash reconstructionalist had ignored – and that would have proven that George’s client was in his lane.
• The jury returned an $82 million verdict, driven in part by the "sheer horrificness" of a double amputation plus TBI.
• George warns of a trend in which insurance companies are using AI — including photo claim assessment software and generative AI to set reserve amounts — to adjust claims, "sometimes without an adjuster." “It’s really unhinged,” he says.

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Joe Fried has a theory about why verdict values stay low in conservative states. “If there are cases where somebody's asking for $30, $50 million, and they're not getting it, I may need to listen to that. But if nobody is asking for that – if they're asking for $5 million in a wrongful death case – then of course they're not getting $30.” The celebrated trucking litigator returns to TLU to share lessons from two recent cases: a $2.3–$2.4 million verdict and a near-$100 million settlement. Tune in to this conversation with host Dan Ambrose for a masterclass in finding hidden trucking coverage, mediating at the start negotiation, and managing fear – but not getting rid of it entirely. After all, your client hired you to be their voice. “I hope you feel the weight of it.”

☑️ Joe Fried | LinkedIn

☑️ Fried Goldberg | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | X | YouTube

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2026 Programming

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

• Joe describes a back-to-back trial calendar year in which cases repeatedly resolved days — or even the morning — before trial.
• In Newport News, Joe represented the family of a teenager who was killed when the car he was riding in struck the rear corner of an illegally parked tractor-trailer.
• The jury returned a verdict of $2.3–2.4 million — beating the defense's pre-trial offers by roughly a million dollars.
• In a different case, Joe represented a 10-month-old girl who was left an incomplete quadriplegic after a truck rear-ended her 16-year-old mother's car. The life care plan was approximately $30 million – and the case settled for just under $100 million.
• At the upcoming TLU Beach, Joe will present on these topics: applying trucking methodologies to non-nine-figure trucking cases (Thursday); understanding his updated “speed trial” approach (Friday), and then back-to-back sessions on connecting with witnesses and covering trucking cases from the basics through advanced strategies (Saturday).

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After Sach Oliver got the defense verdict, he also got the worried calls. “Oh! Oh! Oh!” His response? “I’d go do it again.” The case is under appeal, but in this conversation with host Dan Ambrose, Sach offers a deep dive into the psychology of loss as well as the way to move forward. He and Dan also preview TLU Beach, coming up from June 3 to 6 in Huntington Beach. In addition to presenting two workshops, Sach will provide 500 pounds of beef for a “Wild West” dinner on Friday night.

☑️ Sach Oliver | LinkedIn

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2026 Programming

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

• Sach describes his team’s use of “dress rehearsals” for jury selection. “We bring in, I think, about 36 people on day one, and we do a full jury selection process,” he says.
• Sach previews his two presentations at the upcoming TLU Beach: one with Joe Fried about common tractor trailer cases and the other on training witnesses to get the video clip – including through an innovative use of horse training techniques.
• Sach explains how his team evaluates the business side of a case along with other considerations. Even with that evaluation after the defense verdict in the 2025 case against the construction zone company, “I would make the same decision going forward,” he says.
• When Sach’s Missouri ranch is ready, he’ll host a future “Depositions Are Trial” program. He gives Dan an update on the progress of the ranch.
• Dan previews for the two-day Witness Preparation & Direct Examination in May and TLU Beach in June.

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Two big-data studies predicted a verdict between $13 and $16 million. John Demas trusted his instincts and walked out of a Sacramento courtroom with $32 million. The case: An on-duty city detective swerved onto the freeway shoulder and killed two brothers, leaving two children without a father. John joins host Dan Ambrose to break down how he turned down a $15 million pre-close offer, spent 95% of voir dire on an "outside the box" damages framework, and opened with a Fleetwood Mac montage that had half the jury in tears.

☑️ John Demas | LinkedIn

☑️ Demas Law Group | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

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2026 Programming

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

★ John’s family emigrated from Greece to Sacramento in the early '70s; his earliest memories are selling fruits and vegetables at flea markets every weekend and summer through law school.

★ His parents steered him toward dental school so he could eventually practice in Greece, but a constitutional law class in his second year of undergrad flipped a switch.

★ After being laid off nine months into his first job, John opened his own firm at age 24 with a law school buddy.

★ The $32 million verdict was against the City of Sacramento after an on-duty police detective swerved from a freeway lane onto the shoulder, killing two brothers.

★ John ran an in-person focus group of 12 people to practice voir dire, recording it to get reps on the "outside the box" framework and the core wrongful death issues before setting foot in the courtroom.

★ In voir dire, John drew a physical box on an easel labeled "full value of the loss," then walked jurors through every outside-the-box concern — city impact, the officer's job, making kids rich, money not bringing anyone back — and addressed each one head-on.

★ In rebuttal, after the defense called the loss "immeasurable," John wrote that word on his easel and revealed that the city's suggested damages worked out to $1.50 an hour. “This is what the city thinks this loss is worth,” he told the jury.

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Eric Castelblanco was helping a client navigate the immigration system when she told him about her neighbor’s slip-and-fall in their apartment building. Would he help her? Of course he would. Not only did he secure a $250,000 settlement for that client, he later took a case for 92 residents who lived in squalor at the same building. The $2.14 million settlement compelled him to switch from immigration law to habitability law. In this conversation with host Dan Ambrose, Eric reflects on how he built one of California's leading habitability practices from scratch and how he keeps the firm driven to prepare every case as if it’s going to trial.

☑️ Eric Castelblanco | LinkedIn

☑️ Castelblanco Law Group | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube

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2026 Programming

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

• Eric immigrated to the U.S. as a toddler; his family lived in nine different apartments over 12 years, giving him a firsthand understanding of what it means to be a powerless tenant.
• His father worked in factories and car washes before opening a small machine shop. Working for his father from age 13 "really taught me the work ethic,” he says.
• Eric attended Loyola Marymount University, passed the CPA exam on his first try, worked two years at KPMG, and then enrolled at Harvard Law School.
• After five years in corporate law, Eric left because he felt a greater kinship with the plaintiffs’ lawyers he watched in depositions.
• Eric's first habitability case came through an immigration client who referred him to his neighbor, who was injured from a slip-and-fall at their apartment building. That led to a $250,000 settlement..
• When Eric's immigration client visited his new office to pay rent, he learned that the same management company owned her residential building — where 92 tenants lived in squalor. He mortgaged his house multiple times to fund their case and nearly went bankrupt before a $2.14 million settlement on the eve of jury selection.
• Castelblanco Law Group now operates with six attorneys and over 20 staff under the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), which Eric credits with transforming how he holds his team accountable and maintains a long-term vision for the firm.
• At TLU Beach, Eric will teach a lecture and workshop on how to identify, build, value, and try habitability cases.

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At age 37, Chris Hammons made it all the way to the jury level of the hit reality show “Survivor.” The jury voted him off. But more recently, two juries in a courtroom – not on an island – have voted for him in federal civil rights cases: In this conversation with host Dan Ambrose, Chris breaks down how he secured verdicts of $126 million and $2 million. Tune in as he explains why he takes on Section 1983 cases and why they’re so hard to win. “They aren't car wrecks. There isn't any negligence. You've got to prove this deliberate indifference in all these constitutional violations.”

☑️ Chris Hammons | LinkedIn

☑️ Laird Hammons Laird Law | Instagram | LinkedIn

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2026 Programming

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

• Chris grew up largely on his own after his father — whom he describes as "a mountain man, but … kind of an outlaw" — went to prison when Chris was around 14. As he explains, his dad was guilty – but the system didn’t work for him. That’s why he pursued law.
• Chris walked on to the University of Oklahoma football program after an OU coach called his grandmother's house. He rose from walk-on to team captain of the 2000 national championship team.
• After law school, Chris built his personal injury practice by forgiving criminal defense clients' fees in exchange for referrals.
• Chris was cast on “Survivor” in 2015 at age 37; he survived 50 days on the show, reaching the jury phase. He later competed on “The Amazing Race.”
• The $126 million verdict involved the death of an 18-year-old girl who was struck by an off-duty police officer speeding to retrieve keys for a department event. Chris reframed what some saw as a simple car wreck into a Section 1983 civil rights case.
• The $126 million verdict came in on Chris' birthday, April Fools' Day, with the judge reading "18 million, 18 million, 18 million" — each category set at $18 million because Emily was 18 years old when she died.
• Two weeks after the $126 million verdict, Chris tried a jail death case involving a man who developed a perforated ulcer during nine days in jail. He secured a $2 million verdict.

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Vancouver-based trial lawyer Robyn Wishart also studied neurology – a discipline that she leverages in the courtroom to get more from witnesses. “I think neuroscience and being able to control our emotions and our brain can lead us on a way, on a path that can move our clients into forgetting that they're in a courtroom and being able to deliver the story,” she explains to host Dan Ambrose. Tune in to learn why she uses a questioning technique called “clean language” to get at what a witness really means behind what they’re saying. She will teach that technique at TLU Beach.

☑️ Robyn Wishart | LinkedIn

☑️ Wishart Brain & Spine Law | X | Facebook | Instagram

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2026 Programming

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

• Robyn grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where she escaped the cold through volleyball — playing five years at the University of British Columbia before turning pro.
• Before law school, Robyn spent four years studying neuroscience at the University of Winnipeg and UBC, where she learned how visualization and attention control translate directly to courtroom performance.
• Robyn is the only Canadian trial lawyer ever to have taught at the American Association for Justice.
• Robyn was chosen by 250 professional athletes to be their voice in the Canadian Football League's CTE concussion litigation. The first test case centered on former wide receiver Arland Bruce. In arbitration, her team had no discovery and couldn’t do a deposition. “I got on-my-feet admissions I would never have gotten had I not put the work in,” she says.
• Robyn explains that "clean language" is a questioning technique that removes a lawyer's assumptions and redirects focus entirely to what a witness truly wants to say, using the witness's own metaphors to draw out deeper, more powerful testimony.
• Robyn argues that if lawyers leave deposition techniques at the door of the courtroom, they are leaving critical information on the table — the very information a jury needs to understand negligence and damages.

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Trial consultant Phillip Miller takes a deep dive into the two papers he’s written about depositions: one presents the scientific underpinnings of effective persuasion while the other focuses on experiential learning, which means getting on your feet and “actually doing the thing.” “It's great to take notes and have an idea, ‘Okay, here's the context for the behavior I need to model and adapt.’ But until you actually get up and do it, you're never going to be able to integrate it into your style,” he explains to host Dan Ambrose. Tune in for his insights about depositions and how his research aligns with Dan’s TLU training.

☑️ Phillip Miller I LinkedIn

☑️ Miller Law OfficesI Facebook

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2026 Programming

☑️ Turning Witness Testimony into an Experience for the Jury, May 8 - 9, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

• Phillip began trial consulting in 1999 and has developed it into his practice, working with top plaintiff attorneys on high-stakes cases.
• His “Miller Mousetrap” refers to when you learn a technique but don’t execute it confidently because you haven’t practiced it yourself.
• “Mirroring” is a core deposition skill Phillip teaches: a technique to connect with and control a witness that many lawyers dismiss until they try it.
• Phillip emphasizes that TLU similarly prioritizes content quality over outside influence, with the only "external control" being Dan's commitment to finding speakers who can deliver and teach what matters.

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Susie Injijian was running out of resources and out of time. She had put a few hundred thousand dollars into the premises liability case, got some litigation funding, and invested most of her retirement savings to bring it to trial. Tune in as she and host Dan Ambrose break down the complex case that dragged on from 2018, with two trials, until July 3, 2023, when it all paid off with a jury verdict of $25.5 million. “It was career-changing for me. I mean, my dreams came true because of it, and that's no exaggeration,” she says.

☑️ Susie Injijian | LinkedIn

☑️ Injijian Law Office

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2026 Programming

☑️ Turning Witness Testimony into an Experience for the Jury, May 8 - 9, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

1. Susie is the mother of TLU coach Georgio Injijian, whom she brought on to co-try the case after her original co-counsel abandoned ship in early 2022 with trial set for October.
2. Susie's client, an electrician, suffered severe burn injuries on his right arm when a fuse he was changing at an industrial property exploded in his hand.
3. Susie took the case right before the statute of limitations, filed a cross complaint against the property owner and tenant, and financed it herself.
4. The first trial in October 2022 ended in a mistrial after a defense lawyer claimed a family emergency mid-jury selection. The defense offered $600,000 to settle. Susie rejected it.
5. After the mistrial, Susie attended TLU Live in Las Vegas, connected with a jury consultant, and went to trial in April 2023.
6. During trial, the defense was caught running an unauthorized shadow jury — a demographically matched group secretly watching the Zoom feed. The judge offered a mistrial, but Susie declined because the case was going well.
7. Susie waived $450,000 in specials (medical bills subject to an ERISA lien and lost wages) to avoid anchoring the jury low and instead builtan entirely non-economic damages case.
8. On July 3, 2023, the jury delivered a $25.5 million verdict after a day and a half of deliberations.
9. Post-verdict, the defense brought a motion for a new trial. At that point, she had the total judgment at over $33 million. The defense asked to go to mediation; Susie said “no.”

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“From day one, I was taught the right way — because there's a right way and a wrong way." That conviction has defined Brandon Yosha's six-year career, which began with a $20.3 million verdict in his very first trial. Brandon joins host Dan Ambrose in West Hollywood to share the Nick Rowley mentorship that shaped his trial philosophy, the legacy of his father — Indiana trial legend Buddy Yosha — and the opening statement framework he'll be teaching at TLU Beach.

☑️ Brandon Yosha | LinkedIn

☑️ Yosha Law

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2026 Programming

☑️ Witness Preparation & Direct Examination, May 8–9, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Dark Arts Trial Warcraft Bootcamp, May 27–June 2, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3–6, Huntington Beach, CA

★ In high school, Brandon was at one point ranked the seventh-best running back in the country, but he suffered an ACL tear his sophomore year and another his junior year before rebounding for a strong senior season.

★ Brandon lettered as a true freshman at the University of Miami, where his freshman-year roster included 40 players who would go on to play in the NFL.

★ Five weeks from his first trial, Brandon cold-emailed Nick Rowley — and within one hour, Nick responded; the next day, Nick sent members of his team to Indianapolis to help Brandon prepare for trial.

★ Brandon's first trial involved an electric shock injury. The jury awarded $20.3 million.

★ Brandon's father, Buddy Yosha, has practiced law since 1963 and tried over a hundred personal injury jury trials in Indiana — more than any lawyer in the state's history — losing just six, four of which were his first four, before going on a 70-case win streak.

★ In his second trial, Brandon tried a case alongside Buddy; when opposing counsel objected during Buddy's rebuttal, the judge said "Sit down, counselor" before she could state her reason. The jury awarded $2.3 million.

★ Inspired by his first verdict, Brandon wrote From Running Back to Giving Back: A Lineage of Civil Advocacy, which became an Amazon bestseller in trial advocacy, reaching the top 20.

★ Brandon and Nick Rowley are co-counsel on a case against Amazon — which Brandon expects to go to trial next May.

★ Brandon is teaching an opening statement workshop at TLU Beach; he is asking workshop participants to send their draft opening statements before arriving in Huntington Beach.

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Three weeks before trial, George Moschopoulos got the call. A sexual harassment case venued in San Bernardino: no physical contact, no expert witnesses, no treaters to testify — and a plaintiff who had already been sexually harassed at three prior employers. The defendant's offer was $125,000. George joins host Dan Ambrose to break down how he reframed the bad facts into immovable case frames, sequenced witnesses to tell a compelling story, and fought to get a damning surreptitious recording admitted as substantive evidence. The jury returned a $2 million verdict. Tune in for George's approach to framing, voir dire, witness sequencing, and his upcoming workshops at TLU Beach.

☑️ George Moschopoulos | LinkedIn

☑️ The Law Office of George Moschopoulos

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2026 Programming

☑️ Witness Preparation & Direct Examination, May 8 - 9, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

1. In November, George tried a sexual harassment "he said, she said" case in San Bernardino with no physical contact, no experts, and a short-term, part-time plaintiff — and won a $2 million verdict.
2. George was parachuted into the case about a month before trial when settlement discussions between a $125,000 defendant offer and a $250,000 plaintiff demand stalled; by the time he stepped in, he had three weeks to prepare.
3. The case carried severe constraints: no physical touching (words only), no expert witnesses or treaters set to testify, and no before-or-after witnesses — leaving the plaintiff herself as the sole source of emotional distress testimony.
4. A surreptitious recording made in California, a two-party consent state, was initially at risk of exclusion; George argued at a 402 hearing that the crowded restaurant setting left the defendant with no reasonable expectation of privacy — and won, getting the recording admitted as substantive evidence.
5. George builds his cases around immovable "frames" — like steel columns supporting a structure — identifying bad facts first, then turning them into central themes; in this case: an unusually susceptible plaintiff (three prior harassment incidents) and every employee's universal right to dignity in the workplace.
6. His mini opening strategy is to front-load bad facts so the jury hears them from plaintiff's counsel first — surfacing jurors who may not be fair and impartial.
7. For cause challenges, George uses a sequencing tactic: start with the second-strongest challenge to test the judge's threshold, then move to the strongest to build momentum.
8. George sequenced his four witnesses across three acts: CEO first (bad actor, recording played on day one) → wife via video deposition → HR office manager → plaintiff last.
9. After the verdict, jurors told co-counsel they were put off by hearing the defendant's financials early in trial — a lesson George took about the risks of trying punitive damages in a single, unbifurcated phase.
10. George will teach two workshops and deliver two lectures at TLU Beach on framing and sequencing employment cases, and building cross-examinations of HR investigators, neuropsych experts, and executive witnesses.

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His dad taught him persistence. Soccer taught him strategy. Ted B. Wacker combines both skills in the courtroom. That’s how he wins what he calls the “civil war” of litigation. In this conversation with host Dan Ambrose, Ted traces a career defined by bold bets: from clerking on the Exxon Valdez oil spill case, to knocking out expert cardiologists in the bellwether case about Merck’s Vioxx pain medication, to leading a “monster” wrongful death litigation against Uber. He and his brother and law partner will teach the Uber litigation at TLU Beach.

☑️ Ted B. Wacker | LinkedIn

☑️ TBW Law on LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 Programming

☑️ Witness Preparation & Direct Examination, May 8 - 9, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

1. Ted grew up in Seattle where his father was a judge; as a young kid, he watched a client who had lost her leg in Seattle's first Bastille Day Parade toast his dad at a dinner for getting her a $500,000 settlement — the largest personal injury settlement in the city's history at the time. That memory quietly shaped his path to plaintiff's law.
2. Ted played on the state championship soccer team in Washington, earned all-state honors, received pro tryouts from Seattle and San Jose out of high school, and played at San Diego State — ranked No. 2 in the nation his senior year in 1987.
3. Ted paid his own way through law school by bartending and clerking. His first clerk position at San Diego's oldest and biggest plaintiffs’ firm came through a surprising connection: the firm's office manager turned out to be a distant uncle.
4. On the trial team case against the drug manufacturer Merck, Ted deposed both of retained cardiologists. Ultimately, the team won a $51 million verdict.
5. After transitioning out of mass torts, Ted scored back-to-back landmark verdicts: a $3.1 million elder abuse verdict with punitive damages (settling closer to $10 million after attorney's fees) and a $14.6 million verdict in a case where State Farm had refused to pay a $25,000 policy.
6. Ted's advice to aspiring trial lawyers: Find a mentor, prioritize getting into trial, and understand that there is no better teacher than actually practicing in the courtroom and getting reps in trial.

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At four years old, Ryan Medler had cancer — and the doctor who nearly missed it changed his family's legal history. His mother quit her defense firm and launched the plaintiff practice that Ryan now calls home, Medler Law. He joins host Dan Ambrose to share highlights of his path, which includes 11 trials to date. Tune in as he reflects on his first trial that earned him thousands less than he’d asked for, his innovative decision to bring a habitability claim into a slip-and-fall case, and the chainsaw case that he brought under a section of the California labor code. As he says: It’s more interesting than it sounds.

Train and Connect with the Titans

☑️ Ryan Medler

☑️ Medler Law | Facebook | Instagram | X | YouTube

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 Programming

☑️ Witness Preparation & Direct Examination, May 8 - 9, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Dark Arts Trial Warcraft Bootcamp, May 27 - June 2, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

Episode Snapshot

• Ryan grew up in St. Louis, attended UCLA for his undergraduate degree, and then moved to New York, managing nightclubs for several years before enrolling at New York Law School on a full scholarship.
• Ryan began his legal career as a floater at Wilshire Law Firm before joining trial attorney Gene Sullivan's five-person firm, where he co-first-chaired nine trials in just over three years. He now practices at the firm that his parents founded.
• In a slip-and-fall case against a slumlord with a leaking skylight over a staircase, Ryan won over $6.5 million at verdict — a figure that grew to more than $9 million by the time it was paid out.
• Ryan added a habitability claim to that slip-and-fall so he could introduce photos of mold, rats, holes in walls, and exposed wiring. Post-trial, jurors confirmed that the photos made them so angry they raised all damages across the board.
• Ryan's takeaway from his “chainsaw” case under a California labor code: Rather than attacking the opposing witness directly, he used that witness to expose six lies told by the defendant, defense counsel, and defense expert. The defense settled for the $1.5 million policy limit.
• Ryan will teach a case analysis session and trial preparation workshop at TLU Beach.

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Orlando De Castroverde was done referring his best cases to other lawyers. A billboard lawyer and co-owner of a Las Vegas personal injury firm, Orlando had the cases — he just needed the conviction to try them. After stepping away from trials to build the business, he committed in 2018 to becoming a real trial lawyer, including through training on the TLU platform with founder host Dan Ambrose What followed: the last pre-COVID verdict in Vegas, the city's first post-COVID trial, and a $1.72 million verdict against an offer of $125,000. In this episode, he shares how he uses a flip chart to box in defense experts, why he never tries a case alone, and how TLU On Demand sharpens his whole team.

☑️ Orlando De Castroverde | LinkedIn

☑️ De Castroverde Law Group | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand: Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 Programming

☑️ Witness Preparation & Direct Examination, May 8 - 9, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Dark Arts Trial Warcraft Bootcamp, May 27 - June 2, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

1. Orlando's father, Waldo, a former blackjack dealer who became a lawyer in his late 40s, inspired Orlando to follow in his footsteps. Orlando worked at his dad's office through junior high, high school, and college.
2. After clerking for district court judge Lee Gates in Las Vegas for a year and a half, Orlando learned the court from the inside out — watching trials, meeting judges, and building the confidence to eventually join his dad's firm.
3. Within a month of joining his dad's firm, Orlando tried his first case — a criminal matter involving a Brazilian client charged with six or seven felony counts of not paying back casino markers at the Bellagio — and won an acquittal.
4. In 2018, after noticing a pattern of cases settling for less than their value, Orlando made a firm-wide commitment to trying cases rather than giving away the best cases to other lawyers.
5. For Orlando, every trial is a team effort, including a November 2023 case he tried with a lawyer who had been practicing for just two weeks and who has since earned verdicts of $1 million or more in all three of her trials.
6. To win $1.72 million against a $25,000 pre-trial offer, Orlando and his team scripted witness presentations, used a flip chart to draw the spinal extrusion in front of the jury, and left it up throughout trial to continually reinforce the injury to the jury.
7. In his most recent case — a delay-in-diagnosis matter involving a lymphoma patient who was not told of her results for six months — Orlando argued that his client lost a chance of remission. The defense paid policy limits of $1 million.

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Tim McKey is not a lawyer, but he’s been inside over 300 plaintiff firms, and he sees where lapses in operations mean lost dollars. A CPA by training, Tim and a colleague formed Vista Consulting to help law firms “de-bottleneck.” In this conversation with host Dan Ambrose, Tim describes the journey that led to Vista and how it achieves its mission of helping law firms. Tune in as he reveals the operational mistakes – including intake methods – that could be quietly draining your firm's revenue.

☑️ Tim McKey | LinkedIn

☑️ Vista Consulting | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 Programming

☑️ Training Witnesses to Transport Themselves and the Jury, April 17-18, Hermos Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Trial Skills Training, April 21- 25, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Witness Preparation & Direct Examination, May 8 - 9, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Dark Arts Trial Craft Bootcamp, May 27 - June 2, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

1. Tim McKey spent 18 years with Deloitte before converting his CPA firm into a business consultancy around 1999 when he realized he was "keeping score" but not "affecting the score."
2. Vista Consulting has worked with over 300 plaintiff law firms, getting referrals entirely through word of mouth.
3. Tim outlines key areas that Vista evaluates at every firm: vision, people in the right seats, intake, case management, HR and training, technology, financial reporting, and physical plant — now including AI and tech stack analysis.
4. On Alternative Business Structures (ABS), Tim explains that only Arizona, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C., currently allow non-lawyer ownership in law firms, and he believes that model is going by the wayside in favor of the MSO (Managed Service Organization) structure.
5. The MSO model — where a law firm spins out all non-legal personnel and assets into a separate entity that then contracts services back to the firm — allows private equity investment without violating bar ethics rules on non-lawyer ownership.
6. At TLU Beach, Tim will deliver a one-hour lecture about what the top-performing firms in the country do operationally and financially to get more clients and increase case values.

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What happens when a DoorDash veteran with no legal background spots a logistics problem inside plaintiff law firms? He delivers “white-glove pre-litigation in a box.” Viraj Bindra spent eight years at the food delivery company before co-founding Finch, a tech-based platform that provides tools for growing firms so they can say “yes” to every case that’s worth taking. He visits with host Dan Ambrose to pull back the curtain on successes and lessons learned while building the firm. And he has the distinction of being the first guest on Dan’s new TLU's “Founders Podcast” — a series on tech and AI companies that are reshaping the plaintiff bar.

☑️ Viraj Bindra | LinkedIn

☑️ Finch | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 Programming

☑️ Training Witnesses to Transport Themselves and the Jury, April 17-18, Hermos Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Trial Skills Training, April 21- 25, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Witness Preparation & Direct Examination, May 8 - 9, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Dark Arts Trial Craft Bootcamp, May 27 - June 2, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

1. Viraj spent his pre-Finch career at DoorDash, an experience that he describes as "a masterclass in building a company focused on logistics and operations plus great tech.”
2. Finch was born out of a problem: A friend had started his own firm, had 50 cases referred within three months, and was turning away work because he had no staff. Viraj and his co-founder flew to Austin and became his case managers.
3. Finch launched in April 2025 and now has 85 to 90 employees; the company doubled its revenue between January and early February 2026.
4. To find their first customers beyond one friend, Viraj and his team posted on Reddit PI law forums “enough to get banned,” cold-called from Google searches, and showed up at conferences.
5. Named after “To Kill a Mockingbird’s” Atticus Finch, the company's long-term mission is to close the gap for the 78% of Americans who have a legal need but no access to counsel.
6. Finch will host a party for TLU Beach attendees on Tuesday, June 2, in Huntington Beach.

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A thousand-pound gate falls on a woman. The last thing she remembers is being on the property and going down stairs. She suffers a TBI. The defense's theory: She’s a liar. So is her husband. So are the fire personnel who responded. And the bystanders. Sagi Shaked takes host Dan Ambrose through the play-by-play of how he exposed the defense’s “conspiracy theory.” The jury saw through it and awarded a $4.5 million verdict. He also breaks down a case where a client stuffed a component TBI after his vehicle was T-boned. Sagi turned a $200,000 offer into an $800,000 verdict. And Sagi previews his TBI masterclass at TLU Beach, where he will explain why plaintiffs’ lawyers may be undersettling their cases – and how to avoid it..

☑️ Sagi Shaked | LinkedIn

☑️ Shaked Law | LinkedIn | X | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 Programming

☑️ Training Witnesses to Transport Themselves and the Jury, April 17-18, Hermos Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Trial Skills Training, April 21- 25, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Witness Preparation & Direct Examination, May 8 - 9, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Dark Arts Trial Craft Bootcamp, May 27 - June 2, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

1. Sagi got involved in the Tampa auto case — a T-bone collision with a passenger client — just four months before trial, when the defense's best offer was $200,000.
2. The client had drugs in his system at the time of the crash; the defense argued that the evidence of the drug use should be allowed. Sagi successfully persuaded the judge to exclude it.
3. In the premises case, a 24-foot, thousand-pound gate fell on Sagi's client at an industrial complex. The defense offered $50,000 on the eve of trial and argued that she had simply fallen down the stairs.
4. Sagi used the fire rescue officer's report — written before any lawyer was involved — to get four bystanders' statements admitted as excited utterances, after the officer testified the scene was "frantic" and people were "in shock."
5. In his TBI masterclass at TLU Beach on Friday, June 5, Sagi will cover identifying TBIs, medically managing the case, deposition prep, and trial sequencing.

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Little island. Big cases. Bigger verdicts. Russ Pate is a solo plaintiff lawyer in St. Croix whose career has included a combined $113 million verdict in two consolidated tobacco cases and $6.3 million verdict in a premises liability trial. He also worked with the Virgin Islands’ attorney general to pursue civil claims against the Jeffrey Epstein estate using the Virgin Islands' unique tax credit program. Taking a break from the TLU ski bootcamp in Big Sky, Montana, Russ sits down with host Dan Ambrose to reflect on his journey from that first roach-infested, $500-a-month office in St. Croix.

☑️ Russ Pate

☑️ The Pate law Firm

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 Programming

☑️ Training Witnesses to Transport Themselves and the Jury, April 17-18, Hermos Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Trial Skills Training, April 21- 25, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Witness Preparation & Direct Examination, May 8 - 9, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Dark Arts Trial Craft Bootcamp, May 27 - June 2, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

1. At Chapel Hill (UNC) law school, Russ missed the first week, had no idea what a study group was, and received some of his worst grades in torts. As he says, “To be a plaintiff trial lawyer, you don't have to graduate from Harvard and be top of the class.”
2. After law school, Russ landed a federal public defender clerkship placement in Dallas, where he worked as second chair on Ponzi scheme fraud and child pornography collection cases.
3. Russ launched his solo practice in St. Thomas in a $500-a-month office with moldy carpet, A.C. units held together with rocks, and cockroaches that ate the bindings off his law books. His first client was a murder defendant appointed by the court the same week he opened.
4. Russ worked with the Virgin Islands’ attorney general to pursue civil claims against the Jeffrey Epstein estate using the Virgin Islands' unique tax credit program, resulting in approximately $135 million in a victims' fund — the only state or territory to create a fund for Epstein's victims outside the private civil justice system.
5. Russ filed his first tobacco cases in 2010, saw them delayed by two hurricanes in 2017, and finally tried them in 2018 with two juries simultaneously — one returned $31 million and the other $83 million for a combined $113 million.
6. In his most recent premises liability trial, Russell represented a client who had fallen over a low railing at a hillside restaurant with a 0.22 blood alcohol and made a remarkable recovery. He countered the defense's paid medical experts by leaning on three lay witnesses who were present that night, leading to a $7 million verdict (reduced to $6.3 million at 10% fault).
7. When the defense attacks his client on damages, Russell embraces it. He calls it “tightening the bow”: The harder they pull back, the farther the arrow of damages will fly when they finally let go.

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They offered $100,000. She demanded $450,000. They wouldn't budge — so she went to trial. The jury came back with $10 million. To this day, it remains the highest pain-and-suffering verdict in Luzerne County history. Meet Melissa Scartelli, the author of that verdict and many others. A 35-year trial veteran and founder of Scartelli Olszewski, Melissa has built her practice around medical malpractice, earning rare punitive damage verdicts against physicians and going to verdict in cases where she could not name a specific dollar amount to the jury. Host Dan Ambrose draws out stories behind Melissa's wins, including the way she anchors damages and the time she flipped a retrial in her favor by calling a defendant doctor first. 

☑️ Melissa Scartelli | LinkedIn

☑️ Scartelli Olszewski | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | TikTok

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 Programming

☑️ Training Witnesses to Transport Themselves and the Jury in Direct (Dan Ambrose), March 6-7, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ Dark Arts Trial Craft Bootcamp (Dan Ambrose and David Clark), Huntington Beach

• Melissa grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in a middle-class family; her father nearly died of a heart attack when she was a freshman in high school, and her mother was later diagnosed with kidney disease — experiences that made her empathetic to people’s suffering. 
• Melissa attended Dickinson College and Dickinson Law School, became captain of the trial advocacy team, and won the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Award in Advocacy at graduation.
• After clerking for a civil trial judge to study the best trial lawyers in the courtroom, Melissa joined Hourigan, Kluger and Quinn, becoming the first woman partner and trying cases nobody else wanted. 
• Twelve years into her career, Melissa left the firm with no book of business, no clients, and no family connections in law to start Scartelli Olszewski. She was joined by her husband — a former judge — and her daughter Rachel. 
• Melissa's first major med-mal win came in a misdiagnosis case involving a 16-year-old with a pilonidal abscess treated incorrectly with Preparation H for eight months; she obtained a $10 million verdict despite her client facing no wage loss and having no specifiable damages.
• In a second malpractice case, a doctor removed a patient's finger for cancer that didn't exist — then “just kind of blew him off” after the misdiagnosis was revealed. After a mistrial, Melissa retried the case to a $1.5 million verdict. 
• At TLU Beach, Melissa will teach practical “do’s and don’ts” for med-mal trials.

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Przemek Lubecki embodies the American dream. He and his family emigrated from Poland, living in Germany before gaining asylum in the United States in 1989 and settling in St. Louis. After trying over 100 cases during seven and a half years at a Chicago defense firm, Przemek transitioned to the plaintiffs’ side. TLU 2021 proved transformational, exposing him to plaintiff lawyers operating at the highest level. The following year, with help from the TLU network, Przemek secured his first eight-figure verdict of $12.5 million. Przemek discusses trial preparation, skill development, and mentorship with host Dan Ambrose.

☑️ Przemek Lubecki | winforyou.com | LinkedIn

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 Programming

☑️ Performance Skills & Ski (Dan Ambrose and Giorgio Panagos), Feb. 9-16, Lake Tahoe, CA

☑️ Training Witnesses to Transport Themselves and the Jury in Direct (Dan Ambrose), March 6-7, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ Dark Arts Trial Craft Bootcamp (Dan Ambrose and David Clark), Huntington Beach

1. Emigrating from Poland as a political refugee, Przemek and his family settled in St. Louis. He attended Tulane for undergraduate school and then relocated to Chicago for law school.
2. He tried over 100 cases during seven and a half years at a Chicago defense firm before switching sides to represent plaintiffs.
3. TLU 2021 was transformational because it exposed Przemek to plaintiff lawyers operating at the highest level.
4. Lawyers should resist the temptation to compare developing their skills to Michael Jordan, Przemek suggests. The basketball star wasn’t just “born that way.” Like exceptional lawyers, he put in the work.
5. His focus on witness preparation is storytelling rather than simply regurgitating facts.
6. Przemek emphasizes the importance of finding a mentor with the skillset you want to acquire, prioritizing experience over salary.
7. At TLU Beach in June, Przemek will teach on two cases that are expected to go to trial in Louisiana.

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A former prosecutor who now runs his own firm, Andrew Pickett visits host Dan Ambrose to reveal his strategies for success in the courtroom and in business. From his origin story as a college swimmer to his 42 jury trials as a prosecutor to his recent $9 million wrongful death verdict, Andrew shares lessons learned. Tune in for his insights about how hiring a psychodramatist transformed his witness preparation and why being an entrepreneur mirrors personal development.

☑️ Andrew Pickett | LinkedIn

☑️ Andrew Pickett Law, PLLC | LinkedIn

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 Programming

☑️ Performance Skills & Ski (Dan Ambrose and Giorgio Panagos), Feb. 9-15, Lake Tahoe, CA

☑️ Witness Prep and Examination (Dan Ambrose), March 6-7, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ Dark Arts Trial Warcraft (Dan Ambrose and David Clark), May 27-June 2, Huntington Beach, CA

1. Andrew graduated from the University of Virginia, where he was a four-year varsity swimmer. It taught him discipline, time management, and grit to command his body to do things his mind doesn't want to do.
2. After law school at University of Florida and an LL.M. from University of Miami, Andrew worked as a prosecutor at the State Attorney's Office in Brevard County's 18th Circuit, trying over 40 jury trials in four years.
3. Andrew started his own firm eight years ago and has grown it to 16 employees, including four attorneys.
4. In January 2024, Andrew secured a $6.7 million verdict against State Farm in an uninsured motorist case where the policy limits were only $100,000.
5. A “watershed moment” of the trial occurred during Andrew’s cross-examination of a defense doctor, when he got the doctor to admit that he’d written a draft report concluding that his client wasn’t injured – before he even examined his client.
6. In November, Andrew secured $9 million in a wrongful death case involving a man who was killed by a drunk driver, where the insurance company took almost three months to pay a $100,000 policy limit while another insurer paid within 12 days.
7. Andrew credits his presentation skills with practicing in activities like teaching basic criminal law to police academy recruits and taking improv classes.

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Jeremy Babener helps plaintiffs and trial lawyers keep more of their settlements and verdicts through tax-saving agreements. In this conversation with host Dan Ambrose, Jeremy reflects on how he landed in this specialized field during law school – his evidence course was canceled, so he switched to a tax policy class. Before graduating from law school, he was already advising on $20-30 million settlements. He earned his tax LL.M. at NYU, served in the US Treasury's Office of Tax Policy, started his own law firm, and eventually founded Structured Legal, which helps lawyers and plaintiffs make the most of their recovery. In June, he will provide a high-level look at settlement agreements during TLU Beach.

☑️ Jeremy Babener | LinkedIn

☑️ Structured Legal

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 Programming

☑️ Bad Faith Cases (Dan Ambrose and Kimball Jones), March 3-7, Las Vegas, NV

☑️ TLU Performance Skills, March 14-21, Winter Park, CO

☑️ Case Story Bootcamp (Dan Ambrose and Eric Oliver), May 19-23, Hermosa Beach, CA

☑️ Dark Arts Trial Craft Bootcamp (Dan Ambrose and David Clark), May 27-June 2, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

1. Jeremy earned his tax LL.M. at NYU Law and spent a summer clerking in the Department of Justice’s torts group.
2. During his clerkship, Jeremy observed that lawyers with large settlements would typically push structured settlements. When he asked them about the tax benefit, their answers revealed that plaintiffs could gain far more by their advisors better understanding the available tax subsidy.
3. Back at law school, he interviewed lawyers for a law journal paper on tax issues related to litigation. “I started getting calls, even while I was in law school, asking if I could provide tax advice on a number of settlements.” His career spiraled from there.
4. Before graduating from law school, Jeremy worked with a firm where he advised on how plaintiffs could keep more of $20-$30 million settlements.
5. Jeremy serves on the legal committees of three national settlement planning associations and trains financial advisors to help them issue-spot for tax opportunities.
6. Jeremy helped create plaintifffund.org, where personal injury plaintiffs can learn how to raise money without losing and jeopardizing their government benefits.

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Broadcasting from Cabo San Lucas, host Dan Ambrose gathers five participants in the recent TLU bootcamp to reflect on their experience and role-play techniques. The guests include Johnnie Bond from D.C., Matt Nakajima from Cincinnati, Mohamad Ahmad from Los Angeles, Alejandro Gonzalez from Miami, and Jared Smith from Kentucky. Tune in for their insights about discipline, self-coaching techniques, and the benefits of TLU bootcamps.

☑️ Matt Nakajima | LinkedIn

☑️ Mohamad Ahmad | LinkedIn

☑️ Johnnie Bond | LinkedIn

☑️ Jared Smith | LinkedIn

☑️ Alejandro Gonzalez | LinkedIn

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 Programming

☑️ Performance Skills & Ski (Dan Ambrose and Giorgio Panagos), Feb. 9-16, Lake Tahoe, CA

☑️ Bad Faith Cases (Dan Ambrose and Kimball Jones), March 3-7, Las Vegas, NV

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ Dark Arts Trial Craft Bootcamp (Dan Ambrose and David Clark), Huntington Beach

1. Dan selected these guests for the episode because they were in the same advanced coaching group.
2. Johnnie joined the Cabo program after attending his first bootcamp in Las Vegas. “When you really understand what you're learning, and what you're delivering to a jury and why, you'll see that you want to attend as many bootcamps as possible,” he says.
3. Matt Nakajima observes how he has unconsciously absorbed bootcamp training lessons, such as moving his hands and making eye contact.
4. Alejandro Gonzalez lauds the bootcamp environment as a place to “get into the nitty-gritty of why you’re doing certain things.”
5. “I think the point of the bootcamps is you struggle now so that your jury doesn't struggle to understand what the hell's going on in your story,” says Mohamad Ahmad, who recently achieved a $51 million verdict after working with Dan.
6. Jared Smith recalls how he didn’t know what to expect in his first bootcamp. Coming to his second, in Cabo, was “eye opening. You could be the best presenter in the world, but when you're presenting to a jury, you've got to make whatever story you're trying to tell come to life.”
7. Dan leads the guests through cross-examination exercises that emphasize tone and pace.

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Over the past year, Kimball Jones has taken six cases to trial, securing more than $700 million in verdicts and settlements. In this conversation with host Dan Ambrose, Kimball breaks down the cases that led to a $550 million verdict, $114 million verdict, and $31 million verdict. Kimball explains that a huge part of his success is knowing what cases to take to trial and understanding how to frame cases to get maximum value. Nick Rowley opens the episode by discussing his million-dollar battle against Uber’s ballot measure that would kill the contingency fee system. Dan closes the episode by demonstrating his witness preparation technique, which focuses on helping witnesses “transport” themselves back to the key moment of the story that’s necessary for trial.

☑️ Kimball Jones | LinkedIn

☑️ Bighorn Law | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook

☑️ Nick Rowley | LinkedIn | Instagram

☑️ The Rowley Law Firm

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2026 Programming

☑️ Performance Skills & Ski (Dan Ambrose and Giorgio Panagos), Feb. 9-16, Lake Tahoe, CA

☑️ Bad Faith Cases (Dan Ambrose and Kimball Jones), March 3-7, Las Vegas, NV

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

☑️ Dark Arts Trial Craft Bootcamp (Dan Ambrose and David Clark), Huntington Beach

1. Guest Nick Rowley explains Uber's ballot measure initiative in California that threatens the contingency fee system by proposing fee caps that would prevent ordinary people from affording representation against corporate giants. “Access to civil justice will be dead, will be effectively ruined,” he says.
2. The anti-Uber campaign has a goal of raising $100 million by September 2026.
3. Guest Kimball Jones previews his bootcamp on insurance bad faith cases from March 3 to 7 in Las Vegas.
4. “Bad faith” fundamentally comes down to the duty of good faith and fair dealing, Kimball explains. In the bootcamp, Kimball will teach participants about the concessions, admissions, and evidence they need to take such a case to trial.
5. In October 2024, Kimball secured a $550 million verdict for a woman whose husband was killed after a DUI driver crashed into their vehicle.
6. In November 2025, Kimball won $31 million for a client who, after hospitalization, tried to walk to a rehab center when the hospital didn’t call a ride for him. The client passed out in the Las Vegas heat and ended up suffering dementia.
7. In January 2025, Kimball obtained a $114 million verdict after an insurance company refused to pay a $250,000 policy for a client who had suffered a traumatic brain injury.
8. Dan offers a 30-day free code for anyone interested in learning his witness preparation techniques through TLU On Demand. Email dan@triallawyersuniversity.com or text him at 248-808-3130.

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Picture learning trial methodology while fishing in the afternoon, shooting archery, and riding horses across 1,750 acres of Missouri ranch land. Celebrated trial lawyer Sach Oliver tells host Dan Ambrose how this "magical place" will host his intensive “Depositions Our Trial” workshops starting in November 2027. Before that, at TLU Beach in June 2026, Sach will share lessons about managing money that he learned from his grandparents. Tune in as he unveils his vision for the revolutionary legal education destination and his insights about how money works.

☑️ Sach Oliver | LinkedIn

☑️ Oliver Law Firm | X | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram

☑️ Sach’s book Depositions Are Trial 

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2025 Programming

☑️ TLU Performance Skills | Cabo Edition (Dan Ambrose and Giorgio Panagos), Dec. 15-22, Cabo San Lucas, MX

2026 Programming

☑️ Dark Arts Trial Craft Bootcamp (Dan Ambrose and David Clark), Jan. 13-17, Las Vegas, NV

☑️ Bootcamp & Ski (Dan Ambrose and Giorgio Panagos), Feb. 8-15, Lake Tahoe, CA

☑️ Depostions Are Trial (Sach Oliver and Dan Ambrose), March 3-7, Rogers, AR

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

• Sach's multi-generational ranching heritage began with his great-great-grandfather's homesteaded property; in 2009, he and his wife started the Oliver Angus Ranch in Rogers, Arkansas.
• His new 1,750-acre ranch in Missouri will feature two rivers, multiple caves, a train bridge, and will include five authentic log cabins housing 60-80 guests, a glass chapel, and a 55,000-square-foot indoor arena.
• Sach’s “Depositions Are Trial” workshops will be held at the Missouri ranch starting in November 2027. 
• Before “Depositions Are Trial” relocates to Missouri, it will be held at the Arkansas ranch from March 3-7, 2026.
• At TLU Beach, June 3-6, 2026, Sach will present on best practices for managing money.
• Sach explains the foundational lessons about money laid by his grandparents: "They had a very strict, regimented cashflow methodology.”
• Sach’s accolades include serving as president of the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association (2022-2023) and being named Outstanding Young Trial Lawyer (2008) and Outstanding Trial Lawyer (2015).
• Sach's father modernized the family's financial methodology by leveraging positive cashflow assets to buy more assets, keeping 6-12 months overhead in cash and paying off highest interest debts first.

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Clashes with the judge. Nineteen expert depositions. Ten hours of court hearings leading to trial. Outcome: $51.3 million for a construction worker who was electrocuted on a job site. Mohamad Ahmad discusses the remarkable journey of the Maggio case and his career in this conversation with host Dan Ambrose. After getting no job offers after his UCLA Law summer clerkship and starting his own firm, Mohamad endured a decade-long drought between seven-figure verdicts and spent about $1 million of his own money on Maggio. Tune in for his insights about assembling a trial team, mastering cross-examination, and videotaping yourself – an uncomfortable but essential training tool.

☑️ Mohamad Ahmad | LinkedIn

☑️ Kermani LLP | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | X

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2025 Programming

☑️ Case Story Bootcamp: (Dan Ambrose and Eric Oliver), Oct 28-Nov 1, Las Vegas, NV

☑️ TLU Performance Skills | Cabo Edition (Dan Ambrose and Giorgio Panagos), Dec. 15-22, Cabo San Lucas, MX

2026 Programming

☑️ Bootcamp & Ski (Dan Ambrose and Giorgio Panagos), Feb. 8-15, Lake Tahoe, CA

☑️ Depostions Are Trial (Sach Oliver and Dan Ambrose), March 3-7, Rogers, AR

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

• After graduating from UCLA law with no job offers, Mohamad started his own firm.
• His first trial was a restraining order case, where he defeated a 20-year veteran lawyer from a white shoe San Francisco firm.
• In 2013, Mohamad obtained his first seven-figure verdict ($1.57 million) on a case that was going to settle for $45,000.
• After a 10-year drought between major personal injury verdicts, Mohamad spent about $1 million of his own money preparing the Maggio case, in which he represented a construction worker who had been electrocuted at a solar plant.
• During the trial, Mohamad waived all past economic damages and future lost wages, asking for only $2.7 million in future medical costs. 
• When a defense's electrical expert claimed during cross-examination that the "bible" of electrical injury contained errors, Mohamad challenge  him with an exchange that left the jury laughing.
• In 2023, the Maggio jury awarded $51.3 million — the highest in Monterey County history.
• Mohamad credits TLU bootcamp training for teaching him to slow down, maintain eye contact, and get comfortable being uncomfortable by videotaping himself repeatedly

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Alex Ivanov’s journey to Angel Reyes & Associates in Texas started when he fled his native Belarus after refusing KGB recruitment, arriving in America at age 21 with $380. Just three years into trying cases, he secured his first seven-figure verdict on a non-surgical pain management case where the defense offered only $90K on a $250K policy. How? Leveraging strategies developed by host Dan Ambrose for his TLU platform to prepare the witness and transport the jury back to the crash scene, The jury awarded $1.075 million. Since 2022, Alex has tried about 15 jury trials and recently earned recognition as a Texas Rising Star. He’s also the third most prolific TLU On Demand user; tune in to learn why he considers daily learning non-negotiable for trial success.

☑️ Alex Ivanov | LinkedIn

☑️ Angel Reyes & Associates | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok | YouTube

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2025 Programming

☑️ Case Story Bootcamp: (Dan Ambrose and Eric Oliver), Oct 28-Nov 1, Las Vegas, NV

☑️ TLU Performance Skills | Cabo Edition (Dan Ambrose and Giorgio Panagos), Dec. 15-22, Cabo San Lucas, MX

2026 Programming

☑️ Bootcamp & Ski (Dan Ambrose and Giorgio Panagos), Feb. 8-15, Lake Tahoe, CA

☑️ Depostions Are Trial (Sach Oliver and Dan Ambrose), March 3-7, Rogers, AR

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

• Alex graduated top of his class from Belarusian State University with a degree in international law, competing in moot court competitions at Oxford and the International Court of Justice in The Hague
• After refusing KGB recruitment, Alex found himself facing three criminal charges (fraud, money laundering, tax evasion) that appeared overnight, with documents bearing his signature pleading guilty
• Alex and his wife, Kate, escaped Belarus on a midnight bus with $380, gambling that border guards wouldn't check passports; he turned 21 at JFK International Airport. 
• Starting over in America, Alex and Kate sold vape liquids door-to-door, building the business to $20-30K monthly before being cut out by their Austin partner, leaving them homeless.
• Alex earned his LL.M. from Texas A&M in 2020, passed the bar during Covid, and started as a paralegal at Angel Reyes & Associates after other firms rejected him due to his accent
• Alex has tried approximately 15 jury trials since 2022, securing his first seven-figure verdict ($1.075 million) on a non-surgical pain management case with a $250K policy.
• Alex secured a $500K verdict for an undocumented client terrified to appear in court, helping her overcome fear to receive justice for her injuries on an $85K offer case
• The third most prolific user of TLU On Demand, Alex uses the platform to onboard new lawyers at his firm on topics from tracking to expert cross-examination.

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Two North Carolina attorneys who served their country and are now serving their clients discuss what they gained from the Trial Lawyer University’s Joe Fried Trucking Bootcamp. Will Meekins, with two years of experience handling catastrophic injury cases in western North Carolina, and Ryan McCollum with three civil trials under his belt in Raleigh, both graduated from West Point. They met years later at a North Carolina Plaintiffs' Lawyers Convention. In this wide-ranging discussion with host Dan Ambrose, they share insights from their military service, transition to trial law, and intensive training at the bootcamp. Tune in for their takeaways about witness preparation, cross-examination skills, and the importance of making the unconscious conscious in every aspect of trial performance.

☑️ Ryan McCollum | LinkedIn

☑️ Whitley Law Firm | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | X | YouTube

☑️ Will Meekins | LinkedIn

☑️ Teddy Meekins & Talbert | Facebook | LinkedIn | X | YouTube

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

2025 Programming

☑️ Case Story Bootcamp: (Dan Ambrose and Eric Oliver), Oct 28-Nov 1, Las Vegas, NV

☑️ TLU Performance Skills | Cabo Edition (Dan Ambrose and Giorgio Panagos), Dec. 15-22, Cabo San Lucas, MX

2026 Programming

☑️ Bootcamp & Ski (Dan Ambrose and Giorgio Panagos), Feb. 8-15, Lake Tahoe, CA

☑️ Depostions Are Trial (Sach Oliver and Dan Ambrose), March 3-7, Rogers, AR

☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA

• Both Will and Ryan graduated from West Point and served as infantry officers.
• The attorneys attended Joe Fried’s Trucking Bootcamp to elevate their practices: Will wanted Joe’s take on a case that he was preparing, and Ryan had just settled his second big trucking case and his firm was giving him more.
• The bootcamp emphasized micro-connection skills, including intentional eye contact, emotional state control, and deliberate hand movements to build rapport with jurors.
• Ryan discovered his intensive forehead wrinkles made him appear angry and combative, learning to project warmth instead of intensity during witness examination.
• Will learned to avoid treating all witnesses as adversaries, understanding that even defense experts need guidance rather than confrontation.
• Both attorneys emphasize the importance of understanding why a case matters to the jury, not just the attorney and client.
• The social aspects of the bootcamp created lasting professional relationships and referral opportunities among participants.

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In 1984, Eric Oliver was teaching persuasion skills to marketeers in computer firms. When he transitioned to trial consulting that year, he found a new audience. In two years, “lawyers took all my time…because nobody had ever taught persuasion, influence, and communication to attorneys at that time. They still don't.” In this wide-ranging discussion with host Dan Ambrose, Eric reveals how he accidentally discovered his calling. Now, he teaches lawyers how to manage juror perceptions, combat post-truth decision-making, and overcome impaired attention in modern courtrooms. Tune in for his insights about anchoring techniques, mirroring for rapport, and opening statements that can put you far ahead of your opponent.

☑️ Eric Oliver

☑️ MetaSystems Consulting | YouTube | LinkedIn

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ “Case Story Bootcamp,” Oct. 28 - Nov. 1. In Las Vegas

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

• Eric entered trial consulting after teaching marketing to computer firms when a lawyer read his Yellow Pages ad for nonverbal communication; the lawyer asked for help facing his most feared opponent and did “remarkably well” after working with Eric.
• Eric discovered that most law school training is counterproductive to effective communication, requiring lawyers to unlearn academic approaches to connect with real people.
• Nearly 50% of jury pools now consist of "post-truth deciders" who assume the game is rigged, prefer deciding against defendants over for plaintiffs, and believe wrongdoing should be knowing rather than mere negligence.
• Modern jurors suffer from impaired attention in three ways: shorter attention spans, weaker concentration abilities, and fragmented focus that creates self-distraction even without phones.
• Eric pioneered a "frame of mind exercise" that uses anchoring techniques to help lawyers connect physical cues to confident mental states.
• Successful case storytelling requires consistency, using the same framing sequences to help jurors with short attention spans follow the narrative thread.

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It was a longshot case. After all, the jury knew that John Martin’s client, suing for employment discrimination, already had retirement benefits. But this fight was about whether she was entitled to a different category of benefits. Confident they’d win, the defense rejected an offer to mediate. A jury awarded $1.75 million. “I just got the email this morning that they just mailed the checks,” John tells host Dan Ambrose in this wide-ranging discussion about his career. With 35-40 civil jury trials under his belt since graduating from Suffolk University Law School in 2009, John reflects on his journey from debt collection rookie to winning trial lawyer at Keches Law Group. Tune in for his insights about how modern AI is revolutionizing case preparation, how the settlement trap derails many lawyers' careers, and how personal adversity can forge fearless courtroom warriors. 

☑️ John Martin

☑️ Keches Law Group | LinkedIn

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

• John uses AI tools like GPT Pro to synthesize deposition transcripts, create contradiction tables, and streamline case preparation for his upcoming trial.
• After failing to complete high school initially, John participated in Up With People, a traveling performance organization that taught him service and built performance confidence.
• His path to law school was sparked by his fiancé's mother's misdiagnosis of kidney cancer and the unresponsiveness of top Boston medical malpractice attorneys.
• After graduating from law school during the 2008-09 recession, John’s commitment letters were rescinded, so he turned to a debt collection law firm. His career there lasted through one court appearance, when he told a judge that many debtors were “judgment proof.” “No one's ever judgment proof, so they no longer needed my services.”
• In his first civil jury trial against the Boy Scouts of America, John secured $152,500 in economic damages plus $300,000 in punitive damages.
• John's son Jack was born with Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome and pulmonary vein stenosis, requiring three years of chemotherapy and multiple heart surgeries.
• Through Jack's medical journey, John learned to let go of outcome obsession and developed fearlessness in the courtroom that dramatically improved his trial results.
• John represents an iron worker who injured his shoulder while replacing braces on a high-end construction project in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He’s preparing for trial, scheduled to start this month.

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“Every employment case is a story about betrayal,” says George Moschopoulos, who recently convinced jurors that the Los Angeles Unified School District failed to work in good faith to find his disabled client another role in the organization. Host Dan Ambrose unpacks the case, from the six-figure pretrial offer to the juror who compelled the team to pivot their strategy to the $3 million verdict. Tune in for George’s insights about presenting clients as resilient survivors and mastering trial skills through deliberate practice.

☑️ George Moschopoulos | LinkedIn

☑️ The Law Office of George Moschopoulos

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

• Engineer by day, law student by night: George traces his path.
• George describes how his first mentor, a Cornell Law grad with a BigLaw pedigree, guided his early career.
• At plaintiff’s bar panel in the early-2000s, George was impressed by a speaker who discussed sexual harassment and disability discrimination and retaliation law. “I said, ‘Who's discriminating against anybody these days?’ Just goes to show how little I knew.”
• George characterizes every employment case as a story of betrayal: the trusted relationship intentionally broken for the wrong reasons.
• George's first trial victory came in a disability discrimination case he thought was hopeless until discovering a smoking-gun email that advised the employer to "delete this email, smiley face."
• George credits TLU bootcamps for helping him change tactics, from focusing on "selling the bad" (victim suffering) to "selling the glad" (client resilience and recovery).
• In unpacking his recent victory on behalf of an injured school safety officer, George explains how he reframed the case after jury selection, when a 30-year district employee described school safety officers' physical intervention duties. 
• George and Dan role-play cross-examining a defense medical expert.

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Looking back on this month’s TLU Beach, Joe Fried says attendees and even vendors declared it the best program yet. The renowned trucking attorney from Fried Goldberg joins host Dan Ambrose to reflect on the event’s success and preview their five-day Trucking Bootcamp in August. That event will combine Joe's 20-plus years of trucking expertise with Dan's performance skills training, guiding trial lawyers through intensive hands-on practice.

The Trucking Bootcamp will be held Aug. 12-16 in Huntington Beach, CA. Learn more here.

☑️ Joe Fried | LinkedIn

☑️ Fried Goldberg | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | X | YouTube

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

• TLU Beach 2025 achieved universal acclaim with balanced teaching, fellowship, and entertainment at the Pasea Hotel in Huntington Beach, California.
• Joe's three-hour trucking masterclass featured intimate group discussions and individual case problem-solving.
• The upcoming August bootcamp combines trucking expertise with performance skills through small group intensive training.
• Six pre-bootcamp Zoom sessions will establish foundational knowledge before the in-person intensive practice.
• TLU’s performance skills training focuses on eye contact, emotional state control, and creating courtroom illusions.
• Every participant will be on their feet every hour practicing cross-examination and presentation techniques.
• Dan emphasizes connection-building through monthly Zoom meetups leading to TLU Beach 2026.

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Working on the Golden State Killer Task Force, which prosecuted a notorious California serial killer, was a career highlight for Bobby Taghavi. But, after serving in a prosecutor’s office, “the next step is to be a manager until you run for a judge” – and Bobby was “way too young to run for judge.” He made the leap into personal injury law. Now managing partner at Sweet James Accident Attorneys, Bobby has secured three consecutive multi-million dollar verdicts. With host Dan Ambrose, he recaps his victories and previews his session at TLU Beach (June 4-7), where he’ll teach trial lawyers how to make non-economic damages tangible and relatable to jurors.

☑️ Bobby Taghavi | LinkedIn

☑️ Sweet James Accident Attorneys | LinkedIn | Instagram |  Facebook | X | YouTube

☑️ TLU Beach

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

• Bobby immigrated from Iran during the revolution at age 14, not speaking English; his first assigned book, "To Kill a Mockingbird," inspired his legal career.
• After graduating from University of San Diego Law School, Bobby joined the Orange County DA's office in 2006, trying close to 90 cases including sexual assault, homicides, and the Golden State Killer investigation
• Inspired by a Steve Jobs’ commencement address, Bobby left prosecution after 13 years when he realized he was spending energy on management tasks rather than trials.
• Since joining Sweet James in 2020, Bobby has helped grow the firm from 30 to 40 employees to over 400, with 60+ attorneys
• Bobby's three civil jury trials have resulted in verdicts of $23.7 million (wrongful death), $17.4 million (elderly sisters car accident), and $3.9 million (hospital slip and fall)
• Bobby credits his athletic background with teaching him preparation routines, sportsmanship, and maintaining professionalism even during heated litigation.

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Born without his right leg, Conal Doyle is an accomplished athlete who refuses to let challenges get in his way. “And I've carried that through my legal career, taking really tough cases to trial.” With host Dan Ambrose, Conal shares his journey from defense attorney to a leading plaintiff’s attorney in California. The founder of Doyle Law, Conal handles only 5 to 10 high-value amputation and TBI cases at a time, and his results include a record-setting $26.8 million medical malpractice verdict and a recent $100 million shareholders' rights victory. At TLU Beach (June 4-7), he’ll teach a TBI masterclass, covering everything from case intake to trial strategy.

☑️ Conal Doyle | LinkedIn

☑️ Doyle Law | Facebook | YouTube

☑️ TLU Beach

☑️ Trial Lawyers University

☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos

☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

• Conal started his career at Florida's largest law firm, trying 11 to 12 jury trials in his first five years as a defense attorney representing government entities and hospitals.
• After six years in defense work, he moved to California in 2003, eventually starting his own firm 20 years ago.
• An appearance on 60 Minutes, regarding a client who died of penile cancer after government health agencies wouldn’t provide a biopsy to rule out cancer, propelled his practice and led to his arguing before the US Supreme Court.
• He focuses on 5 to 10 high-value cases at a time, specializing in amputation injuries and traumatic brain injuries.
• In 2014, Conal achieved a historic $26.8 million medical malpractice verdict in conservative Bakersfield, California - the highest in county and state history at the time
• His recent shareholders' rights case victory in Delaware Chancery Court will exceed $100 million after interest, making it his first nine-figure result
• Conal has competed in paralympic ski racing and played basketball and volleyball against able-bodied athletes
• At TLU Beach, Conal will present a TBI Masterclass covering case identification, workup strategies, and trial presentation

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