Most lawyers are boring and bore jurors into not caring. Or worse, they try too hard to entertain them and make the jurors hate them. We need to find a happy medium—keeping the jurors entertained and caring about your case without pushing them away by acting over the top. Kurt trained as a stage actor throughout college and moved to LA upon graduation to pursue acting before going back to law school. He has found that learning how to emote and act brings clarity, passion, and emotion to presentations. Most jurors' exposure to lawyers involves watching lawyers on TV. So we need to give them what they want.

Kurt will teach and model how to pick your moments to use dramatic techniques throughout the trial to keep them entertained and trusting you. You will not be "acting" in the courtroom; you will be living your true self and expressing your full range of authentic emotions and maximizing your presentation skills with an eye towards your listener/watcher. This will run the full gamut of trial – from Voir Dire, to Opening, Witnesses direct and cross, and Closing. These techniques include speaking directly to your client, using pauses, incorporating defense counsel into the story theatrically, and storytelling with emotion and intention. It's gonna be a hoot.

Kurt Zaner

TLU Beach 2025 REPLAY - How to Tell a Story in Trial Through Dramatic Techniques 

Throughout his 30-year legal career, Ben Rubinowitz has made his mark as a leading trial lawyer combining hard work and dedication with his remarkable courtroom skills and presence. Mr. Rubinowitz began his career as a prosecutor, where he honed the trial skills that would become his hallmark. From there, he began serving as a trial lawyer representing severely injured plaintiffs in personal injury cases, eventually joining 

 in 1989. For the past 16 years Mr. Rubinowitz was featured in New York Magazines' article on "Best Lawyers in New York". For the past 2 years Ben has been recognized in the New York Times as one of the "Top 10" lawyers in the New York Metro area, as evaluated by New York Super Lawyers. Ben was honored by being elected to be a member of the prestigious Inner Circle of Advocates. The Inner Circle of Advocates is limited to 100 members considered among the best plaintiffs attorneys in the United States and also to be "lawyers of excellent character and integrity."

Ben's meticulous approach to the preparation and trial of cases has produced 28 verdicts and over 180 settlements in excess of one million dollars in cases arising out of car accidents, premises accidents, 

, medical malpractice, civil rights violations and products liability. Mr. Rubinowitz has a thorough grasp of the nuances of complex issues. This, coupled with his ability to translate complicated information into clear terms for a jury, has left an indelible impression on all those who have witnessed him in action--including even defendants' medical experts that he has cross-examined. In addition to his skills as a trial lawyer, Mr. Rubinowitz has successfully argued appellate cases before the Appellate Division and the highest court in the State of New York, the Court of Appeals.

Ben B. Rubinowitz

I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. My father was a lawyer, and my brothers are all lawyers. Growing up, I sold programs at Dodger Stadium, and I had a paper route. I attended St. John Bosco High School and Fresno State University, playing football at both. I returned to Los Angeles following graduation where I taught and coached football at my high school alma mater. Still coaching football my first semester, I began attending Southwestern Law School. During law school, I worked at the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office and conducted almost 100 preliminary hearings. I tried my first jury trial in my first month as a lawyer when I was an insurance defense lawyer. During that time, I tried many defense cases and gained great experience. I later joined a top plaintiff firm where I rose to the rank of partner and stayed 17 years. In 2005, I formed Panish Shea & Boyle LLP in Los Angeles. The firm has grown to include offices in California and Nevada and is now known as Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP. I am the Immediate Past President of the prestigious Inner Circle of Advocates and I have been in more than 150 jury trials in my career. I enjoy fishing, working out, and attending sporting events including as many Fresno State football games as possible. In 2022, I passed the bar in Nevada with my youngest daughter.

Brian Panish

I am a partner at Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP, an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School, and the father of three boys. I am so lucky to be married to Smitha who is an amazing mother and the CEO of USC Care Medical Group, the physician group of Keck Medicine of USC. My wife understands and appreciates my passion for teaching so much so that she was cool when I worked to schedule our Trial College at the time that best worked for everyone – despite it starting the day after my 20-year wedding anniversary! I made the mistake a while back of asking Smitha what my top five qualities were that made her want to marry me. Much to my surprise and disappointment, my sense of humor did not make the list! She is right, I am not funny, but that doesn’t stop me from trying. I love the Buffalo Bills, “Dad Jokes”, and taking selfies (especially with my Snapchat filters).

Rahul Ravipudi

I grew up in Birmingham, MI. I am the youngest of eight children and attended an all-boys catholic school my whole life until I went to college at the University of Michigan. I went to night school at Detroit College of Law. My dad, my uncle, two of my brothers, and sister were lawyers. My first job was cutting lawns at age 10. I started working for my brother as a house painter at age 12. When I was 16 I started my own painting business and continued throughout high school, college, and law school, and a few years after until I was 32. I practiced criminal defense for eighteen years in Michigan until ten years ago when my roommate from the Trial Lawyers College, Nick Rowley, encouraged me to move to LA to become a PI lawyer. The California Bar took me four tries. I moved to Las Vegas this past March. I have recently taken up pickle ball, skiing and golf. I also think I'm competitive at connect four, backgammon, chess, and ping pong.

Dan Ambrose

I was born in San Diego, California. I was the 4th of 5 kids and the first son. My Dad was a doctor but as a young man he was part of the fight for the establishment of Israel and it was always his dream to live there. My family emigrated to Israel when I was 5 years old. We lived there through the 1973 war after which we moved back to the United States – first to New York and then to Atlanta. After losing several friends in high school to DUI related crashes, I became a police officer. I investigated many crashes and testified in court a fair amount. I saw first-hand the difference that a good lawyer can make. I attended the University of Georgia School of Law, followed by a federal court clerkship and then entered private practice. I was appointed to serve part-time as a magistrate judge, while working full-time as a trial lawyer. Unlike lawyers who do lots of things at the same time, I have always specialized. I spent the first few years of my practice handling mostly birth trauma cases. I then happened into a case where a woman burned alive following a survivable rear impact crash. This led to me specializing this unique aspect of automotive product liability for about 10 years. I told Ford that I would stop suing them if the fixed the problem with the Mustang and while it took a while they finally did.

After some soul searching, I decided to focus on truck crash cases. At the time, lawyers focusing on truck crash cases was not a thing. I have done my part over the last 18 years to make it a thing. I have spent countless hours developing best practices for handling these cases. Knowing that I could only handle a small number of cases and wanting to have a big impact on highway safety, I set out to train lawyers all over the country on how to best handle truck crash cases. I have served in leadership of just about every organization in the Country for lawyers who handle truck crash cases. I am Co-founder of the Academy of Truck Accident Lawyers and the National Board of Truck Crash Lawyers (an NBTA sub-board responsible for Truck Crash Law obtaining ABA recognition as a legal specialty). Most recently I authored “A Law Enforcement Guide to Truck Driving Safety Standards” and I have worked hard to be the best human being I can be, the best husband and father I can be, and the best lawyer I can be. It is a work in progress. At this point in my life, I am trying to pay things forward. Closing in on 1000 days without missing on the Peloton!

Joe Fried

I was named after Satchel Paige the baseball player. People often ask me why there is not a “t” in my name and the truth is that my parents were afraid I would be called a satchel bag at school. I was raised in the small town of Viola, Arkansas and give the credit of my success to my wonderful parents, Eddy and Jeanie Oliver. I basically drove my mentor, Frank Bailey, nuts until he agreed to hire me. The first three phone calls to Frank’s office resulted in failure because the office manager simply told me, “Mr. Bailey was not hiring.” I brainstormed magic words with my parents and called back a 4th time asking if I could just spend “5 minutes with Mr. Bailey.” Thank goodness Frank agreed. In those 5 minutes, Frank determined I had great potential and hired me to trim the boxwoods and plant begonias in the firm’s garden. I told Frank that I would do whatever he wanted me to do for little or no money under one condition… If Frank went somewhere on a case for any reason, he must take me with him. We have been together ever since. I am married to Codi Oliver who is a pediatric occupational therapist. We have two daughters, Reesa and Reagan. One of our favorite things to do is ride horses together on our ranch in beautiful Northwest Arkansas. I am passionate about my faith and discipling men to be their best.

Sach Oliver

I’m a tax lawyer who originally planned to be a trial lawyer. Now I serve as Tax and Settlement Counsel to plaintiff firms, focusing on settlement language and arrangements that plaintiffs use to keep far more of their winnings.

As an aspiring trial lawyer at NYU Law I clerked in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Federal Tort Claims Act Section. Everything changed when NYU cancelled my 2L Evidence Course and I switched to a Tax Policy Course. In it I wrote my Law Review Article on a critical plaintiff tax issue raised during my clerkship: the strategic use of Qualified Settlement Funds. To do so I interviewed plaintiff lawyers and advisors across the country, many of whom later became my clients.

I obtained my Tax LL.M at NYU Law and then served as a Fellow in the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy. While at the Treasury I focused on plaintiff tax issues in addition to transactional, trust, and international taxation, which would later help me vet and build arrangements used at settlement today.

After my time at the Treasury I joined a Northwest Law Firm and focused my practice on plaintiff and plaintiff firm taxation. I now serve on the ABA TIPS Plaintiffs’ Practice Committee and Chair the Society of Settlement Planners’ Legal Committee. I write and speak on the subject in a Forbes Column, for trial lawyer audiences, and on CNN, Fox News, and CNBC.

Through my law firm Structured Legal I advise plaintiffs and plaintiff firms. Through my consulting firm Structured Consulting I build new settlement arrangements with trust companies, insurance companies, and other financial institutions.

Using my past experience advising nonprofits I worked with other plaintiff supporters to build the Plaintiff Fund, a 501(c)(3) charity that allows plaintiffs to raise medical funds from their community without losing government benefits.

An extra sentence in the settlement agreement can dramatically increase what a plaintiff keeps. Even in tax-free cases you can save your client from significant taxes – for example, by preserving millions in future medical expenses deductions, or by securing valuable tax subsidies.

This is a presentation for trial lawyers, not financial advisors. How can you issue-spot for tax opportunities (and risks) at settlement? And what steps can you take at engagement to protect you and your client from missing them?

The settlement agreement is your best tax tool. You can force the IRS to bear the burden of proof on audit. You can dramatically reduce the risk of audit. And you can memorialize facts needed to secure tax benefits.

To do so we’ll discuss how to spot potential taxation before signing and flag opportunities to avoid it. We walk through the use of the settlement agreement to effect and protect tax-saving strategies.

We’ll also walk through tax-subsidized and tax-advantaged arrangements. Each “solution” solves a unique problem. What is the “plaintiff double tax”? How can you avoid it? How can you settle while still preserving structured settlement options?

Lastly, we’ll cover the plaintiff firm’s ethical obligations on tax and financial issues. What if you don’t spot these issues? Can you exclude them from your scope of representation? What should you know when referring clients to settlement advisors?

No one expects you to become a tax lawyer. But your team may be in the best position to spot tax opportunities and risks. We’ll walk through what to watch for.

Jeremy Babener

Kathryn Wickenheiser

I grew up in Detroit as one of seven children. After high school, I attended Grand Valley State University on a full-ride swimming scholarship. After graduating from college, I worked in Washington, D.C., for Congressman Peter Hoekstra. Thereafter, I pursued a Master’s in Political Science at Wayne State University before teaching at Colorado Mountain College in Aspen, Colorado. After three years living in the best place on Earth, I decided I wanted to make a greater impact in my community. I therefore returned to school to earn my law degree from Michigan State University. Upon graduation, I returned to Colorado to start my own practice. Outside of my practice, I travel regularly. In the last 2 years, I have visited Aruba, Bali, Costa Rica, Curacao, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Italy, Mexico, and Spain. Outside of traveling, some of my favorite pastime activities include basketball, snowboarding, surfing, and wakeboarding.

Jerry Bowman

Michael Alder

I was born and raised in warm, sunny, Sherman Oaks, Ca. As a child, I loved to dance. Anywhere, anyhow, life was a stage, and I loved performing. Despite my distaste for cold weather, one day in 1997, I strapped into a rented snowboard and fell in love. Like dancing, but on jumps and handrails.

By the following fall, I moved to South Lake Tahoe to attend community college at night, and ride during the day. Almost immediately I was competing on the women’s professional slopestyle snowboard circuit and gaining sponsorship support.

After many years traveling, competing, coaching, and training year-round, I was ready to pass the torch to the next generation of kick assery girls who were just slaughtering it out there. On to law school I went.

People often ask, “Wasn’t it hard to go from Professional Snowboarder to Trial Lawyer?” The answer is an easy, “NO!” It’s almost identical. Nothing beats the feeling of standing on top of your run, about to drop in, all eyes on you, legs shaking in fear and excitement, visualizing the countless practice runs in your head, laser focus, adrenaline pumping, wondering why you keep putting yourself through this! Swearing that you’ll never do it again…. Then you drop in and everything around you just stops, and you’re in your moment. And somehow, it’s absolutely silent. And then you land, and the world comes back, and you sit down and think…. Man, I love this! Can’t wait to do that again!

Today I love sharing my passion for adventure and adrenaline with my ex-pro-freeskier husband and my 3 & 6-year-old boys. Between zoom meetings and trial prep, you'll find us riding dirt bikes while RV camping, skiing or snowboarding, and cheering from the little league or soccer fields.

Sarah Havens

I started trying cases right out of law school, and in my first year of practice, I tried 3 cases and haven't stopped since. I enjoy trying cases and always fight hard to represent my clients. I always wanted to help people, but it wasn't until I recently switched sides and got my first plaintiff verdict that I realized how much better it is to help people on the plaintiff side. I believe my knowledge of what works and does not work from many years and trials on the other side helps me to be a better advocate in seeking justice for my clients, and I have found working on the plaintiff side to be more rewarding and I am excited for what's ahead.

Jennifer Russell

I’m from Milwaukee, WI. I’m the oldest of six kids and three of us are lawyers. I’m married with two girls, 10 and 12. I enjoy skiing, working out, yoga, traveling with my wife and watching my kids play volleyball and going to their dance competitions. I went to Marquette Law School (no Wisconsin bar exam! Yeah) and graduated in 1998. I took the California bar last summer and passed on the first try. Looking forward to learning from all the great lawyers at the conference.

Robert Welcenbach

Tom is an experienced attorney at Brown & Crouppen, dedicated to advocating on behalf of injured persons against insurance companies. Since joining Brown & Crouppen in 2008, Tom has worked tirelessly to obtain fair results on behalf of his clients, including as a member of a team that secured a $618,000 jury verdict in Jackson County, Missouri Circuit Court in 2012. He has been involved in several other successful jury verdicts and appeals in Jackson County, Clay County, Wyandotte County, Johnson County, and the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District. He has also recovered several other $1 million to $6 million settlements for his clients in just the past few years. Tom has been named to the National Trial Lawyers Top 100 every year since 2012.

Tom is licensed to practice in Kansas and Missouri and has represented clients and resolved cases on both sides of the state line. He received his law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. While in law school, Tom received multiple honors, including placing second in the American Moot Court Association’s National Tournament and named Top Speaker. He also was part of the UMKC Law Review team and earned 5th Place in the CEDA Debate National Championships in 1990. He graduated from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.

In addition to his work at Brown & Crouppen, Tom has been involved in several pro bono juvenile and family court cases in Jackson County, Missouri, including one that went to trial and led to a successful appeal in the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District. He also founded a downtown Kansas City business development organization and was involved in Kansas City’s downtown renaissance in the early 2000s. Tom is involved with DEBATE – Kansas City, which encourages student participation in high school debate programs in the inner city.

When not practicing law, Tom enjoys spending time with friends and family, traveling, jogging, and weight training. He also enjoys cheering on the Kansas City Chiefs, Kansas City Royals, and Missouri Tigers.

Tom Davis

Michael Sanchez

J. Russell Pate

Alex Guerrero

I grew up in rural Conway, SC, and my first job was at the age of six as a farmhand on my grandfather's tobacco farm in Horry County. I have worked and made money every year since. Hot, humid summer days in the tobacco fields were my inspiration to get a good education and work in a climate-controlled environment. My father was a high school teacher and football coach who had been co-captain of the 1957 South Carolina Gamecock football team. Coach Derrick was very competitive, and his children were raised to compete to win in anything they pursue. Everything was a competition, including who could be the most productive in their summertime farming jobs, who could make the best grades in school, and who could win a particular athletic competition. I earned a football scholarship to Wofford College, where I played for four years. After graduating, I coached college football at East Tennessee State University for one year, where I met my wife, Michelle. We were married in 1985, the same year I began law school at the University of South Carolina. I graduated in 1987 and began practicing in Horry County in 1988. Due to early success in the courtroom, I worked my way into a partnership after just three years. In 1991, I left the partnership and established Derrick Law Firm Injury Lawyers. I am a founding member and elder of The Rock, Conway's Community Church, and have been involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for over 45 years. My wife and I have two sons, Dakota and Peyton, the perfect daughter-in-law, Taylor, and two grandchildren, Able and Winnie.

Dirk Derrick

Raquel Gomes

Jordan Jewkes

Taylor is a partner at Gideon Asen LLC (www.gideonasen.com). He specializes in medical malpractice and catastrophic injury cases in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Taylor has multiple seven figure verdicts, including the largest sex abuse verdict in the history of Maine.

Taylor Asen

Christian Petronelli

I grew up on the southside of Milwaukee going to Catholic school, playing tons of baseball, and working at my parents’ ice cream shop at the age of 12. I added a job selling shoes at a local shoe store during high school to help make ends meet for my family. It’s at these jobs I learned at a young age the value of hard work, developing relationships with people, and the art of selling. As the second person to go to college (after my older sister) and the first person to go to law school in my family, I thought a law degree would propel me to a career as a progressive politician. But after clerking for a Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice after graduating from law school, working at big silk-stalking corporate firm, and then taking a leave to run for the Wisconsin State Assembly in 2004 and losing, what I was really meant to do found me. I was recruited to join the firm I’ve been at over 20 years, Cannon & Dunphy, by an attorney I met during the State Assembly campaign. Everything happens for a reason – it’s crazy – and I’m so lucky. I’ve been fortunate to be trained and mentored by Inner Circle member Pat Dunphy. I credit his mentorship for the successes I’ve had including the 2017 Wisconsin Trial Lawyer of the Year, being a member of ABOTA, as well as a member of the International Society of Barristers (ISOB). And I got to itch my political bug after serving as the 2023 President of the Wisconsin Association for Justice (WAJ) and continue to do so as co-chair of WAJ’s Legislative Task Force – so I get to take our fight in the courtroom to Wisconsin’s capitol in Madison.

And here’s a story that will tell you a little bit about me and my family: During the summer of 1994 I interned for a member of Congress in Washington, D.C. 1994 was the summer of O.J. and the white Bronco – and Coolio’s hit “Fantastic Voyage” – and Forrest Gump. One night I may have been stumbling back after a night out with my friends and stopped at a palm reader at like 2 a.m. The palm reader said I’d meet my wife in the next year and have four to six children. I met my wife Sherry eight months later (at a bar – another good story) and we have five children – four boys and our little a girl. Crazy.

Finally, as much as I love being a trial lawyer, if I could do it all over again I wouldn’t be a politician like I originally thought. Rather, I’d be a late-night talk show host, pro golfer, or late 80s to early/mid 90s alternative rock lead singer (think INXS – or maybe even a little Jane’s Addiction – and definitely some Beastie Boys).

Al Foeckler

Eric Castelblanco

ric Gerard is a former prosecutor and accomplished trial lawyer fiercely committed to protecting our communities. He has recovered over $250 million from reckless corporations and their insurance companies in the last 5 years alone.

Eric brings endless energy and a drive for excellence to everything he does. He graduated in the top 10% of his class from the prestigious University of Virginia School of Law, winning national honors in mock-trial competitions, trying cases as a student prosecutor in Philadelphia and Richmond, and publishing a peer-reviewed journal article on neuroimaging evidence—all while completing a master’s degree at Johns Hopkins University’s top-ranked foreign policy school. He earned the top score in the country when he took the Texas Bar Exam.

Eric began his career as a prosecutor, serving in the Trial Division of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York before joining the U.S. Department of Justice as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. His criminal trials spanned a range of offenses and subject matter, from international money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy to murder-for-hire, identity theft, and foreign sex trafficking. Serving in DOJ’s white-collar and major crimes divisions with TS-SCI clearance, he also led complex, often high-profile investigations of pain doctors and pharmacy chains fueling the opioids crisis, arms dealers exporting weapons to terrorists, fraudulent medical clinics and military contractors cheating taxpayers, and a corrupt DEA agent caught laundering money for foreign drug cartels.

Eric Gerard

I grew up in California and was in trouble a lot in school, but excelled at playing music. I also loved lawyer movies (To Kill a Mockingbird, A Few Good Men, Philadelphia, etc.), but I didn't know any lawyers growing up. It wasn't until my final year of majoring in music theory in college that it occurred to me to go to law school. I loved my time at the University of Oregon School of Law and, for the first time, excelled as a student (the law review, Order of the Coif, Mock Trial Team, etc.). I then worked initially as a public defender, then for a year as a corporate defense attorney, but then decided to work for myself and move back to California. I eventually founded Bay Area Bicycle Law, where I work to this day alongside my partner, Lucy Allen, and a few other family members/friends. These days, I spend the vast majority of my time on TBI and Wrongful Death cases.

Michael Stephenson

 who has focused his career on catastrophic personal injury, product liability, nursing home abuse, police brutality / civil rights, and truck accident cases. At heart, he is a storyteller who takes pride in becoming his client’s voice during the litigation process and trial. His most recent success in achieving a 

 highlights how Shahrad’s dedication to being an ever-improving personal injury trial lawyer paid off for his client in a difficult case.

Since the beginning of his career, Shahrad has worked on catastrophic injury cases such as 

 (TBI), serious orthopedic injuries, including quadriplegia and paraplegia. He has also worked with other law firms as a consultant for trials, litigation in personal injury, police brutality, and 

 that resulted in significant pre-litigation settlements. His wealth of high stakes litigation, trial, and mediation experience, gives Shahrad an edge in protecting his clients’ interests and telling their stories.

Shahrad gained his trial and courtroom experience while working with the district attorney’s office and as a civil trial attorney. He has handled cases from inception to verdict as the primary trial attorney. Over the past 22+ years, Shahrad has handled serious personal injury and 

 involving tires, motorcycles, trucks, big rigs, buses, ATVs, as well as household and industrial products.

Shahrad has been at the forefront of promoting the use of technology in trial presentations and has tried numerous cases to verdicts with significant results. He developed one of the first comprehensive courses on how to effectively use an iPad in a trial. Utilizing his research and understanding of human decision-making and technology, Shahrad has been incredibly effective in telling his clients’ stories in a compelling and human way.

Shahrad is also an experienced mediator who has effectively mediated over 120 cases involving personal injury, product liability, guardianship, property, business and community disputes. His trial and mediation experience make Shahrad a very effective 

 who can see cases from many angles. This provides him with significant advantage against his opponents and allows for a much more effective approach in presenting his clients’ cases.

As an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University School of Law, Shahrad taught trial skills and coached the Golden Gate trials teams between 2001-2014. Shahrad has taught mediation skills to attorneys, mediators, human resources, psychologists, and other professionals. He has taught in training programs for Rosenberg Mediation, Center for Human Development, and the University of San Francisco School of Law. He is also an instructor with the 

National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA)

 teaching in NITA’s trial and deposition training programs. Shahrad is also a proud member of the Board of Directors for 

Shahrad Milanfar

Attorney Brett A. Eckstein has dedicated his career to representing clients in need of experienced personal injury, appellate, and civil rights legal representation. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from Marquette University Law School, where he was a member of the Moot Court, the Marquette Law Review, and was on the dean’s list. Following his graduation, Mr. Eckstein worked as a law clerk under Wisconsin Court of Appeals Chief Judge R. Thomas Cane and Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis B. Butler, Jr.

Brett A. Eckstein

Melissa Scartelli

Arkady Frekhtman

Robyn Wishart

My parents divorced when I was a very impressionable 6-years-old, and my mom could not afford a divorce lawyer. After hearing about the difficult situation that my mom was trying to escape from, a solo practitioner decided to help my mom 

. Ever since, I’ve wanted to be a lawyer so that I could help people in need. A couple of decades later, I find myself doing exactly the kind of work my 6-year-old self hoped I would be doing. As the cherry on top, I get to work with my family, which is a great joy that I do not take for granted.

Brittany Sanders Robb

Sharif Gray

Orlando De Castroverde has more than 20 years of experience practicing in the areas of 

 in 2005, Orlando is both a skilled trial lawyer and an experienced counselor. He oversees the firm’s attorneys and staff, and over the last five years, has helped the firm grow from 3 attorneys to 17, with 110 team members.

Orlando attended Cuesta Junior College and in 1997 received his undergraduate degree from California State-Fullerton. While at Cuesta, Orlando wrestled, and was a Junior College All-American and later a two-time NCAA Division I qualifier at California State-Fullerton.

He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi in 2000, graduating Magna Cum Laude. At the University of Mississippi, Orlando earned the American Jurisprudence Award in three of his courses. He also obtained the highest MBE score in the state of Nevada for the Nevada State Bar Exam in 2000.

Following law school, Orlando De Castroverde clerked for District Court Judge Lee Gates for approximately a year and a half and then began to work for his father, attorney 

Within weeks of going to work for his father, Orlando and Waldo tried a seven-count felony case in which the state charged Orlando’s client with defrauding the Bellagio for failing to pay back $300,000 in casino markers.

Orlando was tasked with the jury selection, opening statement, and cross-examination of several of the state’s key witnesses. After a four-day trial, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. It was the first not guilty verdict on such a casino marker case in Las Vegas.

Like his older brother, Orlando was inspired to become a lawyer by his father, Waldo (1941-2014).

A Cuban immigrant, Waldo decided to become a lawyer when Orlando was a young man growing up in Reno, NV.

Orlando saw his parents work hard to make Waldo’s goal a reality – his mother worked as a dealer in a casino to support the family, and his father worked and attended night school.

After Waldo graduated from law school and started his practice, Orlando and Alex helped out in his office, an experience that inspired both brothers to become lawyers.

Orlando is fluent in Spanish and represents Spanish-speaking clients. He is active in the Southern Nevada community, serving as a member of the Nevada Justice Association’s membership committee and as a Guardian of Justice.

Orlando is also on the Board of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Department Foundation, where he helps the Foundation raise money to support LVMPD and the Las Vegas community.

Orlando De Castroverde

Patrick Kang

Scott S. Bethune is a founding member of the law firm Davis Bethune Jones. Scott concentrates his trial practice in the areas of complex litigation, personal injury/wrongful death cases, product liability, and mass torts.

Scott is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a Fellow in the International Society of Barristers, and has been inducted as a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, serving as President of the Western MO/Eastern KS Chapter in 2012. Scott is also a Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America and member of the Trial Law and Diversity Law Institutes.

Scott served as a Commissioner and Secretary of Missouri’s Appellate Judicial Nominating Commission from 2016-2021 and was a member of the 16th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission from 2010-2015.

Scott is listed in The Best Lawyers of America ® and was named Lawyer of the Year for Mass Torts Litigation in Kansas City for 2017 and 2021, Lawyer of the Year for Personal Injury for 2018, Lawyer of the Year for Product Liability Litigation for 2020 and 2023, and Lawyer of the Year for Medical Negligence for 2022. Missouri Lawyers Weekly lists Scott as one of the POWER 30 attorneys for Personal Injury Law and Top 100 Attorneys in Missouri and Kansas.

Scott currently serves on The Missouri Bar Board of Governors, representing District 12. Scott was President of Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association in 2015, is on the Board of Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Foundation and served as President of the Board of Trustees for the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Foundation from 2018-2023. In 2015, Scott was presented with the Pat Kelly Service Award from the UMKC Law Foundation and Law Alumni Association.

Scott Bethune

Maxey Scherr

Michael Kelly

I was born in New York and lived there until my parents lost everything in the winter of 79-80 and moved us to Florida. We first lived in a campground in South Florida. Working our way back from a tent to an RV, to a townhouse was a character-building experience for our whole family. I am proud of those humble beginnings, and they steeled in me a mantra to never take things for granted and that with hard work anything is possible. I grew up for the most part in Ponce Inlet, Florida surfing and playing sports. I attended the University of Florida, obtaining my BSBA in Finance and Juris Doctorate degrees with honors. I went to law school to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 Company. Along the way, I took Trial Practice and fell in love with the Courtroom and being a trial lawyer. I worked as an insurance defense attorney for over 7 years, defending car crash cases, medical malpractice cases, insurance claims, etc. In 2001, I switched sides and started my own firm representing those injured and killed at the hands of others. My crusade into trucking and CMV crash cases started in 2008 when I signed up my first real trucking case. I represented the family of a beautiful 19-year-old girl killed by a tractor pulling double trailers down a little county road in Florida. The truck driver was illegally driving the county roads between Jacksonville and Tampa, but logging the miles like he drove I-95 to I-4, so he could run one more trip without being over hours in his logbook, even though he clearly was. What was worse, the local terminal managers for the over 5,000-unit national motor carrier were training its drivers to do this! I dove into the applicable regulations and laws, I was relentless in written discovery and depositions, and consulted the pioneer trucking attorneys like Joe Fried. At the conclusion of that case, we were able to: 1) tell the family exactly what happened and why; 2) obtain a substantial recovery for her family; 3) educate the trucking company of the improper training and company sanctioned hours of service violations; and 4) get the large national motor carrier to agree to never drive tractors pulling double trailers on the county roads of Florida again. I was hooked. The greatest reward in handling trucking cases is when you can get safety measures changed or improved and knowing that there are potential clients you will never meet because you prevented future crashes and saved their lives. Since that case, I decided to jettison all other types of PI cases and for the last 8 years have handled almost exclusively tractor trailer, bus, and commercial motor vehicle crash cases. I was among the initial class of 9 lawyers that achieved NBTA board certification in Truck Accident Law. I am also Board Certified in Civil Trial by the Florida Bar and the NBTA. I have been in leadership in many of the national trial lawyer leadership organizations that deal with these cases. I am a past president of the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys, past chair of the AAJ Bus Litigation Group, Chair-Elect of the AAJ Interstate Truck Litigation Group, Co-Chair of the Florida Justice Association Truck Litigation Group, and remain on the board of the National Board of Trucking Trial Advocates and the Board of Regents for the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys. My passion is pursuing justice for these families and helping other great trial lawyers do the same. Whether through being active on listserv, sharing forms, depositions and documents, teaching at various programs, or helping strategize via zoom or a telephone call. When I am not working, I am hanging out with my wife and daughters, coaching soccer, when I can surfing or playing golf.

Joseph Camerlengo

I was born into a family of trial lawyers. My parents started their husband-and-wife Plaintiffs’ firm in the mid-80s, and growing up in the 1990s I thought that all law partners had to be married to each other. Sure enough, after clerking and a couples of years at a biglaw firm in New York City, I joined my parents’ law firm and I am married my law partner, Brittany. We now have the privilege of representing injured people and their families in their greatest time of need, with a focus on aviation accidents. Because I get to work alongside my family on behalf of such deserving clients, I consider myself to be a very, very lucky lawyer.

Andrew Robb

Ike Kaludi

I was born into a military family. Originally from Texas, my father was in the US Army. He retired to Houston, Texas when I was in high school. I have been in Houston ever since. I played college soccer at Houston Christian University, and graduated with a double major in political science and communications. I went to law school at South Texas College of Law. I started my career doing defense work at Fulbright & Jaworski, and have been practicing plaintiffs’ law for 34 years. I have been president of the Houston Bar Association and State Bar of Texas, and have been active in several other bar associations and groups. I am board certified in personal injury law, as well as in civil trial law. My wife, Alex Farias-Sorrels, and I started our firm about four years ago and we have 20 lawyers now. On a personal basis, I have six children, including two who are lawyers.

Randall Sorrels

I grew up in Milwaukee, WI and studied philosophy at the University of Iowa. After graduating and bouncing around different career paths I decided to go to law school. I eventually joined my father in his family law practice. I quickly realized family law wasn’t for me. I was unhappy and didn’t see a future for myself in law. Every so often we would take in a personal injury case. Since I didn’t want to handle divorces or family law cases, the personal injury cases wound up on my desk. Around that time, I was introduced to Gerry Spence, Trial Lawyers University, Trial Guides, and things started clicking. In 2022, I tried my first case and won. From that point on I knew I was meant to be a jury trial lawyer. Since then, I’ve dedicated myself to becoming the best trial lawyer I can be. I recently founded Trial Lawyers of Wisconsin with my partner, Bob Welcenbach. We have already obtained a handful of 6, 7, and 8 figure results. When I’m not working, I’m spending time with my wife Megan and my two daughters, Kennedy and Quinn.

Michael Karp

Deena Buchanan

George Moschopoulos

Tim McKey co-founded Vista Consulting in 2009 with a clear mission: to help plaintiff law firms unlock their full potential. With decades of CPA experience at local, regional, and national levels, Tim brings a wealth of expertise to the table. Yet, it is his passion for consulting that truly sets him apart. Through his prior consultancy practice, he has guided countless business owners toward defining and achieving success professionally and personally

Tim Mckey

Ted Wacker

I was born in Ames, Iowa and immediately relocated to Ventura, CA. My family moved frequently while I was young and eventually settled down in a small town in Kentucky. I was fortunate to get an ROTC scholarship to Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. After Xavier, I attended the University of Kentucky for law school where I was on the National Moot Court Team that won the regional competition and placed nationally. After law school, I went on active duty in the U.S. Army serving as judge advocate. I served as prosecutor, defense counsel and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney culminating in handling a federal capital murder trial. Upon leaving the Army, I started handling asbestos cases and have tried mesothelioma cases across the country. In 1999, I attended the Trial Lawyers College and have continued to study trial advocacy. I have three beautiful children who will be fighting for justice when I am long gone.

Scott Frost

As a father, I not only understand the legal aspects of personal injury and criminal defense, but I also know how it affects families. Legal troubles, I strive to find justice for all of my clients in a timely and cost-effective manner. I also try cases. That is important to you because you need a lawyer who will fight for you to get justice. I'm a lifetime Red Sox fan, love to spend time with my Wife Ally and two boys, David, 25, and Thomas, 26, and continue to try a lot of cases each year. I am proud to be a trial lawyer and strive to have each client walk away knowing I fought on their behalf. I have been voted a Top 40 Personal Injury "Super Lawyer" multiple years, and four times I have been voted one of the Top 100 Minnesota "Super Lawyers". I'm active with TLU, CRISP, and Injuryboard.

Michael Bryant

I was born and raised Ocean Springs, Mississippi. I went to the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA and earned a degree in Civil Engineering. After working for an engineering firm while in college, I knew I was not meant to be an engineer. I went back to Mississippi for law school. My Dad got me a job back in Ocean Springs with a great trial lawyer after my first year of law school. This is where I knew I would dedicate my life to helping people. While waiting on my bar results, Katrina destroyed the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast. I went to work as a DUI defense lawyer, and having all my court closes lost in the storm, I began trying DUI cases in jeans, a golf shirt, and a borrowed sports coat. After court one day, I stopped by my Dad’s makeshift office – his building was being gutted from the flooding of Katrina. After speaking for a while, my dad suggested I come work with him. So, working with him, I tried every type of case you can imagine, divorces, custody, construction, possession, DUI, domestic violence, and the occasional car wreck. Each day going to a different court room and trying a different case. Trial by fire. Then in 2010, I was appointed to represent a 14-year-old charged with capital murder. In July, my co-counsel and I tried the case for a week and the jury stayed out for 8 hours. Then found the young kid guilty, Almost all the jurors were crying when the verdict was read. The Mississippi Supreme Court reversed. In summer of 2015, we tried it again – this time in Oxford, MS in the courthouse in the middle of the town square – right out of a seen of a John Grisham book. This time with the guidance of David Ball, our now 20-year-old client was set free after spending 6 years in some of the worst prisons in Mississippi as a kid. After that, I was asked to represent a number of people against a corrupt local sheriff and got a verdict against him for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Most importantly, I’m the father of four amazing children and have a wonderful wife. My wife, while being a truly badass trial lawyer, is an amazing mother to our children. We spend most of our time traveling trying to spend time with our children, whether it be at a soccer tournament, cheer competition, football game, or spending the weekend tailgating in Oxford or Starkville with our college age kids.

Monte Tynes

Andrew Pickett

I was born in Twin Falls, Idaho and grew up in Kimberly, Idaho. I attended Kimberly public schools from K-12 with mostly the same 69 people I graduated with. I was involved with everything, but particularly anything athletic or academic. We were a blue-collar family in a rural community. My Dad and my granddad both worked at the local sugar factory until retirement. A friend of my Dad’s from when he was at the local community college was a successful lawyer, so my Dad held him up as an example. Given my personality, being an advocate made sense. After high school, I attended college in Idaho and graduated from the University of Idaho for undergraduate and law school. During college, I worked as a landscaper, concrete installer, and pizza driver. During law school, I met my wife, Ellen who is my law partner. We have been married 24 years and live in Boise, Idaho. We have three kids, one college graduate, one college student, and one middle schooler. We have a German Shepherd and a “Shollie”. I like to run, walk, and learn. I am currently playing a lot of catch with an aspiring high school running back. I would be an amazing golfer if only I could make a damn putt

Bill Smith

The oldest of three boys born to a trial lawyer father and a Ph.D/lawyer mother, my early summer days were spent swimming at Lake Michigan and climbing the Grand Tetons Mountains. If we weren’t doing something physical, we were engaging in what our folks had instilled in us to love: Reading. I graduated from University of Missouri- Columbia ready, willing and able to sponge off of my dad’s largess to continue to go to school (i.e., law school at Mizzou). My mother frankly didn’t make a lot of money because she was always in school, climbing mountains, playing tennis and just basically being the greatest mother of all time. As an example, she actually interviewed for her dissertation Supreme Court Justices who wrote the groundbreaking Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Weeks before I was to start law school, my dad was electrocuted due to a poorly designed hand drill. Note that the Missouri wrongful death cap at the time was a TOTAL of $25,000 (combination economic and/or non-economic). That injustice so infuriated me that it spurred me into what I still do today as a plaintiff’s attorney. From there I was shot out of a rocket launched into my career as the beneficiary of great trial lawyer mentors. Head and shoulders above all of the legal accolades I have been fortunate enough to receive, my whole world changed with the birth of my son (Bart) and daughter (Brooke) who now live in Los Angeles. I carry on the wanderlust inspired to me by my folks getting out to LA as often as I humanly can still in the water and on the mountains with my two kids. One of the guiding principles of my life was told to me by my mother who said that the secret to a fulfilling and happy life came in two words: “Remain curious!”. I hope I have lived up to the ideals of my mother and father.

Dirk Vandever

I grew up in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. I have one sibling and attended Catholic school until I went to college at Penn State. During high school, I witnessed a fatal car crash and that’s where my participation in the legal field began. While a junior at Penn State, I had to come back to my hometown to testify in the case. I arrived at the Plaintiff attorneys’ office and sat in a conference room for hours, reading my deposition transcript over and over again, before finding out the case settled. My trial testimony was not needed, but my account of the events that transpired helped the family recover a settlement from the insurance company.

A year later I decided I wanted to go to law school and attended Syracuse University. After a brief stint in Charlotte, North Carolina, I came back home and got in touch with the lawyer who represented the family in that car crash. His firm gave me an opportunity to clerk while studying for the bar. Once admitted, that firm hired me the same day. That firm is Fellerman & Ciarimboli and the Plaintiff’s attorney was Ed Ciarimboli. Seven years later I still work for Ed and Greg in our Radnor/Philadelphia office representing plaintiffs and helping them recover just compensation. I now live in King of Prussia, PA with my wife, who is also a lawyer, and our two dogs. I met my wife arguing against her in court. Ed’s partner and my boss, Greg Fellerman, put in a good word for me with her after the case settled and now, we are married. I golf every chance I get, I’m a fanatic Penn State fan, a pizza connoisseur, and love a glass of red wine or a bourbon with a cigar.

Corey Suda

Drew Gilliland

Kelsey K. Ciarimboli was born and raised in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, just outside the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Ms. Ciarimboli then attended and graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR).

After college, Ms. Ciarimboli attended Tulane University Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she graduated cum laude in 2014. While attending Tulane University Law School, Ms. Ciarimboli held an externship position in New Orleans, Louisiana with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) which confirmed her interest in the field of employment law.

Ms. Ciarimboli’s accolades at Tulane University Law School included managing editor of the Tulane Sport’s Law Journal and graduating Tulane University Law School in 2014 “with Honors”.

During law school, Ms. Ciarimboli worked as a Law Clerk for Attorney J. Patrick Connick, a New Orleans attorney and distinguished member of the Louisiana House of Representatives. Connick’s firm specializes in personal injury law, and Ciarimboli concentrated her work efforts on cases related to the well-known BP Oil Spill class action.

Kelsey Ciarimboli 

 dedicated to helping regular people fight insurance company greed, and he specializes in insurance bad faith, catastrophic personal injury, and wrongful death. If asked to describe what he does, Tim often explains: “I sue insurance companies when they act like jerks. They keep me very busy.”

Throughout his career, Tim has helped his clients recover millions of dollars in wrongly withheld insurance benefits, and Tim credits his success to his unique approach of treating clients like family to learn their human story. This approach allows Tim to tell his client’s story—to insurance companies, to mediators, or to juries—with empathy and compassion.

He currently serves as a Board Member of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, where he works with fellow attorneys to promote justice and protect the rights of injured individuals throughout Colorado.

Tim Garvey

Chris Hammons

Brandon Yosha is the owner of Yosha Law. He was born on May 26, 1993, and is an American trial lawyer and former American Football running back for the Miami Hurricanes and Lehigh University Mountain Hawks. He grew up in Carmel, Indiana where he attended and starred for Cathedral High School from 2009 to 2012. He graduated from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 2019. During his education, he served as a legal intern at Yosha, Cook and Tisch, the personal injury legal firm his father, Louis, had founded in 1963. In 2019, Mr. Yosha joined Yosha, Cook and Tisch as a junior partner. He has seen success early on in his legal career, receiving recognition for his role in securing a $20 million verdict against Indianapolis Power & Light Co.

Brandon Yosha

I grew up in a small town, Camp Verde, Arizona, the youngest of 12 kids. I was not a good student, but after high school I spent two years away from home as a Mormon missionary in Peru. The shock of living in a developing country made me appreciate the opportunities at home. A few days after my mission I scraped together my savings and started college at BYU-Idaho. Within a few weeks I discovered that the student body president received a tuition waiver. I ran mainly for that scholarship and somehow won. This was a great experience where I learned a lot and created many great friendships, including the girl that is now my wife and the mother of our four children. I sped through undergrad and received an economics degree before going to law school at BYU. After graduating from law school I avoided law, dabbling briefly with banking, followed by military intelligence work for the Army and the Department of Defense. I transitioned to practice law in Las Vegas in 2013 at 31. Within a few years of practice I discovered trial work and I've never looked back. Outside of work I enjoy hanging out with my family, playing and watching sports, and playing strategy games. I also enjoy learning new things in almost any area.

Kimball Jones

Alex Ivanov

Born in Detroit, raised, educated and practiced all in Michigan. My father was keen on not “giving me a fish but teaching me how to fish.” Married with two kids for 17 years and divorced. Remarried and have traveled the world since. In the last 6 years, we’ve been to England, France, Italy, Monaco, Spain, Thailand, Singapore, Iceland, Portugal, Greece, Switzerland, Amsterdam, Jamaica, Vatican, Brazil, Peru, Czech Republic, Holland, Austria, Mexico, and Canada. Developed the brand: TheMotorcycleLawyer.com Pam’s husband and Audrey’s (age 24) and Jack’s (age 21) dad. I co-own a Mixed Martial Arts gym and have just earned a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu after 15 years of nonstop training. So proud to report I used many TLU lessons to achieve a record, all non-economic jury verdict of $27,500,000 for a motorcyclist injured by a distracted driver.

Jason Waechter

When I was fifteen, I met the love of my life. As most high school romances go, we dated, broke up, dated again, broke up again etc. Then at 20 the love of life moved to Florida. I thought we were just on a break. She didn’t. She got married and had three kids. I was very single. We didn’t see or talk for twelve years. She got divorced. I had never dated anyone with children. And then she googled me and we started talking. She came back home for a family wedding, and we decided to meet for coffee. That was seventeen years ago. I was lucky to get a do over with the one true love of my life and I was going to make damn sure that I didn’t lose her again. With the addition of our daughter, we now have four beautiful children that are as close as close can be, a grandson who lights up all of our lives, two dogs, two cats and some wild animals on our farm in Northeast Pennsylvania. 

Our big Italian family loves, laughs, yells, cries, eats and drinks with more passion than words can describe. They are the people that allow me to live this crazy and amazing life of being a trial lawyer and I am forever grateful. So how did I become a trial lawyer? That story is almost as good as my marriage.

I went to college to play basketball, at 5’10” I was obviously a point guard and become an engineer. I got hurt, stopped playing basketball and started bartending where I would meet my law partner. It was the early 90’s and Cocktail was all the rage and yes, we could do all the bar tricks that Tom Cruise made famous. Being a bartender without a doubt was one of the best and wildest times in my life. To this day we still have people that remember us from Market Street Station Square. As for being an engineer, I did an internship at an engineering firm and decided that I could never be an engineer. Around this time, I met a Judge through a local charity organization that I was involved in and worked at the local courthouse for the summer. I saw two trials, one criminal and one civil and I was hooked. I loved every minute of being in trial and decided that I would go to law school. For the next two years I went to school around the clock and graduated with a degree in Engineering and Political Science and a minor in Physics. I went to law school thinking I would go into intellectual property law. Boy was I wrong. 

By year two of law school I realized that I hated intellectual property law. I was fortunate enough to have an amazing trial advocacy teacher and competed in moot court which was the moment that I knew I wanted to be trial lawyer. After three years with a local personal injury firm my partner and I decided to open our practice. Talk about humble beginnings, we had a part time assistant who called off more than she worked and a bookkeeper that enjoyed two martini lunches and would shove our bills in a draw, one of which I just found the other day. Somehow we managed to grow our firm into four offices, Philadelphia, Scranton, Kingston and Honesdale and we get to work with fourteen other talented lawyers that are like family to us. I am board certified in Tractor Trailer Accidents, am passionate about teaching and travel all over the country teaching lawyers deposition and trial skills and for some reason have a lot of zero offer cases which I am sure no one else can relate to. I love a good cigar and great bourbon. I make some pretty good wine with a great group of guys and every now and then enjoy an all night poker game. For me the law has allowed a dirt poor kid from a coal mining town in Northeast Pennsylvania to not only travel the world but to represent some of the most wonderful people I have ever met. 

Edward Ciarimboli

At the age of 28, Mr. Shaked was one of the youngest lawyers in the United States to achieve a multi-million dollar verdict for a single personal injury lawsuit. Sagi Shaked has been practicing law since 2000 and went on to found the successful Shaked Law Personal Injury Lawyers in 2007, where he became one of the 

Top 100 Trial Lawyers in the United States

. This highly coveted honor was bestowed upon Mr. Shaked for his exemplary legal expertise, compassion for his clients, and consistently recovering multi-millions of dollars in damages for those he represents. At only 28, Mr. Shaked was one of the youngest lawyers in the United States to achieve a multi-million dollar verdict for a single Personal Injury lawsuit.

Sagi Shaked

As a graduate of Texas A&M University in 1991, he is a proud Aggie. After obtaining his degree, Michael attended law school at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law where he graduated in 1995 with high honors and earned the top score on the Texas Bar Exam. To this day, Michael is still asked about this achievement so early in his career. After graduating, Michael clerked for Judge Reynaldo G. Garza on the Fifth Circuit.

In 1996 Michael moved to New York, where he joined Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, the oldest law firm in the nation. It was his legal experience in New York representing a number of corporations, which led him to his passion to help people when they have been injured and are in need of help the most.

After returning to Texas, Michael spent his legal career handling a wide variety of injury cases. His experience gathering and interpreting evidence has helped him continue to be the most prepared attorney in the courtroom. As a Board Certified attorney in personal injury trial law, 

Michael has spoken at numerous CLE courses on a range of topics, which include 18-wheeler and commercial vehicle cases involving death and catastrophic injury, pre-trial motions, and the preservation of evidence.

One of Michael’s notable accomplishments involves his work in a product liability case. Seven months after he requested a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation into defective Chinese-made tires distributed by the Hercules Tire & Rubber Company, the tire importer announced it would recall seven sizes of certain All Trac A/T SUV tires. This recall was the result of hard work and dedication to not only the client’s Michael Cowen represents, but also the public who deserve to be safe on our roads.

In 2016, Michael celebrated 20 years of practicing law and is devoted to passing on his years of experience and lessons learned along the way, to his peers in the legal community. As a seasoned trial lawyer Michael has experience handling over 100 trials. Whether it is a CLE course hosted by TTLA, AAJ, AIEG, or a CLE event hosted by Cowen Rodriguez Peacock, Michael takes pride in continuing to give his time to not only his clients, but his colleagues as well. 

He also welcomes the opportunity to work on cases with fellow attorneys, especially in 18-wheeler and commercial vehicle cases involving death and catastrophic injury.

Michael Cowen

I am an army brat. Both of my parents served in WWII, my mother as a nurse in the Pacific and my father ran a combat ambulance company in Sicily and then Italy. I went to elementary school in 5 different states and high school in 3. By the time I was 22, I had finished college and a masters’ program. Although I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, I had to make some decisions quickly; both of my parents died that same year. I took on the task of raising my baby sister, working full-time, and going to law school at night. It sounds awful now, but at the time I didn’t know any better. I started my practice by joining a group of 3 other lawyers who were reputable, but not so much looking for an associate as someone that would rent an office from them. I paid $500/month for the space with “light” secretarial help. It was “eat what you kill” and I was able to get by and start my own firm within 6 years. I’ve never been on a payroll. I am admittedly an un-medicated obsessive-compulsive, workaholic, control freak. I work constantly.

Like almost anyone, I enjoy spending time with friends and family. But what I like to do most is travel, especially when there is some special experience associated with the trip. I’ve with squeezed in trips to Pamplona (2x), the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, the Tour de Mont Blanc, most of the national parks (Glacier and Yosemite are my favorites), hiked down to the Phantom Ranch in the Grand Canyon, taken Tango lessons in Buenos Aires, did a walking tour of Provence, attended the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, the New Orleans Jazz festival, and the Monterey Jazz Festival. I have a second home in New Orleans, and try to spend about 30 days a year there. It’s typically work during the day, and then find some music to hear at night. I don’t like to make mistakes, I don’t like to have unhappy clients, and I don’t like to lose. I assume that defense lawyer(s) are as smart as I am, and I try to out-think, out-hustle, and outwork them. My experience with jury research, and our utilization of case-specific jury studies, allow us to develop strategic discovery and jury communication plans for each case that are focused and pragmatic.

I maintain an active practice in Nashville, but most of my time is now spent consulting nationally as a deposition and case strategist, including the use of surveys, focus groups, mock trials, and shadow juries.

My success as a lawyer stems from being a lifetime learner. In addition to studying and reading major books on litigation, litigation strategy and juror psychology I have had training in micro-expressions (tough to do), deep metaphor interviews (learnable) and Clean Language. I completed advanced studies at Baylor Law School in 2019, earning an LLM with his major paper titled “Juror Centered Case Assessment”.

I am AV rated, have been certified and recertified as a Civil Trial Specialist, and have been designated as a Super Lawyer repeatedly.

I have written 2 books (co-authored with his friend, Paul Scoptur) : Advanced Deposition Strategy and Practice released by Trial Guides in July 2013; and Focus Groups – Hitting the Bullseye published by AAJ Press in January 2017. I am also a contributing author to Anatomy of a Personal Injury Lawsuit, released by Trial Guides in 2015 and have been published in Trial magazine more than 8 times.

Phillip Miller

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky. It’s a miracle that I am here. My mother had a very difficult time trying to have a family, suffering multiple miscarriages. My older sister was born in 1971 and after that, my mother was pregnant with my brother Ryan who sadly was delivered stillborn in 1974 after learning that the doctor inserted the needle too far while checking the amniotic fluid. My mother had another miscarriage or two after that and was told not to try any more as she was high risk. Well, she became pregnant with me and I was born 2 months premature weighing only 4 lbs. As my Dad tells me all the time, I could fit head to toe in the palm of his hand. My Mom calls me her miracle baby.

My Dad was an engineer but mainly worked in sales in the material handling/conveyor industry for over 40 years. We lived in Louisville, outside of Atlanta, and since 1986, in Northern Kentucky. My Dad played basketball at Evansville with Jerry Sloan. He played against some NBA legends and despite being on 6’1” had to guard Walt Frazier who was 6’4” and Cassie Russell who was 6’5”, who also took my Dad baseline dunking on him. My Mom worked for Kentucky Job Services helping people with interviewing skills and applications to find employment. She also was elected to the School Board and had the privilege of handing me my high school diploma at graduation. My Mom’s most proud moment was, while serving on local city council, getting a business owner who was trying to bribe several officials in order to get a piece of property to develop to fully fund and build a new baseball/softball field for the community after putting him on the spot during a public meeting.

I became interested in law while taking a Public Speaking course at Murray State University. My small group professor recommended that I try out for the Speech & Debate Team. I took her advice, made the team, and for the next two years competed nationally while getting a partial scholarship. Then in the Summer of 1997 before my Junior year of college, I was hired as a law clerk at a small Plaintiff’s firm back home. They taught me everything you would want to know about personal injury, case selection, working up a case, taking depositions, preparing for trial and taking cases to trial. From that moment on, I knew that I wanted to be a Plaintiff’s trial attorney

Jay Vaughn

John was born in Framingham, Massachusetts. His family moved to Florida when he was five years old. He was raised and schooled in West Palm Beach, Florida. While in high school he was the drummer in a rock band while being very active in sports having been named to two high school All America football teams as a running back. John then signed a football scholarship to play for Florida State University which was followed by law school and then active duty in the US Marine Corps, where he served as a Captain in the JAG Corps. 

John and his wife, Nancy, have been married for 53 years and have four sons, each of whom played college football for Florida State University, University of Iowa, Kansas State University and Clemson University. Their family also includes four daughters-in-law and eleven grandchildren. John has handled virtually every type of tort and criminal case including those involving wrongful death, product liability, medical malpractice, murder, armed robbery, negligent security, trucking and auto, dramshop litigation, defamation of character, fraud and more. John is a former president of the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers (now called FJA), the Southern Trial Lawyers Association and the National Trial Lawyers. John loves traveling with his wife, Nancy, his family and friends. When time allows he loves watching good movies, good series, snow skiing, college football, Olympic Sports, and being with others.

John Romano

Its hard to write a paragraph that defines who you are.

Who am I? Do we define ourselves? Or do others define us? Or do our actions define us? Identity is challenging. Am I defined by my journey as a Trial Lawyer who wages epic battles with evil corporations and insurance companies? Am I defined by my 7 and 8 figure verdicts? Am I defined by the confidential settlements I can't talk about? Or am I defined by the $50,000 settlements that change my client's lives? Money is not success. But money is success. Am I defined by my childhood? Growing up in South Florida, always wanting to be an actor, a trial lawyer, or a president of something? Does serving as high school student body president make a doosh? I failed (quit) my movie star pursuit in Hollywood, does that boost my cred or detract from it? Am I defined by family?

My three young boys (1,4,6) mean more to me than any case and I would quit practicing law tomorrow if it was somehow necessary to help my kids. There isn't much I wouldn't do for them. I wish I had more hours in the day to spend with them. And yet, when I look at them, I think of my toxic tort client who was diagnosed with Leukemia at 18, has lost one leg and likely another because of a company's toxic emissions, and I imagine if this happened to one of my children. Or am I defined by my pursuit of Karate and mastery of the bow and spear so that one day I may fight like the Viper of Dorne? I want to be the Champion of those who cannot fight for themselves. Who is John Galt?