Record-Setting $8.4 Million Tire Defect Verdict in Ultra-Conservative

The case involved a fatal crash caused by the failure of a Hankook truck tire mounted on the right front steer axle of a 1992 Kenworth T600 straight truck. The driver, 26-year-old Preston Glass, had been married for only 2 months at the time of his death and had no children. Less than two months before the failure, Lone Star Tire had performed a patch-only repair near the tire’s shoulder. The case marked a significant milestone as one of the first to address Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code Section 82.008 defense following the Texas Supreme Court’s June 2024 decision in 

The case dealt with the following issues:

The tire was a relatively low-volume product with no prior claims history, making it difficult to establish a pattern of defects.

Manufacturing occurred at Hankook’s Daejeon, Korea plant, creating investigation and evidence-gathering challenges.

The defense attempted to distribute blame across multiple parties:

Wales Crane and Rigging (employer) for poor tire maintenance

The case required addressing complex legal precedent on Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code Section 82.008, which provides manufacturers a defense if they can show compliance with mandatory federal safety standards.

The plaintiffs needed to prove either that the federal agency’s decision-making process was flawed or that later developments proved the safety standard inadequate.

The deceased’s limited dependents (newly married, no children) potentially impacted damages calculations.

The conservative venue presented additional challenges for securing a substantial verdict.

The technical nature of the tire defect (adhesion failure over time due to oxidation as a result of a thin inner liner) required a clear explanation to the jury.

Despite these challenges, the jury found unanimously for the plaintiffs on all counts, including manufacturing defect, design defect, and inadequacy of FMVSS 119 to protect the public, resulting in a record-setting verdict of $8,400,000.

Luke Maddox

Rob Ammons

Record-Setting $8.4 Million Tire Defect Verdict in Ultra-Conservative Venue

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 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

, a national law firm dedicated to representing real people against insurance companies, the government and big corporations. He has a history of service as a military medic having served both in the United States Air Force and Army.

Accomplishing a bachelor’s degree in Social Psychology by the age of 19 while on active duty, Nick went on to get a law degree, starting law school at 20. Nick is a proud father of his sons and daughters and the husband of Trial Lawyer and author Courtney Rowley.

Nick Rowley

Forty years ago, I packed everything that I owned into a Toyota Celica and left my family in Maryland to attend Baylor University in Waco, Texas. My plan was to be a doctor. But an internship as a phlebotomist at the VA hospital in Waco and a bad grade in Organic Chemistry convinced me that a career in medicine was not in my future.

I decided to take a career aptitude test at the Baylor’s placement center. According to the test results, I was best suited to be either a barber or a lawyer. Not being enamored with the idea of cutting men’s hair as a career, I decided to take the LSAT. That turned out to be a good choice. I did well enough on that test to qualify for a scholarship to Baylor Law School.

It was in law school that I finally found something that felt right. I read about lawyers representing victims who had been burned in post collision fuel fed fires and how they did it on a contingency fee. I wanted to be one of those lawyers. The problem was that I didn’t know how to get into that type of practice. Fortunately, I did well in law school, was an Editor of the Baylor Law Review and graduated with honors in 1988. Following law school, I took a job as a judicial clerk for the Texas Supreme Court.

After the judicial clerkship, I accepted a job offer with a big firm because the money was good and I needed the money. I was an associate in the tort litigation section at a large Houston firm, Vinson & Elkins. My job was to assist the partners at the firm defending corporations and insured policyholders in personal injury, medical negligence and product liability cases. It wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life. But it paid the bill and I met some good people on both sides of the docket.

While working at a large firm I began to see that many of the lawyers representing Plaintiffs were ill equipped to go to battle against the lawyers and resources corporate America deployed in litigation. In most cases it was not a fair fight. But I also saw that there was a select group of trial lawyers that even the largest companies (and their lawyers) respected and feared. I saw firsthand the difference that having a skilled, competent and well-prepared lawyer could mean for the families of people that had been injured or killed.

After a couple of years I ended my career as an associate at a big firm and went to work with a TV advertising lawyer, Jim Adler. Jim is “The Texas Hammer.” He is a great guy and a great friend to this day. While working for Jim, I met the girl I eventually married, Chris. I owe Jim a huge debt of gratitude. I enjoyed working for Jim but his practice was not one that was likely to lead to handling the type of cases I

had dreamed about working on while I was in law school. So I left the job with Jim and opened Robert E. Ammons, attorney at law.

My solo practice was truly solo. Just me. No associate, no paralegal, no secretary. Just Robert E. Ammons attorney at law. My girlfriend at the time, Chris worked for another lawyer during the day and would help me with my cases after hours. But there wasn’t a lot of help needed because I didn’t have many clients. I badly needed clients and cases.

As a defense lawyer I had made some friends with opposing counsel on quite a few cases. To get clients and cases, I literally went door-to- door asking those Plaintiffs lawyers if they had any cases that couldn’t be settled and needed to be tried. I also knew that there were some lawyers that never wanted to go to trial and I found that they were more than happy to hand off cases that they said, “were dogs and had to be tried.” I took any case I could get my hands on regardless of the facts. They were small cases and I tired dozens of them. I lost as much as I won. And while the losses hurt, there were always lessons to be learned.

I worked hard to get a reputation as someone who was not afraid of the courtroom. By 1994, I had tried enough cases to become Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. (In Texas about 2% of personal injury attorneys are Board Certified). I also had enough work (and money) to pay my fiancé Chris to work with me full time. Chris and I got married in November of 1994. Which was the best thing that ever happened in my life.

In 1995 a tort reform package was enacted in Texas and many of the lawyers that had handled crashworthiness cases decided to stop taking those cases. That was actually a big break for me. It created a void that I decided to fill. I made it known that I would take crashworthiness case referrals regardless of the change in the law.

By 1996 I had several seven figure verdicts under my belt so I began to get some decent cases in the door. I was handling Bronco II rollovers and seat belt failure cases when a good friend named David Willis referred a case for a choir teacher named Cynthia Jackson. She had been driving home from a family trip when the Firestone tire on her Ford Explorer separated and her vehicle rolled over. Cynthia ended up being featured on the KWTX news story that brought national attention to the Firestone tires failing on Ford Explorers leading to rollover deaths and injuries. It sparked the largest tire recall in U.S. history.

Over the last 30 years I have lived the dream I had in law school. I have prosecuted hundreds of tire defect, rollover, crashworthiness, and products cases of all types in over 40 states throughout the country.

For me, being a trial lawyer is about making a difference. Whether we are forcing the recall of a deadly consumer product, requiring a trucking company to enact stronger safety policies or meeting the lifetime needs of a catastrophically injured client, it is making a difference that counts.

I credit anything good that has happened over the last thirty years to his wife, Chris Ammons. Chris and I have been married 29 years, we have 4 children together (2 are lawyers) and we are very proud of each one of them.

I believe that hard work and continually striving to improve as a trial lawyer have been the source of any success I have had as a trial lawyer. I am a student of advocacy and I believe that it’s important to never stop learning how to be a better trial lawyer. This belief is what led me (at the age of 51) to spend a month at Gerry Spence’s ranch in Wyoming learning the Spence methods.

In an effort to pass along some of what I have learned over the last thirty years of trying cases, I am honored to be an instructor with The Spence Method. And as a trial lawyer, I am looking forward to the next thirty years of trying cases and making a difference.

David DeRubertis

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

Dale K. Galipo obtained his J.D.from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law in 1984. Mr. Galipo has since earned a reputation as one of the top civil rights attorneys in the nation. With the formation of The Law Offices of Dale K. Galipo in 1991, Mr. Galipo began specializing in personal injury cases and soon thereafter, he started obtaining multi-million dollar jury verdicts on personal injury cases. During the 1990’s, Mr. Galipo also handled numerous criminal cases and was dubbed “The Strikes Man” by the Daily Journal for multiple jury acquittals in “three strikes” cases. From 1995 thru 1996, Mr. Galipo obtained six consecutive jury acquittals on major felony cases.

In 2002, Dale Galipo started to specialize in civil rights cases involving police misconduct and excessive force and shortly thereafter, Mr. Galipo began obtaining multi-million dollar jury verdicts for victims of police misconduct and police abuse. In 2012, Mr. Galipo was awarded the Defender of the Constitution Award by the Inland Empire Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and was more recently the Honoree for the MLK award presented in his name at the UC Davis School of Law. In the last eleven years, he has prevailed in over 50 Jury trials and has obtained over 100 seven-figure verdicts and settlements.

With approximately twenty published opinions in civil rights cases, Dale Galipo has also been selected to the Southern California’s SuperLawyers list every year. Having been awarded the CAALA Trial Lawyer of the Year 2020 and also the CAOC 2020 Consumer Attorney of the Year, he is often asked to speak about his civil rights practice, most often on how to successfully try a civil-rights case. As an active member of The Inner Circle of Advocates and as a Fellow of The American College of Trial Lawyers, Mr. Galipo has gone to trial and won more cases against the police than any other attorney in the country.

Dale Galipo

Michael Alder

I grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. I first came to the U.S. in 1994 for college, where I played baseball for Pepperdine University for four years (I was a catcher). I had big plans of playing professionally after college, but none of the 30 MLB teams shared my vision. I chose being a lawyer because the idea of trying cases resembled the competition in baseball—and I also figured there’s less chance of breaking my thumbs or aggravating my knees in a courtroom. Just before law school, I married my college sweetheart Marni (who swam at Pepperdine) and we celebrated our 26th anniversary in August. We’re an adoptive family with three daughters. Our middle daughter has cerebral palsy and is deaf (and non-verbal) so we’ve all learned sign language (ASL) as a family. (Unanticipated perk: Being able to sternly parent misbehaving children from 50 feet away without making a sound.)

David Sugden

Christy has been helping truck wreck victims and their families for nearly 20 years. After graduating first in her law school class, she formed the personal injury law firm of Childers & McCain in Macon, Georgia. She is a former Education Chair for the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys and was the first woman in Georgia NBTA Board Certified in trucking. Christy is known as the creator of Damages House, a new damages model that concretizes non-economic damages. 

Christy recently obtained an 8 figure result against a shipper in a trucking burn case and was part of the trial team that obtained an 8 figure verdict in a TBI trucking trial, where she presented the damages story at trial through lay witnesses. In addition to running her own law firm and practice, she leads the Trucking Case Roundtable for trial consultant Sari de la Motte, assisting lawyers with creating compelling content in their trucking cases using the H2H method. Christy also organizes adventure CLEs for women trial lawyers, called the Mother Truckers Rally. The 2022 rally was in Montana, where women trucking attorneys from all over the country drove tractor trailers, shared strategy, went fly fishing, and learned from vocal, acting, and career coaches. 

In 2023, Christy took 32 people to Alaska, where she taught classes in a Yurt between dog sledding, landing on glaciers in helicopters, and driving tractor trailers at the Alaska Driving Academy. This past year the Mother Truckers crushed cars with excavators, drove monster trucks, blew up a car, shot flamethrowers and then had an intense day of learning from nationally renowned trial consultants in a Vegas Ice Bar and Speakeasy. Recently Christy, along with two other ladies, formed a 501(c)(3) non-profit for women trial lawyers and women in the trucking and transportation industry, so that more voices may be added to the mission of creating safer roads. She and her husband have two children, Laney (15) and John (12), and a Great Pyrenees named Maggie.

Christy Crowe Childers

Al Foeckler

I was born in Poland and lived there until the end of second grade, when my family emigrated to what was then West Germany to escape communism. We lived in West Germany for two years before being granted political asylum in the U.S. – my dad’s ultimate goal – and got on a plane to St. Louis. I went on to college at Tulane University and law school at Loyola Chicago. I then hit the trial lottery and went to work for a Chicago defense firm that each year tried the most cases of any law firm in the state, and had a culture built around trying cases. I tried over 100 civil jury trials to verdict, and in 2006 was recognized by the Cook County Jury Verdict Reporter for having tried the 2nd-most jury trials in the state of Illinois. In 2012, I moved to New Orleans for an opportunity to do plaintiff’s work exclusively. Two years ago, I had my first 8-figure verdict, in no small part thanks to what I learned at TLU and from the great trial lawyers Dan Ambrose put me in touch with.

I fought in the Chicago Golden Gloves boxing tournament in the light-heavyweight and heavyweight divisions between 2005 and 2011. Since moving to New Orleans, I’ve taken up competitive pistol and rifle shooting and compete regularly across the country in the Elite Men’s division of The Tactical Games and currently hold an A-class ranking from the United States Practical Shooting Association in Carry Optics pistol. I live in New Orleans with my wife and three daughters, ages 8, 6, and 4.

Przemek	Lubecki

Ricardo Echeverria

I grew up in Ohio, with 3 sisters and a brother. Growing up,basketball was my life, but I decided not to play in college. I went to Ohio University, where my father, my mother, my older sister, and my older brother all went before me. I studied abroad in London and traveled Western Europe. After college I wanted to move to a big city, so it was LA, NY, or Chicago and I was sick of freezing my ass off, so it was LA. I chose Southwestern Law School because it had the only 2-year program in the country at the time. Then when I started, I decided I wanted to study abroad again and travel during the 1stsummer and work at the DA’s office for a summer so I switched to the 3-year program. I studied abroad in Madrid in law school and traveled again. I worked in the Los Angeles DA’soffice my second summer and I did my first jury trial in law school. I got a conviction on a domestic abuse case with a recanting victim. I was hooked on trial work. I love competition, public speaking and helping my clients obtain justice while making the community a safer place for us all. After law school, I started with a construction and family law firm, but hated it, so I was going to start my own firm when the firm we shared office space with asked me to join them. I said yes, the partner gave me the Reptile book, and we went to a seminar. I started working with Don Keenan on a couple cases and he became my mentor in 2010. I was an instructor with Keenan Ball Colleges since the beginning and that has since transitioned to the Keenan Trial Institute, where I’m the Dean of Closing Arguments. I have taught most of the KTI courses but now focus on teaching Trial and Closing. I am currently licensed in AZ, CA, IL, and TX, but handle cases across the country. I love to learn from anyone and everyone since I believe everyone knows something I don’t. I read and watch as much as I can on trial work, psychology, and neuroscience. I also still love to travel and have been to Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, and I’m now up to over 40 countries total visited. I’m married and we just welcomed our first child, a boy, to the world at the end of 2022. Being a father is the best, and I love that as well.

Ryan Skiver

I grew up working in Coachella at my father’s swap meet clothing store, where I learned how to speak Spanish and work my ass off to earn the privilege of playing the Street Fighter Arcade next to my dad's store. I bring a Street Fighter mentality into every trial, unfortunately or fortunately. At my last trial, that mentality helped me earn a $51.3 million verdict while almost landing me in jail during trial! I can stay calm during a firestorm and also create a storm when things are eerily calm.

Mohamad Ahmad

Maxey Scherr

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

I was born into a family filled with lawyers and doctors, but I was determined to be neither of the two. I had no interest in blood and gore and zero interest in filing briefs or being an attorney. Despite these “strongly held beliefs,” my father continued to tell me from the age of three that I would be an attorney. Perhaps his badgering unconsciously led me to the legal field, or maybe I won in the end as I do not practice law, but I have found a love of the courtroom and the mental challenge of reshaping cases.

Before discovering my path, I attended Duke Law School where I received my JD and a master’s in psychology. During my first semester of law school, a professor presented one day on jury selection and mentioned David Ball’s name, who conveniently was in Durham. In that moment, I found my passion and career path. I cold-called David as a young, nervous student, introduced myself, told him I wanted to do what he does, and invited him to lunch. For unknown reasons, he agreed, seemed to like me well enough, very likely paid for lunch, and offered to mentor me while I was in school. I will forever be grateful as he set me on my path of a career I love.

I was also fortunate to be taught by Professor Neil Vidmar, who owns half of the recordings of the Arizona Project from 1996 when cameras were allowed into deliberation rooms of real juries. I spent my days in class, and my afternoons at coffee shops sitting side-by-side with David Ball while he taught me the ins and outs of focus group research, case analysis, opening statement, and trial strategy. At night, I would wander onto a dark campus and, entrusted with a key to his office, sit at Neil Vidmar’s desk watching Arizona Project deliberation tapes and taking notes. The rest, they say, is history. I thrive on the challenge of altering case themes and strategy, testing cases with mock trials, and helping attorneys become stronger advocates.

I also have two young kids who love seeing my face on mock trial videos as I analyze results and who challenge me to balance my work with their young, busy, important lives.

Jessica Brylo

I grew up on a Nebraska farm. I was the fifth of five children. My father only had an eighth grade education. All five of his children graduated from college. I have a degree in English Literature and received the Vreelands writing award for poetry. I attended graduate school in Economics and Law. All at the University of Nebraska.

I practiced as a public defender in Lincoln, Nebraska and Bethel, Alaska. Bethel is an Eskimo village on the Kuskoquim River in far west Alaska. I handled 14 homicide cases and hundreds of felony cases. I then worked for the Alaska Supreme Court as Court Rules Attorney before moving to civil litigation to try tort cases. My first law partner was Edmond Burke, the former Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court.

I now work with Rick Friedman’s firm in Bremerton and Seattle, Washington. We handle tort trials all across the country.

I have also taught cognitive neuroscience to trial lawyers in 30 states. This is the science of how the physiology of the brain produces the phenomenology of consciousness. It is fundamentally related to human decision-making in the courtroom (and elsewhere). It is especially helpful for case framing around the concept of moral blameworthiness. It is also useful in identifying and selecting jurors who respond to particular types of evidence involving moral blame.

Don Bauermeister

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

Randi McGinn

Deena Buchanan

I was born in Flint, Michigan, and have always been drawn to the fight for justice. I attended Oberlin College before earning my law degree magna cum laude from Case Western Reserve University, where I was published multiple times in national peer-reviewed law journals. From the start of my career, I dedicated myself exclusively to representing victims of severe nursing home neglect and abuse, securing record-breaking verdicts, including the largest recorded verdict against a nursing home in Ohio history—$26 million. My work has led to numerous seven- and eight-figure trial victories, and I’ve set records for the highest verdicts in multiple counties.

I’ve been recognized as one of the Top 10 Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Lawyers and named the Most Dedicated Nursing Home Prosecution Trial Attorney in the Midwest by AI Legal. Beyond the courtroom, I serve as faculty for Trial Lawyers University, lecturing across the country on trial strategy and case framing. I’m also an active member of the American Medical Directors Association (AMDA) and the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care (PALTC)—as far as I know, the only attorney to be accepted into these medical organizations.

When I’m not in trial, I spend much of my time traveling—especially in Central and South America—or restoring classic cars. I live in Peninsula, Ohio, but my work has taken me nationwide, fighting to hold corporations accountable for the vulnerable lives entrusted to their care.

Michael Hill

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

Bobby Taghavi

Moses Kim

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

Kenneth Berger

Eric Oliver

Born to Finnish parents who claim I arrived with “sisu” (that’s tenacity), I’ve made it my mission to challenge the status quo, rewrite the playbook, and empower others to do the same. I live in Oregon with my husband, our daughter, our pampered French bulldog, Coco, and our perfect rescue dog, Zoey. I’ve battled cancer twice and recharge on the Oregon coast or in our family cabin in Finland.

Sari De La Motte

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

I was born and raised in Pasadena, California. I graduated from USC business school in 1992 and from Whittier Law School, summa cum laude, in 1995. I joined a mid-size business litigation firm headquartered in Orange County in 1995 and became a partner in 2001. When I joined the firm, I started developing a practice area in the automotive space. I had grown up around cars and recognized that the automotive space was underserved by professionals who understood the industry. In 2006, as an adjunct to the law practice, I opened a high-end collector car dealership in Orange County. For the first 20 years, most of my legal focus was representing car dealers against automotive manufacturers in large franchise disputes. However, in the mid-2010s, I narrowed my focus to representing consumers who had suffered catastrophic injuries from an automotive defect. I have now litigated cases against nearly every major automotive manufacturer in the world, including GM, Audi, Maserati, Mitsubishi, FCA, Kia, Nissan, Honda, AM General, Isuzu, Toyota, Hyundai, Harley-Davidson, Ford, Acura, Tesla, Volvo, Volkswagen, Aston Martin, Land Rover, Mercedes, and Porsche.

Jonathan Michaels

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

Baton Rouge native Steven DeBosier joined the litigation team at Dudley DeBosier in March 2000. He is a 1985 graduate of Catholic High School, and he obtained his undergraduate and law degrees from Louisiana State University. Steven spent the first few years of his legal career representing insurance companies, where he learned firsthand how they operate.

At Dudley DeBosier, Steven prosecutes plaintiffs’ personal injury claims against those same insurance companies in courts all across Louisiana, including state and federal courts. He focuses on personal injury claims and helping get his clients the money they deserve.

Steven DeBosier

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 was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, the youngest of five children. My father was a general surgeon and would often take me with him to round on patients on the weekends when I was out of school. I went to Virginia Military Institute, and upon graduation, received my commission in the Army.

After law school at Mercer University, I entered active duty and served in the Army JAG Corps for 4 years. I left the Army after my tour, and began my “civilian” life as an insurance defense lawyer defending hospitals and doctors.

In 1999, I started my law firm – Bell Law Firm - first as a general personal injury practice that evolved into a specialized medical malpractice and catastrophic injury firm.

I enjoy time with my three children, working out, running, and playing chess and ping pong.

Lloyd Bell

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

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?