Evan Oshan · Chris Hammons

What does it take to turn devastating facts into a case story that jurors understand, believe, and act on?In this workshop, trial lawyers Chris Hammons and Evan Oshan take attendees inside two major civil rights verdicts and break down the practical trial decisions that helped drive extraordinary results. Chris Hammons recently obtained a $126,000,000 verdict in the Emily Gaines case, and Evan Oshan recently obtained a $30,000,000 verdict in a civil rights case in Seattle. Together, they will use those real cases as teaching models for three of the most important tools in any serious plaintiff’s trial: focus groups, opening statement, and witness order.This session will show how focus groups can help identify the themes that matter most, expose defense positions before trial, and refine the story that ultimately reaches the jury. The workshop will then move into opening statement strategy: how to simplify difficult law, humanize tragic facts, and frame a case from the very beginning in a way that gives jurors both a story and a reason to care. Finally, Chris and Evan will break down witness order and explain how sequencing proof can build momentum, clarify liability, and maximize persuasive force in a civil rights case.This is not a lecture on theory. It is a practical, experience-driven workshop built around real cases, real verdicts, and real trial choices. Attendees will hear how two trial lawyers from different cases and different venues approached the same central question: how do you build a civil rights case that lands with a jury?For lawyers handling wrongful death, police misconduct, jail death, institutional abuse, or other civil rights cases, this workshop will offer concrete strategies you can use in your next trial.If you want to be more intentional about how you test your case, frame your opening, and order your witnesses, this workshop will give you a blueprint drawn from two headline civil rights verdicts.