To master voir dire does not take 10,000 hours of practice, but it does require making a commitment to training and deliberate practice.

Nobody becomes a scratch golfer by just watching Tiger Woods, or reading a book by Jack Nicholas, watching golf on tv, or just playing a lot of golf and trying really hard. If you want to become great at golf you would hire a coach, take lessons where you are shown the correct way to hold and swing a club, be recorded swinging, corrected, and try again. Then you would go to the range and practice daily. As you got better you would test your skills on the course, eventually entering tournaments. And of course, continue with your lessons and your DELIBERATE PRACTICE.

The elements of Deliberate Practice are:

1. Having a correct Mental Representation, a mental structure that corresponds to an object, an idea, a collection of information, or a skill.
2. Having a coach who designs you a training program and shows you correct form.
3. Engage in daily solitary practice to perfect the skill
4. Practice the skill in a realistic setting

We all know that the key to a great voir dire is connecting with the jury. Connection is a complex skill that must be divided into its micro-skills which are:

1. Eye contact
2. Voice control
3. Facial expression/state control
4. Hand/body movement
5. Glance control
6. Creating space
7. Word selection
8. Listening

I will demonstrate and explain various patterns of voir dire and how you can start to learn these skills.

Daniel Ambrose

TLU Live NYC (Replay) - Deliberate Practice Applied to Voir Dire

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 | Boyle | Ravipudi LLP. I am the current 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. I recently passed the bar in Nevada with my youngest daughter.

Brian Panish

I am a partner at Panish | Shea | Boyle | Ravipudi LLP, an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School, and the father of three boys – 16, 13, and 10. 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 PSBR 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 Twin Falls, Idaho, and moved to Boise, Idaho when I was three years old. I lived in Boise until the end of third grade. I then moved to Las Vegas. I attended 8 different schools from 1st-12th grade. I played junior college baseball in California. I finished my bachelor's degree at UNLV. Just before I graduated, I married my high school sweetheart, Lou, and we have been happily married for 22 years. I attended UNLV Boyd School of Law and graduated in 2003. I started my own law firm, Sean K. Claggett & Associates, on January 1, 2005, with a single employee. My firm has changed names two times, the first was Claggett, Hays & Sykes and the second and final change was to its current name, Claggett & Sykes. Today our firm has over 55 employees which includes 22 lawyers. I love baseball and golf, and as I write this bio I am at St. Andrews enjoying day 1 of the 150th Open.

Sean Claggett

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 Peleton!

Joseph 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

Born and raised in Hawaii, Bibi Fell still has a hint of the Islands in her smile. Welcoming for jurors, it often causes her to be underestimated by opposing counsel, much to their peril. She started her own law firm despite a series of personal challenges over the last 2 years, including a cancer diagnosis in her 4-year-old daughter. With her daughter now cancer-free, she is back to the courtroom and sharing her skills with others. Bibi combines an ability to craft a persuasive argument with incredible trial preparation. She is a master storyteller who uses visuals to drive the story. She loves spending time with all of her girls and the doctor who helped saved the life of her youngest daughter.

Bibi Fell

Keith R. Mitnik isn’t just one of Florida’s most prolific trial attorneys — he’s one of the most renowned litigators in America. Famous for his winning opening statements, high-profile celebrity cases, and ability to reach the hearts of even the toughest juries, Mr. Mitnik has earned his reputation as a star litigator.

Mr. Mitnik’s unique courtroom philosophy and dedication to the art of crafting a winning argument has shaped his successful legal career, which spans decades and boasts hundreds of millions of dollars recovered for his clients.

Mr. Mitnik is Senior Trial Counsel at Morgan & Morgan, as well as one of the owners of the law firm. In this role, Mr. Mitnik uses his winning methods to help clients with plaintiffs' cases of all kinds, including personal injury, medical malpractice, product liability, mass torts, among others.

Keith Mitnik

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 native of Monrovia, Liberia where my Grand Uncle was the president. During his presidency there was a lot of civil unrest which ultimately resulted in a coup d’etat in the early 80’s requiring my family to flee to America. We migrated to Los Angeles, California which has been my home since. I went to UCLA for undergrad where I ran the hurdles, then taught elementary school for a few years prior to attending law school part time. I started my legal career practicing criminal law, then civil rights and now personal injury. I teach at the Gerry Spence Method at Thunderhead Ranch program in Wyoming. I have recently taken up surfing which is even harder than I imagined it would be.

Stephen King

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

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

David DeRubertis

was born and raised in Poughkeepsie, NY, and am the eldest of three daughters. My father was an entrepreneur, and I started working at the age of 14. I continued working all through my college and law school years. I pursued my undergraduate degree in Business Management, specializing in Finance and Marketing, from Marist College. During my college days, I was involved in a serious car accident, followed by some legal issues, which triggered my interest in pursuing a law degree. I was seriously injured and had a six month recovery to my own car accident. A few years later my high school sweetheart died in a motorcycle accident. Going through so many challenges made me grow up at a very young age. I felt so frustrated by my lack of knowledge around the legal issues I was dealing with that I felt helpless. Consequently, I moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and enrolled in Atlanta's John Marshall Law School at night while working as a Personal Injury Paralegal during the day.

During law school, I participated actively. After receiving my law degree and bar license, I opened my law firm. Over the past decade, I have grown my firm and have expanded it to include more than 35 people and 5 lawyers. I have developed mentors around the country that have helped me grow and scale my firm. I study the best of the best and take best practices and implement in my firm. Our firm has been recognized with numerous awards, including ranking on the Inc 5000 List of Fastest Growing Companies in the US, with only 10 Women-Owned Companies making the cut. I have worked in some leadership roles including the President of the Atlanta’s John Marshall Alumni Association, President Elect of the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers Foundation, and Member of The Georgia Trial Law Lawyers and a variety of others.

Personally, I am married and have three children. In my free time, I love my hobbies, which include spending time with my family, studying business, listening to podcasts, traveling, and keeping fit. I am a life long learner and committed to continued pursuit of growth.

Jennifer Gore-Cuthbert

Some may say they were born to be a trial lawyer. In my case I was born 

 of a trial. My dad was a public defender and was trying a capital murder case. Half way through the trial a new attractive young blonde court reporter took over the proceedings. My dad and the prosecutor made a bet on who could be the first to get a date with the new reporter. My dad won. And because of that bet you’re reading this bio. Growing up, talking about my dad’s latest murder trial was common conversation at the Case de Schreiber dinner table. It was ingrained in me early on that killing people to teach people that killing was wrong didn’t work. I also saw firsthand how the quality of the lawyer representing someone could have profound impact on the outcome of their case and by extension the outcome of their lives. When I was in first grade my mom suffered a massive brain aneurysm. She was never the same person but that didn’t keep us from continuing to have a fulfilling and loving relationship to this day. It’s not better or worse. Just 

. Looking back I believe those experiences have been the North Stars guiding my career as a trial lawyer. What we do has the power to restore and to change the trajectory of someone’s life. But I think the greatest gift we often give our clients is our empathy. Our ability to understand and be present for them. I strive to do that – not always successfully – every day.

Brett Schreiber

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.

Rob Ammons

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

With more than 25 years of legal experience, Lloyd Bell has built a sterling courtroom record and recovered millions of dollars for medical malpractice victims. A veteran of the U.S. Army JAG Corps, Bell founded his own law firm in 1999 and is consistently recognized as one of the top attorneys in his field. In 2018, Bell Law Firm was recognized as Personal Injury Litigation Team of the Year by Daily Report, the leading source of legal news in Atlanta. Lloyd Bell has been included in Atlanta Magazine’s prestigious Super Lawyers list every year since 2005, and more recently the Super Lawyers “Top 100 Lawyers in Georgia” list in 2018. Bell has also been named as one of the few personal injury lawyers in Georgia on the prestigious list of “Legal Elite” by Georgia Trend Magazine, an honor he has received every year since 2015. In 2019 Bell was named as the second ever Georgia attorney to join the 

, an elite, invitation only group of the nation’s top plaintiff lawyers. His firm differentiates itself with deep legal expertise, a mastery of technology in the courtroom, and compelling storytelling. Over the past five years, Bell won more seven- and eight-figure verdicts for his clients in medical malpractice cases than any other attorney in the state of Georgia, including a $15 million verdict against a large Atlanta hospital group in 2016 and a record-breaking $26 million verdict against a Columbus hospital in 2017. Bell is a member of the Melvin M. Belli Society, a group of distinguished trial lawyers dedicated to the principles of education. Bell is also board certified by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys in the field of medical malpractice.

Lloyd Bell

Greg Bentley is a trial attorney specializing in the representation of consumers on a wide variety of cases, including insurance bad faith, catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death and product liability matters. Mr. Bentley’s track record reflects a career dedicated to protecting consumers. Mr. Bentley’s efforts on behalf of his clients have been recognized by his peers. He was honored in 2014 by Consumer Attorneys of California with the Consumer Attorney of the Year Award. He was named the 2012 Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys of the Inland Empire, 2013 Jennifer Brooks Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Western San Bernardino County Bar Association and the 2013 Top Gun Trial Lawyer of the Year (Government Entity) by the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association. He was a finalist in 2012 for the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles Trial Lawyer of the Year Award, and nominated for the award again in 2013 and 2014. He will be honored in November as the OCTLA Top Gun Trial Lawyer of the Year for Product’s Liability.

Greg Bentley

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

Robert T. Simon is a co-founder of the Simon Law Group — aka Justice Team — and acts as the primary trial attorney. Since launching the firm with his twin brother/wombmate/best friend, 

, in late 2009, it has grown from a boutique office with just a few people into an 9-figure annual practice recognized by its peers throughout the Country, with offices in California, Arizona, and Texas. He has also been admitted by courts in Massachusetts, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and New York to handle large death cases caused by commercial carriers, an area of focus and national notoriety.

He grew up in Pittsburgh as the oldest of 5 (tied!), and the son of a loving UPS 

. It has always been his dream to work with his brothers — 

. Is is growing up in the trucking world that Robert knows so much, and is passionate about, trucking & bus crashes.

When he was a kid, his uncle was suddenly struck by a drunk driver and lost the use of his legs. This accident forever shifted Robert’s career trajectory. He made it his mission to fight for the injured and the less fortunate. He is known for getting massive verdicts on spine injury cases.

He has won Trial Lawyer of the Year several times, as voted on by his peers, in many geographic areas. He speaks on a monthly basis educating other lawyers on best practices and how to achieve the best results for their clients.

Robert T. Simon

I was raised in rural Maine back when it was just an unorganized territory, and my family were the only year-round residents brave or crazy enough to live on Spring Pond Mountain in the winter. We had no electricity and no running water. We lived in an old farmhouse an elderly couple owned and let us live in for free if we worked the land; and work it we did. We had 4 acres of gardens with every vegetable you can imagine. We had blueberry bushes, blackberry patches, raspberries, strawberries, and an apple orchard. We kept chickens for eggs, goats for milk, horses to plow and harrow the fields, and dogs to protect the gardens and the animals from the deer and coyote. One year we even had a pig—what luck! I loved those dogs. One year, our Samoyed Husky named Able saved my life. I was in the apple orchard with my sister, and we got caught between a mama bear and her cub. The mama bear came out of the woods on one side of the tree and the cub came out on the other side. Mama bear charged at us, and we climbed up an apple tree. Naturally, the bear climbed right up after us. Able was at the bottom of the tree biting as hard as she could at the bear’s legs, until the bear got so mad she chased Able into the woods. We ran home safe and sound. Able came back later that night.

I was one of four girls. My father really wanted sons, but all he got was girls. All the same, he raised us like we were sons. He taught us to never show struggle on your face no matter how heavy the weight of the burden. He taught us to haul hay, split wood, and clean out an outhouse. He even gave me the name he had picked out for the son I was supposed to be: Christian Milton Morris. Having a man’s name helped in my early years of practice where all my mail came in for “Mr. Morris” and I felt like I got more respect. It has also hurt me at times as we are all sitting around waiting for Mr. Morris, but I was already in the room. The one thing I know about myself is that when I feel injustice has occurred, I am like Able biting on that bear’s leg and not letting go. I love being a trial lawyer because I love changing the course of someone’s life because I know how to help. I love it even more now that I have children and I want to do everything I can to make this planet safer and better for them when I am gone

Christian Morris

In 2016, at the age of 37, Benjamin P. Cloward became the youngest lawyer in the history of the State of Nevada to be awarded the prestigious “Trial Lawyer of the Year” by the Nevada Justice Association. That same year, he became the youngest member of the Nevada, Las Vegas Chapter of ABOTA (American Board of Trial Advocates), and at the time was also the youngest person in the State of Nevada to be Board Certified as a Personal Injury Specialist. He has received many additional recognitions including being AV-Rated by Martindale-Hubbell and receiving a perfect 10.0 by 

. He has been featured in several magazines in Nevada for his accomplishments and hard work.

Just recently, in February of 2020, Ben obtained a 

, which is believed to be the largest ever negligent security for wrongful death in the State of Nevada and was the 2nd largest wrongful death verdict in the entire United States in 2020. Other verdicts Ben has obtained include a 

 in 2016 on behalf of a family whose disabled son Harvey was allowed to choke to death on a paratransit bus. That verdict was upheld in a unanimous decision after four years of contentious appellate litigation with the final judgment ballooning to nearly 

. The defense in that case never formally offered a single penny. After obtaining the verdict, Ben continued working on the safety issue that led to Harvey’s death and with the help of many other people got “Harvey’s Law” passed in Nevada in 2017, which required certain training for all paratransit bus drivers to ensure others were protected. In 2016, Ben also obtained a 

 for a family whose life had been altered by a drunk driver that injured the mother and killed the daughter. He also obtained a 

 for a client who was significantly injured from a fall which resulted in a moderate brain injury. Ben has obtained multiple soft-tissue, low visible property damage jury verdicts including a 

 in 2014 and several 6 figure verdicts where Ben obtained verdicts over 

 greater than the defense offers prior to trial. Other notable results on behalf of his clients include a 

 against Jacuzzi Luxury Bath, dba Jacuzzi, Inc. and First Street for Boomers & Beyond, Inc. Also, he recently obtained an 

 verdict against FedEx Ground Package Inc. In addition to obtaining significant jury verdicts, Ben has also been involved in settling over thirty cases for values ranging from $1 million to $10 million as noted above. He has tried to verdict cases in both State and Federal Court in Utah and Nevada.

Benjamin P. Cloward

 of Dordick Law Corporation is a trial attorney specializing in plaintiff jury trials and has over 150 Jury trials in his career. Mr. Dordick went directly from high school to law school, never attending college. He put himself through a four-year night program while working at a law office, where he started as a file room clerk. Immediately after passing the bar, Mr. Dordick opened his own law firm, starting out with no employees. Now, Dordick Law Corporation has three locations, 56 employees, and 18 lawyers, including his three kids, Michelle, Dylan, and Taylor, as associate lawyers. Mr. Dordick is also on the executive board of the ABOTA Los Angeles chapter and will be The ABOTA President in 2025. He is an Emeritus member of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA) Board of Governors and was just inducted into the Hall of Fame on June 8, 2023. He won CAALA’s Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2001. He has been nominated for CAALA’s Trial Lawyer of the Year an unprecedented eleven times. He is CAOC’s (Consumer Attorneys of California) 2009 Trial Attorney of the Year. He was announced one of the Daily Journal’s Top 100 Lawyers in California in 2017, 2021, and 2022 as well as one of the Daily Journal’s Top Plaintiff Lawyers in California for 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. 

Gary A. Dordick

David Clark

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

My parents and I immigrated to Southern California from India when I was about three years old. After finishing high school in Orange County, I graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in political science. I was a member of the American Youth Symphony throughout my undergraduate studies. I also worked as an SAT tutor, a music instructor, and an active freelance classical violist. After graduating from UCLA, I taught myself No-Limit Hold‘em and spent several years playing professionally. I continued to support myself by playing poker while I attended Rutgers Law School. After graduation, I worked for about two years in Florida at a human rights based non-profit before moving back to Orange County and founding The Guha Law Firm. My solo practice focuses on plaintiff’s employment litigation. I rarely get to play poker any more but every day I apply the same skills in my contingency litigation practice that made me a successful poker player. I am a huge Laker fan and love to play basketball, lift weights, and go on hikes with my dog Kobe.

Ranojoy Guha 

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

I was born and raised in Fresno, California. I come from a family of farmers, except for my father, who opted to become an attorney. Because of him, and my love for the tv series, Matlock, I played attorney in the front yard as a kid. Eventually, I moved to Irvine for my bachelor's degree at UC Irvine where I majored in criminology. I went to Pepperdine for law school, where I met my husband, Andy. Although I dreamed of working as a prosecutor, my aunt Kris introduced me to a friend of hers, who happened to be a prominent civil Plaintiff attorney. I clerked for him in law school and learned that I enjoyed the civil side. I live in Coto de Caza with my husband Andy and seven pets. My practice focuses on dangerous condition, product liability, and workplace accident/crossover cases. In 2022 I was awarded OCTLA’s Young Gun trial lawyer of the year. I’ve been fortunate to achieve settlements and verdicts on behalf of many deserving clients including obtaining a $30 million settlement for a woman who was catastrophically injured as a result of a trucking company’s failure to properly maintain its fleet of vehicles and a $16.5 million settlement against the City of Pasadena on a dangerous road design case involving insufficient corner sight distance that led to a devastating T-bone collision.

Clare Lucich

Conal Doyle is an award winning trial lawyer who has received national recognition for his courtroom victories that have had broad reaching impact on society. He is one of the few attorneys in history to argue before the United States Supreme Court and obtain multiple seven and eight figure jury verdicts.

His international human rights victory in 

 was a catalyst for the reform of the United States immigration healthcare system, and garnered widespread acclaim from his peers, legal publications and the international media.

For example, he received the 2012 California Lawyer of the Year (CLAY) Award in Human Rights, and the 2011 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award from the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA). He has been listed in both Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers for the past ten consecutive years, and his courtroom victories have been chronicled in newspapers around the world, including a piece on the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes.”

Conal’s reputation as one of the finest trial attorneys in America was further cemented with two stunning back-to-back verdicts in Kern County, California, one of California’s most “conservative” jurisdictions.

Conal Doyle

After more than 30 years of defense litigation success, Bruce Schechter joined the PARRIS Law Firm and has been working there as a plaintiff’s attorney for over seven years now. He has experience in handling cases ranging from wrongful death suits to product liability and personal injury claims. Bruce specializes in catastrophic injuries and has handled over 40 cases involving claims of CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome). Now, Bruce uses his defense industry experience to advocate for those on the other side who have lost a family member, or who are suffering from catastrophic injury cases. Bruce in his career has tried more than 250 Jury trials, taken more than 5,000 depositions, 2500 of which have been expert depositions. In 2018, he represented two brothers who were severely injured in a head-on collision with a semi-truck driver for trucking giant CRST. The team secured a massive $54 million verdict. Bruce is a successful plaintiff’s attorney, and is a member of the California Bar as well as the American Board of Trial Advocates. He has spoken at many different engagements on a wide range of topics including “Winning at Trial,” “Choosing the Correct Experts when Litigating Catastrophic Injuries,” “Choosing a Jury in Brain Injury Cases,” and many more. He has also shared his knowledge as an adjunct professor of law at Chapman Law School. He has been on the Best Lawyers Super Lawyers list since 2009 and has an AV Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell, which is the highest that can be achieved. He and his wife are passionate about charitable causes such as JDRF, a juvenile diabetes research foundation, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Bruce Schechter

 “Wordless Persuasion”: The Neuroscience Based Skills that Provide the Key to Connection with Jurors.

"Anything that makes us more credible with jurors cannot be ignored. Gestures, eye contact, voice control, and smiling all make a difference, but you must have someone who can demonstrate these skills and coach you thru the transition to establishing real connections with jurors.”

I am a good teacher. I like to teach, and I enjoy working through the kinds of problems that we face as trial lawyers in our cases, in the courtroom, and with juries. Deposition and Case strategy (along with jury research) are my specialty areas. That includes collaboratively building detailed, realistic models of the defense case, testing case facts and theories with surveys, developing and testing alternative theories, and conducting in person research, including the use of shadow juries. I'm excited to be at TLU and have an opportunity to work with each of you.

There are some personal things about me that you should know. I am a teaser. It’s hard for me to resist the temptation to tease people when the occasion arises. It’s never in meanness and I try to be considerate of other’s feelings, but I probably have some work to do in that area. I am also blunt, I blame my parents and the rest of my family. In fairness, it's possible that none of them are as blunt as I am. If we are working together and you ask me what I think, I will be as gentle as I can be. I’ve gotten better with age but sometimes a blunt answer just spills out. Sorry.

When I teach, my goal is to collaboratively move people to a different level of insight and skill. That’s fun for me. It gives me joy. Otherwise, I am an open book. I’m not including the usual stuff about schools, degrees, writings, wins/losses, certificates, ribbons, ratings, spouses, hobbies, dogs, adventures, and travel…but ask if you are interested. I look forward to meeting you.

Phillip Miller

 and the founding partner in the firm Torgan Cooper + Aaron, where he concentrates his practice in plaintiff’s personal injury and medical malpractice litigation. He is hugely respected both in and beyond the New York, Tri-State area and as one judge commented, “He is one of the leading personal injury lawyers in the country.

In an industry judged by the amounts awarded to their injured clients, Evan Torgan has procured some of the highest verdicts and settlements for his clients. He has to his credit numerous multi-million dollar verdicts including $90 million for a brain-injured child resulting from neonatal malpractice, $64 million for a brain-damaged baby caused by obstetrical malpractice, $45 million for a child paralyzed during spine surgery, $30 million for a child struck by a truck causing brain and orthopedic injuries, $23 million for a passenger paralyzed in the Staten Island Ferry accident, $20 million for the surviving daughter of a victim of an automobile accident, $17 million for a nurse who suffered a herniated disc from an automobile accident, and $9.5 million for a pedestrian injured by a major power company.

Evan Torgan

I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area to an Armenian mother and Greek father. I attended Berkeley High School, University of California, Riverside and Golden Gate University, School of Law. While in law school, I worked at my father’s chocolate shop in Palo Alto giving tasting tours and teaching customers about the history and production of the world’s finest cacao. After passing the CA bar in 2019, I moved to Los Angeles to practice personal injury law. Shortly after founding my own firm in 2021, I cofounded 

, a case referral marketplace where attorneys can find cases to grow their practices and refer cases they would otherwise drop. In addition to running my startup, I work closely with Trial Lawyers University, coaching attorneys on trial presentation skills. I speak fluent Greek and enjoy traveling, reading, spending time with family and playing piano.

Giorgio Panagos

Evan Garcia is a Litigation Manager and Trial Attorney at the Simon Law Group, and hails from the Great state of Texas, where he is also admitted to practice. Evan’s practice focuses on all types of catastrophic injury cases and he is heavily involved in the firm’s day to day operations including working with the Firm’s referral partners to ensure a seamless transition to SLG’s litigation and trial teams.
Prior to joining The Simon Law Group, Evan worked at a boutique law firm and consultancy agency specializing in complex tax planning, controversy, and litigation. Evan was the youngest member of the firm, and was the youngest to manage a team of professionals in their Tax Controversy group. Evan is also SLG’s liaison to Justice HQ, a member-only plaintiff’s organization of high caliber attorneys. As a plaintiff’s attorney, Evan has been instrumental in recovering over $30 million in a verdicts and settlements, including two recent awards for $6M and $5.5M respectively.
Evan has a Finance and Real Estate degree from the University of Pacific and played Division I water polo for the Tigers. He then went on to earn his law degree from Thomas Jefferson School of Law, along with several other of our Attorneys. During law school he was an active member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution team and an Executive Board member of the Moot Court team. Evan competed in the distinguished Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition twice, and was an American College of Bankruptcy Distinguished Law Student 9th circuit nominee. He also clerked for the Honorable Chief Judge Marvin Isgur of the Southern District of Texas and the Ft. Bend County District Attorney’s office..
In his free time, Evan interests range from sports to wood working. He particularly likes marrying the two. Be sure to ask him (preferably on the Golf Course). But above all, he enjoys spending time with his Wife, Rhianna, and young sons Noah and Benson.

Evan Garcia

At a young age, Thomas Metier wanted to help the “little” guy. Whether he realized his calling as a child when he saw bullies picking on the weaker kids or as a young college student, helpless and alone while recuperating from a motorcycle accident, Tom knew his calling in life was to protect working people and their families who have lost their strength due to the wrongful, negligent acts of others. Tom wanted to create a firm devoted 100 percent to litigation and sought to surround himself with injury lawyers with the same grit and determination to fight for the rights of people who suffered a catastrophic injury.

Tom is the senior managing member of Metier Law Firm, LLC. A native of Iowa, Tom graduated cum laude from Coe College and received his doctor of jurisprudence from the University of Iowa. Licensed to practice in Colorado, Wyoming, the U.S. District Court–District of Colorado, the U.S. District Court–District of Wyoming, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, his national practice consists of a diverse range of practice areas including traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, trucking accidents and motor vehicle accidents.

Tom Thomas Metier

When I was 6 years old, my parents went through a brutal divorce. My Dad filed a custody suit to take full custody of me and my two older brothers. I was 8 at the time, and got to go to Court. It was then that I fell in love with the law. At any point in time, if I were asked what I wanted to do when I grew up, I would say a baseball player or a lawyer. Well, baseball didn’t pan out at the University of Illinois and so I was on my way to DePaul law school. With a job lined up in Chicago, I had nothing to lose when I put my resume in a Southern California based law firm. Within 20 minutes of the interview, I got offered the job and 34 years later here I am.

I immediately began trying personal injury cases and eventually worked with a Work Comp lawyer who was 16 years my senior. It was during my time as a partner with him, that I learned my skill set on Cross-Over cases. I have tried over 20 jury trials and over 200 workers compensation cases. In 2003 and 2004, I was voted trial lawyer of the year in Work Comp. I was the President of the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association in 2008. In 2012, I won my third trial lawyer of the year award and in 2019 following a 44-million-dollar Decision in a cross-over case, I won my fourth award. In 2022, Best Lawyers named me Work Comp Trial Lawyer of the year as well. Besides all of the accolades with Top 50 or Top 100 Super Lawyers or the Daily Journal Top Labor and Employment Lawyers, I am most proud of the legacy that my partner and I created at Bentley & More.

Keith More

Jack Denove

Kevin Biniazan is a highly sought after trial attorney specializing in high-profile, high-value cases. In his first five years of practice, he has tried over a dozen jury trials and recovered over $100 million in verdicts and settlements for his clients. Most recently he secured a $15 million verdict in the civil trial for the wrongful death of Yeardley Love and a $10 million verdict for damages incurred to a student on a school-mandated service project. Currently Kevin is representing 47 individuals who have alleged sexual abuse and battery over a period ranging from 2008 to 2020 against Cumberland Hospital, its owner (Universal Health Services and UHS of Delaware), and pediatrician/former medical director Daniel Davidow. Kevin is often asked to lecture and present for national and state trial lawyer organizations including the American Association for Justice, National Crime Victims Bar Association, National Center for Victims of Crime, and the Trial Lawyer Associations for Virginia, Colorado, Arkansas, New Jersey and District of Columbia. He holds leadership roles in the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association and for the American Association for Justice, and sits on the Board of Governors for both organizations.

Kevin Biniazan

Adante Pointer

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

I was born and raised in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, as the youngest of four boys. I grew up in the outdoors, fishing, hiking, camping, and swimming in the lakes and rivers of Wyoming. My backyard was Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone. I always took care of a lot of animals and still do. After college, I made my way to San Diego where I learned to surf. For three years I worked odd jobs – aerating lawns, customer service at a golf club, and eventually as a law clerk at a friend’s law firm. After struggling financially for years in San Diego, I made the decision to get to work and go to law school. I plunged into my education and graduated summa cum laude from Thomas Jefferson School of Law, landing a job as the 5th attorney at The Simon Law Group. I love competing against others and myself and try to become a better man every day for my family. On June 17th, 2022, my beautiful wife Talayeh and I welcomed our baby girl into the world, Tallulah. We spend most of our time in Palos Verdes, California, and the rest at our ranch in Bondurant, Wyoming.

Greyson Goody

Mark grew up in rural Wisconsin, attended Colorado College for a year before transferring to the University of Wisconsin - Madison graduating in 1978 with a B.S. in psychology and minor in philosophy. He received his law degree from the University of Houston Law Center (J.D. 1981). He is admitted to practice in Texas (1981) Wisconsin (1982), Louisiana (1983), Montana (1990), Pennsylvania (2005), Oklahoma (2005) and Georgia (2006).

He began his legal career in Orange and Houston, Texas in partnership with his friend and law school mock-trial teammate, Dennis Powell (who went on to serve for many years as a state district judge in Orange). Mueller and Powell practiced criminal

defense and general personal injury cases for several years. After the partnership ended, Mueller established his own solo practice concentrating on personal injury and medical malpractice cases. He developed an expertise in birth injury litigation, eventually developing a national reputation for large settlements and verdicts in Texas and other states. He was lead counsel on over 90 cases involving recoveries in excess of seven figures including verdicts of $59.5 million and $22.6 million in cases turned down by other firms.

His work in birth injury litigation included helping improve the scientific understanding of the under-appreciated effects of mechanical forces on brain blood flow dynamics and causation of perinatal brain injury as well as documenting to the FDA the risk and frequency of vacuum extractor injuries leading to FDA advisory to obstetricians and hospitals.

As one of the first lawyers involved in the multi-district litigation (MDL) of pelvic mesh, Mark was responsible for locating and developing many of the testifying expert witnesses and discovering several critical documents establishing corporate liability for each manufacturer. Primarily located in the Southern District of West Virginia, this mass tort became the largest and most complex medical device litigation in U.S. history. For this effort, Mark served as co-chair of the science committee and was the co-lead of the Coloplast MDL, member of the Bard MDL bellwether trial team under Henry Garrard and was a member of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee and Executive Committee.

Mark is known for his unconventional style and impromptu sense of humor as well as for his optimism, focus, and imaginative approach to problems and solutions. Mark has used a wide assortment of novel demonstrative items including puppets and stuffed animals to brainstorm, assist with clients, and prepare witnesses for trial.

He has handled a wide variety of cases including those involving chemical and radiation exposures, business fraud, insurance bad faith, electrocutions, deaths and injuries from unsafe industrial and household products, deceptive trade practices, Native American land rights, premises liability for rapes and assaults from poor security or defective locks, doors, or windows and sexual misconduct against religious orders, therapists, and counselors.

Mark is a graduate of the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyer College and later served as a teaching faculty member. He has been asked to present at legal continuing education conferences on a number of topics including jury selection, use of demonstrative evidence, The Future of Law, effective use of experts and science at trial, deposition and cross examination techniques and arguing damages in a malpractice case.

He has handled unusual cases as well, such as the so-called “condom rape” case where his efforts led to a reformation of the grand jury system by using professional counselors to educate grand jurors about rape trauma and rape responses. This process led to the successful prosecution of his client’s rapist and ultimately to a civil suit recovery against the landlord for failure to have properly working sliding glass door latches. Mark’s success from taking difficult and/or unusual cases has led to appearances on Oprah Winfrey, Good Morning America, the Today Show, Montel Williams and others as well as national front page news coverage by The NY Times and other outlets including legal and general interest magazines.

Mark Mueller

I was born in Altoga, Texas. It was just as rural as it sounds. Population 200, with more cows than people. I lived in a single-wide trailer on a rock road. What the house lacked in charm, my parents made up for with love. I remember my childhood as happy and full of warmth. My parents were at every game I ever played, ever teaching conference that was ever scheduled. I lived in the middle of nowhere. There were no kids around. My older brother and sister were 16 and 14 years older than me, so they had moved out. As a result, I spent lots of time alone, or with my mom and dad. 

My mom and dad were my best friends who kicked the soccer ball with me, played video games, and watched TV with me. My dad was a road construction worker. He poured asphalt in the Texas heat in blue jeans in boots. Asphalt goes down at about 300 degrees, and in the summer, most days it is over 100. It was hard, dirty work. My dad never complained. When I smell asphalt being poured, I always smile, and I think of my dad. He died a few years ago. Mom was a hard worker too. She got up at 3:30am to leave at 4:00 am to get to work at 4:30 a.m. She worked as a waitress at a greasy spoon serving locals and truckers. She worked 9-10 hours per day, six days per week. Then she came home, cooked, cleaned, and did almost everything around the house. She didn’t complain either.

I loved sports. I played soccer, baseball, basketball, football, and track. I was a very good inside linebacker and I loved the intensity and contact. School was easy for me, and I liked it. I got an academic scholarship to go to a Lutheran college called Concordia University. I went with the plan to be a teacher. I met Alicia there. She was going to be a teacher too. I ended up working as a high school teacher for five years, including a year in the inner city, teaching a variety of kids including a fair number of gang members. After two years of teaching, I knew it wasn’t going to be something I did for 30 years. Alicia felt the same way. So we got married and decided to go to law school. Since we had no money and we were sort of clueless – we packed up, moved to St. Louis (it was cheap and we knew a few people there). We taught high school during the day, raced from work to class, and went to law school at night. We graduated in 3.5 years, sleep-deprived, but proud.

I worked for John Simon’s law firm, and there I learned how to try cases. I also argued a lot of appeals – something that people typically don’t know about me. I’ve handled appeals in four federal circuits, three state courts, and I was the “Most Influential Appellate Lawyer” in Missouri twice. In my time in St. Louis gained a reputation as a sometimes too aggressive, reasonably clever, and trustworthy lawyer. I helped on injury cases but my primary job was running a class action department. It did well, and I liked the variety of cases and the challenge.

Wyatt Che, our first son, was born, and I wasn’t going to have a son I didn’t see. So, I applied for a job as a law professor at the University of Denver College of Law, somehow got it, and we moved to Denver. I kept a book of about 20 class cases. Alicia kept a full case load in St. Louis and called the Southwest flight from Denver to St. Louis her commute. People don’t know this about Alicia, but during those first years in Denver, she tried and settled more mortgage fraud cases than perhaps any attorney in the country. She was fearless and gained a reputation as such. I once saw her, semi-lovingly, shove a male opposing counsel in court when he offered her too little money. He laughed, she kept pushing physically and metaphorically, and he paid a boat load of money with the jury in the hallway, waiting. Alicia loved the work because she loves people. She is the only lawyer I know who baked cookies in her office so her homeless clients (she did social security disability work too) could come in from the cold and have a snack. We moved to Denver for the new job seven days after John Atticus (Jack) was born. He and Wyatt are 15 months apart. At the University of Denver Law School, I taught evidence, torts, an appellate class, and legal research and writing. I also learned about online studies, big data, and statistical methods. Blah. Blah. Blah. Published some academic papers. Started doing big data. Had some luck with that, and still love it.

A yearlong sabbatical from the University of Denver led us to Madrid. It was supposed to be a single year, but we loved it and so did our kids. We adjusted our lives, moved there, bought a place, gutted and reformed it, and live there now during the school year. We all speak Spanish now and have been in Madrid for three years. Wyatt is 11. He is sweet and creative, a water polo player, and our first born. He loves Minecraft, he is especially soft-hearted about animals, and he loves new things. Jack is 10. He is sweet too, but also unusually intense and competitive. He always has been ever since slide tackling a kid in soccer at three years old. He is a natural athlete, has gotten into inventing movie trailers for his imaginary films (mostly horror films for some reason) and still likes to cuddle. The four of us are a team, a pretty decent golf foursome, and we like it like that. If we aren’t in Madrid, traveling as a family, or traveling for work, you’ll find us on the Big Island. It is the place I feel most at home and happy on earth. We just bought some land there and just knowing someday I can live there at least part of the year makes me very happy and hopeful.

Random other stuff that doesn’t fit anywhere: I love golf. I am attracted to almost anything new to learn about. I learned how to hypnotize people, and I think I remember how. I worked every job imaginable, starting at 14. Bus boy. Newspaper delivery. Stocker in hospital supply room. Waiter. Usher at a movie theater. Construction site worker. I like to build things sometimes, and I built our boys a clubhouse in Colorado complete with a shingled roof, insulation, two levels, and electricity. I call Alicia before almost every argument, of any size in any court, because I’ve never stopped getting nervous and she makes me feel calm. I love craft beer. I was an evangelical Christian until my twenties. I’m an agnostic now. I work best to Pearl Jam. I think Appetite for Destruction (GNR) and August and Everything After (Counting Crows) are near perfect albums. I could eat poke or Mexican food just about every day.

John Campbell

Stephen Burg is a trial attorney at the law firm Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh Jardine, P.C. Mr. Burg’s practice is focused on representing victims of auto crashes, personal injury, trucking accidents, motorcycle collisions, product liability injuries, gas explosions, wrongful death, and harmful drug products.

Mr. Burg has been recognized for his legal excellence both nationally and locally. He was named as a “Recommended Attorney” by the U.S. 

. and has also been recognized as a Best Lawyer in America and a Colorado Super Lawyer. He is also named a “Top 100 Trial Lawyer” by the National Trial Lawyers, and Denver’s 

 Magazine selected Mr. Burg as a “Top Lawyer” and the Face of Personal Injury Law Litigation since 2020. Mr. Burg has been admitted as a member of the “Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum” and was named 

Mr. Burg donates a substantial amount of his free time to supporting nonprofit organizations in Colorado and nationally. Mr. Burg is on the Board of Directors for the Anti-Defamation League, the Colorado Judicial Institute (CJI) and ARC Thrift. Mr. Burg helps to support the Denver Health Foundation’s Newborns in Need program, and the Southern Poverty Law Center, among others. Mr. Burg is an Associate Attorney for the ZRBG Pension Project – this project is designed to ascertain pension benefits for Holocaust survivors.

Stephen Burg earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Wyoming and his Law Degree from the University of Denver. Mr. Burg is currently admitted to practice in Colorado and in Arizona. He lives in Colorado with his wife Amy, and their two children.

Stephen J. Burg

I live in Louisville, Kentucky, and you might know me as “The Hammer” if you’ve seen any of my commercials. I went to the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law. I started my PI firm with my father Sheldon in the early 1990s, and I’m proud to say it has grown both in size and success. We have had over 80 cases with $1 million or more in settlements and verdicts, including a $10 million verdict in federal court and over $2 billion in total recovery. I truly learned what my clients go through back in 2015, when I was hit by a car and left with a broken neck, a TBI, and a long road to recovery. Experiencing that gave me a greater understanding and compassion for their situations and a drive to help as many injured and struggling people as I can. I am also passionate about sharing and growth for other attorneys, which is why I started the yearly Brain Trust Legal Group Summit to help attorneys grow their firms. The 2023 Summit in Nashville will focus on How to Build a Billion-Dollar Law Firm, and tickets are available at 

. The Brain Trust Legal Group also runs four Mastermind groups where I work with 55 law firms from all over the country, and we have a Billion-Dollar Coaching program to help attorneys with growth training and accountability.

Darryl Isaacs

When I was a child, my mother would spin our world globe and move my fingers across it to show me where her ancestry and my dad’s originated. I was born in Lexington, Kentucky, to a Caucasian mother with mixed Western European ancestry. Mom was born in Hodgenville, Kentucky, population 2,000. Her parents were among the few pro de-segregation adults in town during her youth. My father was born in Monterey Park, California two years after the end of WWII to a first-generation Japanese American mother and father. Dad’s parents met and married in a WWII Japanese internment camp in Utah. Like most Japanese American families, they lost their property and personal liberties under Executive Order 9066. 

I knew as a child that I looked different from most of my peers. Still, I did not fully appreciate the cultural differences until I was older. My dad spoke to me about his struggles growing up in the highly charged anti-Japanese post war era. Dad told me I had to work harder and be better than non-minorities to succeed in life. My Mom had developed a progressive hearing loss at age 20 and has been legally deaf my entire life. Mom encouraged my creativity and inspired me to be an entrepreneur.

At age 5, I sold freshly sharpened pencils door to door. At age 8, I lived in Honolulu, Hawaii, and recycled cans so I could save up enough money to buy a Gameboy. In high school, I worked as a pool janitor, a dishwasher and busboy, grocery bagger and hamburger flipper, saving money to buy my first car. From an early age, I wanted to be lawyer. However, I was unsure how I could afford to go to college let alone law school. Fortunately, I was awarded a Federal Pell Grant in addition to an academic scholarship from Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. 

After graduating from college, I sold cell phones for a year, saved all my money, and studied for the LSAT. Unfortunately, I was either turned down or wait listed by every law school. Discouraged, I thought maybe law school wasn’t for me. Mom refused to let me give up. She completed an application to Northern Kentucky Chase College of Law, encouraged me on my entrance essay, and told me to sign the application so she could mail it that day. To my surprise not only was I accepted to Chase but given a full academic scholarship. Although I did well in law school, following graduation I could not find a job. I asked a friend if he could get me a meeting with Bob Sanders, who was the best attorney I knew.

When I met Bob, he was not hiring but agreed to allow me to help around the office. For the first year, I did any odd job the firm needed, including getting laundry, picking up lunch, cleaning the office, driving Bob to court, and serving as a valet. In exchange, Bob let me attend depositions and help him with trials. After a year, Bob hired me as an associate. The opportunity to work with Bob sparked a fire in me to become a trial lawyer. With Bob's mentoring and encouragement, I set out on a path to become the best trial lawyer I could be. I went to fellow lawyers in my office and called lawyers around town to see if they had any cases I could try. I started out trying soft tissue cases with no visible property damage. I lost the first few.

With hard work and dedication to my craft, I started winning. Local folks in Kentucky and Ohio were hearing about my successful verdicts and attorneys began reaching out to me to assist in trying their difficult cases. I am humbled to say that I am now privileged to work on multi-million dollars cases around the country that are often referred to me by other lawyers. I believe in the underdog with justified rights and needs to receive fair compensation. I believe in passionate, empathetic tenacity and devotion to my clients. When cases must go to trial against large corporations and billion-dollar insurance companies, I’m confident I’m the one who is needed. So, in my journey and continuing journey, I’m grateful for so much and to so many in my life, that have made me the man that I am.

Matthew Nakajima

Brian Breiter is a Miami Beach native who now lives in Los Angeles. Brian is the 4th of five kids and was practically raised on stage acting because his oldest sister was a drama teacher. He took this love of theater and acting and developed those skills over the years, particularly improvisation, and has incorporated them into every aspect of his law practice. Brian is also a die hard water polo player and has been playing competitively around the world with leagues and clubs since 1984. Brian is married to his beautiful wife Nonny and has two kids in college. Brian loves teaching other lawyers how to become better story tellers and communicators and would love to do a scene with you at TLU!

Brian Breiter

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

Haytham Faraj

From humble beginnings to Noble Crusader… I grew in the biggest little city in the world, Reno, Nevada. My father was a carpenter, and my mother worked various job, including a tour guide and telephone operator. We had a large family of 8 children, who were in and out of a house that was just a little over 1,400 square feet. My parents loved each-other, and most importantly loved their children. I am second to the youngest. I am the first to graduate college in my entire family, and the first and only lawyer. I was an athlete in school, and most concerned with popularity as this was of the utmost importance to me growing up as it ensured lots of friends and girlfriends. I prayed near nightly to be the most popular, the toughest and the best looking from middle school through high school.

When I finished high school, I knew nothing. I barely received a good enough score on the SAT to attend the local university. I knew I wanted to be a lawyer, because cops couldn’t mess with me, and I believed they made a lot money. The university was difficult, in the beginning, because my academic skills were very lackluster. I remember when a professor gave the class a five-page paper assignment to be turned in. It took days to get it done, I was so far behind. Notwithstanding, I put my nose the grindstone, dedicated myself to school, and excelled. I put partying on the back burner, and school first.

After undergrad, I had a high stakes experience with the Justice system. Out one night after the final semester of undergrad, my friend and I met two dancers at a local watering hole. We had a great time. We decided we would meet up the following night at the Dancers’ place of work, “Wild Orchid Gentleman’s Club”. We showed up with some other friends to take the Dancers out of the club. One of the bouncers had a crush on the Dancers. He was not happy we were leaving with the dancers. Needless to say a fight ensued, and one of the bouncers suffered an orbital lobe fracture to his eye---that ultimately required surgery. I did not do it! Nevertheless, I was one of the only names the police had, and I was ultimately prosecuted. It was a tough time, and extremely stressful. 