Deborah Chang is the founder of Athena, a trial lawyer, and Of Counsel with Panish Shea & Boyle LLP in Los Angeles. She focuses her practice representing plaintiffs in complex catastrophic injury/wrongful death cases and has achieved some of the highest verdicts and settlements in the country.
Deborah has been an integral part of the trial teams in significant and important trials, including the Michael Jackson wrongful death case, the first ASR model hip implant trial tried in the country, and a nightclub liability case resulting in a $160,500,000 verdict that led to necessary changes to the security guard industry. Many of her cases of first impression led to vast improvements in standards and protocols that enhanced safety for the public, including the following:
• A record $17 million verdict in wrongful death of adult child that ensured that visually impaired patrons using trains would be protected from falling in the gap between cars–thereby setting the stage for changes throughout the industry nationwide (Cuthbertson v. LACMTA).
• After a nearly ten-year battle in the trial court, Court of Appeal and California Supreme Court, Deborah prevailed in a landmark case that established that colleges and universities in California have a duty to protect students from known dangers in the classroom (Rosen v. The Regents of the University of California).
• Bringing the first class action in the country on behalf of prisoners with AIDS in a maximum security prison, which led to a landmark settlement that established medical, programming, and housing protocols nationwide and was cited with approval by the 1991 Report to the President and Senate by the National Commission on AIDS. She thereafter drafted enacted Connecticut legislation that permitted the release of terminally ill prisoners, and established the first medical scholarship for individuals pursuing a nursing degree to work with patients with AIDS.
• In 1996, she brought the first lawsuit in the country based on the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, 42 U.S.C. section 13891 (VAWA) and successfully argued for the uphold¬ing of the constitutionality of the statute in the first federal court to consider the issue. After reaching a settlement in the case, she lectured extensively on the issue of gender-motivated violence, and was a guest commentator on several national television shows regarding the statute, both before and after the United States Supreme Court eventually ruled that the civil remedy portion of the statute was unconstitutional.
Prior to her practice at Panish Shea & Boyle LLP, Deborah represented both plaintiffs and defendants throughout the country in products liability, commercial litigation, professional liability securities fraud, and complex torts cases. She previously served as local, regional, and national counsel for a variety of companies, insurers, and manufacturers, including AIG Excess and Ford Motor Company. Understanding how defendants and insurers analyze and prepare cases has been invaluable to Deborah, and helped her achieve record settlements and verdicts.
As part of her trial practice, Deborah has been extensively involved in jury research and focus groups. In 2000, she helped conceptualize and launch one of the first companies to provide online focus groups from a unique database of nearly 3.5 million Internet users. The service is used by trial attorneys and insurers in prominent cases pending throughout the country, and was recognized by The National Law Journal as a helpful tool for assessing the strength and value of cases. For over a year, she served as its CEO and General Counsel.
Candess Zona-Mendola is the senior trial paralegal of the Lange Law Firm, PLLC. She has been a paralegal for over two decades, was educated at Chapman University and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and holds degrees in anthropology and paralegal studies.
In her current role, Candess helps families who have been harmed when corporations sell food contaminated with E. coli, Salmonella, Vibrio or other food poisoning pathogens. she also helps people who have been affected by water contaminated with Legionella and Legionnaires’ Disease.
At the beginning of her career, Candess helped people with family law, civil rights, and employment cases. She then went to work on national mass tort cases, where she helped women who had been injured by defective medical devices and pharmaceuticals. Some of Candess’s greatest triumphs have come as a trial paralegal on trial teams that won over $296 million in verdicts (so far).
Candess has been invited to speak at national seminars on the behind the scenes work that goes into taking cases to trial in federal court, as well as on food safety litigation. She is also the editor of several legal blogs, including the award-winning www.MakeFoodSafe.com.
There are many things that Candess loves about being a paralegal. But her greatest joy, and the deepest meaning she finds in her work, is in helping people. For Candess, clients are family. She makes it a point to help clients, especially those who have never found themselves in a legal proceeding before, understand the process. She is never too busy to take time to explain a complicated issue, answer a question, or lend a supportive ear. She believes that clients call when something terrible has happened in their lives and they need help; and that it’s her job to be there and support them in getting the help they need so that they can rebuild their lives.
Nicholas Rowley has a history of service starting out serving in both the United States Air Force and United States Army. While in both branches he served as a medic committed to aiding and caring for his fellow service members. Nick lived the values of the military medic and the creed to “aid all those who are needful, paying no heed to my own desires and wants; treating friend, foe and stranger alike, placing their needs above my own.”
Accomplishing a bachelor’s degree in Psychology by the age of 19 while serving, he went on to get a law degree. Nick’s military service, time as a volunteer firefighter, and first legal experiences representing victims of medical negligence led to his continued drive to help others. While in law school and still serving in the military, Nick started his family. He is the proud father of 7 sons and 4 daughters.
Nick’s passion for learning evolved into a passion for teaching. Several books he has written and co-written have been authored and Nick had dedicated time teaching all over the country. Grounded in passion, hard work, and selfless service, he has given and continues to give back. His efforts have been recognized nationally and he was recently named the 2018 Trial Lawyer of the Year – one of the youngest attorneys to ever receive the recognition. Nick has extensive courtroom experience representing victims of serious injuries and medical malpractice, especially those who have suffered traumatic brain injuries, spinal injuries, and chronic pain. He also has represented countless health care providers during his career and advocates against meritless lawsuits.
Nick has served on several boards both inside and outside of the legal profession, including the Imagination Workshop, which is a non-profit theater arts organization committed to using the unique power of the theater to provide life-changing artistic opportunities to the mentally ill, homeless veterans, senior citizens, and ‘at-risk’ young people.
Nick is a relentless warrior who has succeeded and proven himself in the battles of litigation time and time again, however, he prides himself on his caring, empathetic approach to serving others in need. His passion includes being a voice for victims inside and outside of the courtroom while working on reforming laws that infringe on America’s fundamental civil rights.
Dr. Aaron DeShaw, Esq. has individually, and in cooperation with other law firms, obtained settlements and verdicts for his clients in excess of $1 Billion. He is the leading author in the U.S. on the subject of Colossus, the computer assessment program used by most auto insurance companies for evaluating personal injury claims. DeShaw is author of three books, and is featured in multiple professional education videos on the topics of traumatic injuries and insurance.
Aaron holds a Doctorate of Chiropractic from Western States Chiropractic College and a Juris Doctorate from Willamette University College of Law. As a doctor, he was on staff at the exclusive Hale Clinic in London England, and additionally practiced in five countries treating people from over 100 nations. He lectures extensively for both physician and legal professionals.
Aaron has been elected by his peers to Super Lawyers in multiple years. In addition to working at his own firm in Oregon, he is of counsel with the nationally prominent firm of Friedman | Rubin in Seattle, Washington.
Presently, more than 90% of Aaron’s cases involve traumatic brain injuries, with the remainder of his personal injury cases being catastrophic injuries such as quadriplegia, spinal cord injuries, amputation, and wrongful death cases. He has extensive experience doing jury trials on complex medical injury cases. Known for his unusual frontal attack of defense medical witnesses’ opinions, his cross-examination of one witness uncovered the “doctor’s” lack of an M.D. degree. Other defense doctors simply refuse to show up to testify against his clients.
DeShaw is a board member of the Brain Injury Alliance of Oregon, an association of doctors, lawyers and other health care providers who are dedicated to helping people with life changing brain injuries.
He is also a musician, and photographer.
Lisa Blue, JD, PhD, is a practicing trial lawyer, psychologist, and the 2014-2015 president of the American Association for Justice. From 1980 to 1986, Blue worked as an assistant DA, prosecuting over 125 cases to verdict. In 1986, she went to work with her husband, the late Fred Baron, working at one of the largest environmental firms in the country. Over the course of her career Lisa Blue has earned over $350 million in winning verdicts, and has been named one of the “Top 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America” by The National Law Journal. She is now a solo practitioner and mother to five children ranging from ages forty-one to six years old.
Lisa’s passions are her kids, French, Spanish, Italian, yoga, and swimming.
Michael Leizerman is a founder of The Law Firm for Truck Safety, which handles truck accident litigation across the United States. He is the co-founder of the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys (ATAA).
He and his wife and law partner, Rena, wrote the 4,000+ page treatise Litigating Truck Accident Cases. Both are active with the National Board of Truck Accident Attorneys, where they helped create and write the exams for the ABA-recognized specialty of Truck Accident Law.
Michael has received record-breaking truck accident settlements and verdicts across the country, including multiple verdicts with punitive damages.
He has personally received more than 30 verdicts and settlements of $2 million or more, including six settlements and verdicts in excess of $10 million. He has taught and lectured well over 100 times to other lawyers on trucking for continuing legal education.
Michael is also the author of the Trial Guides book The Zen Lawyer: Winning with Mindfulness, published in 2018.
Zoe is one of America’s most respected litigators-a standout talent even among the most talented trial lawyers. Her practice focuses on complex cases including mass torts, defective medical product or drug cases as well as human rights issues. In the past decade, she has achieved more than $500 million in jury verdicts and settlements for her clients, including more than a dozen trials on hormone therapy chases that resulted in verdicts in excess of $260 million.
In 2011, Zoe was induced into The Inner Circle of Advocates, and she has been recognized by Fortune magazine as one of America's top twelve lawyers. She obtained verdicts of $78.7 million in a Prempro case for a breast cancer survivor in Illinois, a $134 Million verdict for three women injured by Premarin/Prempro in Nevada, and other notable outcomes. Her jury verdicts have made the list of the Top 10 Largest Verdicts in the country in 2007, 2009, and 2010.
Zoe led the charge for the state court Rezulin litigation. Littlepage Booth reviewed more than six million pages of Rezulin documents, took more than 100 days of depositions and Zoe tried five of the nine Rezulin trials nationwide, achieving jury verdicts of over $40 million. In 2003, she was appointed Lead Counsel of the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee for the Hormone Replacement Therapy MDL Litigation
Randi McGinn is the senior partner in a five-woman, two-man law firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is known for her creativity in the courtroom and her use of demonstrative evidence to visualize opening, direct, cross-examination, and closing argument. She has destroyed adverse witnesses by leaving a pretentious Beverly Hills doctor standing in front of the jury covered with post-it notes and clutching a grapefruit to his chest, by grilling a government snitch until he threw up, and by exposing the fact that a world-renowned polygraph expert had been polygraphing his own sperm cells in the dead of night. In a particularly hard-won police shooting case, the local SWAT officers once put her face on their Christmas piñata and took turns whacking it with a big stick.
Randi started her career by giving birth to daughter Heather, now age thirty-four, the day before the three-day bar examination.
Randi is the president of the Inner Circle of Advocates. She is double-listed in criminal and civil litigation in Best Lawyers in America, and is a fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. She is a former governor of the American Association for Justice, a past president of the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association, and a former board member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Randi has taught trial practice for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and the National Criminal Defense College, and has been an adjunct professor for the University of New Mexico.
For almost 30 years Kent Emison has dedicated his practice to representing individuals and their family members in personal injury cases.
A Fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and a frequent lecturer to bar associations and trial lawyer groups nationwide, Kent devotes 100 percent of his practice to litigation in product liability, motor vehicle accidents, and other cases involving personal injury and wrongful death. In that role he has served as lead trial counsel in numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements and has handled cases all across the United States, from Florida to Hawaii.
Best Lawyers in America named Kent "Lawyer of the Year" for 2018 for personal injury plaintiffs' litigation for the Kansas City metro area. In 2017 he received the Thomas G. Strong Trial Attorney Award from the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys for his leadership in the profession. Kent’s reputation in the field is due to his track record of obtaining the maximum compensation for injured individuals and for families who have lost loved ones. Throughout his career he has been an advocate of trial by jury and is seen as a leader in the profession.
For the past three consecutive years Kent has been selected as one of the top 100 lawyers in Missouri and Kansas by the peer review process Super Lawyers. American Lawyer magazine and Martindale-Hubbell named him a “Top rated personal injury lawyer” for 2013, and in 2012 he was honored by Missouri Lawyers Weekly as part of its “Lawyer of the Year” program. This award was for his leadership of Langdon & Emison and his service to the profession and the community. Best Lawyers in America named Kent the “Lawyer of the Year” for plaintiff’s personal injury litigation, Kansas City region, for both 2011 and 2014.
Kent has presented a variety of seminars to several national associations of attorneys, and has spoken at the University of Missouri-Columbia and University of Missouri-Kansas City. He is a dedicated board member in several organizations in his local community, and has been a supporter of several philanthropic organizations for decades, both locally and nationally. Many of these positions of nonprofit leadership focus on his particular passions of charities benefitting children, education, and the funding of research for consumer safety.
Kent graduated with distinction from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law where he served as Business Editor of the Law Review from 1979-1981. Though he spends less time farming than he did in his youth as the son of a dairy farmer, he enjoys spending time outdoors when he can.
He served as President of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys (MATA) from 2005-2006, and was on the MATA Executive Committee from 1997-2007. In recent years he has earned leadership posts with various American Association for Justice committees and the Attorneys Information Exchange Group.
Jory Lange is a food poisoning lawyer with a nationwide practice. When corporations sell food contaminated with E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria, Vibrio, Campylobacter, or Cyclospora pathogens, Jory Lange helps the families who have been harmed. One of the nation’s leading food poisoning lawyers, Jory has helped families in states across the nation. Jory became a lawyer to help make our communities and families safer.
After nearly 20 years as a products liability lawyer with a nationwide practice, Jory has wide-ranging experience helping families who have been injured by dangerous and defective products.
Other lawyers and law firms have often hired Jory to take their most important and difficult cases to trial.
Before founding his own law firm, Jory was a partner at a high-profile national plaintiffs’ law firm, where he served as one of the firm’s lead trial lawyers and founded the firm’s food safety practice. Jory went on to establish his own law firm so that he could devote his law practice entirely to helping families who have been affected by E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria, Vibrio, Campylobacter, or Cyclospora.
Jory grew up in San Antonio. After graduating with honors from the University of Chicago, he earned his law degree at the University of Texas School of Law. While at the University of Texas, he was awarded the Dean’s Achievement Award for achieving the highest grade in Constitutional Law.
When he’s not working or playing with his kids, Jory loves woodworking. With woodworking, he has way more passion than skill. But he’s getting better. Jory lives in Houston with his wife and their four daughters, and their dog and cat.
Jay Rinsen Weik Sensei is an ordained Zen Buddhist abbot, priest, and teacher. He is a transmitted lineage holder through James Myoun Ford Roshi of the Soto Zen Buddhist tradition and the Harada-Yasutani koan curriculum.
Rinsen is a fifth-degree black belt in the martial art Aikido. He is the Aikido student of Gleason Sensei, who was the student of Yamaguchi Sensei, who was the student of O Sensei (Morihei Ueshiba)—the founder of modern Aikido. Rinsen Sensei is the founder of Shobu Aikido of Ohio.
Rinsen is a professor at the University of Toledo where he teaches jazz history and guitar and directs the Mindfulness and Creativity Initiative. He is also the founder of the Toledo Mindfulness Institute.
A graduate of Austin College, where she has been recognized as a distinguished alumni, and the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, Charla Aldous has been a trial lawyer for over 30 years. She began her legal career doing civil defense litigation and in 1997 switched sides to do plaintiff’s work. Since that time, she has amassed verdicts in excess of $1 billion, while trying everything from complex commercial to sexual abuse cases. Twice, Lawyers USA has listed her verdicts among the top 10 in the nation. The National Law Journal has recognized her as one of the Ten “Winning Lawyers in America”. Texas Lawyer has listed her among a select group of only five top plaintiffs personal injury attorneys in its Go-To Guide. In 2007, Charla was invited to become the fourth female member of the Inner Circle of Advocates, a national organization of plaintiff’s lawyers limited to 100 attorneys across the country. Charla has been listed in Best Lawyers in America each year since 2003, and has been singled out as Best Lawyers, Dallas Lawyer of the Year for Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice litigation. She has been recognized numerous times as a Texas Super Lawyer, as published in Texas Monthly magazine. D Magazine has recognized Charla as one of the Best Lawyers in Dallas consistently since 2001. An active member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, Charla is past President of the Dallas Chapter and was selected by the Texas Chapters as Trial Lawyer of the Year for 2008. She is a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the International Society of Barristers. In 2017, the Dallas Bar Association named her Trial Lawyer of the Year.
Fell Law, PC represents plaintiffs who suffered catastrophic injuries or the death of a loved one. Bibi is one of the few women attorneys to have received a verdict over $100,000,000.00 as lead trial counsel. Bibi is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). Membership is extended by invitation only to lawyers who have demonstrated extensive trial experience, civility and professionalism. In 2018, Bibi was one of three finalists for Consumer Attorneys of San Diego’s “Trial Lawyer of the Year” award. In 2020, she received the “Trial Lawyer of the Year” award from Pepperdine Law School. Bibi has also been selected to be a member of The National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 Trial Lawyers, the Daily Journal’s Top 100 Women Lawyers, and Superlawyers.
Bibi gives back by teaching Advanced Trial Advocacy at the USD Law, serving as the program director for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy’s Pacific Deposition Skills program, and teaching trial skills through NITA around the country and in Northern Ireland.
Bibi and her husband raise three daughters ages 4, 13, and 15.
Anne Dieruf has dedicated her entire career to battling large corporations on behalf of injured consumers and their families, specializing in injuries caused by automotive, medical device, and consumer product defects. She has over seventeen years of trial law experience handling and favorably resolving complex product liability cases in state and federal courts across the country. Anne sits on the Board of Directors of the Attorney’s Information Exchange Group, a nationwide group of product liability attorneys committed to fighting for consumer rights and enforcing corporate accountability. Anne takes the time to get to know her clients on a personal level, and skillfully guides them step-by-step through the legal process with openness, compassion, and caring.
Anne is admitted to the State Bars of Colorado and Washington. She is a member of numerous legal consumer protection organizations, including the American Association for Justice (AAJ), Attorneys Information Exchange Group (AIEG), and the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association (CTLA). She is regularly invited to lecture at product liability seminars across the country and has been named numerous times as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers in both Washington and Colorado.
A Montana native, Anne graduated with honors from Montana State University in 1999. There she was recognized by the MSU Alumni Association and Bozeman Chamber of Commerce with the Award for Excellence for outstanding academic and community work. She also received the MSU Goetz Award, given to the top graduate in the department of political science. Anne attended law school at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle, Washington, where she graduated with honors in 2003.
Anne lives in Denver with her husband and twin daughters, with whom she loves to travel and enjoy all that the beautiful Colorado Rockies have to offer, including skiing, camping, mountain biking, and hiking. She is also the Co-Founder of the Cody Dieruf Benefit Foundation, a non-profit organization providing financial and emotional support to children and young adults in the Mountain West living with the genetic disease Cystic Fibrosis (CF). Anne actively seeks to raise awareness of CF through the Foundation, which was established in honor of her sister-in-law, Cody, who lost her courageous battle with CF at the age of 23.
Courtney Rowley is a trial lawyer, mother of three, and the author of three books: Trial By Woman, Running with The Bulls, and Voir Dire and Opening Statement. After clerking at one of the top law firms in California with a position, she saw the writing on the wall which was and still is: women don’t have the same opportunities that men have and the likelihood of becoming a trial lawyer is so much less than that of a man who, in all reality, is half as good and has less experienced than the woman. So, she didn’t take the big high paying job with great benefits, a great salary and a brand new car, instead, she drove her parents’ junky prius up to Ventura and went out on her own. She started trying cases. Misdemeanors, felonies. And she started winning. After she was the youngest to be accepted to and attend Gerry Spence’s trial lawyer college she started trying civil cases and has won record verdicts throughout the country. She taught with the Spence college as a staff member for years.
She tries cases with her husband, but, if you ask Nick, he’ll tell you that a lot of the time it’s that he’s trying a case with HER. She’s overcome the adversity that women face in this profession through hard work and determination and she wrote a book about it and has formed a community and a listserve you should check out called Trial By Woman to widen the path for women and all lawyers who are looking to redesign the practice of law.
She is a co-founder of Trial By Human and lectures and teaches throughout the country.
Arash Homampour is a trial attorney that represents individuals in catastrophic injury/wrongful death, employment and insurance bad faith matters throughout the State. Since 2016, he has been named one of the top 30 Plaintiff attorneys in the State by the Los Angeles Daily Journal. He was named CAALA’s 2010 trial attorney of the year and has been nominated as trial attorney of the year every year since 2004. In 2018, he was named by the Orange County Trial Lawyer’s Association as it’s product liability Trial Attorney of the Year. Additionally, in 2018, he was the recipient of CAALA’s 2018 Ted Horn Memorial Award, presented to lawyer who has provided outstanding service to the Association and the legal community. In 2017, he was named the Ventura County Trial Lawyer’s Association Trial Attorney of the Year. In 2007, he was named one of the Top 20 Attorneys Under the Age of 40 by the Los Angeles Daily Journal. From 2005 through the present, he has earned the distinction of being a "Super Lawyer", with the additional recognition since 2010 as one of the top 100 Southern California Attorneys. He also handles appellate work, including successfully briefing and arguing before the California Supreme Court. He also appears as a legal analyst on television.
Pejman ("Pej") Ben-Cohen prides himself in representing individuals in catastrophic injury and wrongful death matters. He has dedicated his career to standing up to insurance companies and large corporations on behalf of injured people. He is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and was named a Super Lawyer in 2014 – 2020. He was named a Top Attorney in California in 2010 and a Leader in Personal Injury Law in 2012 by Newsweek Magazine’s Showcase. The National Trial Lawyers Association named Pej as a “Top 100 Lawyer Nationwide” and placed him in the “Top 40 Under 40.” Pej was named to the 2018 10 Best Personal Injury Attorneys by the American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys. In 2017, Pej was nominated for the Ventura County Trial Lawyers Association's "Trial Lawyer of the Year" award. In 2018, Pej was nominated for CAALA’s “Trial Lawyer of the Year” award. Since joining CZR, Pej has recovered tens of millions of dollars in jury trial wins and settlements.
He develops a unique and aggressive approach to every case, focusing on incorporating creativity and the latest technology. More importantly, Pej practices law by getting to know his clients in a way that few lawyers do. Pej goes to his clients’ homes, meets with their families and friends, and ultimately tells the human story of what happened. Pej is regularly asked to speak and teach young lawyers on his method which is based on what he learned at Gerry Spence's Trial Lawyers College - "You cannot get a jury to love your client if you do not love your client."
Trial Guides is proud to have Rick Friedman as one of its authors. Rick built his reputation representing people and small businesses injured by large corporations and government agencies. He handles cases including catastrophic injury, defamation, insurance bad faith, and business torts.
Rick started his career in a small town in Alaska as a lawyer with no staff, where he developed a love for studying the books and transcripts of great trial lawyers. He built his career representing the poor, injured, and mistreated, sharing with jurors the truth about his clients’ injuries and what caused them. His trial method is to present the truth to the jury, and effectively counter defense tactics to distort the truth. He has developed methods for clearly showing jurors how defendants have broken the rules that protect all of us. Lawyers all over the country now ask him for help in trying their cases.
Among Rick’s landmark cases are Bellott v. State Farm, a $152,000,000 jury verdict on behalf of a client whose insurance agency agreement was terminated in retaliation for his refusal to engage in dishonest marketing practices; Washington v. Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada LLC, a $104,000,000 jury verdict for the infection of his client with Hepatitis C due to the defendant’s multi-dose vials of Propofol; Myrick v. Mastagni, a jury verdict believed to be the first case in California holding a building owner liable for injuries sustained in an earthquake; and Robinson v. State Farm, which exposed State Farm’s use of false doctor’s reports to deny claims. He has obtained four verdicts that ranked in the top ten verdicts of the year in the United States. He is a member and past president of the Inner Circle of Advocates as well as a member of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Rick is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the author or coauthor of four bestselling legal books for Trial Guides: Rules of the Road: A Plaintiff Lawyer’s Guide to Proving Liability, Polarizing the Case, Becoming a Trial Lawyer, and The Elements of Trial. These books have revolutionized how thousands of lawyers try their cases. He is licensed to practice in Alaska, Washington, Nevada, Kentucky and California, but also regularly appears pro hac vice in other state and federal courts around the country.
Rick has been an important advisor to Trial Guides since 2005.
A New York native, James was admitted to the State University of New York at Albany in the fall of 1982 at the age of sixteen. He graduated cum laude in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He subsequently received his J.D. from Arizona State University Law School in 1989 and has practiced within the state of Arizona since that time. His office is located in Phoenix, Arizona.
An astute litigator, James’ eclectic mix of practice areas includes serious personal injury, insurance/bad faith, medical and professional malpractice, securities, commercial and civil trial work and appeals. He has represented numerous clients who have sustained serious and permanent brain injuries. In addition, James has been involved in a number of reported legal opinions including Estate of Jared M. Reinen v. Northern Arizona Orthopedics, Ltd., 198 Ariz. 283, 9 P. 3d 314 (2000) which helped extend Constitutional rights to a Jehovah’s Witness in a medical malpractice action after he exercised his religious beliefs in refusing a post-operative blood transfusion.
In the spring of 2008, James was asked to provide assistance to the plaintiffs’ class action trial team in the cases of Nguyen, et al. v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., Meoli v. AT&T Wireless, Inc. et al., and Mendoza v. Cingular Wireless LLC et al., a series of consolidated lawsuits filed in Oakland against various cell phone companies regarding their business practices of Early Termination Fees and their Handset Locking of cell phones.
More recently, James has been involved in a series of plaintiffs’ cases filed throughout the country and Puerto Rico regarding various high net worth individuals brought against Citigroup for the marketing and sale of Citigroup’s ASTA and MAT Funds, which sought to use a leveraged municipal arbitrage bond strategy to enhance investor returns. These funds subsequently went on to lose much, if not all, of their value in the subsequent credit crisis.
Licensed to practice in the state and federal courts of Arizona, James is also a Sustaining Member of the Arizona Trial Lawyers Association.
James Abernethy is of counsel at Friedman | Rubin.
Jesse Wilson is a communications specialist, keynote speaker, and jury trial lawyer consultant. A Juilliard graduate, after twenty years of working in the world of theater, he created Tell the Winning Story to empower trial lawyers to deliver high-impact presentations, as well as rapidly transform their communication and collaboration skills to effectively prepare clients and witnesses to testify.
Jesse was inspired to create Tell the Winning Story after co-developing a theater-behind-bars program for inmates. The program helped inmates make powerful changes in their lives.
Tell the Winning Story gives lawyers the tools to get beyond telling a “hidden, safe ‘surface’ story” and powerfully connecting to a story that goes right to the heart of their audience.
Jesse’s hands-on training is featured in his seminars, law-firm retreats, intensives, small-group workshops, and webinars.
Jesse lives in Colorado Springs with his wife, Branda, his son, Nick, and Rocky, the ultimate underdog.
David Ball (Malekpour Ball Consulting) is the nation's most influential trial consultant. With partner Artemis Malekpour, he guides plaintiff's civil cases and criminal defense cases across the country. They are the nation's only trial consultants qualified to help attorneys with Reptilian methods and strategy, as well as with Ball's David Ball on Damages techniques and a wide range of other essential approaches. They have an unparalleled record in helping attorneys with every size and kind of case.
Dr. Ball is also a pioneer in adapting methods of film and theater for use in trial. His theater/film students hold Oscars, Obies, Tonys, and Emmys. His Theater Tips and Strategies for Jury Trials has been a bestseller for nearly two decades, and his Backwards and Forwards has been a foundation of theater and film training since 1984.
Dr. Ball wrote two of the bestselling trial strategy books ever published: David Ball on Damages and—with Reptile cofounder Don Keenan—Reptile: The 2009 Manual of the Plaintiff's Revolution.
Dr. Ball is an award-winning teacher for the North Carolina Advocates for Justice and the American Association for Justice's National College of Advocacy. He has also taught law students at North Carolina, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and Campbell law schools, and at Duke Law as a senior lecturer. He has long been the nation's most in-demand continuing legal education speaker.
Patrick Malone learned how to ask questions and get answers as an award-winning investigative journalist. Now he is a leading attorney working on behalf of seriously injured people in lawsuits against hospitals, doctors, drug companies, government agencies, and other defendants. Over the last three decades, he has won a long string of exceptional results for his clients. Malone is the author of Winning Medical Malpractice Cases with the Rules of the Road Technique and The Fearless Cross-Examiner, and he coauthored the bestselling advocacy book: Rules of the Road: A Plaintiff Lawyer’s Guide to Proving Liability with Rick Friedman. He wrote a book for consumers, The Life You Save: Nine Steps to Finding the Best Medical Care—and Avoiding the Worst.
Patrick Malone is a graduate of Yale Law School, a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates, and a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. Malone is a member of the board of trustees of the Pound Civil Justice Institute. Malone has been recognized as a leader in the law by Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Lawyers in America,” Super Lawyers, and The Best Lawyers in America.
Patrick Malone grew up in Wichita, Kansas, and is the oldest of seven children in an Irish Catholic family. Malone and his staff work out of offices in Washington, DC a few blocks north of the White House; they represent clients throughout Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
Joshua Karton specializes in applying theater and film communication techniques to the art of trial advocacy. He and his projects have received awards and grants from the New York Drama Desk, Ford Motor Company Fund, Kellogg Foundation, California Arts Council, and he is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from Stetson University College of Law’s Center for Excellence in Advocacy. He teaches and develops curriculum for the AAJ, Gerry Spence Trial Lawyer’s College, NITA, US JAG Corps, ABA, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, National Criminal Defense College, Loyola and California Western Schools of Law, and many state trial lawyer associations. His years of courtroom consulting culminated in the preparation of the winning oral argument in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.
Joshua is the president of Communication Arts and specializes in the application of the communication techniques of theater, film, and television to the art of trial advocacy. Television writing and acting credits range from Forever Fernwood to Beverly Hills 90210. Having trained as an actor at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater, he returned there to teach after writing and directing the film and video exhibits of Theatrical Evolution, winner of the New York Drama Desk Award.
One of the country’s leading trial attorneys, Los Angeles personal injury lawyer Brian Panish has obtained some of the most significant jury verdicts in United States history on behalf of plaintiffs. His courtroom victories include a $4.9 billion record verdict in the landmark products liability case Anderson v. General Motors, over 100 verdicts and settlements in excess of $10 million, six verdicts in excess of $50 million, and more than 250 verdicts and settlements over one million dollars in personal injury, car accident, wrongful death and business litigation cases.
Mr. Panish consistently serves in a leading role in the largest personal injury cases in California and the country — he currently serves as Plaintiffs Co-Lead Counsel in the Woolsey Fire litigation, Plaintiffs Co-Lead Counsel in the Southern California Fire Cases litigation arising from the 2017 Thomas Fire and subsequent debris flows in Montecito, California and serves on the Plaintiffs Executive Committee for the 2017 North Bay Fires in Northern California. Additionally, Mr. Panish has been appointed as Co-Lead Trial Counsel in the Porter Ranch/Aliso Canyon Gas Well Blowout Litigation and has served in leadership roles in the Asiana Airlines Crash Litigation, the Olympus Superbug CRE Litigation and DePuy ASR Hip Implant Litigation, among others.
Since 2011, Mr. Panish has obtained more than $500 million in verdicts including, among others, a landmark $53,745,374 verdict for two Southern California brothers who were severely injured following a head-on collision with CRST big rig, a $41,864,102 jury verdict and subsequent $46,000,000 settlement for a United States Air Force Captain who suffered catastrophic injuries after being struck from behind while on his motorcycle and then dragged the length of a football field and a half by a Southern California Gas Company truck, a $36.5 million jury verdict against Schneider National for a big-rig crash that left a woman with severe spinal cord injuries, a $34.5 million verdict for a man who suffered a below the knee amputation after being hit by a tractor trailer, a $21,503,420.48 jury verdict for a Southern California man who suffered catastrophic injuries after a vehicle illegally exiting the 405 Freeway HOV lane struck his motorcycle and sent him careening across three lanes of traffic and into a passing flatbed trailer, a $17.4 million verdict for a Ph.D. student who suffered brain and jaw injuries during a rear end chain collision accident, a $17 million jury verdict against the Los Angeles MTA in the wrongful death of a visually impaired passenger, a $17.845 million award in a wrongful death case involving four family members killed when a Marine jet crashed into their home, a $20 million jury verdict for a woman who suffered a brain injury in a hit-and-run accident involving a J.B. Hunt tractor trailer, a $17 million jury verdict for a 84-year old man hit by a bus resulting in a leg amputation, a $15.3 million jury verdict for a woman and her daughter after the woman was severely injured on a negligently driven Alameda Contra-Costa Transit District bus, a $10.45 million jury verdict for the family of a security guard killed on the CBS studio lot and a $8.3 million jury verdict in the first DePuy ASR Hip Implant case to go to trial.
Because of his expertise in personal injury, wrongful death, mass tort and product liability cases, Mr. Panish has been appointed to serve on the Plaintiffs’ Steering and Executive committees in numerous high profile mass torts and major disaster cases, including litigation involving train crashes (co-lead counsel in the the Chatsworth Metrolink disaster, the Glendale Metrolink crash, and the Placentia Metrolink collision), airplane disasters (Alaska Airlines Flight 261 and Singapore Airlines Flight 006 crashes), pharmaceuticals (Vioxx and diet drugs), and defective product cases (Welding Rods, DePuy ASR Hip Implant Litigation, and Toyota Unintended Acceleration cases.) He is currently handling numerous cases involving the Asiana Flight 261 plane crash as well as serving as Plaintiffs Co-lead Trial Counsel, representing over 7,000 clients in the Porter Ranch Gas Leak litigation.
Dorothy consults with attorneys throughout the U.S., to provide methods of expert testimony cross-examination and also to conduct cross-examinations of expert witnesses.
Dorothy’s practice includes numerous other projects and philanthropic work. She is frequently invited to in-house seminars for lawyers and law firms on researching and cross-examining. She has given over 350 speeches internationally on medical/legal issues throughout the world and is often invited as the state keynote speaker. She has spoken in almost every state in the United States including Hawaii and Alaska. She has also been a featured speaker in Paris, France, Jaipur, India, and twice in Kyoto, Japan.
She has authored chapters in books with individuals such as David Ball and Don Keenan as well as Dr. Michael Freeman. Dorothy donates a percentage of her book profits various organizations including the American Association for Justice and the International Federation for Human Rights. Her book, “Exposing Deceptive Defense Doctors ” was a best seller for 3 years in a row and went into reprint status soon after publication, unheard of in the industry. She has also authored two children’s books for parents who are injured. The books are available for free upon request. She has also authored articles in national publications to include the Champion Magazine, Trial Magazine (The American Association for Justice Journal) most recently on the cover of the December, 2015 issue, and Brain Injury Professional.
Dorothy received both her undergraduate and law degree from the University of Florida; and studied international law at Oxford University. She is licensed in the state of Florida, US District Court – Northern District of Florida, US District Court and the Middle District of Florida. She has also cross examined experts in many states throughout the US.
Dorothy initially represented miners in Kentucky who were denied black lung benefits. Going down into the bowels of a mine in Eastern Kentucky, she felt vibrations as the miners “shot coal” (exploded portions of the face to loosen the coal). Despite wearing a mask, her trip left her coughing and sneezing coal dust for days; leading to a newfound respect for the dreaded pneumoconiosis suffered by miners who had spent decades in the mines.
After representing coal miners, Dorothy began representing workers who were injured and denied medical care. She co-founded the Florida Workers’ Advocates – the state’s first watchdog over the insurance industry devoted to serving injured – and eventually served as president.
For over a decade, Sims volunteered time to lobby on behalf of the injured and was the first woman to be elected Chair of the Florida Bar Worker’s Compensation Section in its 22-year history. She also served as President of the Marion County Bar Association.
While practicing law, she began to notice an alarming pattern. Forensic experts hired by the other side were reaching conclusions by (1) misrepresenting the science (2) ignoring the science (3) misrepresenting the facts and/or their examination and/or (4) testifying beyond their own training and education.
Karen Koehler, also known as the Velvet Hammer, is the Senior Managing Partner at Stritmatter Kessler Koehler Moore, a plaintiff trial law firm that exclusively handles catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, and civil rights cases. She is best known for achieving the landmark $123M verdict against Ride the Ducks in 2019. More recently, she secured a $3.5M settlement in the Estate of Charleena Lyles v. City of Seattle civil rights case and $3.327M verdict in the civil murder trial of Tim McNamara v Tracy Nessl.
She is the past president of the Washington State Association of Justice, past WSAJ Trial Lawyer of the Year and, the recipient of the National Melvin Belli Award in 2019.
She has lived in Seattle since the age of 4, has 3 children, 2 grandchildren and, a spaniel named Nala.
Randy Sorrels holds the unique distinction of being the only Texas board certified plaintiffs’ lawyer ever to have been both elected to serve as President of the State Bar of Texas and selected as one of the Top 100 lawyers in the state by Texas Super Lawyers magazine. His passionate representation of clients and lawyers has garnered statewide recognition and numerous prestigious awards. Randy and his partner/wife obtained what is believed to be the largest actual damages verdict in United States’ history for an injured worker — $352.7 million – in a fully contested jury trial. In short, whether it is in the courtroom or in the boardroom, Randy has an unparalleled track record of success for his clients and the organizations he leads.
As a leader, Randy was voted by Texas lawyers to become the 2019-2020 State Bar President by the widest margin of victory in State Bar history. During his presidential service, he traveled Texas solidifying his reputation for helping not only those who hire him, but also helping fellow lawyers. His network of friends and relationships throughout the state is vast, and he is often hired by lawyers who are in need of representation. As a zealot advocate for his clients, Randy holds four board certifications including in Personal Injury Trial Law, Civil Trial Law and Civil Trial Advocacy from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and the National Board of Trial Advocacy. And in a peer selection process, for the last 14 years he has been named one of the Top 100 lawyers in the state. He is sought after by the nationwide and local media for legal analysis, commentary and perspective.
Randy’s success in the courtroom is also well-known throughout Texas and nation. He has taken dozens of cases to trial, securing multi-million-dollar verdicts in personal injury cases, medical malpractice cases, plant explosion cases and business lawsuits. During the time of Covid, Randy and the Sorrels Law team secured two of the largest personal injury jury verdicts in the country in a high-profile cases that received media attention worldwide. In one of the cases, the jury returned an actual damages verdict of $352.7 million for an injured worker who suffered catastrophic injuries, while in the other the jury awarded two minor league baseball players $3.24 million. For 2022, Randy has been named TEX-ABOTA’s Trial Lawyer of the Year, as well as the Best Lawyers® Personal Injury – Plaintiffs “Lawyer of the Year” in Houston. Previously, he has been named the Best Lawyers’ Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs “Lawyer of the Year” in Houston on three separate occasions. He has received some of the highest legal honors in the state, including being awarded the State Bar of Texas’ President’s Award (recognizing the one Texas Lawyer who provided the most outstanding contributions through distinguished service to the lawyers of Texas), the Judge Sam Williams Award (recognizing the Texas lawyer who provides the greatest contribution to both local bars and the State Bar of Texas), and the Houston Bar Association President’s Award (recognizing significant contributions to an HBA program). Early in his career, Randy was honored with the Woodrow B. Seals Outstanding Young Lawyer of Houston Award (recognizing the one young Houston lawyer who exemplified significant professional traits both inside and outside the practice of law). He started his career as a lawyer at the internationally acclaimed Fulbright & Jaworski (now Norton Rose Fulbright).
Randy is the past President of the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists, and past Chair of the Fellows of the Texas Bar Foundation. He has served as the President of the Houston Bar Association, President of the Houston Trial Lawyers Association, President of the Houston Trial Lawyers Foundation, Vice President of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, Trustee of the Texas Bar Foundation, Director of the State Bar of Texas (two terms), Commissioner of the Equal Access to Justice Commission, Trustee of the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society, and is currently on the Board of Directors at South Texas College of Law Houston.
Rex has achieved outstanding results in the courtroom over the span of his career – he obtained the first million-dollar verdict in California’s Kern County as a young lawyer and, years later, obtained an historic, record-breaking defamation jury verdict in Los Angeles for $370,000,000. In between, Rex has obtained dozens of seven-, eight- and nine-figure verdicts and settlements. His success is hardly happenstance – Rex prepares every case, for trial using the latest science in persuasion skills. Everything from metaphoric choices, word selection and visuals are tested and re-tested before each trial.
In addition to managing his trial calendar and the Firm’s diversified practice, Rex also manages one of California’s fastest-growing cities. As the mayor of Lancaster since 2008, Rex has gained nationwide media attention for his efforts to improve the wellbeing of the city’s residents. For example, gang violence dropped 82%, the city’s downtown area was completely redeveloped during the worst economic downturn in over 75 years, and all of the city’s municipal buildings were converted to solar power.
Rex and his wife, Carrol, founded the Firm in 1985 with the goal of building a truly great law firm. That goal has never changed – they continue to innovate and work tirelessly to improve the service and results they provide daily.
Eric is part of a dying breed of trial lawyers who tries civil and criminal cases with equal passion, sophistication, and success. Landmark cases include the creation of the constitutional right of intimate association in Washington State, where Eric protected the rights of low income housing residents against oppressive “crime control” measures. Eric represented George Clinton, the iconic funk musician/artist in the largest copyright case in American history, and helped him keep his catalogue of work. Eric obtained the largest compensatory damages verdict for one person in Washington State ($91,000,000).
With over 100 cases tried to a verdict, few lawyers can match Eric’s experience in court. With cases ranging from Murder to white collar crime, and medical malpractice to toxic fume cases, even fewer lawyers can match the breadth of experience in various fields of law. A student in the art of trying cases, Eric’s mentors are Paul Luvera, Gerry Spence and Rick Friedman. Eric has tried cases with his friend, Nick Rowley, and counts Bill Barton as a close personal friend. As a result of these connections, Eric has insights into many of the greatest legal minds to ever practice law.
Ben is 60 years old and has practiced PI since 1989. He has tried 35-40 jury trials. He is a TLC graduate and speaks on trial skills and PI practice in Washington State. He was named 2020 trial lawyer of the year by the Washington State Association of Justice. He has worked with his law partner, Josh Trumbull to create a Plaintiff’s Trial Lawyer Guild called “Honey Badgers” that mentors up and coming trial lawyers on how to represent injured people.
Ben has an amazing trial team that supports him and together they have tried many cases in the last several years. In 2021 he obtained a 4.5 Million dollar jury verdict for a client who suffered PTSD and a facet injury in the low back. In 2020 he obtained a 4.1 Million dollar jury verdict for a client who suffered a left knee meniscus injury which required arthroscopic surgery. In 2019 he obtained a 4.4 Million dollar jury verdict for a client who suffered a soft tissue SI joint injury. He has obtained 1 million dollar verdicts on chiropractic cases and has had numerous large 6 figure verdicts in his career.
When not practicing law, he is an avid dirt biker, snow skier, kayaker and bushwacker. Ben loves singing and playing in a band and lives in Oso Washington with his partner Susan, who has kayaked the inside passage alone, his ridiculously large dog, Barnabus and 2 orange cats. He is blessed with a terrific daughter and son who make his life complete.
Keith Mitnik is senior trial counsel for Morgan & Morgan, the largest personal injury law firm in America. At Morgan & Morgan, there are departments that handle every type of contingency fee plaintiff’s case: general PI, medical malpractice, product liability, mass torts, commercial contingency, and so on. Keith’s job is to try cases with all of these departments and, when they do not settle, to join forces at trial with the other lawyers handling them.
As a result, Keith is in trial with all kinds of cases almost every month—sometimes two or three times a month. He has a unique perspective on tactics that are currently in vogue with defense lawyers, and he has a chance to develop countermeasures. Most importantly, he has abundant opportunities to try out new strategies aimed at maximizing the likelihood of getting just results for clients. If he is not in trial, he spends much of his time working on new ideas and refining existing ones. For many years, his work has also involved teaching these methods to other plaintiffs' lawyers around the country.
Keith has averaged at least two million-dollar verdicts per year over the last ten years, and, in the last five years alone, seven eight-figure verdicts. That does not even include the long list of significant verdicts that were less than a million dollars but were far greater than the unfair amounts offered in settlement by insurance companies. Those cases that do not have catastrophic injuries are often the most difficult from which to obtain full justice, and Mitnik has successfully guided these juries to just outcomes time and time again.
Keith has been featured on countless magazines’ best lawyer and super lawyer lists. He has been the subject of a front-page feature article in the Orlando Sentinel, a commentator on many national broadcasts, and the interviewee of Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes. He represented former Harlem Globetrotter legends Curly Neal, Meadowlark, and Marquis Haynes, among others, in a trial over the use of their names. He also represented The Backstreet Boys against the infamous music mogul Lou Pearlman.
Izzy Gesell is an organizational alchemist who helps individuals and organizations transform their thinking from commonplace to extraordinary. Through his keynotes, trainings, coaching and facilitated sessions, Izzy offers imaginative, intuitive and immediately useful insights and programs, both in person and virtually. He is skilled at delivering meaningful material in a way that makes participants enjoy their time with him.
Izzy was one of the first to use Improv Theater concepts as tools for personal and organizational learning. He is the author of Playing Along: Group Learning Activities Borrowed from Improvisation Theater, The Resilient Caregiver; a co-author of Cancer & the Healing Power of Play & Humor Me: America’s Funniest Humorists on the Power of Laughter.
His has authored 3 video courses on LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com): “Essentials of Team Building”, “Humor in the Workplace”, & “Leading with Applied Improv.”
Recognized by his peers, he has earned a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation from the National Speakers Association. Less than 15% of NSA’s 4,000 members are CSPs
From 1995 to 2006, and then again from 2012 to 2015, Joey served his community as an elected Councilman in Flemington, NJ. He received his J.D. from Seton Hall School of Law, and is licensed to practice in New Jersey. Joey was trained in 2004 by the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, and successfully completed their expertly taught Advanced Mediation Techniques course. He is an honors graduate of the prestigious Leadership New Jersey Fellowship Program. He’s taught hundreds of lawyers, law students, judges and elected of?cials from around the country the bene?ts of legal skills derived of improvisation. Keynote Speaker, Trainer, Workshop Director Joey Novick has been the Director of Corporate Training for ComedyWorks and Improv for Leaders since 1995. He has been a member of the board of trustees of the ACLU of New Jersey since 2009. He serves as the general counsel for the international organization, the Applied Improvisation Network.
Khail Parris is a partner with the PARRIS Law Firm, handling personal injury cases and products liability. He joined the PARRIS Law Firm in 2015 and quickly established himself as a prominent attorney in his field, securing multi-million dollar settlements and verdicts. Khail has been recognized as a “Rising Star” by the Super Lawyers publication since 2020 and he was named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the AV Bar Association in 2018.
In 2017, Khail served as third chair on a trucking collision case where the judgment amounted to $56.5 million for two brothers that sustained life-altering injuries. That same year, Khail served as counsel for a quadriplegic man in which the jury awarded $41.6 million dollars.
In 2021, Khail was co-counsel in a case where a jury awarded $49.6 million to a California Highway Patrol officer who was severely injured in the line of duty. Also that year, Khail helped obtain a $120 million jury verdict in a Lancaster trial involving a distracted driver who caused a “T-bone” style accident.
In 2022, Khail served as lead counsel for a man who was hit by a distracted driver. The at-fault driver’s insurance company offered a $370,000 settlement to his client on the eve of trial, which Khail rejected outright. On the eve of closing, the defense offered a high-low settlement agreement with a max amount of $5 million, which was rejected again. After deliberation, the jury returned with a verdict in the amount of $9.6 million for his client.
To date, Khail has secured more than $200 million in verdicts and settlements for his clients. He specializes in catastrophic injuries, trucking collisions, and injuries to the spine and brain.
Prior to working at PARRIS Law Firm, Khail clerked for the Van Nuys City Attorney’s office in which he tried multiple cases to verdict as a law student. He was the only clerk in his class to be afforded the opportunity to try cases to a jury.
Khail attended Pepperdine in Malibu, CA where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in business management. Khail also obtained his law degree from Pepperdine, where he was recognized for superior academic performance and nominated to the Dean’s Honor List.
Ibiere is the founder and principal trial attorney at, Seck Law P.C. where her practice focuses primarily on complex catastrophic injury, wrongful death, traumatic brain injury and sexual assault cases. Ibiere is the Secretary of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, the largest plaintiff trial lawyers association in the nation, and will lead the association as its President in 2024. She is also the Past President of The National Black Lawyers: Top 40 Under 40.
Ibiere received her Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. While in law school, she earned several distinctions, including being selected as a member of the nationally recognized Byrne Trial Advocacy Team and worked as a prosecutorial extern with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and as a civil rights intern with Inner City Law Center where she advocated for the homeless and working poor. Ibiere received her Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Journalism Magna Cum Laude from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Brain injury, civil rights and sexual assault of minors. Ibiere exclusively represents plaintiffs in civil litigation/trial and prides herself in being a zealous advocate on an endless pursuit for justice on behalf of people who have been wronged, harmed or injured.
Prior to starting her firm, Ibiere was a partner and trial lawyer at the firm founded by the late civil rights attorney, Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr.
Paul Luvera has over fourteen jury verdicts in personal injury cases that exceed a million dollars. He has obtained record jury verdicts of $41 million in Washington, $44 million in Oregon, and a $29 million in Idaho. His settlements include multiple ones exceeding $1 million and include two for $75 million and $45 million dollars. He was selected to act as lead trial counsel for the State of Washington in a two-and-a-half-month jury trial against the tobacco industry which ended in a record settlement. He sued the gun industry for the thirteen families of the sniper victims shot on the east coast. Crystal Brame's family selected him as their attorney to sue the City of Tacoma and Pierce County for the murder-suicide committed by the Tacoma Chief of Police.
Gerry Spence has asked him to teach at his annual trial college in Wyoming since it began over a decade ago. He has been listed by Best Lawyers in America every year since 1978. Lawdragon named him as one the leading 500 lawyers in America, describing him as "The dean of the plaintiff's bar for all the Northwest".
Wyoming trial lawyer Gerry Spence has said about Paul Luvera, "I have never in my many years met a man I admire as much as Paul Luvera. He has been a role model for me and for countless others. He is what I call a real lawyer—no pretense, you get what you see, and what you see is an honest man who has become immensely creative and skillful in response to his insatiable passion for justice."
Luvera is the author of five books on law and a contributing author to seven other legal books. He has published more than fifty articles in legal journals and has lectured throughout the United States to legal organizations. He lives in Gig Harbor, Washington with his wife, lawyer Lita T. Barnett-Luvera.
Charlette Sinclair has dedicated her career to helping lawyers maximize settlement value for their legitimately injured clients. Her background isn’t traditional - while working as a paralegal for mass volume law firms she realized the ineffectiveness of the traditional, narrative-style demand letter. She then learned about the Colossus bodily injury claim software and other claims evaluation software from subject expert Aaron DeShaw, who taught her “there is an art to advocacy, but a science to settlement.” As she continued to develop her knowledge of the insurance industry evaluation process, she had the privilege of learning more from former insurance adjusters and insurance claim process experts who provided great insight, and embarked on a mission to help change the way law firms prepare and present their cases to insurance companies.
Over a series of years studying and writing demand letters, Charlette has refined a series of demand letter templates that are formatted to trigger the bodily injury software systems, and traditional evaluation methods that insurers use to evaluate bodily injury claims. Often referred to as a law firm’s "secret weapon," she led a team of doctors, nurses and paralegals who helped law firms outsource demand package preparation, treatment chronologies, etc. More recently, she has consulted directly with law firms, training lawyers and their staff on the use of her proprietary demand letter formats as a tool to achieve higher settlement offers and avoid costly litigation for their clients. She often is called in to consult with firms who are consistently getting “low ball” offers for their cases in order to turn around their claim values.
Charlette has also gained experience working with a variety of lawyers as a visual media consultant for High Impact - training at their headquarters in Denver, and interacting with their team of medical illustrators, animators and medical specialists. While training in legal visual exhibits, she acquired niche skills in advanced visual claim presentation methods, that allows her to better serve lawyers during the demand submission process, in ADR, and during trial. Through a series of products she intends to produce for Trial Guides, Charlette will share her invaluable knowledge and methods with attorneys and physicians who are interested in better serving injured people. She is currently working as a freelance legal consultant on a part time basis, and is phasing out of her involvement in the legal industry.
When she’s not consulting, she enjoys traveling, spending time with friends and family, driving sports cars, fishing, and playing with her 10 year old pitbull, Enzo.
Brian Ward is a trial lawyer specializing in catastrophic injury, wrongful death and toxic exposure cases. Born and raised in South Bend, Indiana he left the midwest to attend film school at the University of Southern California. It was during this time that he really developed and fostered a passion for storytelling.
In his first year at Loyola Law School, Brian discovered trial advocacy and decided to audition for the nationally recognized Byrne Trial Team. Brian competed on the team for two years and won a National Championship at the National Trial Competition. On the team, he met and became friends with Courtney Rowley and Erin Powers.
Twelve years ago, Brian became a victim of negligence that left him permanently injured and disabled. Because Brian spent his childhood as a gymnast and then a pole-vaulter, this injury was truly devastating. After struggling through constant pain and trying to navigate these new challenges, Brian decided to take a break from law. He sold his home, and purchased an Airstream trailer. Together with his wife and dog they spent the next eighteen months traveling the nation; taking in the natural beauty and wonder while recalibrating what mattered most to them.
Out on the road, he received a call from Nick Rowley with a life changing offer to join the firm that he couldn’t refuse. Brian is a primary instructor at Trial by Human and he tries cases nationwide. He has discovered his experience and disability is not a limitation but a superpower in assisting and representing permanently injured and disabled clients. The lessons he gained through his experience stay with him always.
These lessons and experiences have recently lead to results like a $63 million dollar verdict against Chevron Corporation for leaving poison in the ground and causing his client to develop multiple myeloma as well as a $26 million dollar settlement on behalf of a toddler who sustained permanent scarring due to illegally high chlorine levels at a Myrtle Beach resort.
“Nothing feels better than obtaining justice for these kinds of clients when they are facing off against the most powerful corporations in the world. In the courtroom, we are still all equal” Ward says.
As a former USC yell leader, Brian remains a dedicated Trojan and football fan. In the fall, you can find him parked, every Saturday, in front of the TV catching all the games. Fight On!
Attorney Kenneth Berger focuses on life-changing injury and wrongful death cases across South Carolina. He has built a reputation as an exceptional plaintiffs’ attorney throughout the Southeast. A consistent history of multi-million dollar results reflects his dedication to clients and a commitment to the greater good.
Kenny is a frequent presenter nationally and has repeatedly been recognized by Super Lawyers and other organizations for his contributions to the legal profession. In 2019 and 2022, South Carolina Lawyers Weekly honored Kenny with a Leadership in Law Award. He is also a member of the American Association for Justice’s Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation & Trucking Litigation Groups, and recently served as principal author for the South Carolina Bar’s book on Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation.
Kenny takes pride in giving back to the community and has donated more than $500,000 since 2019 to numerous charities through his Giving (Every) Tuesday campaign.
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Bifurcation in Civil Jury Trials: The When, Why & How
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Nicholas Rowley, J.D.
Brian Ward
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The Relentless Pursuit of Trial: From an 800k Demand Letter to a 26M Settlement
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Nicholas Rowley, J.D.
Brian Ward, J.D.
Kenneth Berger
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On Demand | 1 Hour 29 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Beyond the Courthouse: Empowering Plaintiff Attorneys to Thrive Amid Trauma and Stress
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Megan Hottman
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Settlement & Demand Letter Strategies for Auto & Premises Cases
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Dr. Aaron DeShaw, J.D., D.C.
Charlette Sinclair
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Product Liability Cases Against Auto Manufacturers: How to Identify, Litigate, and Take Your Case to Trial
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Nicholas Rowley, J.D.
Anne Dieruf, J.D.
Kent Emison
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On Demand | 3 Hours 06 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Trial & Case Strategy with Rick Friedman, Courtney Rowley, Nick Rowley & James Abernethy
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Practicing Law in a Post-Covid World
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Charla Aldous, J.D.
Lisa Blue, J.D.
Zoe Littlepage, J.D.
Bibianne Fell, J.D.
Deborah Chang, J.D.
Randi McGinn
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On Demand | 1 Hour 54 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Settlement & Mediation Strategy Debate with Courtney Rowley, Nick Rowley & James Abernethy, Moderated by Rick Friedman
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David vs. Goliath: How to Work Up and Win Tough Liability Cases
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Courtney Rowley, J.D.
Arash Homampour, J.D.
Pej Ben-Cohen
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$91 Million Verdict after a 25K Offer in a Disputed Liability Case
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Eric Fong, J.D.
Ben Wells
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52 Practice Ideas to Get Your $352 Million Verdict
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Randall Sorrels
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Victim to Victor: Stories of Joy
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Jesse Wilson
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Beginning a Zen Meditation Practice: Hosted by a Living American Zen Master
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Michael Leizerman, J.D.
Professor Jay Rinsen Weik
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120M Verdict in a Rollover Crash Case
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R Rex Parris, J.D.
Khail Parris, J.D.
Ibiere Seck
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On Demand | 1 Hour 40 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Winning Within: Lisa Blue Interviewed by David Ball on Mindfulness for Trial Lawyers
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David Ball, Ph.D.
Lisa Blue
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On Demand | 1 Hour 17 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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FACE to FACE: Mitnik & Panish - On Demand
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Keith Mitnik, J.D.
Brian Panish
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On Demand | 88 minutes plus 32 minutes of Q&A | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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FACE to FACE: Mitnik & Ball - On Demand
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Keith Mitnik, J.D.
David Ball
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On Demand | 124 minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Managing Remote Work in a Law Firm
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Candess Zona-Mendola,
Jory Lange
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On Demand | 85 minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Improvisational Lawyer: Mediation & Improvisation
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Izzy Gesell,
Joey Novick
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On Demand | 1 Hour 30 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cloud Based Client Management Systems for Plaintiffs’ Firms
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Dr. Aaron DeShaw
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On Demand | 138 minutes plus 28 minutes of Q&A | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Who is Courtney Rowley
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David Ball, Ph.D.
Courtney Rowley
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On Demand | 1 Hour 03 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Who Is Rick Friedman
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Rick Friedman, J.D.
David Ball
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On Demand | 2 Hours | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Who is Randi McGinn
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David Ball, Ph.D.
Randi McGinn
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On Demand | 1 Hour 01 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Who Is Nick Rowley
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David Ball, Ph.D.
Nicholas Rowley
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On Demand | 1 Hour 18 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Who Is Zoe Littlepage
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David Ball, Ph.D.
Zoe Littlepage
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On Demand | 1 Hour | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Who Is Dorothy Clay Sims
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David Ball, Ph.D.
Dorothy Clay Sims
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On Demand | 1 Hour 10 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Who is Lisa Blue
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David Ball, Ph.D.
Lisa Blue
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On Demand | 59 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Who is Karen Koehler
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David Ball, Ph.D.
Karen Koehler
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On Demand | 1 Hour 11 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Who is Sia Baker-Barnes
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David Ball
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On Demand | 53 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Who Is Mark Mandell
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David Ball
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On Demand | 1 Hour 02 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Who is Joshua Karton
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David Ball, Ph.D.
Joshua Karton
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On Demand | 1 Hour 02 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Who is Patrick Malone
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David Ball, Ph.D.
Mr. Patrick Malone
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On Demand | 1 Hour 02 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Who is Brian Panish
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David Ball, Ph.D.
Brian Panish
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On Demand | 1 Hour 07 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Friedman Fridays - April 1, 2020
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Rick Friedman
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On Demand | 1 Hour 02 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Friedman Fridays - April 10, 2020
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Rick Friedman
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On Demand | 62 minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Friedman Fridays - April 17, 2020
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Rick Friedman, J.D.
James Abernethy
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On Demand | 72 mins | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Friedman Fridays - May 15, 2020
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Rick Friedman, J.D.
Paul Luvera
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On Demand | 77 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Friedman Fridays - August 20, 2020
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Rick Friedman, J.D.
James Abernethy
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On Demand | 1 Hour 44 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total Classroom CE Jurisdictions Information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||