Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Jillian DeSimone, the firm's Vice President of Business Development, to examine a line item almost every plaintiff firm carries: tens of thousands of dollars a month to an SEO agency, paid out for years. For most of the last decade that spend was defensible. Search meant ten blue links on Google, and a firm t...

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Tad Thomas, founder and managing partner of Thomas Law Offices, a plaintiffs' firm he started in 2011 and has grown to more than 20 lawyers across multiple states. Tad traces his path from a family grocery store in Louisville to a job as a runner in a legendary criminal defense practice, a solo shingle hung s...

Episode 40 of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR takes on trial communications, from the moments in a case that are newsworthy to what you do in the hours after a verdict. RebuttalPR founder Ray DeLorenzi joins host Hannah Gallagher to explain why filings and verdicts aren't the only news hooks in a litigation, his first rule for trial media strategy (do no harm), where the line sits between talk...

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Nicole Smith, a partner at Langdon & Emison in Kansas City, Missouri. Nicole started at the firm as a law clerk during law school and has built a career spanning single-event litigation, mass tort leadership, and the operational side of running that work like a business. Nicole traces her interest in the law...

In this episode, Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Jean Martin, a mass torts and class action litigator who recently joined AWKO as founding head of its consumer class action practice. Her path to plaintiff's litigation was unconventional: childhood courthouse visits in North Carolina, business school, candy manufacturing, Wake Forest Law School. Early asbestos work led to a neurodevelopmental inju...

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Eric Cramer, chairman of Berger Montague and co-chair of its antitrust department, whose career spans more than three decades of plaintiff-side class action work and more than $4 billion in recoveries for workers, consumers, fighters, and others harmed by concentrated corporate power. Eric traces his path from Wo...

Episode 36 of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR takes on AI search — and the vendors selling rankings that don't exist. RebuttalPR founder Ray DeLorenzi joins host Hannah Gallagher to break down what actually drives visibility in tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini, which AI model he prefers and why, and how plaintiff firms are already thinking about AI accountability through litigation. The...

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Rich Ruohonen, a partner at TSR Injury Law in Bloomington, Minnesota, whose career spans nearly three decades of plaintiff’s work in traumatic brain injury, car accidents, product liability, and premises liability cases. The conversation digs deep into what Rich calls the parallels between being a competitive ath...

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Rachel McCarthy, Executive Director of The Milestone Foundation, a Buffalo-based nonprofit that provides pre- and post-settlement funding to plaintiffs at rates designed to help rather than exploit.  Rachel shares how a Jesuit education, an AmeriCorps stint in Buffalo, years as a paralegal in New York City, and a...

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Tony Romanucci of Romanucci and Blandin in Chicago, one of the leading civil rights litigators in the country. Tony discusses how growing up as a first-generation Italian American in Chicago shaped his worldview, and how a summer clerkship at the Cook County Public Defender's office permanently redirected his...

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Pete Weinberger, partner at Spangenberg Shibley & Liber in Cleveland, Ohio. Pete shares his journey from a criminal defense lawyer to becoming the Plaintiff’s Co-Liaison Counsel in the National Prescription Opiate MDL. From his early days in the courtroom to his leadership in mass torts, Pete opens up about the ch...

This week on Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, we’re doing something a little different. Instead of our usual format, we’re sharing Ray DeLorenzi’s recent guest appearance on GAVL’s Behind the GAVL podcast, hosted by Co-Founder and CEO Ryan Raplee. In this wide-ranging conversation, Ray breaks down why plaintiff firms should be thinking beyond advertising and investing in reputation, credibility, a...

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Kim Dougherty, co-founder of Justice Law Collaborative, for a conversation about purpose-driven advocacy, systemic change, and what it truly means to fight for justice.  Kim’s path to the law was anything but conventional. A first-generation college student who grew up on Cape Cod, she channeled a lifelong instinct to...

In Episode 29 of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Sarah Doles, shareholder at Levin Papantonio, for a conversation about evolution, credibility, and what it means to step into advocacy after more than a decade inside the federal judiciary.  Sarah’s path to plaintiffs’ work was not linear. After watching her father argue before the United States Supreme Court, she chose...

In Episode 28 of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Rayna Kessler, partner at Robins Kaplan, for a conversation about what it really means to carry responsibility in high-stakes litigation. Rayna’s career has placed her at the center of some of the most complex and emotionally demanding cases in the plaintiffs’ bar, from developing mass torts before regulators act to rep...

In this episode of  Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR , host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Amanda Bronstad of Law.com, who covers class actions and mass torts nationwide. Based in Los Angeles, Amanda has spent more than two decades reporting on the legal industry and is the author of Law.com’s widely read email dispatch,  Critical Mass .  Amanda shares her unconventional path into journalism, from ea...

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Hunter J. Shkolnik, partner at Napoli Shkolnik and a nationally recognized trial and mass tort lawyer. Hunter leads discovery and trial teams across environmental, pharmaceutical, and medical device litigation and has played central roles in some of the largest mass tort matters in U.S. history. Hunter traces his...

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Tobi Millrood, partner at Kline & Specter and chair of the firm’s Mass Tort Department. A national leader in complex litigation, Tobi has spent 25 years trying high stakes pharmaceutical and medical device cases, including a recent $175 million Roundup verdict in Philadelphia. Tobi talks about growing up as t...

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Paul Geller, founding partner of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP and one of the country’s most accomplished class action and mass tort litigators.  Paul reflects on his early days defending corporations and the moment he realized he was “on the wrong side.” He shares how that realization reshaped his career...

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Khaldoun Baghdadi, a partner at Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger and one of California’s most respected trial lawyers. Khaldoun shares how his early years as a first-generation Palestinian American shaped his path to law—and why understanding “how the rules work” drew him toward advocacy. He reflects on...

Episode 22 of  Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR  dives into the headlines—literally. RebuttalPR founder Ray DeLorenzi joins host Hannah Gallagher to share candid takes on where people are actually getting their news today, what counts as “mainstream media,” and why law firms need to understand both local and digital audiences to stay relevant. Ray breaks down why saying “no comment” almost always b...

In this episode of  Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR , host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Alexandra Walsh, a powerhouse trial attorney who has tried and won cases nationwide. Alex’s career began with clerkships for Judge Merrick Garland and Justice Stephen Breyer, followed by two decades in Big Law defending major corporations in product liability and white-collar cases. After co-founding a successf...

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Carol C. Villegas and Michael P. Canty, Partners at Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP. Carol shares her path from big law to the DA’s office in Staten Island before finding her way to plaintiff-side securities work. Michael recounts his early days as a Nassau County prosecutor, his years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office i...

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with organizational effectiveness consultant and executive coach Cheryl Pope, founder of Carlton Human Capital.  Drawing on her decades of HR leadership experience at companies like American Airlines, Cheryl now partners with plaintiff law firms nationwide to help them align values, improve accountability, and create...

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR , host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Deepak Gupta, one of the most respected plaintiff-side Supreme Court and appellate advocates in the country. Called “a mainstay of the Supreme Court lectern” and “the go-to advocate” for plaintiffs, Deepak has argued eight cases before the U.S. Supreme Court himself, and aided his colleagues at Gupta Wessler in...