Courtroom Stories & Tactics

AI is not perfect yet, you still have to babysit it, but it's scary. Because two years ago I used AI and thought, "Well that was kind of like using a high school senior." Now when I'm using AI, it's like, "I'm using a second year associate." Penn Crawford joined us for a wide-ranging discussion. We talked about the realities of running a small, boutique law...

"My thought when I go into a courtroom, and I feel this way throughout the trial, is I just am welcoming people into my house. I go in, I talk to my jury, I make eye contact with them, and I try to talk to them the way that I would talk to anybody: a clerk at the grocery store or you guys - us sitting in this room doing this podcast. " The way we interact with a jury, particularly in voi...

"The community at the time was just furious with me for charging any of the counter-protestors with anything. And I was very sympathetic to the ideology of the counter-protestors, and was mortified by some of the viewpoints of the alt-right individuals. But I said, 'I have to prosecute conduct, not content,' and if you start picking sides, that's a scary thing." Joe Platan...

"The number one takeaway is trust yourself. Because we know our stuff. We are better than them. They are inundated with so much work, and they're doing the same old stuff. We're going to conferences and learning cutting edge technology. So believe in yourself." Tarun Rana of Rana Law Group in St. Louis, MO joined us for a conversation about learning, improving, and working alon...

"So in listening to this, whomever wants Syria to be unified, maybe the solution is to listen to this petition, to consider it, and to work really, genuinely, on reaching a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis." - Firas Alchoufi In this special episode, international lawyer, arbitrator and humanitarian Firas Alchoufi joins us to bring awareness to the humanitarian crisis that is impact...

"This concept called the ethic of care : we've all heard this term 'care' before. And most of us who have had any type of training, a lot of times we are taught ethics from a formal or practical standpoint. But it doesn't always uplift the care side of things. So how do you do that? How do you adhere to the rules, the order, the law, and also balance that with the needs of...

" Whether it's a $50,000 case or a $50 million case, it's ultimately helping people preserve their settlement funds, make sure that they are being smart financially, and protecting the financial security of their settlement." Jenny Sciadini is a Settlement Consultant who partners with attorneys and their clients to maximize the value of settlements while safeguarding government...

"I tell my prosecutors that being a public defender was one of the most important things for my career as a prosecutor, even though I only did it briefly. And it's a reason why I have a strong preference for hiring former public defenders and defense lawyers in my office." We sat down with Ramin Fatehi, Commonwealth’s Attorney for Norfolk, Virginia. From growing up in Iran to servin...

"You often think, if someone's going through a hard time, what is the way that you can help them? And here was something I had to offer. I felt like this is something I can do. This is something I can give to them." - Gray Broughton In this special episode, Nael interviews the team at Broughton Injury Law Firm, including founder Gray Broughton, attorney Zac Grubaugh, and our own Sha...

"I just owned the bad facts. I talked about them, I mentioned them to the jury. I'm making eye contact with the jury, they're making eye contact with me. And I just had this feeling like, 'I think we've got a good shot here.' It was like this osmosis going on." Personal Injury Lawyer Dillon Hobbs of Birmingham, Alabama joined us to discuss his trial experience, t...

"Practice means you're doing intentional movements. Practicing typically indicates you have a coach giving you feedback, or somebody's giving you feedback. If you haven't been trained, how do you know what's appropriate?" Dan Ambrose, founder of Trial Lawyers University (TLU), joins us to share the story behind one of the most influential training series for trial law...

"Having done so many focus groups, you get a good, fine-tuned ear for what is clear testimony and what is not. The goal of this method is for people to be as comfortable as they can, but then have confident, clear testimony that is very credible." Trial Consultant Elizabeth Larrick joins us today to discuss the importance and methodology of both witness preparation and focus groups.  Eli...

"The middle of a trial is the only place I've ever been where the thought came over me, 'This is where you belong. Right here. In this chaos.' Having some control over a situation that most people feel is totally out of control. You're in the eye of the storm, and it's calm there."  -John Merrick Personal Injury Lawyers John Merrick and Les Brock spent a combined...

"What is going to drive damages has little to do with what the client is going to say about their therapy records, and instead is going to have everything to do about the conduct of an organization and/or perpetrator. That's what drives the value." Guy D'Andrea is a passionate defender of victims of abuse, and has pursued justice against many notable religious institutions, boa...

"We have the mindset that each case we're going to file suit on, we're intending to take it to trial. Absent a material difference or client ambivalence that arises later, we're taking them all to trial. But sometimes the insurance companies start to be more reasonable at the end when they know something big might hit them." Beau Correll leads a busy plaintiffs personal in...

" Just because the jury can't use words, doesn't mean they can't talk to you, it doesn't mean they can't communicate with you. So really listen and really talk."  Andrew Caple-Shaw joined us on RVA Trial Lawyers: Virginia's Trial Lawyer Podcast. Andrew is the managing partner at Act of Communication and a professional actor with nearly four decades of experi...

"All you can do is guide and arm your good jurors to go in there and fight for you." Michael Cowen is one of the most respected voices in the personal injury practice area. Over nearly 30 years, he has tried more than 100 cases and built a reputation for being both a skilled trial lawyer and a generous teacher. Michael started his career in corporate law in New York but chose to return h...

"Focus groups give you a lot of time to practice things that you don't get to practice in court. Getting your feet wet where you can do it without spending a bunch of money is really the only way you can do it these days." Jessica Brylo is a trial consultant specializing in jury selection, case framing, focus groups, and trial strategy. She has more trial experience than most practi...

"It's really important when you meet your client to develop that authentic connection. Because if I have an authentic connection with my client, we always have a better connection than the defense." Chris Finney joined us for this episode of RVA Trial Lawyers. We discuss how he built his law practice, his commitment to doing trial work the right way, and the importance of building g...

"The toughness and resilience of clients of mine, to see those people pick themselves up off the mat and carry on with life as best they can, is inspiring." Rand Robins joined us on RVA Trial Lawyers. Rand initially studied journalism but found the investigative skills lent themselves well to gathering evidence. He steadily compiled a notebook of contacts and networks, through phone call...

"I think it's wonderful work. I'm grateful every day that I get to do, for money, something that I find incredibly interesting. I think personal injury is the best kept secret—the brightest young attorneys should want to do this kind of work." Maureen Farrell joined us this week on RVA Trial Lawyers. We discuss her work as a personal injury trial lawyer, her willingness to take...

"All the best verdicts that I've had, in the opening statement, the jurors' eyes are bugging out and their jaws are hitting the floor. And they tell you afterwards, 'I didn't realize this case was so strong, and I'm sorry that I questioned it in voir dire. But then I heard your case in opening.' So that's where you want them. You don't want to oversell...

"The magic that happens in a case at trial is a lot of times built on the seemingly mundane efforts to get discovery, to take depositions, to request more discovery based on those depositions, to request more depositions based on that discovery, this kind of osmotic relationship between written discovery and depositions, kind of doing the doing and the more evidence you can develop, the more...

"It sucks when we lose, but when we win and hopefully you win more than you lose on our side, it's life changing. I can't get that from any other job. And to know 10 years down the line, and now I've been in practice long enough, 15 years down the line, somebody sends me a card out of the blue and they just say, I was thinking about you. Or in a death case, they reach out and s...

"Find out how this accident affected them. Talk to their spouse, talk to their cousins, their best friends. No matter how big or small, it has affected that person in some way. Maybe they had a good car that was paid for and now they have a car payment. Maybe they had to miss work and can't pay their bills. Maybe they missed their kid's graduation. There's always something abou...