Courtroom Stories & Tactics

"You have to have the desire and passion to be the best that you can be. And that takes an incredible amount of hard work. You have to find role models. It's good to read about it, but you have to watch and, you have to second chair really good trial lawyers. And then you have to be fearless. Not every trial is going to go like you thought it was going to go. Things are going to go south...

"At the end of the day, what's behind dunking a basketball and what's behind being a badass cha-cha dancer is the same feeling. It's human, it's innate, and it's very real and powerful. And that's where decisions are made, like we talked about earlier. The biggest fallacy in what we do is the idea that people make decisions based on logic. They don't. And ev...

"In almost every instance, the police officer doesn't go to work that day saying, I hope I get in a fight or shoot somebody today. I've never had that case. And so the human element is exactly what we're talking about. Who among us has a job when you go to work where you might end up in a fight, getting shot at, or having to shoot someone. These are people who are on the frontl...

"You are the power in the courtroom. You are the authority, even above the judge. And I know everybody will say, no, the jury will look to the judge. I think there's a space for the trial lawyer to be the authority in the courtroom by everything that you do there. And the cool thing that I want lawyers who are listening to know, especially young lawyers, is that there's a space for...

"Number one, do justice. Do the right thing. No matter what, at the end of the day, that's what we get to do. We're fortunate to get to do it. You are entrusted by this office to do justice and make sure you hold that close and don't ever deviate from that. Never compromise. Always do the right thing." Mike Gill joined us on RVA Trial Lawyers. We discuss his career as a fe...

"The fun thing about our business is, we get to try cases with good lawyers. Trying cases is fun. Trying juries is fun. Losing juries ain't fun, but trying them is fun." Jeff Everhart joined us on RVA Trial Lawyers. We discuss his 42 years as a criminal defense lawyer, some of his more significant cases (e.g., The Southside Strangler and Ricky Gray), and his love for trial work and...

"I'm able to help people with the most important thing in their life. I'm able to fight for them in court, which is just a blast. On top of that, it's the most intellectually stimulating job I can imagine because I have to learn about science, medicine, products liability, you name it. So I've never been bored and even with all the anxiety and sleepless nights, it's b...

"One piece of advice I would give people is you really have to be yourself because insincerity is sensed by juries. It's sensed by judges. If you're trying to be something you're not, it's not going to work." John Rockecharlie and Russ Stone joined us on RVA Trial Lawyers. We discuss their many years working as prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers, the lessons lea...

"To me, if you say what is justice? I remember during the summer of George Floyd when people said no peace, no justice. I started wondering all summer long what people think is justice. I think having those seven or twelve people participate, that's justice." Hon. Catherine Hammond joined us on RVA Trial Lawyers. We discuss her career as a lawyer and as a judge as well as her role i...

"If you really do your job as a prosecutor, you can help people." Learned Barry joined us on RVA Trial Lawyers. We discuss his 47 years as a prosecutor in the City of Richmond, his more than 700 murder cases, and his commitment to trying cases well.  It was a privilege having Learned join us. Courtroom Stories & Tactics | RVA Trial Lawyers Available on Spotify , Apple , YouTube , and...

"You have to have that spark of curiosity of creativity, but it has to be coupled with an utter fearlessness." Brewster Rawls joined us on RVA Trial Lawyers. We discuss his career as a trial lawyer, his work as a medical malpractice attorney, and his love for trying cases.    It was a privilege having Brewster join us. Courtroom Stories & Tactics | RVA Trial Lawyers Available on Spot...

"You're not gonna be another number coming through the system. You're gonna be a human being with everything that is good about you. Maybe some things that perhaps are not so good. But the key is to humanize you." Russell Bowles joined us on RVA Trial Lawyers. We discuss his many years trying cases as a criminal defense attorney, the importance of humanizing your clients, and h...

“Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise.” John Shea joined us on RVA Trial Lawyers. We discuss his career, his record-setting verdict against Norfolk Southern, and his work in the courtroom.  It was a privilege having John join us. Courtroom Stories & Tactics | RVA Trial Lawyers Available on Spotify , Apple , YouTube , and at RVATrialLawyers.com   Based out of Richmond, Vir...

"If not you, who?" Craig Cooley joined us on RVA Trial Lawyers. We discuss his long career as a criminal defense lawyer, his representation of DC Sniper Lee Boyd Malvo, and his work in the courtroom. It was a privilege having Craig join us. "To dream the impossible dream To fight the unbeatable foe To bear with unbearable sorrow To run where the brave dare not go To right the unrigh...