The Trial Lawyers College Podcast

Listen to course director Jim Leach describe the outstanding trial skills course which is coming up soon.  Each director gives detailed examples of the benefits of attending TLC's Trial Skills Foundation seminar that you won't want to miss.  Tune in and experience an uplifting program with real-life examples for us all to learn from. 

In today's episode, Rafe takes the opportunity to interview Tim Baker as he anticipates being a juror. Rafe walks Tim through the basics of being a juror, what to expect, and how to prepare.

As a leading Spokane, Washington Attorney, Karen Lindholdt has been a successful advocate for the injured and wrongfully accused for the past 27 years. TLC graduate Karen Lindholdt discusses the experience of being a woman representing men accused of sexual assault. Karen discusses the TLC methods that helped her and the difficulties that come with her client's sexual assault charges. 

Join our special holiday interview with Valerie Malone as she discusses the season of giving. Valerie and Rafe exchange stories of good tidings and cheer.

TLC President John Sloan joins the podcast to examine the importance of taking time away from work to strengthen your skills of being a trial lawyer. John and Rafe discuss how participating in various TLC programs can grow and stretch you as a trial lawyer.

"It's integrity. If you don't have integrity in your thoughts, it's going to show. You're going to come across as fake, and nobody wants to be associated with that." Victoria Rusk, a mitigation specialist and investigator from Houston, TX, credits the Trial Lawyers College's In Defense of the Damned program with giving her the tools that enhance her civil case preparation and her strategy for cons...

"It is the idea of just being yourself and connecting and being genuine and not just pretending to be genuine but being actually genuine...see how that actually works." This fall, former prosecutor Adam Murray enjoyed training at the Trial Lawyers College intensive five-day course in Shambhala, Colorado. Although he is not yet a TLC graduate, he describes his time at the TLC as a "life-changing ex...

"Lawyers get bogged down in minutiae and facts. The facts are important. The facts are the latticework upon which you hang the flesh of your case, and the flesh of your case is going to be the principles, the values, the emotion, the feelings, the betrayal; those types of things are what make a case relatable to a jury." This week, Kenny Adair, former district judge and 2007 graduate of the Trial...

"You've got to understand who your audience is really is. What are the morals of your jury? Once you understand their morals and whether they're liberal or conservative, and you tailor your opening statement towards that, you're well on your way to getting the verdict that you want." In this episode of the TLC Podcast, host Rafe Foreman meets with Kentucky-based trial lawyer Frank Mungo to discuss...

"If the cancer is a wake-up call to spend the rest of my life—however long I have—to live a life with more quality and being more genuine, I'm not thinking that's too unfair."  This episode of the TLC Podcast features Laurie Goodman, the beloved executive director of the Trial Lawyers College, who speaks with host Rafe Foreman about her April 2021 diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer. As she shar...

"We are in a different mindset than our clients are. Even that is a barrier because, at that point, we don't see the context where our client comes from."  This week's TLC podcast features trial lawyer Pat Montes, who offers a thought-provoking look at how language and culture impact a lawyer's relationships with their clients. Bringing to the table her unique perspective as a bilingual and bicult...

"There are people who do bad things, but I've never met anybody who I felt was just a bad person." Continuing our series on 'Reconstructing Success,' California Public Defender Emily Fisher explores the ways that trial lawyers can intentionally improve injustices and inefficiencies in the justice system. As she guides listeners through her blueprint to resolving these systemic issues, Emily provid...

"When we tell good stories, the listeners engage." This week, host Rafe Foreman meets with accomplished civil trial lawyer Scott Glovsky to explore his methods of successfully conveying the emotion behind his clients' stories to the jury. A passionate advocate for individuals who've faced unjust denials by their health insurance companies, Scott delves into the intersection between the struggles o...

"There are so many people who have incredible talents that are going to waste because they've been excluded. It's not hard to find if you just open your eyes….and when we see it, we need to use our position of power and privilege in the groups and organizations that we're leading to elevate that talent and allow them to have the space to shine." This week, trial lawyer and legal educator Keeley Bl...

John Sloan hosts the TLC Podcast this week to interview Rafe Foreman and partner attorney Susan Hutchison on the incredible verdict the two trial lawyers won in a groundbreaking and unconventional gender discrimination case.  Listen along as Rafe and Susan describe how they successfully conveyed their 72-year-old client's story to the jury after a false sexual assault accusation led to him losing...

"Everything I need to know I learned in psychodrama. I remind myself to listen with my heart, tune into the emotions -- not just the words -- be open, be honest, and be kind because we have more in common than we'll ever know...and to be fearless because no matter how alone we're feeling, we are never alone and our TLC group -- every single one of them -- will be there to help you when you're goin...

"Do something to make someone else's day better. If we all do that, every day, we'll change the world." This week, Washington attorney Mark Wagner continues our 'Restructuring Success' series with a refreshing take on the true meaning of success. Channeling the core message of the Trial Lawyers College, Mark argues that success is all in how we treat others. Through engaging storytelling and a mat...

"Success is really subjective, and I think that's okay. The only thing that I need to do to live truthfully is to define the things that are important to me and let the rest burn. What's scarier -- disappointing people or thinking, at the end of the day, what kind of life could I have had if I had just been a little bit braver?" This week, Ilinois criminal defense attorney Cambry McNabb joins host...

"Always be willing to be flexible -- don't get so married to your methodologies that you can't change those, too. It is in preparation and hard work but it's also in willing to be open to the ideas of others." This week, Todd Kelly of Austin, Texas, joins host Rafe Foreman to kick off our new podcast series titled 'Reconstructing Success' with an engaging overview of the importance of preparation...

"For me, getting this opportunity with this scholarship, the biggest thing is spreading the message to go and get the vaccine."   On this week's podcast, high school freshman Jack Lucchesi and his mother, Bridget Lucchesi, join host Rafe Foreman. Jack is one of the first ten winners selected in New York State's College Scholarship raffle for vaccinated teens, and his mom Bridget is a clinical ment...

"I decided that I should do something I don't normally do, and that's reverse roles with a defense attorney and try to figure out where they're coming from and how their lives have changed. So, I was trying to get personally involved with defense attorneys, not just in the case but in their actual lives..."   On this week's podcast, Conroe, TX trial attorney and TLC faculty member Paula Estefan jo...

"The plaintiff's practice can be very lonely. I think that loneliness has been a bit amplified by being inside, cooped up, and not able to communicate and build relationships like we were meant to. The pandemic has caused an amplification of those relationships gone silent." On this week's podcast, Kansas City trial attorney Brian McCallister joins host Rafe Foreman to discuss the ways that the li...

"Judges are just like us -- they're egocentric, they think with their own minds, they speak with their own heart, and they bring a lifetime of experiences as a human and as a previous lawyer to the bench." This riveting podcast features former Oklahoma judge Kenny Adair, now a criminal and civil trial lawyer, who gives his unique perspective on the fears and vulnerabilities of the more challenging...

"I'm one of those types of people that wants to be all things all the time, and what I'm learning is you can't be all things all the time. It's just not possible. That's how you wind up burned out and really of no use to anybody." Continuing our theme of 'Managing in Tough Times' is Kahlie Hoffman, a Kansas City-based personal injury trial lawyer who's raising two young boys behind the scenes. Des...

"There are some people who have not had an opportunity to represent a gay client or a member of a minority group, and there may be some biases there. Before proper representation can be done, I think that a person needs to sit with themselves and try to overcome those biases or really truthfully address them and see if they're going to play into the case." This week's podcast features Colorado att...