The Velvet Hammer™ Podcast

Episode 1: Preparing for Trial  Season six opens with Karen Koehler, Mo Hamoudi, and Mike Todd discussing the emotional and physical shift that happens when a trial is coming. The sleep changes. The aggression sharpens. The energy spikes.  Karen talks candidly about how her body knows a trial is coming before her brain catches up, why she sleeps less, gets spicier, and becomes laser-focused weeks...

Episode 48: Decoding Voir Dire Part 4 | The Jury Selection Series Peremptory strikes look simple on paper. In practice, they are among the most strategic and controversial aspects of jury selection. In Part 4 of the Decoding Voir Dire series, Karen Koehler and Mo Hamoudi break down how peremptories actually work, why Batson challenges matter, and how bias, intuition, math, and psychology collide i...

Episode 49: Decoding Voir Dire Part 5 | The Jury Selection Series The final installment of our five-part Voir Dire series. Karen Koehler explains how to respectfully invite jurors to excuse themselves by honoring their moral convictions rather than attacking them. Mo Hamoudi explains why judges focus on what jurors say, not what lawyers argue, and how letting jurors talk themselves into a cause ch...

Episode 47: Decoding Voir Dire Part 3 | The Jury Selection Series In Part 3 of our voir dire series, Karen Koehler and Mo Hamoudi break down what happens when a politically charged case collides with real human bias, and why jury selection can quietly decide the outcome before opening statements ever begin. Karen walks through her damage model and the Starbucks bike scenario that exposes how juror...

Episode 46: Decoding Voir Dire Part 2 | The Jury Selection Series In Part 2 of our five-part jury selection series, Karen Koehler and Mo Hamoudi break down what really happens when you get 20 minutes to talk to 50 to 60 jurors (and somehow remember who said what). Karen walks through the struck method, why “deselection” used to be the whole game, and how she color-codes jurors fast without a consu...

Episode 45: Decoding Voir Dire Part 1 | The Jury Selection Series Karen Koehler and Mo Hamoudi kick off a five-part deep dive into voir dire with the question everyone secretly has. What are trial lawyers actually doing when they stand in front of a room full of strangers and start asking personal questions? From calling out bias to reading body language to deciding who stays and who goes, they br...

Episode: Live Podcast - The Velvet Hammers’ Journey through Bias, Marginalization, and Systemic Inequities Recorded Live on December 2, 2025  1 Ethics Equity Credit - Please visit stritmatter.com/cle for Activity ID.   Karen Koehler and Mo Hamoudi bring their Velvet Hammer Podcast style to an important CLE. This program examines how bias, marginalization, and systemic inequities affect trial lawye...

Episode 44: The Privilege of Sacrifice as a Trial Lawyer In this episode of The Velvet Hammer™ Podcast, the group sits down with a simple question: Does being great at your work always require sacrifice ?   Karen Koehler opens up about a career shaped by long hours, missed moments, and the constant pressure of leading high-stakes cases. She also names what often goes unsaid: the privilege of choos...

Episode 42: Mansplaining, Mo-Splaining, and the Space Between Talking and Listening A heated phone call about “mansplaining” turns into a sharp, funny, and honest look at listening, ego, and the thin line between protecting and dominating. Karen calls Mo out. Mo defends himself. Mike plays referee. Together they retrace the argument, name the habit (hello, “Mo-splaining”), and unpack why good inte...

Episode 41: Anticipating the Loss - When Trial Lawyers Feel It Coming When you’ve been in the courtroom long enough, you know the feeling. The slow, heavy dread of a case slipping away. In this episode of The Velvet Hammer™ , Karen Koehler, Mo Hamoudi, and Mike Todd talk about what it’s like to sense a loss before it happens, both in trial and in life. Karen revisits her 2022 trial against Seattle...

Episode 40: Misogyny, Patriarchy, and the Pain of “Mean Girls” In this episode of The Velvet Hammer™ , Mo asks the question most men avoid: “What is misogyny?” Karen, Mo, and Mike take it further, unpacking how patriarchy shapes the legal world and how internalized misogyny plays out between women. They talk about the quiet digs, the “sweetie” moments in court, and why women still send big cases t...

Karen Koehler and Mo Hamoudi debate the viral “Let Them” theory by Mel Robbins and whether it works in the real world of trial law. From self-help culture and quick-fix thinking to emotional intelligence, religion, and moral accountability, this episode breaks down what happens when “letting go” meets the practice of law.  Mo questions if “let them” is wisdom or avoidance, while Karen tests the id...

Episode 38: When Zoom Replaces Rooms – Navigating the Post-Pandemic Legal Practice Karen Koehler, Mo Hamoudi, and Mike Todd tackle one of the most significant shifts in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic: the rise of remote everything. From depositions to jury selection to everyday office life, they unpack how the legal world changed when the world shut down.  Mo misses the energy of a bustlin...

How do you respond when someone insults you? In this episode, Karen Koehler, Mo Hamoudi, and Mike Todd explore how their childhood experiences with insults shape their adult mechanisms.  Karen reflects on her mother’s “eye for an eye” parenting style, which shaped her fighter mentality. She shares how that mindset evolved into a professional strength, turning insults into strategy and sometimes us...

In this episode, Karen Koehler starts with a client who was permanently disfigured and how fast the defense tried to dig through every corner of her life. From medical records to private history, nothing feels off-limits in discovery. Karen and Mo Hamoudi talk about how invasive that process can be, why lawyers need to know everything (even the parts that hurt to say out loud), and how to build tr...

Episode 35: Unbound: A Woman’s Guide to Power Book Review Karen Koehler, Mo Hamoudi, and Mike Todd review Unbound: A Woman’s Guide to Power by Kasia Urbaniak. They delve into the meanings of dominance, submission, and influence.  Karen Koehler shares her “I’m the boss” fridge purge, Mo Hamoudi explains how walking away from incongruence gave him agency, and Mike Todd reframes power as influence in...

Episode 34: Keeping Up with Karen  Karen Koehler and Mo Hamoudi debate the power of thinking on your feet versus slowing down to choose your words. Karen owns her “borderline manic” speed and explains how fast processing helps her pivot in court and keep juries engaged. Mo pushes back with the benefits of pausing for clarity. Mike Todd weighs in on how different brains process input during live qu...

Episode 33: The Rise of AI: Adapt or Die Karen, Mo, and Mike dive into the question every lawyer and law firm is facing: what do we do with AI? Karen breaks down how the firm is already using it, from med-mal intake summaries that used to take months to Westlaw AI, Adobe, Teams, and Smokeball’s Archie. Mo isn’t sold, warning about what we lose when we hand over thinking and human connection to mac...

Episode 32: How to Interview Clients and Win Juries In this episode of The Velvet Hammer™ , Karen Koehler, Mo Hamoudi, and Mike Todd dig into one of the most overlooked skills as a trial lawyer: the client interview. This is not just about filling out intake forms. Karen shares why she spends hours with clients before even asking about the incident and how those conversations create the foundation...

Episode 31: Protesting in America: Your Legal Rights Explained Seattle recently saw 70,000 people take to the streets during the No Kings March, and Karen, Mo, and Mike are here to talk about what it means to exercise your right to protest. From Westlake Mall to Capitol Hill, they break down where you can legally assemble, what happens when protests cross into civil disobedience, and how politics...

Episode 30: Placing a Monetary Value on the Loss of a "Good Life" What constitutes a “good life,” and what happens when catastrophic events forever change its course? Karen Koehler reads an essay she wrote at 17 about what makes a good life and reflects on how her definition has evolved. Mo Hamoudi shares a deeply personal story from his senior year of high school about basketball, a mot...

Episode 29 - The Penis Restraining Order - This episode includes discussion of sexual assault and explicit anatomical references. It contains mature content that may not be appropriate for all listeners. Listener discretion is advised.  Karen Koehler walks us through one of the most outrageous, unforgettable, and legally strategic motions she has ever filed: a request to restrain rapper Nelly’s pe...

Episode 28: DEI, WAMs, and Legal Power Plays |  Karen Koehler shares the 2008 letter that shook up the American Association for Justice (AAJ), calling out its failure to address diversity in any meaningful way. The fallout was instant. She lost friends, made enemies, and set off a chain reaction that eventually pushed the organization to adopt a formal diversity plan.  Joined by Mo Hamoudi and Mik...

Episode 27: Mo Tais in Maui – Hosting the 2025 WTLA Reception What happens when Karen offers up her Hawaiian home for a trial lawyer party... and forgets she did it? In this episode, Karen and Mo break down the chaos, comedy, and creativity behind hosting 80 trial attorneys in her backyard during the Western Trial Lawyers Association Conference. From last-minute Costco runs and signature cocktail...

Episode 26: Mastering the Art of Direct Examination What separates a good trial lawyer from a great one? Karen Koehler and Mo Hamoudi unpack what makes a direct examination persuasive, from reading the jury’s body language to deciding when to provoke or disarm a hostile witness. They share real trial stories, including moments where everything went off-script and the only way to save the case was...