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Tad and Mike welcome Colleen Phalen, Chief Creative Officer at the American Association for Justice to the podcast! Colleen shares the latest information about the upcoming AAJ 2022 Annual Convention being held in Seattle this summer taking place July 16 – 19, 2022. For more information about the American Association for Justice: https://www.justice.org For more information about the upcoming Summer convention: http://www.justiceannualconvention.org

In 2005 Congress enacted the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) which gave immunity to gun manufacturers at a time when gun violence in America was skyrocketing. Following the tragic shootings in Sandy Hook the families of victims sought to hold Remington, the maker of the AR-15, accountable for its role in the murders of the 20 first graders and 5 teachers. Attorney Josh Koskoff, of the legendary Koskoff firm started by his grandfather, and his team were able to navigate the immunity issues associated with PLCAA in a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court and back, survived two bankruptcies, and ultimately resulted in a $73 million settlement. In this podcast Mike and Tad talk with Josh about the novel legal theory and the path toward justice.

In this exciting episode Tad and Mike are joined by the CEO of the American Association for Justice (AAJ), Linda Lipsen. Recognized by the National Law Journal as one of Washington’s most influential women lawyers, Linda has spent nearly 30 years at the helm of an organization dedicated to protecting the 7th Amendment rights of Americans. Mike and Tad discuss Linda’s journey through her illustrious career in fighting to keep Americans safer.

Brian Cuban discusses his story of addiction, eating disorders, and other serious afflictions in his book, The Addicted Lawyer: Tales of the Bar, Booze, Blow, and Redemption, which can be found here. As Brian recounts the traumatic events in his life that correlate to his struggle with addiction, he addresses the challenges he faced as a child and how they continued throughout his life. He highlights how the body keeps the score—when unresolved trauma can persist and lay the groundwork for addiction or other mental health issues to develop. He explains how other lawyers may be experiencing these same issues, but are afraid to seek help for fear of judgement or because they feel shame. Brian is making his voice heard as an author and as a professional international speaker to end the stigma against lawyers struggling with addiction and mental health. Brian also has a book coming out this December called The Ambulance Chaser, which is available for preorder here. Learn more about Brian Cuban and his works at his website: https://briancuban.com/ A primary driver of Lawyer Minds is to connect lawyers from around the country through their ingenuity and ideas. Content Warning: Mentions of addiction, drugs, eating disorders, mental health disorders, suicide, self-harm, abuse, and bullying. One way we're tackling this is through written interviews that lawyers can nominate themselves to complete. If you are willing to do a written interview, nominate yourself. If selected, your interview will get published on a specific day and featured on our site and social media. We're also launching a series of podcasts and articles from a variety of contributors but are encouraging others to apply. If you would like to contribute articles on legal topics/business topics to Lawyer Minds, please reach out to us.

Jamal Alsaffar joins the pod to discuss his involvement in federal law cases, the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), and his role in the trial related to the massacre at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Jamal has spent his entire career as a trial lawyer representing individuals and families in personal injury and catastrophic injury cases. For the past 20 years, he has been representing veterans and military families around the country in FTCA cases. To learn more about Jamal Alsaffar and National Trial Law, please visit https://nationaltriallaw.com/.

Navan Ward joins the pod to discuss his upcoming term as incoming AAJ President, his goals for the next year, and how AAJ plans to move forward in this post-pandemic world. Navan has spent the last 20 years working with Beasley Allen Law Firm, representing plaintiffs in a variety of cases, including toxic tort, environmental law, product liability, single-event injuries, nursing home neglect, and more. Navan believes his varied experiences will help him thrive as the next AAJ president. For his first goal, Navan plans to offer more benefits to AAJ members to help law firms navigate the field post-COVID. As the second minority president, Navan also wants to ensure the organization acknowledges the talents of all members by implementing a diversity pledge to hire, retain, and promote minority lawyers. To learn more about Navan Ward and Beasley Allen Law Firm, please visit: https://www.beasleyallen.com/  

Kate Moore joins the pod to discuss her book The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women. Kate discusses discovering the story, writing her novel, and celebrating the triumphs and tragedies of the Radium Girls. Through her intense research process and authorship, Kate examined the humanity of the women and the consequences of radium exposure, along with the industrial health reforms that took place through numerous legal battles. Kate discusses how the legal actions taken by the Radium Girls resulted in the eventual establishment of OSHA, as well as other worker protections. To learn more about Kate Moore and The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women, please visit: http://theradiumgirls.com/.

Antonio "Tony" Romanucci joins the pod to discuss his mission to protect a client's human and constitutional rights. Tony speaks about how his work in the Cook County Public Defender's Office has guided him as a plaintiff attorney, particularly in regard to ensuring the civil rights of all of his clients are upheld in our justice system. Tony's work on civil rights cases, particularly excessive force cases, has led to national recognition. Notably, Tony recently represented George Floyd's family in their civil suit against the City of Minneapolis. Tony explains how the public's awareness of the murder of George Floyd has led to reforms across the country in reducing excessive force and police misconduct cases. Tony also breaks down his view of the prosecution's murder case against Derek Chauvin. Tony's personal mission, guided by three words — "Whatever it Takes," — is to ensure that changes across the country are enacted to make sure that what happened to George Floyd never happens again. To learn more about Tony's practice or to learn how you can do "whatever it takes," please visit: https://rblaw.net/attorneys/romanucci/ Lawyer Minds: https://www.lawyerminds.com

Vincent “Vince” Glorioso is a nationally known trial lawyer practicing in New Orleans at The Glorioso Law Firm with his children, Maria Glorioso and Vincent “Trey” Glorioso, III. In this episode of the podcast, Mike and Tad talk with Vince about his illustrious career as a trial lawyer, which ranged from his work as a Judge Advocate General (“JAG”) on a number of notable cases to the present day, where Vince continues his work as a personal injury lawyer in New Orleans. Vince’s passionate approach to trial law and his willingness to leave no rock unturned has led to drastic safety improvements around New Orleans. It has led to countless six- and seven-figure verdicts and settlements for his clients. A true legend of trial practice, Vince candidly explains what has led to his past and continued success as a trial lawyer. To learn more about Vince’s practice, please visit: https://www.thegloriosolawfirm.com/vincent-j-glorioso-jr/ Lawyer Minds: https://www.lawyerminds.com

F. Paul Bland, Jr. has spent his legal career fighting for consumer rights through his work at Pub-lic Justice. Paul has argued and won more than 40 cases involving consumer protection, employ-ee, and whistleblower rights, including arguing cases before the United States Supreme Court and six of the U.S. Court of Appeals. Paul sits down with Tad and Mike to discuss his work at Public Justice, as well as the importance that trial lawyers play in ensuring consumer rights are protected around the county.

Joel Feldman’s mission to end distracted driving started in tragedy. In 2009, his daughter, Casey Feldman, was struck and killed by a distracted driver. Since that time, Joel has made it his life’s mission to stop distracted driving through his nationally known and recognized awareness program, End Distracted Driving. Traveling across the country to speak to schools, businesses, and other lawyers, Joel has not just raised awareness about the dangers of distracted driving, but has trained an army of professionals who have spread his message throughout their communities. Through his work, Joel has undoubtedly saved countless lives and changed the national conversation on distracted driving.  Joel joins Tad and Mike to discuss the importance of ending distracted driving and how lawyers can share End Distracted Driving’s message in their communities. To get involved with End Distracted Driving, please visit: https://www.enddd.org Lawyer Minds: https://www.lawyerminds.com

Angela Edwards of Lawyers Mutual of Kentucky joins Tad and Mike to talk about the importance of active risk mitigation in your law firm and the importance of having malpractice insurance to protect yourself against claims. As lawyers who handle serious matters with far-reaching consequences, we can all have sleepless nights thinking about potential claims or pitfalls we’re not aware of. In this episode, Angela explains that malpractice insurers like Lawyers Mutual of Kentucky are looking to cooperate with their insureds to minimize risk to a lawyer’s practice so the lawyer can sleep well at night! To learn more about Lawyers Mutual of Kentucky, please visit: https://www.lmick.com/

Kelsey Starks is a media consultant in Louisville, KY, who trains professionals on how to productively with the press and how to develop professional relationships with reporters. Kelsey’s experience includes working an associate producer for Court TV, a reporter for WCIV news, as well as Co-Anchor of “Good Morning Kentuckiana” on Louisville’s ABC affiliate. Drawing on these experiences, Kelsey now focuses her work as a media consultant training professionals, including trial lawyers, on the best practices of developing a public relations strategy with the press and how to appear professionally in front of the camera. In this interview, Kelsey discusses her background, what drew her interest to the legal field, and how lawyers can take basic steps to navigate working with the media. To contact Kelsey and learn how you can work with her to “be your best self on camera…and beyond,”, please visit: https://www.kelseystarks.com/ To learn more about Kelsey and her work in the community, check out her interview in “Making a Difference” for Louisville’s local PBS channel: https://www.ket.org/making-a-differen... Lawyer Minds: https://www.lawyerminds.com

Brett Emison of Langdon and Emison is a nationally known trial attorney who is heavily involved in both the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys and the American Association of Justice. In fact, Brett just finished a term as President of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys (“MATA”) during one of the more challenging and unique years any President has faced. Beyond his time in the Missouri Capitol as President of MATA, Brett has spent countless hours meeting with National, State, and local legislators advocating for the rights of his clients and tort victims across the State. As “tort reform” measures continue to sweep the country, Brett talks about how developing relationships with state and local legislators play a crucial role in putting a face and name to the trial bar and to the importance of ensuring our clients’ 7th Amendment rights are protected. To learn more about Brett and his practice, please visit his firm’s site: https://www.langdonemison.com/brett-a-emison Visit Lawyer Minds: https://www.lawyerminds.com

Automated vehicles are the future for travel and shipping on American roadways — but significant questions still exist about how safe those vehicles are for human and commercial use. Implicit in those questions are issues about who has legal responsibility for a defective part or a defective vehicle, as well as ethical considerations about how this technology should be implemented. Thankfully, the American Association for Justice is taking these issues head on and is working with Congress and state legislatures across the country to ensure that this new technology poses as little risk to society as possible and to ensure that the people and companies behind manufacturing faulty vehicles can be held accountable by those they harm. In this episode we sit down with Daniel Hinkle, AAJ’s State Affairs Counsel, and trial attorney Elise Sanguinetti to discuss these issues and more. To contact or learn more about Elise, please visit her firm page: https://aswtlawyers.com/attorneys/elise-r-sanguinetti/ To learn more about Daniel, check out his LinkedIn® page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielhinkle/

The American Association for Justice’s Trial Lawyers’ Care (TLC) is a committee of AAJ that serves to encourage, recognize and organize trial lawyers who contribute to their communities through volunteer and charitable activities that serve the public good.  Founded shortly after the attacks on September 11, 2001, Trial Lawyers Care gives members of the American Association for Justice the opportunity to step in and serve communities in need of legal help and support. Mike and Tad sit down with Brenda Fulmer and Karen Schroeder, 2020 co-chairs of Trial Lawyers Care to discuss the committee's upcoming goals and vision for 2020. To learn more about the American Association for Justice or Trial Lawyers Care, please visit: https://web.justice.org/trial-lawyers-care-0

Katherine James is a nationally known trial consultant who specializes in live communication based on the discipline of theater. Katherine has worked with over 40,000 attorneys across the country through ACT of Communication workshops she developed with her husband and fellow trial consultant, Alan Blumenfeld. Katherine joins Tad and Mike to discuss her new book, “Harvesting Witnesses’ Stories: How to Get Your Client the Second-Best Life in the World by Maximizing damages.”   To purchase Katherine’s new book, please visit: https://www.justice.org/resources/publications/aaj-press To learn more about working with Katherine, please visit: http://actofcommunication.com/katherine-james-trial-consultant-playwright-actor-katherine-james

Cheryl Pope is the Founder of Carlton Human Capital, a consulting service that helps law firms (and businesses of all varieties) develop strategical and leadership plans as well as provides executive coaching and employee engagement. Cheryl joins Tad and Mike to talk about the challenges business owners face during the COVID-19 pandemic and how business owners can communicate with their staff during this difficult time. One of the key tips Cheryl has is to determine the communication style of each member of your team and how you can work with those communication styles to create cohesion in your firm. Cheryl is presenting this year at American Association for Justice’s “Amped Up,” a program that you will not want to miss! To learn more about Cheryl and Carlton Human Capital, please visit: https://www.carltonhumancapital.com

Tobi Millrood is a partner at the firm Pogust Millrood in suburban Philadelphia, PA, and is also President-elect of the American Association for Justice. Tobi joins Tad and Mike to discuss his upcoming year as President of the American Association for Justice and how he plans to lead the organization, while also maintaining a law practice and directing his caseload. Tobi also shares a very personal story—the loss of his mother, Sylvia, to COVDI-19.   Unfortunately, as we’ve often seen in the past few months, Sylvia’s contraction of COVID-19 occurred at a nursing home where 20 other patients died, and dozens fell ill. Tobi detailed the tragic circumstances of his mother’s death in an article he wrote for the New York Times entitled, “Why is Mitch McConnell Protecting Nursing Homes?” In the podcast, Tobi shares his mother’s story and the story of her life, illuminating the person who was tragically lost to an illness she should’ve never been exposed to, had the nursing home taken preventative measures. Tobi’s experience with this tragedy has compelled him to fight the nursing home industry in its attempts to obtain blanket immunity from civil lawsuits which may hold them responsible for Sylvia’s deaths and countless others. To read Tobi’s article, please visit: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/20/opinion/nursing-homes-coronavirus-liability.html To learn more about Tobi’s practice, check out: https://www.pogustmillrood.com/tobias-l-millrood/

Mark Kosieradzki of Kosieradzki Smith joins Tad and Mike to discuss his new book, “Deposition Obstruction:  Breaking Through.” Mark is a titan of the trial bar.  Having written multiple books on deposition practice and procedure, Mark’s new book on deposition obstruction is sure to be an instant classic.  Mark talks with Tad and Mike about ways that new and experienced lawyers alike can power through obstruction tactics and move forward with their case.