As a middle school track coach, she taught kids to breathe on the back stretch and relax their arms on the far turn. They won. More importantly, they believed in themselves. 

Years later, a worn-down client sat across from her and, in a quiet handshake, asked a different question: Can I trust you? Ortega heard what wasn’t said and took an oath to care. That moment — that feeling — became her compass.

She describes the years spent “living someone else’s expectations,” checking feelings at the door, and chasing success by template. The turn came at Thunderhead Ranch, where the Gerry Spence Method demands lawyers first confront their own pain. Why? As Ortega puts it, "How can we sit in the ashes of someone else’s pain if we’ve never faced our own?" In that work, the scars she once hid became superpowers. Community followed, then craft — trial as an act of human connection, plain language over performance, a conversation with jurors rather than a lecture.

Her defining case — the road to Spence’s Civil Trial Warrior of the Year — centered on Mr. Curry, a sheriff’s deputy and pillar of his community who suffered a life-altering brain injury, neck surgeries, and dystonia after a head-on collision. Ortega left her firm, built her own practice, and bet everything on doing the case the right way. Nineteen defense experts. Endless motions. Delays engineered to exhaust a solo shop. Still, she and a small team pressed on, learned the science, found the story, and tried the case. The jury listened. Justice followed.

Why fight this hard? Because, Ortega says, settlement mills often leave clients on the “dirt track” even when they can afford the stadium track — and clients live with the pain long after the check clears. “Because when the money runs out, the pain will still be there…” That’s why she treats each client like family and why she insists on real healing — not just diagnoses but specialists, treatment, and dignity.

Ortega’s path is personal, too. Her family’s loss informs how she shows up for others. It also fuels her view of what makes a trial firm different: relentless investment of time, spirit, and resources to secure full justice.

In her "Closing Argument," Ortega reframes the job entirely: it’s never about the trial lawyer. It’s about listening to the client, then answering the jury’s real questions — the waiting-room questions: How bad is it? Will he be okay? What does this mean for his family? And it’s about honoring the sacrifice of teams and families who make the work possible. The calling, she says, is a life in service of others — lifting chins, pulling back shoulders, helping people believe in themselves again.

Learn more about Tanya at The Ortega Firm.

Key Takeaways

• Real trial craft starts with courageously examining your own pain so you can truly sit with a client’s.
• Jurors don’t want jargon; they want clear “waiting room” answers that speak to human stakes.
• Building a case means investing time, spirit, and resources — not defaulting to a settlement template.
• The right trial team and community are lifelines when the defense tries to delay, overwhelm, and exhaust.
• Healing matters alongside verdicts: connect clients with specialists and care that improve quality of life.
• Purpose beats business

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Michael Alder’s entry into plaintiff’s work wasn’t planned at all — it started in a tiny 700-person Louisiana town with preacher-teacher parents, took a surprising turn on a fraternity lawn, and ultimately led to a clerkship with a Mississippi Supreme Court justice who changed everything by sharing war stories after hours. That exposure to real trial practice, plus a single job offer from legendary med-mal lawyer Dave Harney in Los Angeles, set him firmly on the plaintiffs’ side.

Michael talks openly about getting fired, firms collapsing, and starting his own practice out of his house with one case while his then-wife’s entertainment law income kept them afloat. There was no “burning bush” moment — just necessity, training, and a willingness to try “anything that moved,” which led to eight, nine, ten-plus trials a year and a reputation built on reps, not branding.

“I’ve always felt like we all can rise together. I’m very much a true believer in giving unconditionally without asking anything back. It’s good life. It’s good karma. It’s good business. It’s just good.”

That philosophy underlies everything from his relationships with referring lawyers to his and his wife Gina’s heavy community work — from pro bono services for the Latino community to COVID food relief and rapid-response aid during the 2025 Pacific Palisades and Altadena fires.

He’s equally blunt about the damage done by mill and billboard firms that oversell injuries, pad demands with diagnoses they don’t understand, and leave clients with pennies on the dollar. That behavior, he says, feeds the dark defense narratives that portray plaintiffs, lawyers, and doctors as crooks — a tactic he faced head-on in a recent Santa Barbara trial where the defense opened by attacking “astronomical” asks.  

For his "Closing Argument," Alder speaks directly to lawyers and staff about perspective. He urges firms to see frequent calls as signals of fear, not annoyance; to stop calling cases “dogs”; and to remember that “Obstacles are not in the way. Your ability to solve and get through those obstacles is the way to help the person who has relied on you to help them.”

Key Takeaways

- Building a successful plaintiff practice often comes from necessity, repetition, and saying yes to trial opportunities rather than from a perfect, pre-planned career path.

- Genuine generosity — handwritten notes, remembering personal details, showing up for community — can be a more powerful business driver than any billboard or ad campaign.

- Reframing “difficult” clients and cases through empathy and fiduciary duty turns frustration into purpose and leads to better outcomes for both clients and lawyers.

- Treating obstacles in a case as the actual work — not as an excuse to give up — is central to honoring the trust injured people place in their legal team.

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Pasadena trial lawyer Michael S. Carrillo didn’t plan on following in his father’s footsteps. Growing up, he watched Luis Carrillo pour time and money into righteous, pro bono fights — even when the family struggled. The myth of guaranteed wealth in the law? He saw the opposite.

But Michael found his way into the courtroom — and, eventually, into the work that now defines him: representing survivors of child sexual abuse and pursuing civil rights cases with a distinctly community-centered lens.

What sets his practice apart, he explains, is deep cultural connection and language fluency born of a 45-year family legacy serving Latino clients in Los Angeles. Compassion isn’t a slogan; it’s the firm’s operating system. “I always tell every lawyer that comes to work in our office, lead with compassion,” he says. 

Carrillo recounts joining his father on the Miramonte Elementary School litigation, where a teacher’s horrific abuse of children galvanized both their practice and the community’s trust. That experience foreshadowed the years-long battle in Jane and John Does v. Mountain View School District (El Monte), a case that stretched more than seven years and wound through the trial court, the court of appeal, and the California Supreme Court. When the defense sought to introduce evidence of a survivor’s unrelated, later incident of abuse to muddy causation, Carrillo and team pushed back. Working with Senator Anna Caballero, advocates helped pass SB 1386 (Suzy’s Law), strengthening California’s civil rape shield protections.

That perspective crystallizes in his “Closing Argument,” where he returns to a painful loss in an earlier LAUSD trial. After the defense verdict, he walked into his conference room to tell survivors the news. Braced for collapse, he heard something else: “You know what, Michael, that’s okay. Thank you for believing in me and fighting for me. You gave me my voice back.”

Key Takeaways

• Lead with compassion first; strategy and results follow when clients feel seen and safe.
• Cultural and language fluency deepen trust with clients and jurors, especially in community-rooted cases.
• Appellate and legislative advocacy can be essential trial tools — sometimes the fight moves beyond the courtroom.
• Strengthened civil rape shield protections (SB 1386 / Suzy’s Law) prevent retraumatizing detours into unrelated incidents.
• Streamlined, coordinated trial presentations respect jurors’ time while amplifying each survivor’s distinct story.

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“True advocacy starts and begins with a well-trained lawyer that is providing independent legal counsel in the best interest of the client, not in the best interest of shareholders or a corporation.”

Lance K. Brubaker traces an uncommon arc — from oil-and-gas and creditors’ rights work to founding a boutique plaintiff practice focused on catastrophic injury cases. Early in his career, he says, the paychecks were fine, but the purpose was missing. A Rick Friedman speech — the kind that sticks in your head when you’re dissatisfied — nudged him toward representing real people. That shift eventually became Brubaker Injury Law in South Florida, where he now personally shepherds cases from intake through resolution, resisting the assembly-line model that dominates high-volume practices.

Brubaker talks candidly about the leap from a steady salary to the uncertainty of building a firm — learning trust accounting, marketing, even the uneasy feeling of spending into growth and waiting for results. Those pressures, he argues, made him a stronger advocate. And they reinforced his hands-on approach, especially with “second look” matters: cases rejected by larger firms that, with time and persistence, can turn into life-changing outcomes. He shares a recent example — two years of work on a case another shop had dropped — that resolved just shy of seven figures. The point isn’t the number; it’s restoring hope for clients who were told they had none.

Lance also discusses the policy fight over Arizona’s Alternative Business Structures and the deletion of Ethics Rule 5.4. Brubaker worries that private equity–driven ownership undermines lawyers’ independence and invites national end-runs around states that have rejected non-lawyer ownership. He contrasts Arizona’s approvals with Utah’s stricter sandbox, calling for vigilance and, frankly, for more of the profession to engage now that players like KPMG are in the mix. Access to justice is real, he says — but contingency-fee personal injury isn’t where the crisis lies.

Threaded through the episode is a commitment to clarity at trial: show the rule, show how it was broken, and refuse to let insurers minimize what’s been taken. It’s a philosophy that fits a small, elite team that stays with the client from day one.

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Trial lawyer Tom Scolaro of Scolaro Law P.C. shares why the motto “Hustle & Heart, Set Us Apart” isn’t marketing fluff for his firm, it’s operating instructions.

Scolaro grew up in a blue-collar upstate New York town, the son of an immigrant truck driver who admired lawyers and pushed his kids to aim higher. Law school originally meant a prosecutor’s path (think Jack McCoy on “Law & Order”), until life swerved: his older brother was catastrophically injured by a drunk driver while Tom was a 1L. Navigating hospitals, fear, and a maze of legal decisions with the help of a civil lawyer changed his trajectory. The lesson stuck — people need an advocate who picks up the phone, answers questions, and stands in the gap.

Scolaro’s practice philosophy is blunt and human: be the boxer in your client’s corner, not the tuxedo in the hallway. He tells prospective clients to interview multiple firms and ask, word for word, “Ask your lawyer, ‘What is your why? Why do you do this?’” If the answer is canned, keep looking. The work is too hard — and the stakes too high — to fake purpose.

The episode’s centerpiece is the retelling of a harrowing house-fire case in Cudjoe Key, Florida. Initial officials blamed an 18-year-old survivor, calling it a “marijuana fire” from a balcony ember. Scolaro refused that narrative. He moved fast with fire, electrical, and metallurgical experts, stripped outlets, and mapped fire dynamics to relocate the origin inside — near a defective electrical receptacle that arced, ignited blackout curtains and a sofa, and filled the home with toxic smoke. 

Policy change threads through Scolaro’s work, too. He recounts a fatal carbon-monoxide poisoning at a Key West hotel that helped spur code requirements for CO detectors in new hotel construction — and, years later, a similar cross-border case with thorny choice-of-law issues that he pushed through to accountability. The pattern is clear: meticulous investigation, relentless pressure on corporate defendants, and a refusal to let clients walk alone.

In his “Closing Argument,” Scolaro explains why he stayed in this arena: to champion people through life-rocking harm, to get accountability and justice, and to help clients recover personally — not just financially. 

Key Takeaways

• Purpose drives performance — clients should ask every lawyer to articulate a real “why.”
• Winning isn’t only monetary; clearing a client’s name and preventing despair are “human verdicts” that matter.
• Litigation can inspire safety reforms (e.g., carbon-monoxide detector requirements) that protect future guests.
• Authentic accessibility — sharing a cell number, taking late-night calls — builds trust when lives are upended.

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In this episode of “Celebrating Justice,” trial lawyer Daniel Schneiderman traces that arc from early Toastmasters triumphs and DA’s training to a deliberately client-first personal injury practice.

Daniel’s candid about what actually fuels his fire: living the case alongside clients, from hospital to courthouse steps, and doing high-quality work at a deliberately capped caseload so he can be present at every turn. “Small, hungry, and we know what we’re doing,” he says — not as a slogan, but as operating philosophy.

Schneiderman’s origin story is textured. The grandson of a NASA engineer who worked around the Mariner missions, he grew up seeing precision and curiosity modeled in the most practical ways — darkroom photography, notebooks dense with rocket-science math, even early GPS tinkering before the internet era. A different path was possible, even tempting, but the courtroom called. He loved English and writing, loved to present, loved the emotional resonance of a story well told. And there was a formative moment at home: after a freak blender accident injured his mother’s hand, he calmly took charge, asked “Whose fault was this?” and began to see how law touches real life.

In Southern California’s crowded PI market, he’s resisted the volume game. Instead of chasing leads with ads, he invests in reputation — relationships, thoughtful LinkedIn presence, and trust that compounds into referrals. That human-centered posture crystallized during a catastrophic-injury trial he worked with mentor Roger Dreyer.

Key Takeaways

• Client-first PI work scales on trust, not volume — cap caseloads to stay present and deliver quality.
• Mentorship in the heat of trial teaches the hardest lesson: separate lawyer ego from client decisions.
• Strong personal branding (done thoughtfully) compounds into organic referrals and immediate trust.
• Contingency work invites a gambler’s mindset; disciplined risk framing keeps the client in control.
• Today’s tools and mentors lower the barrier to launching or reinventing a legal practice.
• Total commitment — time, resources, and energy — is the hallmark of a true trial lawyer.

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In this episode of “Celebrating Justice,” trial lawyer Jeremy Citron, founder and partner at The Hurt Boss, traces an unconventional path to the courtroom — from dreaming of becoming a Major League Baseball umpire to finding his calling in personal injury law. The journey starts with a nudge from his father to take the LSAT “as a fallback,” turns into early academic momentum in law school, and then shifts through big-law training at Holland & Knight. A pivotal fellowship at Atlanta Legal Aid reframes everything. Perspective changes when you work with people who have nothing, he says — and the courtroom quickly becomes home.

Citron’s early trial reps at Legal Aid deepened through criminal defense work and even a stint as a part-time municipal prosecutor. The accumulation mattered: quick thinking, comfort on his feet, a taste for real trials. What ultimately sets him apart, he explains, isn’t perfection — it’s presence. “Nobody is expecting perfection in a trial. They’re just looking for a human presentation — someone who can get the client’s perspective across and engage the jury.” The goal, always: be the most authentic version of himself on his feet.

For his "Closing Argument," Citron closes with a clear charge to the plaintiff bar: embrace the role and the responsibility. “Trial lawyers help people who will never be able to speak for themselves because the system isn’t designed for them to do so.”

Key Takeaways

• Authenticity persuades: juries seek a human presentation, not perfection.
• Early trial responsibility — especially at legal aid — accelerates courtroom growth.
• Career detours (big law, prosecution, defense) can compound into a trial-ready toolkit.
• Truth-finding is its own remedy — clients often want accountability as much as compensation.
• Passion plus preparation fuels endurance in long, complex litigation.

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From fraternity consultant to defense associate to plaintiff’s trial lawyer and now a solo personal injury attorney at Hudson Injury Law in New Mexico — Damon Hudson has taken the "scenic route" to meaningful advocacy. In this episode of "Celebrating Justice", he shares how a winding early career (including a brief stop in tax law) ultimately clarified what he wanted from the law: real human connection, real outcomes. 

Damon frames litigation like offense on a football field, pushing tempo and refusing to let cases gather dust. As he puts it, “I liked being on offense. I liked being in control and dictating the pace....” That mindset shows up in discovery battles, scheduling fights, and the day-to-day discipline of moving matters toward resolution rather than letting them idle for years.

In his “Closing Argument,” Hudson emphasizes confidence, steady courage, and service. He reflects on how far he’s come in six years and challenges himself to double that growth — not for accolades, but to better support his family and the people who call him on their hardest days.
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Key Takeaways

• Momentum wins cases — consistent, respectful pressure prevents files from languishing and gets clients to resolution sooner.
• Human connection is the payoff: outcomes matter, but relationships and closure are what clients remember.
• The plaintiff’s path offers direct ownership, client contact, and responsibility that many lawyers never see on the defense side.
• Respecting client goals — not just lawyerly glory — leads to smarter choices between trial and settlement.
• Confidence isn’t the absence of fear; it’s the practiced habit of acting through it to serve others.

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Charleston trial lawyer Roy T. Willey IV traces a path from a skinny, freckled kid who hated seeing people pushed around to a courtroom advocate who measures success by the lives he can improve — not by the percentage of policy limits recovered. Raised largely by a single mom, Roy carried a simple vow into adulthood: don’t let people be taken advantage of.

Roy describes his “trial ready process” — building every file like it will be tried, even though, as he notes, most will settle. It forces clarity on themes early and keeps leverage real. And it keeps promises to clients.

He then walks us inside the wrongful-death case that produced a $700 million verdict for the mother of a 17-year-old abducted and murdered in South Carolina — a case as much about truth-telling as it was about compensation. The path was long: a missing-person investigation, the FBI’s eventual involvement, a confession corroborated by recovered remains, and civil suits targeting not just the perpetrator but institutional actors who enabled harm. Roy emphasizes that juries understand money cannot restore a life; damages are our non-barbaric alternative to eye-for-an-eye justice. The verdict — historic in scale — functions as moral accounting and public accountability than a bank deposit.

Roy is candid, too, about what comes next. He may one day trade trial travel for a pulpit, but the vocation — serving people in their worst moments — won’t change. 

In his "Closing Argument," Roy reminds us that justice is chosen, daily — that our greatest asset isn’t doctrine but humanity — and that worthy fights, not easy ones, are where trial lawyers prove their value.

Learn more about Roy at Anastopoulo Law Firm and www.roywilley.law.

Key Takeaways

• Service-first lawyering — not profit-maximization — can shape case selection, strategy, and impact.
• Building every matter to be trial-ready strengthens leverage, storytelling, and client trust.
• Damages are society’s imperfect but necessary substitute for eye-for-an-eye justice.
• Historic verdicts can be about truth and accountability even when collectability is limited.
• Faith, empathy, and disciplined preparation can coexist with hard-edged advocacy.

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Yale Spector, founder of Spector Law Group, was raised in a family of attorneys — his grandfather serving as a Hague-appointed legal officer after WWII, his parents both practicing in Baltimore, and his brother pursuing the same calling — Spector grew up at a dinner table where debate was constant and justice was considered a family responsibility.

In this episode of "Celebrating Justice", he traces that path from early years at big plaintiff firms, where he handled complex medical malpractice cases across state lines, to becoming a trusted litigator known for representing clients that others turned away. He built his reputation on catastrophic injury and birth injury cases, often traveling far from Maryland under pro hac vice admissions. Those experiences gave him a front-row view of how a few seconds in medicine — or law — can change an entire life. 

The Exxon groundwater litigation in Maryland consumed years of his career and left him questioning the structures of Big Law. Burnout and disillusionment pushed him to reimagine his practice. What emerged was bold: Spector bought a 30-foot RV, transformed it into the LAW Truck (Legal Assistance on Wheels), and began offering free legal advice in grocery store lots, church parking lots, and community events. 

Spector also shares two cases that shaped his understanding of law’s true weight: a catastrophic birth injury case where the child, once expected not to live past six months, went on to graduate high school and college because of the resources secured in court; and a case where a perfectly healthy baby suffered brain damage due to dehydration — a reminder of how quickly negligence can shatter expectations.

In his "Closing Argument," Spector turns to scripture. He explains that Proverbs 31:8–9 has been his anchor, a reminder that justice isn’t abstract but a calling — to speak up, to stand firm, and to ensure that those most vulnerable are not forgotten.

 Key Takeaways

• Justice must meet people where they are — accessibility is itself a form of advocacy.
• Seconds in medicine and law can change lives; precision and timeliness matter in both.
• Burnout can spark reinvention — innovation in law practice often comes from struggle.
• Faith and family legacies can deeply shape a trial lawyer’s path and endurance.
• Cases are not just legal battles but human stories, often reshaping what is possible for families.

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