Legal Beagle Podcast

Jonathan is joined by nationally recognized jury consultant Harry Plotkin.  Harry has picked over 1,000 juries that have delivered over $500 million dollars in verdicts.  Harry talks about how to get a fair and impartial jury and even gives a tip or two on how to get out of jury duty.  To connect with Harry you can visit his website at:  yournextjury.com.

In this week's episode, Jonathan talks with, Robert Wood, the leading authority on the taxability of settlements. Robert is an expert on tax law and author of Taxation of Damage Awards & Settlement Payments. Robert has been featured in media outlets throughout the country

In this episode, Jonathan chats with the co-interim dean, Zachary Kramer, of the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at ASU.  Dean Kramer talks about how the law school navigated through the pandemic and the silver lining that emerged as a result.  Dean Kramer also discusses his book Outsiders:  Why Difference is the Future of Civil Rights and why he's got the best Twitter game in all of academia.

In this episode, Nick Rowley, one of the most well known trial attorneys America, discusses the Fairness Act.  The Fairness Act is a reform to MICRA.  In 1975, the state of California passed a law called the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA).  This law put a cap on damages for medical malpractice claims.  MICRA set a cap of $250,000 on medical malpractice claims.  This amount has NEVER been adjusted for inflation over the almost 50 years it has been in place.  The Fairness Act reforms MICRA to adjust for the increase in inflation so that the cap more accurately reflects today's dollars.   Nick tells the story of why changing this law is so important to him.  Nick also exposes the political corruption in California and why MICRA has never been changed.  Nick has offered to give up his license to practice law in California in exchange for a more fair and just system in California.  This podcast was re-purposed from the Nation State of Play podcast.   A special thank you to Bryan Miller, JC Polk and all of those at Neptune Ops and IVC Media for sharing this content with us.

When Keith Mitnik talks, you stop and listen.  Keith Mitnik is Senior Trial Counsel at Morgan & Morgan.  Keith has written the best-selling book Don't Eat the Bruises.  Keith is backing that up with his highly anticipated book:  Deeper Cuts.  Keith is one of the best trial attorneys in America.  He is also extremely generous with his time.  Keith is always willing to help other attorneys become better versions of themselves.  I am fortunate to call him a brother in arms and I'm grateful that I got to chat with him.  If you want to watch the video of this podcast, click here.  Do yourself a favor and press "play" on this podcast. 

Mary joins Jonathan to talk about the "invisible injury" that very few people actually understand.  More troubling is the fact that people won't talk about traumatic brain injuries.  Mary discusses the evolution of objecting testing on brain injuries and why you should be on the lookout for a TBI even if you didn't hit your head or lose consciousness.  Mary Finck is a Doctor of Physical Therapy at ESP Sports Medicine (https://espsportsmedicine.com) in Colorado.  Mary can be reached by email at [email protected].

Matt Morstad is the Senior Vice President of Customer Operations at Axon.  Axon, formerly known as Taser International, is a global leader in smart weapons and cameras that are used by police agencies worldwide.  Jonathan and Matt discuss the BWC (body-worn cameras) that officers use when investigating auto crashes, what new emerging technologies Axon is working on, and how Axon stores more data than Netflix's entire catalog.

In this episode, Jonathan chats with Blaine Clooten.  Blaine is an attorney in Eastern Oregon and one of the few people speaking out publicly against the Oregon State Bar's recommendation that the State of Oregon should adopt two (2) alternative pathways to becoming an attorney.  Neither of these recommendations requires taking the bar exam and both of these alternatives seem to miss the mark of the intended goal of increasing accessibility and equity in the legal profession in Oregon.   Click on this link to read more and comment publicly:  https://taskforces.osbar.org/ate/  Blaine Clooten owns Clooten Law in Oregon.  Check out his website at:  https://oregonlegalfirm.com

In this episode, Jonathan interview 7-time Ironman Champion Ben Hoffman.  Ben has competed professionally for the last 15 years and has learned a thing or two along the way.  Ben, along with his wife (who works as his business manager), has negotiated his own sponsorship contracts.  There is a trend towards professional athletes negotiating their own deals without hiring an agency or law firm to assist them.  

In this episode, Jonathan interviews former ASU Sun Devil Gary Chambers.  Gary played at ASU for 4 years and then went onto the NFL.  Jonathan and Gary discuss the new NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) laws that have recently gone into effect.  These new laws allow student-athletes profit off of their name, image and likeness.  On paper it sounds like a great thing for student-athletes, however, their are a lot of challenges ahead and the exploitation that has occurred in college sports may have just shifted to big business.  Listen to hear more.