With multiple recent 8-figure jury verdicts in difficult cases, Sean Claggett is truly on a roll. But nothing Sean has accomplished is an accident.  It is the culmination of his own personal journey to re-invent himself as a master trial lawyer and to pioneer the use of data-driven decision-making to maximize his results.  Join us for our conversation with Sean as we explore his uniquely successful approach to winning at trial.

We begin with a discussion of Sean's background and journey to becoming a trial lawyer.  He recounts how he gave up trying cases and moved on to other things, before deciding to recommit himself to trial practice.  With his newfound commitment, Sean spent several years learning as much as he could about trial strategy and technique and rehearsing his approach with regular focus groups.  Armed with newfound confidence, Sean re-entered the courtroom and has had unparalleled success.

Along the way, Sean explains how he adopted a data-driven approach to preparing for trial, using so-called "big data" metrics to identify his best trial cases, determine his likely win ratio and guide his approach to asking for money.

The results speak for themselves.

About Sean Claggett

Sean Claggett is an established Las Vegas personal injury attorney and handles difficult cases across the country. Sean founded Claggett & Sykes Law Firm in 2005, and is the firm’s lead trial lawyer.

In 2017, Sean was recognized by his fellow trial lawyers of the Nevada Justice Association as Nevada’s Trial Attorney of the Year.

PROVEN TRIAL SUCCESS

In 2016, Sean had the fourth most influential verdict in the United States according to Courtroom View Network, stemming from a slip and fall at Lowe’s in which his client suffered a TBI after she slipped, fell, and knocked down a three-foot yellow warning cone. Lowe’s top offer before the verdict was $1,400,000.00, and the referring plaintiff attorney offered to resolve the case for $1,749,999.99. The jury returned a verdict in the amount of $16,430,000.00.

Sean’s trial success continued with two verdicts in 2018 in the amounts of $20,000,000.00 and $3,382,000.00. Sean’s verdict of $20,000,000.00 was recognized as the fourth most influential verdict in the United States according to Courtroom View Network, stemming from a negligence case against an HOA for failing to maintain its swing set. The HOA’s top offer before trial was $400,000.00, and the referring plaintiff offered the HOA to resolve the case for $949,000.00. The plaintiff in the case suffered a TBI.

Sean’s trial success continued in 2019 as he obtained a verdict of $645,814.33 in which there was a 16-day gap in treatment after the initial wreck, and then, after eight months of physical therapy treatment, there was a three and a half year gap in treatment before the plaintiff obtained further treatment for his back injury. The top offer from the defense was $50,000.00, and the referring attorney agreed to accept $180,000.00 to resolve the case prior to trial.

Later that year, Sean received an honorable mention from Courtroom View Network as having one of the year’s most impressive trials for his work on a medical malpractice trial where his client suffered a TBI. Sean asked for $63,000,000.00 in closing arguments and the case settled before the jury returned a verdict.

In 2020, Courtroom View Network named Sean to its “Who We’re Watching” list. Courtroom View Network says that after more than a decade of capturing trials for its streaming network, the lawyers on this list are its best of the best of the decade and are the lawyers that other lawyers should watch if they’re looking to improve their craft.

In 2021, Sean obtained a $38,750,000 verdict on behalf the mother of an 11-year girl who was killed by a garbage truck while crossing the street in a marked crosswalk. The top defense offer before trial was $1,000,000.

EDUCATION

Sean is a proud graduate from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In 2000, he received a Bachelor or Arts in Political Science. Soon after, he graduated cum laude from UNLV’s William S. Boyd School of Law in 2003. During his time at the Boyd School of Law, he was a staff editor of the Nevada Law Journal as well as a member of the National Moot Court team. As a law student he won the Society of Advocates oral argument competition.

After graduating from Boyd School of Law, Sean was employed at a high-profile criminal defense law firm. After working for this firm for over two and a half years, Sean made the decision to start his own firm. On January 1, 2005, Sean opened his own law firm with a single client and one employee. Today Claggett & Sykes Law Firm has over 40 employees, including 15 attorneys.

AWARDS

In 2009, Sean was elected by his peers to serve on the board of the Boyd School of Law Alumni Association. Sean has served as both the Vice President and President of this board. In 2010, Sean was named Alumni of the Year for the Boyd School of Law, which is the highest and most prestigious alumni award given by the school.

Sean has also been recognized by Legal Aid of Southern Nevada for his Pro Bono work he has done over the year and also acts as an arbitrator for personal injury cases throughout the Las Vegas area. Additionally, in 2013, Sean became an adjunct professor at UNLV Boyd School of Law, where he currently teaches Law Practice Management.

Sean spent several years as a dean and as a faculty member of a trial college where he taught thousands of other trial lawyers from across the country. Sean has been recognized by many attorneys as one of the top trial attorneys in Nevada and was named Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2017 by his peers. It is no wonder that attorneys all over the country have requested him to consult or co-counsel on cases that are proceeding to trial.

Sean’s success as a trial lawyer has allowed him to expand his philanthropic passion. Sean and his firm have donated both time and money to charities such as the Challenged Athletes Foundation, HELP of Southern Nevada, Three Square, Child Seekers, March of Dimes, Greg Maddux Foundation, Boy Scouts of America, and Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada, just to name a few.

In his spare time, Sean enjoys cycling, playing and coaching baseball, traveling, and spending time with his wife and two kids.

About the Elawvate Podcast

The Elawvate Podcast – Where Trial Lawyers Learn, Share, and Grow is where the practice of trial law meets personal growth. To succeed as a trial lawyer and build a successful law firm requires practice skills, strategic thinking and some amount of business and entrepreneurial savvy. Elawvate is a place to learn and share skills and strategies for success.

But it is also a place to dig deeper and achieve personal growth.

Those who succeed as trial lawyers at the highest levels cultivate character, principle, integrity, leadership, courage, compassion and perseverance.  

We learn and draw inspiration from those who have achieved this success.

For more about Elawvate, visit our website at www.elawvate.fm.  You can also  join our Facebook Group at Elawvate | Facebook

For more information or to contact the hosts, see:

(Rahul Ravipudi (psblaw.com) 

(Ben Gideon | Gideon Asen LLC)