What happens when a paralegal who spent 13 years inside personal injury law firms watching critical crash evidence disappear before cases ever reached litigation decides to stop waiting for someone else to fix it — and builds a crash reconstruction firm with her detective husband, a former NHTSA engineer, and ACTAR-certified reconstructionists who can read a car's black box like a flight recorder?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Marya Ryan, co-founder of Bolo Consulting, about the event data recorder that has been mandatory in every vehicle since 2014 and records the four seconds before every crash — speed, braking, swerving, everything — and why that data disappears the moment a tow yard releases a vehicle. Marya explains how the defense has been using this technology more aggressively than plaintiffs for years, why she built a flat-fee model at $600 to make it affordable enough that attorneys don't have to gamble, and how delta V data from a crash can prove that a client's herniation was physically possible even when the defense says the impact wasn't severe enough.

They also discuss how she once tracked down a black box that had already been sold to Mexico and had it shipped back, why a Tesla is actually easier to extract data from than most vehicles, how 3D laser scanning and drone photography create trial-ready animations that look like movies, and why the most common mistake attorneys make is simply not sending the preservation letter fast enough.

Marya Ryan is the co-founder of Bolo Consulting in South Florida, a crash reconstruction and evidence preservation firm serving personal injury attorneys in Florida, Texas, and the DC/Maryland/Virginia area.

Connect with Marya Ryan:

bololegal.com

Phone: 561-901-9968

South Florida, Florida

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Marya Ryan

01:12 Thirteen years watching evidence disappear — and why she and her detective husband opened Bolo

02:07 What a paralegal sees day to day that trained her to spot the gap

02:34 The event data recorder — mandated since 2014 and recording four seconds before every crash

04:19 How EDR data increases claim value even when liability is already clear

04:50 Why the defense uses black boxes more than plaintiffs do

05:30 The $600 flat fee model and why it changes what attorneys will actually do

06:22 Sixty percent EDR preservation, forty percent full reconstruction — the business breakdown

07:39 Fifteen to twenty attorneys who call on every single case with good policy and damages

08:25 Delta V data and proving injury causation when the defense says it wasn't a bad crash

09:01 Walking attorneys through the findings — included in the flat fee

10:27 3D laser scanning, drone photography, and trial-ready animation that looks like a movie

11:17 The most common mistake attorneys make — not sending the preservation letter fast enough

12:31 Can insurance companies be actively moving vehicles out of reach

13:27 How Teslas work — easier than most vehicles, except the Cybertruck

14:57 The first 24 hours after an attorney calls Bolo

17:42 What most attorneys don't know about what EDR data can actually do

18:45 How Bolo educates attorneys at first contact and in lunch-and-learns

20:09 How the firm grows — almost entirely by referral

21:51 The competition and why price point and speed are the main advantages

22:52 Expanding to Texas and DC-Maryland-Virginia

24:37 Addressing the skeptic — how can you be that affordable and still comprehensive

28:18 What makes a crash reconstruction report hold up under cross-examination

28:51 How often experts actually appear in court

29:41 Working for both plaintiffs and defendants — why the data is the same either way

30:35 How to contact Bolo and get a free consultation on any police report

Hashtags

#MaryaRyan #BoloConsulting #CrashReconstruction #EventDataRecorder #BlackBox #PersonalInjuryLaw #TrustcastShow #EDREvidence #AccidentReconstruction #SouthFloridaLaw

What happens when a Harvard-trained lawyer who topped the Texas bar exam and clerked for the Fifth Circuit works all night on a Holocaust victims' banking case, gets a sign from God that he's on the wrong side, and ends up spending the next 25 years representing the people who get destroyed by 80,000-pound trucks?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Michael Cowen, founder of Cowen Rodriguez Peacock and host of Trial Lawyer Nation, about why the minimum insurance for a truck carrying 80,000 pounds hasn't changed since 1980, how a personal injury lawyer forced a national tire recall by petitioning NHTSA after discovering a defective Chinese-made tire was still on the market under a different brand name, and why he is publicly committed to paying out $100 million in referral fees over the next five years. Michael explains what he means by casting your villain, why identical trucking crash cases can settle for hundreds of thousands or millions depending on how the lawyer handles them, and why he no longer feels nervous at trial because he realized the case was never about him.

They also discuss why truck drivers are often treated inhumanely by the industry that depends on them, the story of the forklift trial where the defense had won 23 straight cases and he found a way to break a 20-year losing streak for plaintiffs, what it actually means to go to a client's house and why that's where cases are really won, and why knowing who to call when a case isn't right for you is just as important as knowing how to win when it is.

Michael Cowen is the founder of Cowen Rodriguez Peacock in San Antonio, Texas, one of the top trucking injury firms in the country, and host of the Trial Lawyer Nation podcast.

Connect with Michael Cowen:

Trial Lawyer Nation

Cowen Rodriguez Peacock

San Antonio, Texas

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Michael Cowen

00:32 Why a Holocaust banking case at Big Law convinced him he was on the wrong side

02:48 How a girl from Brownsville and a plaintiffs lawyer's phone call changed everything

04:11 Why he specializes in trucking instead of general PI — and why timing matters

06:14 Ninety-nine percent attorney referral — how he built that over a career

09:00 What referral partners actually complain about and how to fix it

11:31 Two identical trucking crashes — why the verdict is in how the lawyer handles it

13:23 How he pushed NHTSA to force a national Hercules tire recall

15:48 Casting your villain — the story structure that works in every case

18:54 What it means that every case is a story and what happens if you don't have one

19:52 The $17.5 million forklift verdict — breaking a 20-year losing streak for plaintiffs

24:04 The $8.5 million verdict where the jury came back before he got home

25:11 During closing, can you ever feel like you have it — and what happens in that room

28:08 What Jerry Spence's Trial Lawyers College taught him about connecting with a jury

29:13 After more than 100 trials, do you still get nervous

30:39 How 300,000 truck drivers on the road today would fail a hair follicle test

32:16 Why the urine drug test is essentially a broken system

33:16 How the trucking industry treats its drivers and why that shapes the story

35:11 Going to a client's house and what you actually find there

37:14 Minimum insurance hasn't changed since 1980 — what that means for families

38:45 One thing you should know about trucks that would change how you drive tomorrow

39:29 Building a culture where settlements the size of Texas is not just a tagline

#MichaelCowen #TrialLawyerNation #TruckingLawyer #PersonalInjury #TruckAccident #TrialLawyer #TrustcastShow #CastingYourVillain #TireRecall #SanAntonioLawyer

What happens when a woman who styled yarn for West Point Pepperell, ran a high-end kitchen and bath renovation showroom, and earned a certification in aging in place design watches her mother's dementia accelerate and her father's health decline at the same time — and realizes that being the professional doesn't protect you from being the family member who needs help?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Jill Poser, founder of Life Care Concierge of South Florida, about what aging life care management actually is, why families never call until they're seven minutes from a crisis, and why having a nurse at the center of an aging parent's care changes everything a home care agency simply cannot. Jill explains the concept of filial maturity — the healthy mindset where adult children support their parents without becoming their parents — and what it felt like to hire her own care manager so she could go back to being her parents' daughter instead of their caregiver.

They also discuss why people with dementia are still adults who deserve to be treated as such, what executive function means and why losing it is often invisible to the person losing it, how therapeutic recreation and ethical wills fit into a truly patient-centered care model, and why so many families in South Florida move into 55-plus communities without ever thinking about what happens when things change.

Jill Poser is the founder and leader of Life Care Concierge of South Florida, a nurse-led aging life care management practice serving high-net-worth families in the South Florida area. She is certified three times in care management and co-founded a charity GALA for the Alzheimer's Association.

Connect with Jill Poser:

lifecareconcierge-sfl.com

South Florida

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Jill Poser

00:17 From yarn styling to kitchen renovation to aging life care management

01:30 The sensitivity training that changed everything — experiencing what it means to be old

02:48 What aging life care management actually is and why families call in a panic

04:00 The comprehensive assessment — medical history, cognitive screen, and psychosocial background

05:07 What executive function means and why it matters when it starts to slip

07:50 Why a nurse-led practice is different from a home care agency

10:55 How the nurse care manager and home caregiver work together — not siloed

13:10 The patient-centered, team-based approach explained

15:46 When Jill's father's health declined and her mother's dementia accelerated — being the family member who needs help

17:20 Hiring her own care manager so she could go back to being their daughter

19:38 Filial maturity explained — supporting your parent without becoming their parent

21:22 The one thing no certification ever teaches — loving without expectation

22:08 How her own caregiving experience changed how her team shows up for families

24:12 Rapid fire questions

27:31 The most common mistake families make after a dementia diagnosis

28:26 What she wishes more people understood about dementia care

29:14 How she finds and keeps people who can handle the emotional weight of this work

30:36 What it takes to make clients truly feel seen and heard

31:25 The future of aging in place over the next 10 years

33:37 How the practice grows — referrals, concierge doctors, and education

36:22 Ethical wills and why they matter — leaving a legacy beyond documents

37:00 How to reach Life Care Concierge of South Florida

#JillPoser #LifeCareConcierge #AgingLifeCareManagement #DementiaCare #NurseLedCare #AgingInPlace #TrustcastShow #FilialMaturity #SouthFloridaEldercate #CareManagement

What happens when a woman who captained two national mock trial teams at the Marine Corps of Law School walks straight into bet-the-company trials most lawyers don't see for a decade — and then becomes a partner at one of Dallas's most elite boutique trial firms in just a few years?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Mollie Mallory, partner at Tillotson Johnson & Patton, about what it actually means to prepare every case for trial rather than settlement, how her firm got hired on a Tuesday, spent Wednesday night preparing, and walked into a temporary injunction mini-trial on Thursday for four people whose livelihoods were on the line — and won. Mollie explains why there's a meaningful difference between a litigator and a trial lawyer, why preparing every case as if it's going to a jury is actually what drives settlement, and how being underestimated as a young woman in a room full of older men is one of her biggest advantages.

They also discuss how Jeff Tillotson and John Patton taught her to turn the most complex commercial dispute into a story a jury can follow in minutes, how she spends 10 times more time prepping witnesses for cross-examination than direct, the non-compete case she turned around in 48 hours in Fort Worth, and how to look at the courthouse docket to find out which firms are actually trying cases versus just saying they do.

Mollie Mallory is a partner at Tillotson Johnson & Patton in Dallas, Texas, a boutique commercial trial firm. She handles both plaintiff and defense commercial litigation, medical malpractice, and catastrophic injury cases, including contingency and alternative fee arrangements.

Connect with Mollie Mallory:

tillotsonlaw.com

Dallas, Texas

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Mollie Mallory

00:51 Baylor Law's practice court program — the moment she knew trial work was it

01:39 What leading national mock trial teams taught her that the classroom didn't

01:00 Why she left Cooper Scully's defense work to join TJP and take plaintiff cases too

01:40 Thinking inside the jury box — what makes TJP different from big firm litigation

02:52 Storytelling versus law — what commercial litigation really comes down to

04:05 Getting hired midstream — what the first 48 hours look like

05:43 Alternative fee arrangements — contingency, flat, hybrid — and why it matters

07:23 The promissory note trial that took the jury 12 minutes to decide

08:52 Going from associate to partner at an elite boutique in a few years

10:22 Prepping witnesses — 10 times more on cross than direct

11:44 Preparing every case as if you're going to trial and what that does to discovery

12:57 The hardest part of translating a complex commercial dispute for 12 jurors

14:00 Rapid fire — sailgating at Baylor, smoking a brisket, and painting a cowboy

16:28 Best advice Jeff Tillotson gave her just yesterday

17:30 How to convince a nervous client to go to trial instead of settling

18:56 Handling both plaintiff and defense work — does switching sides make you sharper

20:55 Walking into a courtroom as a young woman and being underestimated

22:34 What a typical week looks like at TJP when not in trial

23:22 The Tuesday hire, Wednesday prep, Thursday win — the recruiting non-compete case

25:31 What she'd tell a law student who keeps hearing nobody goes to trial anymore

27:13 The difference between a litigator and a trial lawyer and how to find the real ones

28:42 How to reach Mollie Mallory

#MollieMallory #TillotsonJohnsonPatton #TrialLawyer #CommercialLitigation #DallasTrialLawyer #TrustcastShow #BaylorLaw #JuryTrials #PlaintiffAndDefense #WomenInLitigation

What happens when a woman who grew up in a family of lawyers in Nigeria, graduated top of her class, moved to America at 20 for love, and found herself dropped in the middle of an ocean — no connections, no recognition of her law degree, three babies in diapers, and law school to do all over again — comes out the other side and becomes the fiercest advocate in the room?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Ogor Winnie Okoye, founder of Boss Legal Group in Massachusetts, about the miscarriage, the marriage in crisis, and the rock bottom that led to a transformation she now teaches in workshops every Saturday for free. Ogor explains the zone of the UISA — unbiased introspective self-analysis — and why she believes awakening the divinity within each person is not a one-time event but a daily practice that changes how you show up in every courtroom, every client meeting, and every relationship you have.

They also discuss crimmigration — the intersection of criminal defense and immigration law — how a 42-year-old man named Carlos was being deported to Guatemala despite having lived here since age 12 and meeting every legal requirement, the nurse who lied about a healthcare worker slapping an elderly patient and watched her story fall apart in 20 minutes on the stand, and why Ogor goes to jail so often that she recognizes just how many innocent people are sitting there waiting for someone to fight for them the way she will.

Ogor Winnie Okoye is the founder of Boss Legal Group in Lynn, Massachusetts, licensed in Massachusetts and New York. She practices criminal defense, immigration, crimmigration, estate planning, and family law. Her book is Awakening and Unleashing Your Victor. Her free Saturday life planning workshops are open to the public.

Connect with Ogor Winnie Okoye:

boslegals.com

Facebook and LinkedIn: Agor Winnie Okoye

Lynn, Massachusetts

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Ogor Winnie Okoye

00:57 Coming to America at 20 for love and landing in the middle of an ocean

02:19 Her Nigerian law degree didn't transfer — and she had to go back to law school

03:34 Three babies in diapers in law school — and what her family calls her

05:37 Hitting rock bottom in her marriage and what changed

07:23 Winning the jurisprudence award at Suffolk while broken inside

08:23 What awakening actually looks like — the zone of the UISA

10:24 Doing the things that terrified her, starting with trial

11:23 How crimmigration — criminal defense meets immigration law — works

13:42 The 42-year-old man named Carlos who met every requirement and still got deported

15:05 What the 98% success rate reflects — and why the last year and a half has been devastating

17:27 Carlos's story continued — the heartbreak of that day

18:02 Last week's incredible win — the nurse who lied and crumbled on the stand

24:51 How Boss Legal Group works — from bar advocate to private practice

28:02 Free Saturday workshops on life planning and estate planning

32:45 Why a revocable living trust beats a will for most people

39:11 Rapid fire questions — Jollof rice, Celine Dion, and what boo boo calls her

44:09 How to reach Ogor Winnie Okoye

#OgorWinnieOkoye #BossLegalGroup #CrimImmigration #ImmigrationDefense #CriminalDefense #AwakeningYourVictor #MassachusettsLawyer #TrustcastShow #EstatePlanning #ImmigrationLaw

What happens when a lawyer who opened his first office in a small Arkansas town with a bounced check and a toddler quacking down his hallway with door stops in his mouth grows his firm into the largest wage and hour practice in the country, co-founds a firm with a YouTuber who has 3.9 million subscribers, builds a legal referral software platform used by five of the ten largest plaintiff firms in the country, and then launches a class action firm that files one lawsuit per calendar day?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Josh Sanford, founder of Sanford Law Firm, co-founder of Eagle Team with Legal Eagle's Devin Stone, CEO of the legal referral software company Lexamica, and co-founder of EKSM — the class action firm that has now filed cases in 48 states against companies including NVIDIA, Meta, Snap, ByteDance, OpenAI, and Amazon over AI training data and copyright violations worth hundreds of billions in statutory damages. Josh explains how a conversation on a Monday about the Fair Labor Standards Act turned into a $5.5 million settlement by Thursday, why he shut the front door of his original firm in 2022, and what it actually takes to file a class action every single day.

They also discuss the Bart v. Anthropic settlement for $1.5 billion over AI training data, why data breaches keep happening and who should be calling a lawyer when that notification arrives in the mail, how he built a software company to manage referrals between plaintiff firms before anyone knew that needed to exist, and why change is a skill that lawyers who want more should get very good at practicing.

Josh Sanford is the founder of Sanford Law Firm, co-founder of Eagle Team and EKSM, and co-founder of Lexamica. He is based in Little Rock, Arkansas and practices in federal courts across the country.

Connect with Josh Sanford:

eksm.com

America's Attorney on YouTube

Little Rock, Arkansas

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Josh Sanford

01:04 Opening a law firm months out of law school — a bounced check and a quacking toddler

03:12 Going door to door to businesses, joining Kiwanis, and getting the first clients

04:48 How a Monday phone call and a Thursday client led to a $5.5 million FLSA settlement

06:10 Growing into the largest wage and hour practice in federal court in the country

07:31 Meeting Devon Stone at a YouTube conference and co-founding Eagle Team

09:59 How Lexamica was born and why five of the ten largest plaintiff firms now use it

12:42 What launching Eagle Team taught him about systems that Sanford Law never did

14:55 Why he shut the front door of Sanford Law Firm in October 2022

16:47 Founding EKSM in August 2024 with Tommy Kirker and Jared Elzey

18:03 How you file one class action per calendar day — and where the cases come from

20:31 What happens when a data breach notification lands and the team mobilizes

22:04 What most people don't understand about that breach letter they throw in the trash

24:01 Rapid fire questions including golf, Legally Blonde, and the best advice he ignored

27:30 Running four firms at once — golf every morning and gym at lunch

29:06 Hiring for values not experience and building teams that don't need babysitting

31:25 Building with family and why you need smart family members if you're going to do it

32:16 If he could give 2001 Josh one piece of advice

32:48 Why data breaches keep increasing and who benefits

33:19 Cases against NVIDIA, Meta, Snap, ByteDance, OpenAI, and Amazon over AI training data

35:00 The Digital Millennium Copyright Act explained

37:07 The Bart v. Anthropic $1.5 billion settlement and the model for AI IP going forward

40:20 What he wants the firm to stand for when it's all said and done

41:32 What to do if you just got a data breach notification

#JoshSanford #EKSM #DataBreachLawyer #ClassAction #LegalEagle #Lexamica #EagleTeam #TrustcastShow #WageAndHourLaw #AILawsuit

What happens when a late-diagnosed neurodivergent adult and childhood trauma survivor who spent years consulting for Dell and the Discovery Channel decides to build the world's first podcast network entirely focused on mental health — and then spends the next decade interviewing every expert on the planet, mostly to figure out what was going on with herself?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Kristin Walker, founder of the Mental Health News Radio Network, about what it took to launch 18 shows in six months when nobody knew what a podcast network was, why she says she's been masking her competence her whole life rather than her incompetence, and how she completely rejected the deficit-based narrative the moment she got her autism and ADHD diagnosis two years ago. Kristin explains what makes a mental health interview do harm instead of good, why she started writing under a pen name to give herself a space away from her own reputation, and what she actually posts on TikTok that generates essays in the comments from deep thinkers.

They also discuss the Autism Podcast Network she carved out as a sub-network seven years before most people were talking about late diagnosis, why she thinks differently abled is the right frame and disabled is not, how COVID blew the stigma around mental health out of the water in a useful way, and what she means by trauma-informed storytelling.

Kristin Walker is the founder of the Mental Health News Radio Network, host of Mental Health News Radio, and author of The Tuning Fork Was Mine All Along, published under her pen name Joi Sun. Her network spans over 75 shows downloaded in more than 170 countries.

Connect with Kristin Walker:

MHNRnetwork.com

TikTok and Substack: Joi Sun / Joi Sun Path

Books on Amazon: Joi Sun

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Kristin Walker

01:06 The thread connecting medical billing, Dell, the Discovery Channel, and mental health podcasting

02:16 How the consulting work let a high masker be blunt and leave before the pitchforks arrived

03:11 What masking actually means and why it costs something to keep doing it

04:24 Over 75 shows across 170 countries and what the network actually looks like

05:49 How a five-show goal by end of 2017 turned into 18 shows by August

07:03 How the network generates income and stays funded

08:21 How she got diagnosed with ADHD and later autism as an adult

11:04 Rejecting the deficit narrative — masking competence not incompetence

12:33 Why labels are okay as data but she doesn't live and die by them

13:13 The tyranny of low expectations and what differently abled actually means

16:29 How to join the network or start a podcast from scratch

18:37 What makes a mental health interview do more harm than good

20:01 Why she carved out the Autism Podcast Network as its own sub-network

21:06 Keeping mental health issues private when employers make that risky

23:10 Writing under the pen name Joi Sun and why she needed a separate container

24:44 Two books on Amazon and hundreds of articles on Substack

26:07 Rapid fire questions

28:22 What she posts on TikTok and why the interactions there are extraordinary

30:41 The Digital Tech Initiative — when a good idea is just too early

31:50 What the network looks like over the next few years

33:06 Using late diagnosis as an excuse versus using it as a starting point

35:30 Where to find the shows and the Joi Sun content

#KristinWalker #MentalHealthNewsRadio #NeurodivergentAdults #LateD diagnosis #AutismPodcast #JoiSun #MHNRNetwork #TrustcastShow #TraumaInformedStorytelling #DifferentlyAbled

What happens when a PhD philosopher who spent four years in the ether of academic concepts decides the abstract world isn't enough — and ends up defending people accused of murder in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with an in-house therapist as his business partner?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Maxwell Pines, founder of Max Pines Law, about the journey from a Brown University dissertation on how humans understand their own actions to 86-plus trials and 10 homicide cases as a public defender, and why he finally launched his own firm with something almost no other law office has. Max shares the story of Matthew Chavez, who was convicted of murder, sentenced to 23 years, and acquitted eight years later in a retrial after a key witness had a religious conversion and recanted, and how that kind of case lives with you forever whether you win or lose.

They also discuss why philosophy and criminal law are closer than most people think, what it means to cross-examine a witness who you know is lying, how having a licensed clinical social worker specializing in trauma built into his firm changes what he can offer clients, and the civil rights case he's now building against a deputy with a record of killing three people who shot his surrendering client with a foam pellet in the back.

Maxwell Pines is the founder of Max Pines Law in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a criminal defense and civil rights firm. He holds a PhD in philosophy from Brown University and a JD from UC Berkeley School of Law.

Connect with Maxwell Pines:

maxpineslaw.com

Phone: 505-226-2249

Facebook and LinkedIn: Maxwell Pines

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Maxwell Pines

00:54 The Thanksgiving conversation that made him realize academics wasn't enough

02:13 Switching advisors and finishing the dissertation while leaving for law school

03:36 The dissertation advisor confrontation and what it took to get out

05:36 From philosophy to public defender — was he prepared for what that actually meant

06:49 The through line between philosophy and criminal defense

08:47 What homicide trials feel like when your client's life is literally on the line

11:00 Winning big and losing hard — the weight of a client who's in prison for life

14:06 The Matthew Chavez case — convicted of murder, acquitted in a retrial eight years later

16:30 Why the witness lied in the first trial and what changed his mind

18:51 How lying witnesses get exposed and why the adversarial system works

20:36 What made 2024 the year to leave the public defender and start his own firm

23:18 The civil rights cases he's now building and what they look like

25:10 How someone gets pulled over for a car they actually own

28:16 How speaking fluent Spanish changes the attorney-client relationship

29:23 The in-house therapist — his wife Jeanette and the trauma-informed model

30:47 Rapid fire — Kant or Wittgenstein

31:44 Hardest part of law school after a PhD

32:34 Best meal in Albuquerque

36:25 How to reach Maxwell Pines

#MaxwellPines #MaxPinesLaw #CriminalDefense #CivilRights #AlbuquerqueAttorney #PhilosopherLawyer #HomicideTrial #TrustcastShow #PublicDefender #TraumaInformedLaw

What happens when a basketball coach and history teacher who wanted to represent the indigent gets blocked from the public defender's office by a Supreme Court rule, takes a job at Borders on Michigan Avenue, and ends up co-chairing the Chicago office of an AmLaw 200 firm — defending insurance companies, fighting reptile theory, and predicting court outcomes on a podcast with 300-plus episodes?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Pat Eckler, co-chair of the Chicago office of Freeman Mathis & Gary, about what reptile theory actually is and why it's the siren song of logic, why nuclear verdicts are showing up in small venues nobody expected, and what it means that the same clerk who once would have just handed you a pen to fix a typo can now torpedo a case through electronic filing rejection.

They also discuss the amicus brief he co-filed with the plaintiff's bar to stop courts from letting clerks override judges, why failure to communicate is the number one cause of professional malpractice claims, how he grew a two-person office into nearly 30 lawyers in four years without a big marketing budget, and why the skills of a basketball coach and an office chair of a law firm are far more similar than most people think.

Pat Eckler is a co-chair of the Chicago office of Freeman Mathis & Gary LLP, an AmLaw 200 firm with over 500 attorneys. He focuses on insurance defense, professional liability, and coverage work for major insurers.

Connect with Pat Eckler:

fmglaw.com

Phone: 773-389-6446

LinkedIn: Donald Patrick Eckler

Chicago, Illinois

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Pat Eckler

00:54 From basketball coaching and history teaching to law school in Florida

02:30 Blocked from the public defender's office by a Supreme Court rule — and working at Borders

03:14 Representing the same insurance clients 20-plus years later on a national platform

04:41 Opening the Chicago office of Freeman Mathis and Gary with one partner, two associates, and two assistants

05:52 Growing to nearly 30 lawyers in four years — what drove it

07:39 Defending lawyers, accountants, and insurance brokers in professional liability cases

09:26 The number one cause of malpractice claims — failure to communicate

00:10 Insurance defense work and why Pat almost always represents the insurer

01:48 Filing amicus briefs on behalf of the entire defense bar — and doing it with the plaintiff's bar

03:00 The Scarbuck case — how clerks became more powerful than judges through electronic filing

05:12 How often is something obviously ridiculous and still not corrected

09:13 Reptile theory explained — and why safety is not actually anyone's number one priority

11:38 The civil justice system, fairness versus justice, and what juries are actually there to decide

13:27 Nuclear verdicts and thermonuclear verdicts — why they're showing up everywhere

16:37 What percentage of huge verdicts actually hold up on appeal

20:07 Predicting case outcomes publicly — and the running record

21:16 The biggest challenge facing defense lawyers right now

23:13 Why coaching basketball and running a law firm office are not that different

24:53 If he could change one thing about the civil justice system in Illinois

26:14 Testifying before the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee on special interrogatories

28:06 How to reach Pat Eckler

#PatEckler #FreemanMathisGary #InsuranceDefense #ReptileTheory #NuclearVerdicts #ProfessionalLiability #ChicagoLawyer #TrustcastShow #CivilJustice #AmLaw200

What happens when a trial attorney who argued a case before the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, made partner at a nationally recognized firm, and spent 20 years fighting to win for one side decides to become the person in the room that neither side hired?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Amy Mariani, founder of Mariani Mediation, about the unexpected path from trial law to full-time mediator and arbitrator, why she says resolution is the real client, and how she rewired her brain after decades of advocacy to stop making arguments and start making progress. Amy explains the three P's — power, punishment, and principle — that are the biggest obstacles to resolving any dispute, why she tries to resolve boilerplate issues before anyone even walks in the room, and why an 18-month trial date is the sweet spot for mediation to actually work.

They also discuss the difference between mediation and arbitration, how she handles cases that blow up over a neutral reference rather than the settlement number, why she thinks there is no such thing as too early for conflict resolution, what she learned as past president of the Massachusetts MCLE Board of Trustees about training the next generation of lawyers, and why the small claims cases with $50 at stake are sometimes more brutal than the multi-million dollar business breakups.

Amy Mariani is the founder of Mariani Mediation, a full-time mediator and arbitrator serving attorneys across the country in employment, personal injury, and business disputes. She has been named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer in ADR every year since 2017.

Connect with Amy Mariani:

marianimediation.com

amarianimediation.com

Massachusetts

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Amy Mariani

00:42 Arguing before the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts for American Airlines

01:13 Why she started planning her transition when her kids hit kindergarten

02:13 The brain rewiring required to stop advocating and start mediating

02:35 The mechanics of closing a law firm and moving full time into dispute resolution

03:53 What changed in the legal market that made the boutique firm model harder

05:03 What it means that resolution is the real client

06:14 How mediators get hired and who makes the call

09:07 What cases are the right fit for her practice

11:01 How much her legal background helps when the law is at issue

12:04 How her fees work — daily rate, split between parties, and who forwards it

13:23 Networking as the engine of a mediation practice

15:08 Rapid fire questions including Notre Dame, truffle pasta, and Larry Bird

17:03 The difference between mediation and arbitration explained plainly

18:37 What percentage of attorneys serve as arbitrators versus non-lawyers

19:14 Why she teaches that there is no such thing as too early for dispute resolution

20:04 Her sweet spot — 18 months from trial and post-summary judgment

22:59 Can a case actually be too early for mediation

24:54 The three P's — power, punishment, and principle

25:58 Which cases are harder to settle — big money or high emotion

27:26 Cases that almost settle and then blow up over one issue

28:22 How she handles boilerplate before the mediation even starts

30:19 When lawyers get emotionally invested in their client's case

31:28 Named Massachusetts Super Lawyer in ADR every year since 2017

31:58 If she could change one thing about the legal system

32:31 What to do if you're stuck in a dispute and don't know where to start

32:46 How to reach Amy Mariani

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