TrustCast Show

What happens when an employment attorney who spent years defending some of the biggest employers in the country at the world's largest employment law firm finally sits in a trial he genuinely doesn't believe in, realizes he can't keep doing it, and crosses to the other side — where he gets to choose his own cases, fight for the workers those companies were trying to defeat, and never charges a client a single dollar until a check lands in his firm's mailbox?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Mike Guasco, founder of Guasco Law in California, about the single most important thing to do in the first 48 hours after something bad happens at work — document everything, write it down while it's fresh, and do it in a way that shows it was contemporaneous — and why going to HR is not optional even though HR is not there to protect you. Mike explains the difference between a hostile work environment in the legal sense, which has to be hostile because of a protected class, and a boss who is simply a horrible human being, which is unfortunately not illegal in California or anywhere else. He also walks through why filing with the EEOC or CRD and asking them to investigate is one of the most common mistakes employees make — because the agencies are so underfunded they almost never take cases, and then the defense attorney waves the no-finding letter around in court as if the government exonerated the employer.

They also discuss what a contingency fee actually is and how it works in practice, why cases can take anywhere from six months to five years depending on which path they take, how Mike gets a right-to-sue letter in about three minutes by clicking a single button on the CRD website rather than asking for an investigation, the housing discrimination trial where he had to explain an extremely rare medical condition to a jury that initially understood exactly why the HOA said no — and then won a significant verdict anyway, why political views are a protected class in California but are balanced differently than other protected classes, and what his definitive legal guide on the rights of transgender and non-binary employees in California was actually designed to accomplish.

Mike Guasco is the founder of Guasco Law, an employment and housing discrimination firm serving clients throughout California.

Connect with Mike Guasco:

Email: [email protected]

guascolaw.com

Initial consultations always free

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Mike Guasco

00:46 Spending years defending major employers and then walking out of a trial he didn't believe in

01:31 Something bad just happened at work — what do I do in the first 48 hours

02:30 Why you shouldn't just call your cousin the lawyer — the value of a specialist referral

03:30 How do I know when a bad situation at work has crossed into illegal territory

04:21 My boss is just an ass and makes my life miserable — is that a hostile work environment

05:44 Hostile work environment has a legal definition — it only applies when tied to a protected class

06:17 Political views as a protected class in California and why there is a balancing test

07:47 My boss says it was a performance issue — how do I tell if that's real or a cover story

08:04 Watching for trends — performance reviews, assignment patterns, and comparators

09:14 A white male who was demoted when a DEI initiative brought in someone above him — is that discrimination

10:17 Why Mike would not personally take that case even though it may be legally valid

14:19 I'm still employed but things are getting worse — do I have to wait until I'm fired to take action

16:08 The fear that going to an employment lawyer will ruin your reputation and your career

17:14 Attorney-client privilege protects even potential clients who never sign with the firm

17:51 What should I never say to HR — and should I even go to HR

18:07 HR is not your friend — and that is exactly why you should go anyway

19:52 If this were your son — would you tell him to go to HR or go to a lawyer first

21:03 What to document and the right way to do it — Google Docs, journals, and contemporaneous records

22:21 Walk me through what happens from the moment someone calls you to when the case resolves

24:57 The routes a case can take — early resolution, mediation, arbitration, and full court litigation

25:58 What does it cost to hire you — the contingency fee model explained simply

27:24 The one exception — restraining order work on an hourly retainer

29:21 How long do these cases usually take — six months to five years depending on the path

29:55 The difference between filing with the EEOC or CRD versus just suing

31:33 The immediate right-to-sue button — how to get the letter in three minutes without asking for an investigation

#MikeGuasco #GuascoLaw #TrustcastShow #EmploymentLawCalifornia #WorkplaceDiscrimination #HostileWorkEnvironment #HousingDiscrimination #EmployeeRights #ContingencyFee #CaliforniaEmploymentLaw

What happens when a public defender who spent four years learning to fight for people who felt completely outmatched — making sure they had fair notice, a fair hearing, and a real defense — decides to take all of that instinct and apply it to a completely different kind of client: the small business owner who signed a contract that made sense at the time and now finds herself in a dispute she never saw coming, with no attorney fee clause, no dispute resolution provision, and no idea what her options actually are?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Marissa Constant, founder of Constant Law in Polk County, Florida, about the most common legal landmines inside small business contracts — missing dispute resolution clauses, missing attorney fee provisions, and risk allocation language nobody thought to negotiate — and why verbal agreements are actually enforceable in Florida but require significantly more work to prove. Marissa explains what a subcontractor should do the moment a GC stops responding to invoices, why the construction lien process in Florida is governed by a strict statute with deadlines tied to the last day of work and the last date materials were delivered, and why missing those deadlines can wipe out the subcontractor's entire claim.

They also discuss what to do the moment a demand letter arrives — respond in writing, state your position, do not go silent — how downloading a generic template contract and forcing it to fit your business can cost you far more than hiring an attorney to draft one properly, why the hardest part of starting a solo law firm is not finding clients but finding your ideal client, and what Marissa would tell her five-years-younger self: do not try to learn every practice area at once, pick your lane, and find a mentor.

Marissa Constant is the founder of Constant Law PA in Polk County, Florida, practicing business, real estate, and construction law.

Connect with Marissa Constant:

constantlawpa.com

Phone: 863-457-3253

Social: @constantlawpa

Polk County, Florida

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Marissa Constant

00:34 What four years in the public defender's office taught her about fighting for someone who feels outmatched

01:56 Constant Law — business, real estate, and construction law in central Florida

02:19 What small business owners are usually coming to her for — contracts, joint ventures, non-competes, breach disputes

03:56 I've been running my business for two years and my contracts probably aren't protecting me — where do I start

05:02 Contract terms attorneys see all the time that clients never thought to question — risk allocation, arbitration, attorney fees, dispute resolution

05:44 What a good dispute resolution clause actually looks like and why it saves money before it saves a lawsuit

08:04 A client owes me money — I have a contract but they won't pay — what do I do first

09:22 What if I don't have a contract at all — can I still collect in Florida

10:05 I just got a demand letter threatening a lawsuit — what is the first thing I should and should not do

11:45 I finished a job as a subcontractor and the GC is ghosting me — how do I start the ball rolling

12:48 The subcontractor who gave a quote, got hired, did the work, sent the bill, and now his buddy the contractor won't answer

14:46 What a construction lien is and why missing the deadline can cost you the entire claim

15:27 The Florida construction lien statute — the notice requirements and the timelines tied to last day of work and last materials delivery

18:44 What being proactive with legal protection actually looks like for a business that has never worked with an attorney

20:43 You left the public sector and built the firm solo — what would you tell another attorney thinking about making that jump

22:26 The hardest part is not finding clients — it's finding your ideal client

26:05 Who Marissa's ideal client actually is — small private business owners with 50 or fewer people

27:42 Starting the firm in February 2021 — five years in with no starting capital and no prior clients

28:00 What she would tell her five-years-younger self — do not spread yourself thin across every practice area

31:55 Serving as co-chair of Community Outreach for Black Women Lawyers Association of Central Florida — what she is trying to change about access to legal protection

33:23 How to reach Constant Law PA in Polk County

#MarissaConstant #ConstantLaw #TrustcastShow #FloridaBusinessLaw #ConstructionLienFlorida #SmallBusinessAttorney #ContractLaw #FloridaContractor #SubcontractorRights #BlackWomenLawyers

What happens when a law student who worked almost full time through law school clerks in the Baltimore City homicide division, gets to know the real people behind the characters in The Wire, learns what it actually takes to build a murder case from the inside, then spends five years on the prosecution side before crossing to the defense table — where 12 years and 30 jury trials later he still gets coolest when everyone else in the room is in full panic mode?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Kurt Nachtman, partner at Silverman Thompson in Baltimore, about the single most important thing to do in the first 24 hours after an arrest — shut up, be polite, and say the word lawyer — why Miranda rights are not triggered until custodial interrogation occurs and how much questioning can legally happen before you get there, and why a .09 on the breathalyzer is not the end of the case if you know where to look for sleep apnea, medical conditions, and procedural defects in how the officer read the DR-15. Kurt also walks through the ghost gun case where a firearms enthusiast who accidentally shot himself in the leg beat the charge when Kurt realized that the statute was so poorly written the state had to prove a negative — and the young prosecutor called afterward still not understanding what happened.

They also discuss what happens when a professional license is on the line — why a nurse, paramedic, or daycare operator should never try to respond to a licensing board letter without a lawyer and why the complaint that brought them to your door is almost never what gets you — why insurance companies keep internal databases on which lawyers actually try cases and how that changes what they offer, the personal injury verdict that came in four times the last settlement offer after Kurt turned his client misidentifying her own injured leg into proof that she wasn't exaggerating, why the good neighbor is consistently the hardest insurance company to negotiate against and runs to the one yard line before making a reasonable offer, and what it was like as a 32-year-old newly minted private attorney to solve an unsolved suspicious death and get a family some measure of closure.

Kurt Nachtman is a partner at Silverman Thompson in Baltimore, Maryland, practicing criminal defense, professional license defense, and personal injury.

Connect with Kurt Nachtman:

Phone: 410-385-2225

Email: [email protected]

silvermanthompson.com

Baltimore, Maryland

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Kurt Nachtman

00:38 What five years as a Baltimore City prosecutor did to the way he fights for defendants

01:18 Clerking in the homicide division as a law student — cell phone evidence, DNA, and the real people behind The Wire

03:20 My client just got arrested in Maryland — what are the most important decisions in the next 24 hours

03:35 Shut up — why talking to police almost never helps and why they're allowed to lie to you

05:08 But what if you're just being polite and explaining yourself

05:13 Polite but firm no — the right words out of your mouth and the right words in your text

06:40 Don't destroy evidence — why deleting text messages often makes everything worse

07:13 Miranda — when does it actually trigger and what is custodial interrogation

08:42 DUI and Miranda in Maryland — why you don't get your rights read on a traffic stop

10:00 Public defender versus private attorney — caseload, choice, and making lemonade out of lemons

11:39 When someone thinks a minor charge isn't serious — why the internet changed everything about that assumption

12:25 Expungement in Maryland and why a trespassing charge can follow you into a security clearance 15 years later

13:40 The ghost gun case — a firearms enthusiast shoots himself in the leg and beats the charge

14:00 Read the rule — how a poorly drafted statute fell apart when the state had to prove a negative

17:31 The young prosecutor called afterward and still didn't understand — how the lesson was delivered

18:32 Building a firm from two people to 11 over 12 years and then walking away to join Silverman Thompson

19:19 Trying a $2.5 million breach of contract case on two weeks notice with a hole in the calendar

20:37 The best parts of no longer running your own business — no clogged bathrooms, just trying cases

21:19 DUI — someone blows a .09 and thinks it is already over

22:07 Sleep apnea, medical defenses, and probable cause defects that most DUI attorneys miss

23:23 The teacher who had two drinks and didn't know he had sleep apnea — and how that became a half dozen cases

24:21 If you have a professional license — CDL, nursing, contractor — how does a DUI change the math

25:35 Should you refuse the breathalyzer in Maryland — and how the law changed two years ago

#KurtNachtman #SilvermanThompson #TrustcastShow #CriminalDefenseMaryland #BaltimoreAttorney #DUIDefense #ProfessionalLicenseDefense #MirandaRights #GhostGun #PersonalInjuryTrial

What happens when a girl who grew up watching her single mom choose between $2 of gas and a loaf of bread in the Chicago suburbs goes to law school in Miami without knowing a single person to network with, takes the first job she can get at a small boutique in Woodstock, Illinois, discovers a passion for fighting for parents and children in the moments that matter most, and 22 years later leads a six-attorney firm that offers discounts to single moms and military members, serves as a guardian ad litem appointed by Kane County judges, and is still fighting to be the kind of change she never had?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Jenet Pequeno, founder of a Chicagoland family law firm and Illinois Super Lawyer, about what to do the moment you find out your spouse has filed for divorce — checking bank accounts, running credit reports, and watching for home equity lines of credit you never signed — what happens when a spouse has been secretly moving marital assets into a son's trust and how you sue the son to get it back, and why the single most important thing a parent can do if they're still living in the same house is not leave before getting a parenting schedule in writing. Jenet explains the difference between Illinois's old language of custody and visitation and the current framework of allocation of parental responsibilities, why alienation is like a cancer in a custody case that can flip a parent from primary to every-other-weekend, and why she tells attorneys for mothers planning to ask for 75% when they were doing 50-50 before filing — give me a reason, because what in the best interest standards says I should change it now?

They also discuss the 17 best interest factors Illinois judges weigh when both parents want to be primary, why a mother who wants to move to Florida to live with a boyfriend she met online two months ago is asking a guardian ad litem to watch three children under five lose their father to a phone call, the case where a military father won primary residency just short of trial after allegations escalated from a one-night stand to a rape claim with no prior report, the social media behaviors that quietly destroy custody positions, and why the law is easy but people are hard.

Jenet Pequeno is the founder of a Chicagoland family law firm serving parents and children across the collar counties of Northern Illinois.

Connect with Jenet Pequeno:

Phone: 847-616-0980

Northern Illinois — Chicago collar counties

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Jenet Pequeno

00:50 Growing up in a single parent household — choosing between $2 of gas and groceries, and why that drives every case

02:04 Licensed since 2004 — going straight into whatever job she could get and discovering family law

03:06 My spouse just filed for divorce — what do I do first

03:17 Checking bank accounts, running credit reports, watching for home equity lines of credit and forged signatures

04:34 The spouse who spends months planning before filing and moves all the assets first — how often does that happen

05:11 Moving marital property into a son's trust — suing the adult child to recapture it

06:29 The person who is left with nothing after the other spouse moves out — what the court can do on an emergency basis

07:30 Freezing accounts like an IRS lien — what happens once a judge hears the story

08:26 Is moving money before a divorce actually a crime in Illinois

09:14 How the financial misconduct taints the rest of the case — the tie goes to the innocent party

09:55 How long does an Illinois divorce actually take when kids are involved — Supreme Court Rule 922 and the 18-month rule

10:50 The old days of five-year custody battles with kids aging out of being minors

11:49 What the 15-month timeline looks like when there are no children

12:32 Both parties agree — do you still need a lawyer

13:31 The law is easy, people are hard — why even agreed divorces can fall apart over boilerplate language

14:31 The word custody is gone in Illinois — what allocation of parental responsibilities actually means

15:38 Parenting time versus primary residency — and why you should never leave the house before getting a schedule

17:17 The 17 best interest factors an Illinois judge weighs when both parents want to be primary

17:47 Alienation — the A word — what it is, what it costs, and why parents who schedule soccer during the other parent's time are playing with fire

19:44 Education, socialization, and private tutoring as non-statutory advantages

21:28 Do mothers still have an advantage in Illinois family court

21:41 Twenty-two years ago — the mother who could sit on her hands and still get sole custody

22:49 Gender bias still exists — what Jenet has seen as recently as a couple of years ago

#JenetPequeno #TrustcastShow #IllinoisFamilyLaw #DivorceAttorney #CustodyLaw #GuardianAdLitem #ChildCustodyIllinois #ParentingTime #FamilyLawChicago #AlienationInCourt

What happens when a kid from the Arizona-Mexico border who grew up throwing rocks from his grandmother's backyard into Mexico, drops out of Stanford Law to follow armed Minutemen through the Sonoran Desert with a video camera, comes back, finishes his degree, and builds one of Phoenix's most feared immigration and criminal defense firms — one with 1,200 Google reviews, 50 people on staff, a worksite raid defense that became local counsel on the federal civil rights lawsuit that took Joe Arpaio down, an argument that made it to the Arizona Supreme Court on behalf of a client whose prior attorney told him the plea would be fine, and a book that ended up required reading at Harvard Law?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Ray Maldonado — Abogado Ray — about what is actually happening to immigrants under the current administration, why the claim that ICE is only targeting criminals is a thousand percent false, and what to do in the first hour after a family member is detained. Ray explains the difference between detention and deportation, what a U visa is and why most people don't know they qualify, what cancellation of removal requires — 10 years, qualifying relatives, and extreme and unusual hardship — and why the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is structurally different from immigration courts in a way that matters enormously for anyone trying to get a fair hearing.

They also discuss what a motion to suppress evidence actually means and why winning on the government's constitutional violation is not a technicality but a vindication of the Bill of Rights, the Miguel Angel case where Ray took a worksite raid defense to not-guilty on all counts and the client eventually won a green card, why showing up to court scared that you'll be deported in handcuffs that same day is the most common sign of misinformation he sees, and why leading with passion and service rather than money has resulted in horses, five cars, and a multi-million dollar house while doing work that most people assume has no money in it.

Ray Maldonado is the founder of Abogado Ray Law Firm in Phoenix, Arizona, practicing immigration law and criminal defense.

Connect with Ray Maldonado:

Phone: 602-910-4040

Social: @AbogadoRay on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Ray Maldonado

00:51 Dropping out of Stanford Law to follow armed Minutemen through the Sonoran Desert with a video camera

01:46 Being an immigration lawyer in the second Trump administration — winning a federal habeas corpus today

02:58 The habeas corpus case — bond hearings being denied for people with no criminal history and five US citizen kids

04:24 The claim that ICE only goes after criminals — why that is a thousand percent false

05:23 ICE shows up at your home — what to do right now

06:44 My family member was just detained — what do I do in the first hour

07:30 The difference between being detained and being deported and what options exist for each

08:20 Protections people didn't know they had — U visas, challenging the NTA, and the government's burden of proof

09:21 If someone has been here 15 years with US born kids — are they automatically protected

10:15 The 10-year magic number and cancellation of removal explained

10:44 Fear of talking to a lawyer — what attorney-client privilege actually protects

11:27 A DUI or minor drug charge that suddenly triggers deportation — how does that happen

12:30 Why non-citizens need both a criminal defense attorney and an immigration attorney

13:20 Growing up on the Arizona-Mexico border — throwing a rock from grandma's backyard into Mexico

14:19 Defending immigrants in Arizona state court and why it is harder than defending a citizen

15:23 What it means to win at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and why it matters for someone in Eloy Detention

16:44 Why the Ninth Circuit is different from immigration courts — and why every administration dislikes it

17:03 Motions to suppress evidence — using the government's own constitutional violations to win cases

18:54 Rapid fire — baseball or law, naming his sons Ray Emerson and Stokely Daniel, toughest courtroom opponent

20:45 The one thing a scared client says that immediately tells Ray they're misinformed

21:37 The Miguel Angel case — a worksite raid defense, a not-guilty on all counts, and a path to citizenship

23:45 How mission-driven practice leads to financial success — 50 staff, horses, five cars, and Japan trips

25:22 How a single worksite raid became local counsel on the federal civil rights case that took Arpaio down

26:32 Marketing a 14-year firm — 1,200 Google reviews and referrals compounding every day

#AbogadoRay #RayMaldonado #TrustcastShow #ImmigrationLaw #DeportationDefense #CriminalImmigration #ICERights #HabeasCorpus #ArizonaImmigrationLawyer #KnowYourRights

What happens when a trial attorney spends 13 years inside the SEC building the exact kinds of cases that keep executives and general counsels up at night — including the securities fraud case against Volkswagen and its CEO for deceiving US bond investors during the emissions scandal, a case that earned him a framed picture of a carrion hawk from his colleagues after Judge Charles Breyer's opening remarks — and then crosses to the other side of the table to defend the companies and individuals the SEC is coming after?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Dan Hayes, partner at Venable LLP in Chicago, about what to do in the first 24 hours after the SEC contacts your company, the critical difference between receiving an informal document request and a formal subpoena, and why the executives who assume the SEC will figure out they did nothing wrong and just go away are operating on a dangerously incorrect assumption. Dan explains what a Wells Notice is and why it is not too late to change the SEC's mind once you receive one, what cooperation actually means in SEC terms versus simply complying with a subpoena, and why the most costly mistake companies make in the early stages of an investigation is failing to get experienced counsel immediately.

They also discuss why the SEC can and does bring strict liability charges where intent is not required and good faith is not a defense, how the Volkswagen case required nearly two years of investigative work including testimonies taken from employees in foreign countries before the charges could be filed, why the strategy of fighting everything and giving the SEC as little as possible almost never works because these are smart lawyers from top firms who know what they are doing, what electronic discovery looks like now compared to sitting in a cold warehouse in South Bend sorting through boxes, and the single most important thing a company can do right now to reduce its SEC risk — starting with tone at the top.

Dan Hayes is a partner at Venable LLP in Chicago, focusing on SEC and government investigations, commercial litigation, and white collar matters.

Connect with Dan Hayes:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 312-820-3434

venable.com

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Dan Hayes

00:48 Prosecuting the SEC's case against Volkswagen and CEO Martin Winterkorn — what it was like from the inside

01:34 The sheer volume of fraud that happens at major companies — and learning quickly not to be naive about it

02:31 Tom Petters, Bernie Madoff, and the Ponzi schemes that came before

03:05 Why he left the SEC after 13 years — timing, age, and the decision to switch sides

04:08 How Venable found him and why the culture and the chance to help build the Chicago office sold him

06:39 The SEC just contacted my company — what do I do in the first 24 hours

07:36 The critical difference between an informal document request and a formal subpoena

08:42 My lawyer told me never talk to the SEC without counsel — does that mean ever

09:49 Is there anything I can do during an active investigation to influence the outcome

10:43 How cooperation — real cooperation — differs from simply complying with a subpoena

12:07 Why his experience inside the SEC gives him an edge on the other side — knowing why they ask what they ask

13:14 What a Wells Notice is and whether it is already too late to change the outcome once you receive one

14:51 The most costly mistake companies make in the early stages of an SEC investigation

16:23 Why the public gets frustrated when companies pay fines but executives walk — and why that frustration is valid

17:57 What the SEC can and cannot do — fines and industry bars but not criminal prosecution

19:26 How electronic discovery has changed — from cold warehouses in South Bend to AI-assisted review

21:21 What cooperation with the SEC actually means and when it is not the right move

24:04 How often senior executives genuinely don't know what lower-level employees are doing

26:48 How the Volkswagen case was ultimately built — two years of investigation and overseas testimonies

28:07 Judge Breyer calling the SEC carrion hawks at the first hearing — and the framed picture that followed

30:03 If a company could do only one thing right now to reduce its SEC risk

31:41 Companies assume good intentions mean the SEC will go away — why that is wrong

32:24 Strict liability charges — where intent is not required and good faith is not a defense

33:27 The strategy of fighting everything and giving the SEC as little as possible — has it ever worked

35:39 The most effective defense lawyers he faced when he was at the SEC — what made them effective

36:35 When does Venable get called in — before a rule is passed, after a subpoena arrives, or mid-litigation

#DanHayes #VenableLLP #SECDefense #TrustcastShow #SECInvestigation #SecuritiesFraud #WhiteCollarDefense #VWEmissionsScandal #WellsNotice #MarchmanAct

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, host Zane Myers sits down with Adam Wasserman, Managing Partner of Education Justice Law Group and co founder of ExamSoft, the bar exam software used in almost every state.

Adam’s story is remarkable. After being told he would never ride a bicycle, play a musical instrument, or graduate high school due to ADHD, dyslexia, and major learning challenges, he spent childhood labeled lazy and not capable. Today, he is a special education attorney who personally attends IEP meetings, has represented over 1,000 families across 150 California school districts, and helped build technology that supports millions of students.

What You’ll Learn

• The moment at age 22 when Zig Ziglar’s voice changed everything

• Growing up being told you are a Chevy Chevette instead of having potential

• The school psychologist who destroyed his faith in public education

• The silver haired former nun who said you will be my success story

• What meta consciousness is and how it helped him break through ADHD and dyslexia

• The metronome method 3.5 hours a day for 6 months that transformed his life

• How music and consistent rhythm taught him to stop thinking and start listening

• Developing ExamSoft after his typewriter broke during the bar exam

• Taking the LSAT from bottom 10 to 15th percentile to top 15th percentile

• The twin brother who became a doctor while others called Adam a failure

• Why he personally attends IEP meetings instead of delegating

• What an IEP is vs a 504 plan and why you should never accept a 504 as a consolation prize

• How special education law creates federal obligations for school districts

• Fee shifting statutes, when districts pay your attorney fees if you win

• Running a social justice law firm with sliding scale fees

• Compensatory education, getting funding for years of services the district did not provide

• What happens when a child reads at 2nd grade level in 11th grade

• Why Adam believes disabilities can become superpowers

• Studying philosophy in Jerusalem and awakening his spiritual antenna

• Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning and finding your why

• Chris Voss and connecting with people who will not listen

• Why Adam believes we all have a purpose bigger than consuming and acquiring

The Big Idea

• Winning in life is not about labels, it is about purpose

• When you connect to why you are here, usually through service to others, everything changes

• Adam’s disabilities became his superpower because they gave him empathy, drive, and insight to help families navigate a broken system

Connect with Adam Wasserman

Education Justice Law Group

• Website: https://www.educationjusticelaw.com

• Address: 26565 W Agoura Rd, Ste 200, Calabasas, CA 91302

Phone Numbers

• San Fernando Valley, LA and Ventura Counties: (818) 570 8024

• East and West Side of Los Angeles: (323) 677 5587

• Northern California and Central Coast: (831) 240 4415

• Statewide Toll Free and San Diego County: (833) 340 9164

Online

• LinkedIn: Adam Wasserman (educationjusticelawgroup)

• Avvo Profile: Adam Wasserman, Clients’ Choice Award 2022

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

00:03 Zig Ziglar You Can Be Anything You Want to Be

01:34 Meta Consciousness The First Ray of Sunlight

02:59 Born to Win What Does That Mean for People Like Us

03:52 I’ve Become Unstoppable

05:00 Growing Up with Learning Challenges Teachers Who Gave Up

06:22 The School Psychologist Who Called Him a Chevy Chevette

08:11 The Silver Haired Nun You Will Be My Success Story

08:52 The Alter Ego Voice Block It Out and Keep Going

09:38 What Is Meta Consciousness Can Anyone Harness It

11:23 The Metronome 3.5 Hours a Day for 6 Months

14:11 How Discipline Emerged from ADD

16:16 Creating ExamSoft The Software That Changed Everything

17:33 The Bar Exam Typewriter Breaking His Mission Born

18:28 Were Your Parents Around to See This Transformation

19:08 Labels That Still Sting I’m 16 Still Getting Over Middle School

20:08 Your Disability Helped You Understand How to Help Everyone

22:07 People Who Said Adam You’re Gonna Be Great

22:33 The Twin Brother Called Dr Wasserman Since Age 8

23:16 What Is an IEP Meeting And Why You Can Bring a Lawyer

26:12 IEP vs Gen Ed The Suburban with 95,000 Miles

28:00 The Financial Side How Families with No Money Get Help

29:16 Fee Shifting Statute Districts Pay If You Win

29:39 You Saved My Child’s Life What That Feels Like

31:32 School Districts and Limited Resources

33:41 Rapid Fire IEP vs 504 Plan Which Do Parents Confuse More

36:36 Why You Should Never Take a 504 as a Consolation Prize

38:17 Favorite Thing Learned Studying Philosophy in Jerusalem

40:33 Chris Voss Connecting with People Who Won’t Listen

41:30 Closing

#SpecialEducation #ADHD #Dyslexia #LearningDisabilities #EducationLaw #IEP #TrustcastShow

What happens when a pediatric ICU nurse who spent years in high-stakes home health settings — training nurses on ventilator troubleshooting, running competency assessments for tracheostomy patients, and then investigating unexpected deaths and abuse allegations as a healthcare administrator — decides that the place she can do the most good is not inside a healthcare company but inside a courtroom, helping attorneys understand what the records are actually telling them and what the records they don't have are hiding?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Angela Barker, founder of Covenant Legal Nurse Consulting in San Antonio, about what happens when an attorney opens 4,000 pages of medical records without a clinical background, why the most dangerous mistake is not misreading what's there but failing to notice what isn't, and what a legal nurse consultant actually produces at the end of a review that a paralegal simply cannot. Angela walks through the wrongful death case of a woman who delivered a stillborn and then bled to death at three distinct missed checkpoints — where the attorney's case turned on a partial autopsy report that stopped at the lungs and never reached the reproductive organs that mattered — and explains how she recognized immediately that the report was incomplete and what it took to get the full record.

They also discuss the competency case where a single piece of admission documentation — the granddaughter signing as medical power of attorney — proved the patient could not have knowingly transferred property and won the case, the case that looked like negligence until the records showed three dozen documented refusals of care from the patient herself, why home health and pediatric cases are fundamentally different from hospital negligence because there is no backup team and the nurse is alone making life-or-death decisions in someone's living room, how she locates and vets expert witnesses including checking license status and publication history, and why the 400,000 government recoupment demand she brought down to zero through documentation recovery and outside-the-box sourcing is the case she is most proud of.

Angela Barker is the founder of Covenant Legal Nurse Consulting, serving attorneys and home health agencies nationwide.

Connect with Angela Barker:

LinkedIn: Angela Barker, RN

San Antonio, Texas (serving clients nationwide remotely)

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Angela Barker

00:42 Running investigations into patient deaths and abuse allegations as a healthcare administrator

01:41 How unexpected death investigations worked in home health — was the nurse present, did they follow emergency protocols

02:51 The competency assessments and lab simulations she ran before sending nurses to high-acuity patients

03:36 Burning out after COVID — staffing shortages, no rate increases, always on call — and the pivot to legal nurse consulting

04:48 Starting the business in 2022, the mentorship program, and joining BNI to build referrals

05:17 Learning to sell to attorneys instead of case managers — the mindset shift required

06:31 An attorney just got 4,000 pages of records — what is the first thing they should do before opening the stack

07:46 What a medical chronology actually is and how it structures the timeline of care

08:23 The most dangerous mistake attorneys make reviewing medical records without clinical background

09:12 What she looks for first in any case — timeline, who was involved, what led up to the injury, what is missing

10:36 The most common missing documents that can make or break a case — autopsy reports, medication records, fetal heart rate reports

12:02 What the attorney receives at the end — the medical chronology, opinions on standard of care, definitions, research

13:32 How long a review takes — approximately 100 pages per hour and what affects that estimate

15:13 From initial conversation to delivery — the intake process, HIPAA compliant SharePoint, contracts, revisions

16:43 The types of cases she sees most and which are most medically complex

18:57 What makes home health and pediatric cases fundamentally different from hospital negligence

20:50 How she locates and vets expert witnesses — LinkedIn searches, license checks, disciplinary history, CV and fee schedule

22:36 What she gives an attorney that a paralegal cannot — knowing what is missing, medication interactions, specialty protocols

24:33 The competency case — the granddaughter signed as medical power of attorney and that single fact won the case

25:54 The wrongful death case — a stillborn delivery, three missed bleeding checkpoints, and a partial autopsy that stopped at the lungs

28:10 Was the partial autopsy intentional concealment

#AngelaBarker #CovenantLegalNurseConsulting #TrustcastShow #LegalNurseConsultant #MedicalMalpractice #MedicalRecordsReview #HomeHealth #HealthcareCompliance #MedMal #NurseConsultant

What happens when a licensed marriage and family therapist who grew up in Los Angeles watching pastors, doctors, nurses, and high achievers give everything they had to the people around them while quietly neglecting themselves decides that the most important thing she can do is teach people how to refill before they run completely dry — and then extends that same mission to third graders who are still young enough to build those habits before they ever need to unlearn the bad ones?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Ash Reynolds, founder of Modern Day Wellness Group, about the difference between regular tiredness and actual burnout, why compassion fatigue is particularly insidious in caregiving and service professions because the people most affected love what they do and would never think to slow down, and why the client who looks like a shining star on the outside — thriving academically, active in student government, playing sports — can be the one most deeply struggling in private. Ash also explains why pastors who preach vulnerability from the pulpit are still people who need rest, and why community is supposed to hold them so they are not the only ones responsible for their own restoration.

They also discuss emotional regulation — what it actually means, why it affects everything from relationships to career trajectories to physical health, and how a 16-year-old's suicidal ideation gradually resolved as he learned to name what was happening inside him and trust that the people around him would lean in and listen — the Wellness for Kids program Ash co-created with Chelsea Ferguson that teaches third graders the stop technique, deep breathing, and the difference between bullying and tattling, including the moment yesterday when a little girl grabbed the microphone and told 50 students the right response to bullying is to fight back and the whole room cheered, and what Ash's five-year vision looks like — clinicians under her license, school districts running the program at scale, an app that makes emotional regulation tools available to every child regardless of whether their parents can afford therapy.

Ash Reynolds is a licensed marriage and family therapist and founder of Modern Day Wellness Group in Los Angeles, California.

Connect with Ash Reynolds:

moderndaywellness.org

Psychology Today: search Ashinee Reynolds

Wellness for Kids: wellness4kids.org

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Ash Reynolds

00:55 Growing up in LA watching ministry leaders, doctors, and nurses run on empty — and realizing burnout was the problem she was meant to solve

01:51 How do I know if it's burnout or just regular tiredness — the difference in that feeling of going through the motions

02:42 Compassion fatigue versus burnout — why they are similar and which one is more specific to service professions

03:08 If you love what you do, how can you still have compassion fatigue — the nurse who forgets to eat

03:54 What Ash actually does with her clients — one on one, the basics people forget when they are too busy

05:08 Why pastors and ministry leaders resist admitting they are struggling even when they preach vulnerability

05:52 Her current practice — one on one therapy, the Wellness for Kids launch, and the workshop she hosted yesterday

06:58 What emotional regulation actually means and why it matters

08:03 Wellness for Kids — the curriculum, what it covers, and why it was created

09:38 The program components — emotional regulation, bullying versus tattling, physical wellness, and mindfulness

10:09 Bullying versus tattling — why both words sound pejorative and what the distinction actually teaches kids

11:14 A success story from individual therapy — the 16-year-old who looked like a shining star and was quietly struggling with suicidal ideation

13:09 How he ended up in her care — referrals, and why word of mouth is the best marketing

14:00 Yesterday's Wellness for Kids workshop — the little girl who grabbed the microphone and told 50 students to fight back

15:44 How the Wellness for Kids program reaches schools and who pays for it — right now nobody does

17:11 Is the goal to turn Wellness for Kids into a business or keep it as a sidelight

17:51 What the five-year vision looks like — clinicians under her license, school districts, an app, and parent training

19:14 Her own story — Belize, St. Louis, Los Angeles, being told she would never get into Pepperdine, and why she believes mentors change everything

20:41 Where Modern Day Wellness Group is in five years — Wellness for Kids as a subsector, referrals into therapy, parent training layered in

21:44 The compassion fatigue workshop at Harvard — what surprised her about how the audience received it

22:42 Healing expands when we work together — what that phrase actually means in practice

#AshReynolds #ModernDayWellness #TrustcastShow #CompassionFatigue #EmotionalRegulation #WellnessForKids #BurnoutPrevention #TherapistLA #MFT #ChildWellness

What happens when a psychiatric social worker who spent 12 years inside the mental health system before going to law school teams up with a former Philadelphia DA prosecutor who took 60 jury trials to verdict, got nominated to the Chester County bench by two separate governors, and sat in every division of the Court of Common Pleas — and they both end up at one of the oldest law firms in Pennsylvania doing what they each love most?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with John McKenna and Lou Mincarelli of MacElree Harvey about the full landscape of what they do — from Orphan's Court will contests and guardianships for incapacitated adults to criminal defense and civil litigation — and why the collaborative arbitration model John pioneered is quietly changing how families and businesses resolve disputes in the Delaware Valley. Lou explains what collaborative arbitration actually is — a hybrid where parties still participate and present their case like in mediation, but the arbitrator can make a binding decision at the end if the parties cannot reach agreement themselves — and why knowing that the arbitrator can step in and decide actually tends to push parties toward resolution faster than either pure mediation or traditional arbitration alone.

They also discuss what actually happens inside a police interrogation room and why police are legally permitted to lie to suspects, why Miranda rights only kick in during custodial interrogation and not at the moment of arrest, what the one conversation families refuse to have that costs them the most in estate disputes — communicating the reasons behind their estate plan while they are still alive — what Lou's biggest pet peeve was in his courtroom when attorneys repeatedly broke the rules of civility, why 60 jury trials taught him that you can never take any particular set of facts for granted with a jury, and why the cost of preparing for trial is the thing clients almost never factor in when they refuse to consider mediation or arbitration.

John McKenna and Lou Mincarelli are partners at MacElree Harvey, one of Pennsylvania's oldest and most respected law firms, serving clients across Southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland.

Connect with John McKenna and Lou Mincarelli:

maceleeharvey.com

West Chester, Pennsylvania

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to John McKenna and Lou Mincarelli of MacElree Harvey

00:38 First impressions — the judge meets the psychiatric social worker turned litigator

01:44 Lou's background — crime victim advocate, Philadelphia DA, 60 jury trials, two appointments to the bench

03:20 What Lou practices at MacElree Harvey — criminal, civil, family court, and mediation

04:40 What Orphan's Court actually is and why it is unique to Pennsylvania

05:27 John's role — wills, trusts, guardianships, and court-appointed mediator in Orphan's Court

06:52 My parent just died and the will is completely different from what we were always told — what is the first move

07:41 How mediation works in will contest cases and why it is usually resolved in one day

08:48 Why both mediation and arbitration exist — uncertainty, cost, time, and the risk of losing a case you should have won

10:42 Caucusing — separating parties and doing the arm twisting in separate rooms

11:50 The arbitrator explaining the difference between mediation and arbitration

15:18 Collaborative arbitration explained — putting people back in the process with a binding backstop

17:23 Is collaborative arbitration unique to Pennsylvania or to John's practice

18:25 The key advantage of collaborative arbitration — parties know how the arbitrator is leaning in real time

20:18 How arbitration differs from a jury trial — the cost and time savings explained

22:15 I just got arrested — what are the first two things I should do before saying a single word

22:35 Why police are legally permitted to lie to suspects and how interrogation tactics actually work

24:47 The misconception about Miranda rights — they only apply during custodial interrogation

25:55 When to speak and when not to speak — including federal grand jury subpoenas

27:27 Lou took 60 jury trials to verdict — what do juries most consistently misunderstand

28:42 How model jury instructions work in Pennsylvania and why attorneys have to hammer the law home in plain language

29:42 Can a judge overrule a jury — when and how

31:02 What happens when something prejudicial slips into a trial and whether a mistrial is the answer

32:25 Rapid fire — John on Sunday mornings, Lou on prosecution versus defense

33:27 The one conversation families refuse to have that causes the most estate disasters

#JohnMcKenna #LouMincarelli #MacElreeHarvey #TrustcastShow #CollaborativeArbitration #OrphansCourt #WillContest #CriminalDefense #ChesterCountyLaw #PennsylvaniaLaw