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

#AmyMariani #MarianiMediation #Mediator #Arbitrator #AlternativeDisputeResolution #EmploymentMediation #BusinessMediation #TrustcastShow #MassachusettsADR #ConflictResolution

What happens when a young associate trained by the Dean of Chicago Defense Attorneys — the man who represented R. Kelly and Rod Blagojevich — decides to bet on himself and launch his own federal criminal defense firm?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Vadim Glozman, founder of Glozman Law in Chicago, about the full acquittal he won for R. Kelly's former business partner Darryl McDavid on every count after five weeks of federal trial, why he almost never fights the facts and instead reframes what they mean, and what the first 24 hours should look like when someone learns they're being investigated by the DOJ. Vadim explains how his mentor Eddie Jensen changed the way he reads a courtroom, why federal conviction rates above 90% don't scare him, and why talking to a federal agent without a lawyer is one of the most dangerous things an innocent person can do.

They also discuss the internet's most notorious spammer who walked away with time served when prosecutors asked for 12 to 14 years, how storytelling at sentencing can matter more than anything that happens at trial, what it's like to represent someone you were already friends with when they get indicted, and why after every verdict — win or lose — he still spends two or three days overthinking how it could have gone differently.

Vadim Glozman is the founder of Glozman Law in Chicago, Illinois, a federal criminal defense and white collar crime firm. Chambers USA has recognized him in their Spotlight rankings for white collar crime in Illinois for two consecutive years.

Connect with Vadim Glozman:

glozmanlaw.com

Phone: 312-726-9015

LinkedIn: Vadim Glozman

Chicago, Illinois

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Vadim Glozman

00:53 Interning at Cook County State's Attorney and walking out wanting to defend people

01:34 Eddie Jensen's courtroom theatrics and the most outrageous thing Vadim saw

02:20 The single best lesson Jensen drilled into him — reframing facts without changing them

03:00 Why his approach to going to trial is different from Jensen's

04:02 Taking the R. Kelly co-defendant case and why it was never going to settle

04:41 The note that made the team fear the worst — and the verdict that followed

05:23 Do lawyers ever get to talk to jurors after trial

06:07 How much time he spends on jury selection and what he's really trying to do

07:07 Why federal prosecutors have their ducks in a row compared to state

07:48 A real world example of winning by reframing — the gun that wasn't brought to the deal

09:22 The bear hug in the courtroom when McDavid was acquitted

10:11 Building personal relationships with clients and why the McDavid case was different

11:06 The actual charges against Darryl McDavid and how they connected to the 2008 R. Kelly trial

13:07 The almost unheard of $850,000 attorney fee motion against the prosecution

13:38 Rapid fire questions including My Cousin Vinny and pop punk music

15:01 Federal conviction rates above 90% — the first 48 hours after a DOJ target letter

15:46 White collar crime versus violent crime — how preparation is different

16:36 Mock trials and the new AI simulation tools he's intrigued by

16:54 Getting the internet's most notorious spammer sentenced to time served

17:27 How much of criminal defense is storytelling

18:12 The Peter Levashov cyber crime case and what made it famous

18:53 The biggest mistake people make in the first 24 hours after learning they're under investigation

19:30 Going from Jensen's firm to launching Glozman Law

20:14 What the first week was like and the business reality of running a firm

20:35 How clients come in — results, communication, and word of mouth

21:29 Chambers Spotlight ranking for white collar crime in Illinois

21:52 The mix of clients across white collar and other federal crimes

23:29 What being on trial costs him personally — and why his wife was happy he was in Cleveland

25:33 What keeps him up at night before a verdict

26:38 How to reach Vadim Glozman

#VadimGlozman #GlozmanLaw #FederalCriminalDefense #RKelly #DarrylMcDavid #ChicagoDefenseLawyer #WhiteCollarCrime #TrustcastShow #EddieJensen #FederalAcquittal

What happens when a patent attorney who got his wake-up call staring at a 47-page office action at 3 a.m. decides to teach himself Python, machine learning, and blockchain development — and then builds a proprietary AI called Abigail to handle the 70% of his work that delivered zero value to clients?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Roger Hahn, founder of Haunan Associates in Washington DC, about what it actually means to run a next-generation patent law firm, how he built an AI architecture that prevents hallucinations by design, why most attorneys using general-purpose AI are inadvertently destroying attorney-client privilege, and why Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey are wrong about patents being dead.

They also discuss the Dentons-style landmine problem of freedom to operate, how blockchain could turn patents into a licensing machine, what China was really doing in Shenzhen research parks 15 years ago, the new Project Glasswing from Anthropic and why a major infrastructure attack using AI is coming, and why the patent system doesn't need to be abolished — it just needs to be accelerated.

Roger Hahn is the founder of Haunan Associates, a patent and IP law firm in Washington DC, and creator of Abigail, a proprietary AI system built for patent prosecution. He holds a JD, MBA from Columbia, and MS from Johns Hopkins.

Connect with Roger Hahn:

Haunan Associates

Washington, DC

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Roger Hahn

01:04 The 3 a.m. office action that changed everything — and the birth of Abigail

03:16 How the name Abigail was born — Artificial BIG AI Lawyer

04:07 What pulled him into patent law from biomedical engineering

05:28 Five years at big firms, then hanging his own shingle in 2006

06:54 His first client — a Korean inventor who didn't know he didn't speak Korean

08:28 Patent trolls, submarine patents, and the freedom to operate problem

10:01 Willful infringement and treble damages — why FTO is a business survival tool

11:58 IBM Columbia Blockchain Accelerator and the licensing machine idea

14:41 Blockchain as a patent assignment and licensing ledger

16:08 Patenting DNA testing systems and building genomic deep learning classifiers

18:21 What his proprietary AI does that traditional patent software does not

20:15 Why general purpose AI hallucinations are catastrophic in patent prosecution

22:05 The architectural bifurcation that keeps Abigail's data layer pristine

24:22 Is Abigail a real product and how does the credit-based model work

26:41 Why he is the Antichrist of SaaS software

27:03 Who his AI product solves problems for and exactly what it automates

29:03 Why he pursued ISO 27001 — and the New York court ruling that killed privilege on LLMs

30:46 How opposing counsel finds out you used an LLM in discovery

32:19 Rapid fire questions

34:03 Project Glasswing, Anthropic's Methos model, and why a cyberattack using AI is coming

36:34 OpenClaw, AI-to-AI communication, and what was actually happening

43:39 Bitcoin or Ethereum — which still matters

45:14 What a typical client engagement looks like across corporate, startup, and solo inventors

49:52 The most common mistakes companies make with their IP portfolios

52:24 How to protect IP when selling into China — a story from a Shenzhen research park

56:19 Who Roger's ideal client is

59:23 Why patents are not cooked — and why the system just needs to be accelerated with AI

#RogerHahn #HaunanAssociates #PatentLaw #AIPatentProsecution #BlockchainIP #FreedomToOperate #TrustcastShow #PatentAttorney #AbigailAI #NextGenerationLaw

What happens when a woman who survived sexual assault, an arranged marriage, and a traumatic divorce spends 25 years watching her clients repeat the same emotional spiral she lived through — and then decides to build something the legal system never could?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Poonam Bhuchar, divorce strategist and founder of the SAFE Method, about why the divorce system is fundamentally broken, why most people wait far too long to get help, and what it actually costs — emotionally and financially — when you let anger drive your divorce. Poonam shares how she went from a corporate immigration practice and family law firm to becoming the strategist that KTLA, Fox, and Pfizer's Women's Resource Group all called first, and why she believes if you've already hired your attorney, you may be too late.

They also discuss the four steps of the SAFE Method — Stop, Accept, Forgive, Embrace — why self-forgiveness is the one that surprises people most, what golden divorce looks like for couples over 50, how Poonam helped a client win the custody schedule she wanted without spending tens of thousands in legal fees, and the wheelchair blanket she invented after watching her mother come home from a brain hemorrhage with nothing dignified to cover her.

Poonam Bhuchar is the founder of EmotionallySafe.com and creator of the SAFE Method. She is a licensed attorney in New Jersey and California, a TEDx speaker, and a co-author with Les Brown. She can be reached at emotionallysafe.com.

Connect with Poonam Bhuchar:

emotionallysafe.com

Instagram: @emotionally_safe

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Poonam Bhuchar

00:58 Growing up in London with Indian parents and an arranged marriage

02:23 What kept showing up in divorce court that the legal system couldn't fix

03:46 What accountability really means when a marriage falls apart

05:22 The single biggest thing the divorce system gets wrong

06:53 From corporate immigration to divorce strategist — how it happened

09:10 Why January is divorce month and what the phone looks like then

09:57 The SAFE Method — Stop, Accept, Forgive, Embrace

11:14 What her practice actually looks like today

13:51 How she saved a client thousands by catching a missed motion for support

15:27 Her client base — executives and professionals across the US

16:03 Arbitration and mediation for divorce

16:19 The three types of forgiveness and which one surprises people most

18:35 How the SAFE Method applies to corporate burnout

21:24 Her TEDx talk and the moment everything changed

23:00 What she works on first with a high net worth executive mid-divorce

25:22 How her coaching and strategy model works — not hourly, flat rate

28:04 The golden divorce — couples over 50 splitting up after 25 to 30 years

30:17 Helping clients find therapists and other support alongside the strategy

31:39 Which phase of divorce do most people wait too long to get help with

32:15 Rapid fire questions

34:25 How she ended up co-authoring with Les Brown

34:36 The wheelchair blanket — inventing Cozy Wheels after her mother's brain hemorrhage

37:03 Time management, calendar blocking, and how she handles when things go off track

39:56 The couples retreat concept and what it was built to accomplish

40:37 What to do first if you're dreading another day in your marriage

#PoonamBhuchar #SAFEMethod #DivorceStrategist #EmotionallySafe #DivorceCoach #GoldenDivorce #TrustcastShow #CozyWheels #DivorceSupport #FamilyLaw

What happens when a kid from Utica who argued with every teacher in high school founds the first mock trial team at his college, trains at one of the most selective trial programs in the country, and then launches a firm from a 10-by-10 office with no secretary, no marketing budget, and no roadmap — and grows it into one of the fastest growing law firms in the nation?

In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Nick Passalacqua, founder of Passalacqua & Associates in Utica, New York, about what it really took to build a criminal defense and personal injury firm from scratch, how he secured what is believed to be the largest playground liability settlement in New York state history at $3.2 million, and why doing murder trials in New York with no depositions makes civil trial work look easy by comparison.

They also discuss what he learned at the Jeffrey Feiger Trial Practice Institute that law school never taught him, how he uses courtroom technology to hold a jury's hand through complex evidence, the trial development program he built to train the next generation of attorneys, and the father and son who showed up unannounced at his office after his client got out of prison — to thank him for saving his life.

Nick Passalacqua is the founder of Passalacqua & Associates, a criminal defense and personal injury firm with offices in Utica and Syracuse, New York. The firm can be reached at cnytriallaw.com, 315-500-NICK or 877-TRIALLAW.

Connect with Nick Passalacqua:

cnytriallaw.com

Phone: 315-500-NICK or 877-TRIALLAW

Utica and Syracuse, New York

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Nick Passalacqua

00:55 Mock trial in high school and founding the first team at Sacred Heart University

01:46 Playing Division I football and running a mock trial team at the same time

02:08 Getting into the Jeffrey Feiger Trial Practice Institute at Michigan State

04:10 Clerking for a Supreme Court justice and leaving a Utica firm with no plan

05:17 The first two weeks of solo practice — and the phone call about rent

06:42 Growing the firm through word of mouth with no marketing budget

07:26 The most awkward part of being a solo — talking about fees

08:45 Named 36th fastest growing law firm in the nation based on revenue growth

10:11 The trial lawyer development program from undergraduate intern to courtroom

12:47 How he spends his time now — 75% management, 25% practice

13:54 Criminal and personal injury attorneys staying specialized in separate silos

15:36 The $3.2 million playground liability settlement and how it happened

17:53 How courtroom technology changed the outcome of a murder trial

20:55 Why criminal trial work is harder than civil trial work

23:01 The biggest misconception people have about what a trial attorney does

24:15 Rapid fire questions

25:50 Over 1,500 criminal defense cases — the one that stays with him most

28:38 Why father is listed first on his LinkedIn headline

29:37 His youngest daughter diagnosed with stage four cancer at seven weeks old

30:24 How to reach Passalacqua and Associates

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