Trial Lawyers College พอดคาสต์

In today’s episode, Rafe takes the opportunity to interview Tim Baker as he anticipates being a juror. Rafe walks Tim through the basics of being a juror, what to expect, and how to prepare.

As a leading Spokane, Washington Attorney, Karen Lindholdt has been a successful advocate for the injured and wrongfully accused for the past 27 years. TLC graduate Karen Lindholdt discusses the experience of being a woman representing men accused of sexual assault. Karen discusses the TLC methods that helped her and the difficulties that come with…

Join our special holiday interview with Valerie Malone as she discusses the season of giving. Valerie and Rafe exchange stories of good tidings and cheer.

TLC President John Sloan joins the podcast to examine the importance of taking time away from work to strengthen your skills of being a trial lawyer. John and Rafe discuss how participating in various TLC programs can grow and stretch you as a trial lawyer.

“It’s integrity. If you don’t have integrity in your thoughts, it’s going to show. You’re going to come across as fake, and nobody wants to be associated with that.” Victoria Rusk, a mitigation specialist and investigator from Houston, TX, credits the Trial Lawyers College’s In Defense of the Damned program with giving her the tools that enhance he…

“It is the idea of just being yourself and connecting and being genuine and not just pretending to be genuine but being actually genuine...see how that actually works.” This fall, former prosecutor Adam Murray enjoyed training at the Trial Lawyers College intensive five-day course in Shambhala, Colorado. Although he is not yet a TLC graduate, he de…

“Lawyers get bogged down in minutiae and facts. The facts are important. The facts are the latticework upon which you hang the flesh of your case, and the flesh of your case is going to be the principles, the values, the emotion, the feelings, the betrayal; those types of things are what make a case relatable to a jury.” This week, Kenny Adair, for…

“You’ve got to understand who your audience is really is. What are the morals of your jury? Once you understand their morals and whether they’re liberal or conservative, and you tailor your opening statement towards that, you’re well on your way to getting the verdict that you want.” In this episode of the TLC Podcast, host Rafe Foreman meets with …

“If the cancer is a wake-up call to spend the rest of my life—however long I have—to live a life with more quality and being more genuine, I’m not thinking that’s too unfair.” This episode of the TLC Podcast features Laurie Goodman, the beloved executive director of the Trial Lawyers College, who speaks with host Rafe Foreman about her April 2021 d…

“We are in a different mindset than our clients are. Even that is a barrier because, at that point, we don’t see the context where our client comes from.” This week’s TLC podcast features trial lawyer Pat Montes, who offers a thought-provoking look at how language and culture impact a lawyer’s relationships with their clients. Bringing to the table…

“There are people who do bad things, but I’ve never met anybody who I felt was just a bad person.” Continuing our series on ‘Reconstructing Success,’ California Public Defender Emily Fisher explores the ways that trial lawyers can intentionally improve injustices and inefficiencies in the justice system. As she guides listeners through her blueprin…

“When we tell good stories, the listeners engage.” This week, host Rafe Foreman meets with accomplished civil trial lawyer Scott Glovsky to explore his methods of successfully conveying the emotion behind his clients’ stories to the jury. A passionate advocate for individuals who’ve faced unjust denials by their health insurance companies, Scott de…

“There are so many people who have incredible talents that are going to waste because they’ve been excluded. It’s not hard to find if you just open your eyes….and when we see it, we need to use our position of power and privilege in the groups and organizations that we’re leading to elevate that talent and allow them to have the space to shine.” Th…

John Sloan hosts the TLC Podcast this week to interview Rafe Foreman and partner attorney Susan Hutchison on the incredible verdict the two trial lawyers won in a groundbreaking and unconventional gender discrimination case. Listen along as Rafe and Susan describe how they successfully conveyed their 72-year-old client’s story to the jury after a f…

“Everything I need to know I learned in psychodrama. I remind myself to listen with my heart, tune into the emotions -- not just the words -- be open, be honest, and be kind because we have more in common than we’ll ever know...and to be fearless because no matter how alone we’re feeling, we are never alone and our TLC group -- every single one of …

“Do something to make someone else’s day better. If we all do that, every day, we’ll change the world.” This week, Washington attorney Mark Wagner continues our ‘Restructuring Success’ series with a refreshing take on the true meaning of success. Channeling the core message of the Trial Lawyers College, Mark argues that success is all in how we tre…

“Success is really subjective, and I think that’s okay. The only thing that I need to do to live truthfully is to define the things that are important to me and let the rest burn. What’s scarier -- disappointing people or thinking, at the end of the day, what kind of life could I have had if I had just been a little bit braver?” This week, Ilinois …

“The storytelling potential in this case was off the charts because of the lengths the defense was going to go to to avoid the truth.” In this podcast, Eric Fong joins host Rafe Foreman to share, in captivating detail, the extraordinary story of how he and his client defied all odds to obtain a $91 million verdict in a recent personal injury trial.…

“Always be willing to be flexible -- don’t get so married to your methodologies that you can’t change those, too. It is in preparation and hard work but it’s also in willing to be open to the ideas of others.” This week, Todd Kelly of Austin, Texas, joins host Rafe Foreman to kick off our new podcast series titled ‘Reconstructing Success’ with an e…

“For me, getting this opportunity with this scholarship, the biggest thing is spreading the message to go and get the vaccine.” On this week’s podcast, high school freshman Jack Lucchesi and his mother, Bridget Lucchesi, join host Rafe Foreman. Jack is one of the first ten winners selected in New York State's College Scholarship raffle for vaccinat…

“I decided that I should do something I don’t normally do, and that’s reverse roles with a defense attorney and try to figure out where they’re coming from and how their lives have changed. So, I was trying to get personally involved with defense attorneys, not just in the case but in their actual lives...” On this week’s podcast, Conroe, TX trial …

“The plaintiff’s practice can be very lonely. I think that loneliness has been a bit amplified by being inside, cooped up, and not able to communicate and build relationships like we were meant to. The pandemic has caused an amplification of those relationships gone silent.” On this week’s podcast, Kansas City trial attorney Brian McCallister joins…

“Judges are just like us -- they’re egocentric, they think with their own minds, they speak with their own heart, and they bring a lifetime of experiences as a human and as a previous lawyer to the bench.” This riveting podcast features former Oklahoma judge Kenny Adair, now a criminal and civil trial lawyer, who gives his unique perspective on the…

“I’m one of those types of people that wants to be all things all the time, and what I’m learning is you can’t be all things all the time. It’s just not possible. That’s how you wind up burned out and really of no use to anybody.” Continuing our theme of ‘Managing in Tough Times’ is Kahlie Hoffman, a Kansas City-based personal injury trial lawyer w…

“There are some people who have not had an opportunity to represent a gay client or a member of a minority group, and there may be some biases there. Before proper representation can be done, I think that a person needs to sit with themselves and try to overcome those biases or really truthfully address them and see if they’re going to play into th…

“I want widows to know that once they have loved someone so deeply and been loved, it will come again. Nobody should live without love, and they don’t have to.” This podcast features California attorney Samantha Berryessa, who continues our ‘Managing in Tough Times’ series with a moving account of her experience navigating grief before and after th…

“We need to communicate with our eyes more, whether it’s to your spouse or the jury on voir dire or to your client.” In this week’s episode of the TLC podcast, civil lawyer Chandler Loupe joins host Rafe Foreman in a contentious discussion around the unique challenges faced by trial lawyers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sharing his experience as a …

“In order for me to do a trial right now, I need to prepare extra-special. It’s sort of like an extended warm-up to get my head in the right spot.” This week’s podcast features Jason Savela, a criminal defense lawyer with more than two decades of experience trying cases to juries in Colorado. Continuing our theme of “Managing in Tough Times,” Jason…

“I didn’t want anyone to see me as I really am. I thought they would reject me. That’s why, in the beginning, I worked so hard to walk perfectly -- I didn’t want anyone to see my weakness. But it was only when I was willing to let people inside and to see that is when I began to be comfortable with it as well.” Continuing our ‘Managing in Tough Tim…

“We need to see the things that are happening—the changes, the protocols, the restructuring of how this is all working—as opportunities and to find ways to embrace them and make them part of how you present your case.” This timely podcast features Texas trial lawyer Susan Hutchison, who discusses how the COVID-19 era has hindered the efficacy of th…

“It’s not just the words that I say, but do I honor the words that you say?” This continuation of our ‘Words Matter’ series features Dana Cole, an associate professor of law at the University of Akron School of Law, who shares his thoughts on the power and components of an impactful story and the art of mindful listening. This refreshing approach t…

“I win because I’m the person who cares the most in the courtroom, not because I know the most.” This week’s podcast features Kiesha Cannon, a captivating voice for the vulnerable and the accused, who shares her insight into the simple secrets behind effective communication and connection both in and out of the courtroom. Drawing from her equally-i…

“The whole point of psychodrama is to tell the story, and the ways that lawyers have incorporated this method to tell their client’s story with such love and interest and time and attention is one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever seen another human being give another human being.” This week’s podcast continues our ‘Words Matter’ series with Jody And…

“They always told us in Tennessee, ‘Great songs aren’t written — they’re re-written.’ I think that saying could apply for us in our work as trial lawyers.” In this multifaceted episode of the TLC podcast, host Rafe Foreman is joined by singer/songwriter and trial attorney Sam Wooden to continue our ‘Words Matter’ series. Offering his perspective on…

“How do you know that words matter? You know because they make you feel something.” In this continuation of our podcast series titled Words Matter, Los Angeles Public Defender Kim Savo shares her insight into the connection between poetry and the presentation of a compelling opening statement. A wordsmith by nature and a passionate advocate for the…

“As advocates in the courtroom, the truth carries the day, and we have the obligation to seek the truth, to speak the truth, and to correct lies and misstatements when they’re in violation of the truth.” In this first installment of our four-part series titled ‘Words Matter’, host Rafe Foreman takes the mic to introduce the why behind this pressing…

“Our great-grandfather stood to fulfill a sacred duty...to do more than he ever thought he may have been capable of doing...at a particular time in the existence of the world for the survival of generations of all of us to come. The warriors that stand in courtrooms today—with their hand on a vulnerable, suffering person or their families—are doing…

“It’s not going to be a straight line from here to a better world, but what other choice do we have?” This unconventional episode of the TLC podcast features Bernie Cantorna, a Centre County, Pennsylvania District Attorney who served on the TLC faculty from 1997 to 2016. As he catches up with host Rafe Foreman, Bernie explains why he chose to becom…

“We have a real power right now to change the world we live in and leave it better for the generations to come, but we must come at it from a place of love. We have to be brave enough to be the light.” In the fourth and final installment of our podcast series titled “What Do Trial Lawyers Do?” TLC graduate and faculty member Jacqui Ford offers a st…

“Fighting is an end in itself if the cause is right, so you’ve got to keep fighting. Even if you aren’t having success at times, you’ve got to stick with it.” In this third installment of our series titled ‘What Do Trial Lawyers Do?’, host Rafe Foreman explores the ins and outs of practicing civil rights law with Albuquerque, NM attorney Zackeree K…

“Part of being a trial lawyer is being a good investigator — getting out of the office, visiting clients, visiting the scene, visiting witnesses, talking to people — and getting the evidence you need for your cases.” In this second installation of our podcast series titled ‘What do trial lawyers do?’ host Rafe Foreman chats with Kansas City civil l…

“We help the people that have been neglected, left out, and desperate, and we give them life when everybody else has left them for dead.” In this first installment of our four-part series titled ‘What Do Trial Lawyers Do?’ TLC graduate and faculty member Patrick McLain shares the intricacies, peculiarities, and triumphs of being a military trial la…

“The most important thing to help people in the system is to address their thinking errors, and this all starts with their limiting, permission-granting beliefs and values about drug use or criminal thinking and conduct. There will be no long-term behavior changes without this work being done.” In this week’s podcast, host Rafe Foreman sits down wi…

“We might be on different sides of a bridge but we’re both human. We can get closer on that bridge than we ever thought possible if we truly open up and try to listen and hear each other and find something in ourselves that connects with what that person has just said. You’d be surprised that we have more in common than we have different.” In this …

“The newspaper quoted, ‘the defendant hugged his lawyer after the verdict was read.’ That’s the relationship we had, and you only get there by caring about your client.” In this week’s episode, TLC graduate and faculty member Jerry Bosch guides host Rafe Foreman through the ways in which the TLC methods helped obtain a not guilty verdict on an atte…

“They’re people who made a mistake. If you’re willing to put in the time and hold their hand through the process, they’ll never forget that.” In this week’s podcast, Sarah Toney, a criminal defense specialist and TLC faculty member, discusses the world of DWI/DUI and the interplay between the TLC methods in both trial and pretrial settings. As a na…

Chris Trundy, a TLC faculty member from Massachusetts, discusses the delicate and powerful issue of institutional racism in the United States court system and the crossroads between civil prosecution of these claims and the TLC methods. Standing among the top trial lawyers and psychodrama experts in America, Chris’ career took off in the early 90s …

In this riveting interview, TLC alum and faculty member Max Mitchell draws upon his extensive experience representing Missouri’s most vulnerable criminal defendants to passionately and earnestly identify the good, the bad, and the ugly in the criminal justice system. As a district public defender in Sedalia, Missouri, Max represents individuals wit…

TLC alum Greg Antollino (TLC July 2003) discusses his recent Supreme Court victory, in which the SCOTUS ruled that employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is prohibited under federal civil rights laws. Greg's client was dismissed by his employer after a customer complained that he revealed his sexual orientat…

In this wide-ranging interview, TLC faculty member and former TLC Board member Mel Orchard lends his wisdom, knowledge, and experience to the issue of Civil Rights and qualified immunity. Mel has served as a trial lawyer for over 27 years, and his passion for his work still burns bright. Here he discusses his concerns about efforts underway to furt…