Trial Guides Founder Aaron DeShaw Wins $77.5M Verdict in Amputation Case

Trial Guides is announcing a new customer success story for one of the largest personal injury verdicts of 2023.

Trial Guides Founder Aaron DeShaw has obtained a $77.5 million verdict in a recent amputation case using multiple influences from Trial Guides. His $77.5 million compensatory damages verdict is the largest personal injury verdict in Oregon history, and believed to be the highest single leg amputation verdict in the United States.  As with other customer success stories, we asked Aaron for some insights on how he obtained the verdict that might help other Trial Guides customers.

Read more

Deeper Cuts Book Review

Reviewed by Ezra Smith  Originally published in the Spring 2022 issue of ATLA Docket, a quarterly publication from the Arkansas Trial Lawyer Associ...
Read more

$91 Million Verdict on $25k Offer

A verdict from Eric Fong, Port Orchard, Washington A man named Will walks into a convenience store for a Gatorade. Unbeknownst to him, the store is...
Read more
Trial Guides Author Rick Friedman Obtains $185 Million Jury Verdict

Trial Guides Author Rick Friedman Obtains $185 Million Jury Verdict

Trial Guides author Rick Friedman has obtained a $185,000,000 trial verdict against Monsanto in PCB litigation.

A Friedman Rubin, PLLP trial team led by Rick FriedmanHenry Jones, and Sean Gamble obtained a $185 Million Dollar verdict today in the case of Erickson et. al. v. Monsanto. The case involved three public school teachers who sued Monsanto and its corporate successors for poisoning teachers, students and parents who attended Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, Washington between 2011 and 2016. The three teachers were the first plaintiffs to reach trial against Monsanto from a group of over 200 teachers, students and parents exposed to leaking PCB ballasts in fluorescent light fixtures at the school. The verdict follows years of hard-fought litigation between Monsanto, now owned by Bayer Pharmaceuticals, and a group of parents, students and teachers who would just not give up in their quest for justice.

Read more
10 Tips on Conducting a Winning Cross Examination

10 Tips on Conducting a Winning Cross Examination

What you learned in law school and most CLEs about cross examination won't help you much because much of what is taught is long outdated, ineffective, and potentially dangerous for your case.  In this in-depth dive into cross examination we address historical teachings on cross examination, why they are no longer relevant, and  how new methods will help you succeed in deposition, arbitration and trial. This article is intended to help everyone from law students to 40 year veteran trial lawyers. 
Read more
$9.5 Million Verdict after Two Day Trial with Limited Voir Dire & Opening

$9.5 Million Verdict after Two Day Trial with Limited Voir Dire & Opening

A $9.5 million judgment was awarded on April 23, in a wrongful death case in Hampden County, Massachusetts. The trial team consisted of Nicholas Rowley and Benjamin Novotny of Trial Lawyers for Justice and Charlotte Glinka and Karen Zahka of Keches Law Group, P.C.

Trial attorney Nick Rowley was kind enough to share a few details from the case:

Read more
Polarizing the Case Rick Friedman Trial Guides

Calling the Defense Expert's Bluff

In "Polarizing the Case: Exposing & Defeating the Malingering Myth," Friedman provides what he calls "a guidebook for wrapping the malingering defense around the defense lawyer's neck and strangling him with it."
Read more
Advanced Depositions - Trial Guides

Settle Your Case with Advance Depositions

With over 99% of civil legal cases settling before jury verdict, Trial Guides asked some of its authors to comment about how their book can be used...
Read more
Becoming a Trial Lawyer: Forget Playing it Safe

Becoming a Trial Lawyer: Forget Playing it Safe

The way to play it safe in law school was to raise and explain every possible issue. If five arguments supported a particular result, you had better discuss them all. Civil and criminal classes support this type of issue spotting, and some law firms believe this works in litigation. But, this law school training works against you at trial.

Read more
Becoming a Trial Lawyer: Trying your First Case

Becoming a Trial Lawyer: Trying your First Case

Trial lawyers have no established standards for determining when someone is ready to try a case. As you wrestle with the question of whether you are ready, remember that this awkward situation is not a result of any inadequacy on your part—the profession has let you down.
Read more
Trial in Action by Rick Friedman - Trial Guides

Becoming a Trial Lawyer: Beyond Technique

Lawyers with nearly flawless technique can lose case after case, while lawyers who appear clumsy and bumbling can win repeatedly. To be a good trial lawyer, be willing and able to give yourself to the jury. Not the self you wish you were or the self you think the jury might wish you were, but your actual self, the part of you that is scared, angry, or tired and the part of you that feels the justness of your case.
Read more

$13.3 Million Verdict During COVID-19 Using From Hostage to Hero

Plaintiffs’ attorney Chris Madeksho shared with us strategies from From Hostage to Hero that he used to win the case:

Sari’s book helped me organize my voir dire so that I could examine the panel in an organized way given the time constraints (30 minutes per panel) that parties were given. Further, Sari’s book gave clear advice on how to “make it about the jury” by using their language and their ideas in opening and closing. The jury “got it” because of this advice.

Read more