Trial Lawyer's College Success Stories

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update – Rescheduled Course Dates, 2021 Schedule

September 2020 3-Week College July 2020 College applicants do not have to resubmit an application to be considered for the September 2020 College. We will roll those over for you. September 2020 College applicants have until May 26 to fill out and submit an application. There is no time like the present to submit your application or encourage your colleagues to do so, while you are at home and have more time to be reflective and thoughtful with your answers. Grad 1, Grad 2 and Indigent Representation Students who have been accepted to Grad 1, Grad 2, and Indigent Representation for 2020 do not have to reapply for these same programs in 2021. We will save your seats and look [...]

Melissa Butcher 2020-04-14T13:09:03-06:00 April 10, 2020|TLC Blog|

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update

As we work to do our part to keep you all safe and healthy, TLC has canceled the following spring and summer courses: Regional Constellation on Cross-Examination: March 27-29 in Santa Fe, NM and Anchorage, AK Regional Seminar on Closing Argument: April 24-26 in Newport Beach, CA Indigent Representation Seminar: May 28-31 in Tulsa, OK Trial Skills Foundation Seminar: June 7-13 at Thunderhead Ranch In Defense of the Damned Criminal Defense Seminar: June 22-30 at Thunderhead Ranch 3-Week July College: July 10-Aug 2 at Thunderhead Ranch Graduate-1: Aug 8-15: at Thunderhead Ranch Graduate-2: Aug 22-29: at Thunderhead Ranch Our current plan is to move forward in the fall and hold the following TLC programs: September College: Sept 12 – Oct 5 [...]

Melissa Butcher 2020-04-02T20:43:34-06:00 April 2, 2020|TLC Blog|

Do TLC’s Cross-Examination Methods Really Make a Difference? An Alaska Case Study

Public defender and TLC graduate Regan Williams spent the last two weeks of January in Bethel, Alaska, trying a homicide case with Andrew Dunmire. Their client, a young Native Alaskan, had shot an unarmed man with a high-powered rifle. Regan's role included cross-examination of a young man who witnessed the conflict which led up to the shooting. Regan had no opportunity to interview this young man before trial, so his preparation for this cross-examination followed TLC methods of reversing roles with the witness to explore the witness' motivations. Thus Regan was ready to question this witness from a place of understanding the pressures the witness felt in his community. Under Regan's questions, the witness admitted that the deceased attacked the [...]

Melissa Butcher 2020-02-26T19:38:55-07:00 February 28, 2020|TLC Blog|

2019 TLC2 Grad, Jeremy D’Amico Shares his Challenging Case in Connecticut that Lead to a Family Given Justice

2019 TLC2 Grad, Jeremy D’Amico Shares his Challenging Case in Connecticut that Lead to a Family Given Justice

Written and shared by Jeremy D'Amico, TLC2 2019 September Graduate. Jeremy is a licensed trial lawyer in Connecticut and Florida practicing exclusively in the areas of plaintiff's Personal Injury, Medical Malpractice, Product Liability, and Nursing Home Negligence. Dear Warriors, I hope this finds you well. I want to share with you all some details about the journey of my recent $23,050,000 jury verdict out of Connecticut, one of the largest personal injury verdicts in Connecticut's history. The Bus Crash In June of 2015, Gabe, a child with autism, was riding on the school bus home. It was a sunny summer day, the sky dotted with clouds, and the air, crisp. The bus pulled out from the school and two cars [...]

Laurie Goodman 2020-01-03T16:14:46-07:00 January 9, 2020|TLC Blog|

San Diego TLC Trial Lawyer, Omid Rejali, Dedicates His Record-Breaking Verdict to the Trial Lawyers College

San Diego TLC Trial Lawyer, Omid Rejali, Dedicates His Record-Breaking Verdict to the Trial Lawyers College

"I have always said and will continue to say that TLC changed my life for the good, forever. I attended my first regional in January 2017 and have attended two subsequent regionals since. I have not had the pleasure of attending the 3-week college but will certainly do so in the near future. This verdict and many more to come are all dedicated to the college. It all came about by nothing other than pure LOVE for my client." - Omid Rejali, TLC Seminar Student Omid Rejali is a TLC student who opened his criminal and civil practice, Rejali Law Firm, in San Diego right after passing the bar in 2014. He attended his first TLC seminar in 2017 [...]

Laurie Goodman 2020-04-21T19:36:44-06:00 October 24, 2019|TLC Blog|

Discover the Story of Your Case Seminar Co-Leaders on the Importance of this TLC Method

Discover the Story of Your Case Seminar Co-Leaders on the Importance of this TLC Method

"To discover the story of your case is the foundation of everything we do and without this skill, we are not going to be as successful as we need to be for our clients. We are going to miss an opportunity to bring justice to them if we don’t know how to discover the story. You can’t really tell the story unless you know it, and facts are not the story. The stories are how people lived those experiences, how they experience those facts and how they lived them that really make the story." - Paco Duarte, TLC Faculty Leader Starting in less than a month is TLC's 2019 Discover the Story of Your Case regional seminar offered in Leavenworth, [...]

Laurie Goodman 2019-10-03T14:20:20-06:00 October 3, 2019|TLC Blog|

TLC Grad and Faculty Member, Tommy Davenport on a Recent Story Inside Angola Prison, Louisiana’s State Penitentiary

TLC Grad and Faculty Member, Tommy Davenport on a Recent Story Inside Angola Prison, Louisiana’s State Penitentiary

On Friday, September 6, Dateline's Lester Holt shared a story on Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary. He actually stayed in a cell there for a number of days. It is the largest maximum-security prison in the world. It is still a working plantation. It is surrounded by a river and swampland, with a number of 'unpaid guards'-alligators. I've been at this prison many times and I cry when I leave and am angered by the time I make it home. As far as the eye can see, there are black men working in the fields with guards on horses. Not much different than a scene from 12 Years a Slave. Angola is a complete failure of the human race and [...]

Laurie Goodman 2019-09-23T13:37:11-06:00 September 19, 2019|TLC Blog|

TLC2 2018 Graduate, David Zagoria Wins Justice After Attending TLC Flagship 3-Week College

TLC2 2018 Graduate, David Zagoria Wins Justice After Attending TLC Flagship 3-Week College

"The jurors were all leaning out of the box and the judge was intently watching as I ran across the courtroom pretending to be the dog that grabbed my client's leg (re-enacting what had happened to him). It was the most influential I have ever felt in a courtroom from re-enacting the actual scene. I can’t wait to do it again." - David Zagoria, 2018 TLC September Graduate David Zagoria is a personal injury attorney from Atlanta, Georgia who attended his first TLC regional in 2016. David had been taught in his early years, that the attorneys' job is to persuade and convince the jury - to basically twist their arms to get them to agree. So, when he attended [...]

Laurie Goodman 2019-08-14T11:45:25-06:00 August 15, 2019|TLC Blog|

“My Time at the Ranch” Article Originally Posted in ‘The Verdict Magazine’, by 2018 Grad, Laura Shamp

“My Time at the Ranch” Article Originally Posted in ‘The Verdict Magazine’, by 2018 Grad, Laura Shamp

Laura Shamp is a recent 2018 September Graduate of the Trial Lawyers College. She is a plaintiff trial lawyer at her firm Shamp Jordan Woodward in Atlanta, Georgia. Laura has tried cases before the United States Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of the State of Georgia, as well as all other trial and appellate courts in the State of Georgia. After Laura graduated from the Trial Lawyers College, she left feeling different about her practice and life. "My three weeks at the Ranch changed the way I practice. It changed the way I think, and it changed the way I live. Gerry Spence says that to be a better lawyer, you must first be a better person. I think he [...]

Laurie Goodman 2019-05-02T09:50:38-06:00 May 2, 2019|TLC Blog|

TLC Grad Gets Over $2.5 Million Verdict in Bexar County, Texas on ‘Minor Impact Soft Tissue’ Injury Case

TLC Grad Gets Over $2.5 Million Verdict in Bexar County, Texas on ‘Minor Impact Soft Tissue’ Injury Case

TLC Faculty Leader, Ron Estefan with Israel Garcia "I used the methods I learned at Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College and from Psychodrama training workshops to show the jury at a true, deep emotional level what my client had in his life before the crash and what was taken away from him; how the crash happened; and the cover-up scene after they pulled over and he realized he was run into by an off-duty police officer." - Israel Garcia, 2010 TLC Graduate Israel Garcia is a personal injury attorney based in San Antonio, Texas at his firm, the Law Office of Israel Garcia. Israel graduated from the Trial Lawyers College in 2010 and has since attended over eight [...]

Laurie Goodman 2019-04-03T12:34:34-06:00 April 4, 2019|TLC Blog|