161 – Dan Ambrose’s Trial Lawyers University – Big Names, Boot Camps, Case Breakdowns

Lawyers aren’t necessarily great business people, or even good law office managers for that matter. That’s because running a business requires a different type of skill set than the practice of law. However, if you have a firm that is run well, you will have more time to be a good lawyer.

On this episode of Trial Lawyer Nation, Michael Cowen is joined by Anthony Vessel, a lawyer from Houston, Texas, and a partner at Marc Whitehead & Associates, to talk about how to manage a law firm.

Tune in to hear Michael and Anthony talk about building an empathetic law firm culture, the benefits of an inclusive workforce, the use of behavioral assessments, and book recommendations. You’ll also learn how Anthony went from the nickname “Tony the Hatchet Man,” because he had to fire so many people, to being a respected leader in a firm whose core values are integrity, accountability, compassion, communication, teamwork, customer service, and health and happiness in the workplace.

Don’t miss out! Michael’s book, Big Rig Justice: A Comprehensive Guide to Maximizing Value in Truck Accident Cases is now available!

Featured Guest

Name: Anthony Vessel 

About: Anthony Vessel is a partner at Marc Whitehead & Associates, LLP.  He dedicates his practice to plaintiff’s insurance denials and disability law, specializing in long-term disability insurance denials, social security disability, mass torts, and veteran disability. The firm’s central office is headquartered in Houston, Texas, where Anthony manages a national practice and has successfully litigated disability claims in nearly every state, including the Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico. Anthony leads the firm’s largest department, the Social Security Disability Department. Anthony’s SSD department advocates for the rights of thousands of clients annually.

You may have seen Anthony’s work as an author of the newsletter, “The Successful Barrister–Marketing, Management & Life Skills that Probably Won’t Get You Disbarred.”  He has authored numerous articles and often presents on the topics of law office management, professional development, time management, as well as disability benefit claims, litigation, and negotiation.  Anthony also greatly enjoys mentoring young attorneys and peers.

Anthony is an active member, presents CLE presentations, and holds leadership positions in several professional organizations including the American Association for Justice (AAJ), Texas Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA), Houston Trial Lawyer Association (HTLA), Houston Bar Association (HBA), National Organization for Social Security Claims Representatives (NOSSCR), and National Organization for Veteran’s Advocates (NOVA).    

Anthony is also a certified mediator and mediates across a wide practice area. Visit his website www.vesselmediation.com to book a mediation.

Connect: LinkedIn 

Episode Highlights 

[4:04] Firm background and caseload. Brief background on the Social Security Disability Department that Anthony heads up at Marc Whitehead & Associates and the cases he handles. 

[8:52] Max fee for Social Security Disability. Congress recently raised the maximum fee for Social Security Disability to $7,200. This fee was previously set at $6,000 about 12 years ago.

[9:47] Organizing your team for efficiency. Anthony’s team is organized into pods, each of which handles different tasks starting from case intake through completion. 

[11:04] Choosing the right case management system for your practice. A cloud-based case management system, such as Litify, can help ensure efficiency and timeliness by setting specific tasks. This system is customizable, can be accessed remotely, and is good for a high volume practice.

[12:04] Traction. Making sure that people fit their role helps to ensure success for the individual and the firm. This concept of “right people, right seats,” comes from Gino Wickman’s book, Traction.

[14:37] Empathy over skillset: Hiring candidates who have empathy, rather than a certain niche skill set, has helped improve the firm’s culture. 

[17:11] Setting core values. Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team instructs you to set three core values to work towards. However, it’s ultimately up to each law firm to identify however many core values are important to them, even if it’s more than three. 

[17:58] Book recommendations. For Michael, different books, such as The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber, The 4 Disciplines of Execution, the Lencioni books, and Traction, have taught him many things about running a business. Anthony also recommends Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek and Never Split the Difference, a book about negotiating by Chris Voss.

[24:35] Kaizen. Kaizen is a Japanese business philosophy about continuous improvement. This philosophy goes along with the premise in the book, Who Moved My Cheese, which states that things are always going to be changing so it’s important to learn to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.   

[26:49] Building and retaining your team. Being intentional about building firm culture and making the workplace the type of place where employees want to be attracts people who bring success to the firm.

[33:00] Workplace assessments. Behavioral assessments such as DISC, which is similar to Myers-Briggs, help identify employees’ strengths, management styles, and where they will best fit into the team. 

[37:46] Employee risk factors and coaching. The Jay Henderson workforce analysis identifies potential employee risk factors as well as provides good fodder for interview questions. A company called Atticus provides individual attorney coaching, guidance, and training so that attorneys can be better leaders. 

[40:22] Building a presence in legal organizations. The firm is active in legal organizations at the city, state, and national levels, including HTLA, TTLA, AAJ, and American Association for Justice. All of the firm’s attorneys have gone through the TTLA lead group, applications for which open up in January.

[42:52] The Flywheel Effect. The concept in The Flywheel Effect was first popularized by Jim Collins, author of the book, Good to Great. The premise is that momentum is built through a series of small but continuous actions. 

[43:55] Continuous improvement. One of the biggest themes in the book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, is continuing to improve as well as correcting bad habits.

[44:40] Stoic philosophy. Ryan Holiday’s books on Stoicism contain a lot of useful information about working on yourself and building a place you want to be in.

[45:20] Instruction manual for leaders. The 4 Disciplines of Execution instructs teams and organizations on how to achieve their goals and priorities.

Connect with Trial Lawyer Nation

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In this popular and award-winning podcast for trial lawyers, noteworthy author, sought-after speaker, and renowned trial lawyer, Michael Cowen explores critical topics distinctive to the legal profession with some of the biggest names in the industry – specifically focused on developing extremely efficient law practices, securing a competitive edge in the industry, and wildly excelling in the courtroom.

Produced and Sponsored by LawPods.

Renowned trucking accident lawyer Joe Fried tried the second case in the nation and the first in Georgia to test Amazon’s claims that it has no responsibility for its drivers’ conduct.

The result was a $16.2 million verdict against Amazon for pain and suffering endured by his client’s son, an 8-year-old boy who was run over by a delivery van. As Joe explains to host Michael Cowen, the groundbreaking case offers unique teaching opportunities for plaintiffs’ lawyers. Among the successful strategies: his team’s focus on exposing how the driver was himself a victim of Amazon, which places drivers under immense pressure. “The jury agreed with us on that in that regard.”

Both Joe and Michael will share their insights about trucking accident law this fall.

First, Joe will discuss the Amazon case at the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys Annual Symposium, to be held in Nashville from September 25 to 27. 

Then, Joe and Michael will join the faculty at TLU Vegas, October 16-19 at Caesars Palace. Joe will present about the case, and Michael will lead a masterclass on trucking.

Featured Guest

Name: Joe Fried   

About: Joe Fried is one of the original truck accident lawyers in the country and is widely recognized as a top attorney in the field. He is credited with developing many of the best practices used by lawyers nationally in truck accident investigation and truck accident litigation.

Company: Fried Goldberg LLC  

Connect: Facebook | LinkedIn | X | YouTube | Instagram      

Episode Highlights 

[02:13] First in Georgia, Second in Nation: Joe’s unique case focused on whether Amazon should be held responsible for the conduct of drivers who are doing Amazon work.

[05:14] All Profit, No Responsibility: Amazon puts its drivers under pressure to perform, then claims to have no responsibility when problems occur.

[10:19] Joe’s Legal Theory: Amazon failed to train its driver on two things: how to handle children in a residential neighborhood and how to drive the vehicle he had that day: a rental van, not the typical delivery van.

[16:08] Specifics of the Case: The Amazon van struck an 8-year-old boy who was riding an electric bike. The boy suffered a fractured pelvis and a “de-gloving” injury to his leg, which required multiple surgeries, including skin grafts.

[20:36] Mission-Critical: A re-enactment showed that, whichever way the boy was coming toward the van, he was visible – unless packages on the dash blocked the driver’s view.

[31:58] Modern-Day Tenant Farming: Amazon’s delivery service provider owner believed he was an independent businessman. In fact, Amazon had control – like the puppetmaster of a marionette that Joe was prepared to display at trial but didn’t.

[38:29] The Jury’s Conclusion: Amazon held 85% responsibility for negligently training the driver; the driver and his delivery service provider had 10%; and the adult who went inside the house when the incident occurred had 5%.

[1:06] The Future of Trucking Cases: The so-called “relay cases,” which focus on 18-wheelers that deliver for Amazon.

[1:09] View Behind the Curtain: Joe explained the significance of this case to jurors this way: “You have had one of the rare looks behind the curtain at what Jeff Bezos has created.”

Connect with Trial Lawyer Nation

☑️ Follow us on X, Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn.

☑️ Subscribe to Trial Lawyer Nation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

In this popular and award-winning podcast for trial lawyers, noteworthy author, sought-after speaker, and renowned trial lawyer, Michael Cowen explores critical topics distinctive to the legal profession with some of the biggest names in the industry – specifically focused on developing extremely efficient law practices, securing a competitive edge in the industry, and wildly excelling in the courtroom.

Produced and Sponsored by LawPods.

There’s data going all the way back to the 1970s showing that people have lost a leg while operating a forklift. Not only do these leg crush injuries keep occurring, but it’s the most common injury with a stand-up forklift.  It’s a big problem. However, the industry has been able to avoid having to change anything because they’ve been able to get the standard written to support their design decisions. 

On this episode of Trial Lawyer Nation, Michael Cowen and Malorie Peacock discuss how they overcame the odds to win $17.5M in damages for their client in a case against a forklift manufacturer.  All this occurred in a case where the defendant said they’d never even pay $100k. 

Tune in to this part one, of a two-part series, as Michael and Malorie discuss how they established liability in the case. What was one of the key winning trial strategies? Not getting sucked into disproving every argument the defense made. 

Don’t miss out! Michael’s book, Big Rig Justice: A Comprehensive Guide to Maximizing Value in Truck Accident Cases is now available!

Featured Guest

Name: Malorie J. Peacock

About: Malorie J. Peacock is a Partner at Cowen Rodriguez Peacock. She was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas and received her J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center. During her time with Cowen Rodriguez Peacock, Malorie has worked on numerous commercial vehicle, trucking, and wrongful death cases. Malorie brings close attention to detail, commitment to finding safety issues and areas of neglect, continued utilization of technology and cutting-edge visuals in cases, along with a sincere passion to help those who have been hurt, to each and every case.

Company: Cowen Rodriguez Peacock

Connect: LinkedIn 

Episode Highlights 

[04:39] Case background: The client operated a stand-up forklift, lost control of the forklift and crashed, resulting in a leg amputation. These types of incidents occur once every eight days, but the industry has been winning trials on defect allegations for decades.  Up until Michael and Malorie’s trial, the forklift industry was undefeated in the 2000s. 

[08:38] Understanding how a forklift works and the problematic design: The forklift is operated standing up, with one foot on a dead man’s pedal, one hand on a lever, and the other on a tiller. Just a minor loss of balance from someone steering a little too hard, or unexpectedly taking their foot off of something, can ultimately result in a crash where a foot gets crushed by a 7,000 pound forklift.

[17:52] Three data sources on injuries: There were incident reports (limited details), an OSHA database (type of injury/equipment but no manufacturer info), and another manufacturer’s data (revealed percentage of injuries). Additionally, one study showed 474 injuries and recommended a door for forklifts.

[21:34] Random test v. peer-reviewed study: Michael and Malorie discuss how they taught the jury the difference and why it mattered in this case. 

[36:35] The case was complicated, but strategic decisions made the difference: The client was not properly trained and the employer’s negligence was not considered. However, blaming the client would be unfair, and the focus should be on fixing the design. The defense argued about certification requirements, but it was better, strategically, to embrace the lack of training. Winning the case was a close call.

[40:08] Revealing the truth: Michael and Malorie share why it is essential to read defense cited literature, and how doing so made a difference in their case.

[46:13] Two ways to solve the problem: Michael and Malorie offered two alternative designs to the jury–a door or a seat with a seat belt. 

[51:38] Most jurors aren’t familiar with forklifts, so visuals were key: Michael and Malorie used visuals to make things simple–annotated photographs and videos.  They tried to use two life-sized forklift compartments—one the way it was and one with a seatbelt, but they wouldn’t fit through the courtroom door. Lesson learned!

[59:17] Preview of part-two: On part-two of this series, Michael and Malorie will discuss damages and how they made it a story–not just about despair–but also a story about love, hope, striving, and overcoming.

Connect with Trial Lawyer Nation

☑️ Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn.

☑️ Subscribe to Trial Lawyer Nation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and YouTube.

In this popular and award-winning podcast for trial lawyers, noteworthy author, sought-after speaker, and renowned trial lawyer, Michael Cowen explores critical topics distinctive to the legal profession with some of the biggest names in the industry – specifically focused on developing extremely efficient law practices, securing a competitive edge in the industry, and wildly excelling in the courtroom.

Produced and Sponsored by LawPods.