Elawvate: The Trial Lawyer Podcast

Why does one of the country's most accomplished trial lawyers wear a black suit to court every day with no cufflinks or frills? Because he wants jurors to know exactly what to expect from him. Tom Kline, who co-founded Kline & Specter with Shanin Specter, has won seven-figure-plus jury verdicts in each of the past five decades. Hosts Ben Gideon and Rahul Ravipudi ask Tom how he found his own courtroom style after learning from his mentor, James E. Beasley, and why he chooses to talk up to jurors rather than down. Tom also reveals why his most heated moments in court are never an accident, and the simple math that has kept his partnership with Shanin strong since 1995.Learn More and Connect☑️ Tom Kline | LinkedIn | Instagram☑️ Kline & Specter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | X | YouTube☑️ Ben Gideon | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram☑️ Gideon Asen on LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram☑️ Rahul Ravipudi | LinkedIn | Instagram☑️ Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP on LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram☑️ Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify Produced and Powered by LawPodsSponsored by SmartAdvocate, Hype Legal, Expert Institute, and Steno.

Some lawyers spend their careers avoiding the toughest cases. Todd A. Smith and Brian LaCien built their Chicago firm, Smith LaCien LLP, on taking them. Together, they've secured over 100 verdicts and settlements above a million dollars. On this episode, they walk host Rahul Ravipudi through a $51 million emergency-room verdict — the third-highest med-mal award for an adult in Illinois — that turned on a single missing blood test, and a railroad crossing case they navigated around brutal federal preemption. Along the way, Todd shares how he keeps ironclad control on cross-examination, and Brian explains why juries can always sniff out a lawyer who isn't authentic. They also trace how the mentors who shaped them still surface in how they try cases.Learn More and Connect☑️ Todd A. Smith | LinkedIn☑️ Brian LaCien | LinkedIn☑️ Smith LaCien LLP | LinkedIn | Facebook☑️ Ben Gideon | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram☑️ Gideon Asen on LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram☑️ Rahul Ravipudi | LinkedIn | Instagram☑️ Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP on LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram☑️ Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | SpotifyProduced and Powered by LawPodsSponsored by SmartAdvocate, Hype Legal, Expert Institute, and Steno.

How do you force a trillion-dollar company to do the right thing? Rahul Ravipudi's answer runs on cold economics: big companies won't behave until it's more expensive not to. That's the pressure trial lawyers are putting on Meta, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube in the litigation over kids' mental health. In this wide-ranging conversation, hosts Ben Gideon and Rahul trade notes on cases that sit far outside most trial lawyers' wheelhouses. Ben shares about his civil rights fight against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Maine, including the killing of a young man who was never the operation's target. Together, they explore how impact litigation forces accountability—and why the hardest cases make you a sharper advocate for every client.Learn More and Connect☑️ Ben Gideon | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram☑️ Gideon Asen on LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram☑️ Rahul Ravipudi | LinkedIn | Instagram☑️ Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP on LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram☑️ Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | SpotifyProduced and Powered by LawPodsSponsored by SmartAdvocate, Hype Legal, Expert Institute, and Steno.

What if the most powerful AI in your practice still isn't the thing winning your cases? Sara Cordrey, CEO and co-founder of the legal AI platform Parambil, built with chief medical officer Dr. Ralph Horwitz, argues that technology is leverage—not a substitute for a lawyer's judgment or for the medical record itself. Drawing on her McKinsey work analyzing gaps in patient care, she explains how purpose-built AI helps trial lawyers rip through records, reorder how cases get worked up, and surface insights sooner—while never leaving the primary source behind. Host Ben Gideon digs into build-versus-buy, data security, and where legal AI is heading next.Learn More and Connect☑️ Sara Cordrey | LinkedIn☑️ Parambil | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram☑️ Ben Gideon | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram☑️ Gideon Asen on LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram☑️ Rahul Ravipudi | LinkedIn | Instagram☑️ Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP on LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram☑️ Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | SpotifyProduced and Powered by LawPods, a podcast marketing agency for law firmsSponsored by SmartAdvocate, Hype Legal, Expert Institute, and Steno.

Jury consultant Robert Hirschhorn built his career on a promise to his late wife and mentor, Cathy Bennett: make her tools accessible to lawyers who couldn't otherwise afford them. That promise became VerdictHub, an AI tool that runs venue-specific surveys using the equivalent of 500 "digital jurors," with results delivered in three days for $3,000. Robert joins Ben Gideon and Rahul Ravipudi to break down when a two-minute voir dire can outperform an hour-long one, why he's reversed course on jury questionnaires, and how scaled questions can flag problem jurors fast. Ben compares VerdictHub against his own live-juror data test. Tune in for where AI helps jury selection — and where it still can't replace instinct.Learn More and Connect☑️ Robert Hirschhorn | LinkedIn☑️ Cathy E. Bennett & Associates Inc | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | X☑️ VerdictHub | LinkedIn | Facebook☑️ Ben Gideon | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram☑️ Gideon Asen on LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram☑️ Rahul Ravipudi | LinkedIn | Instagram☑️ Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP on LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram☑️ Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | SpotifyProduced and Powered by LawPods, a podcast marketing agency for law firmsSponsored by SmartAdvocate, Hype Legal, Expert Institute, and Steno