Defense Strategies, Appeals, Trial Practice Guidance

Appeals Court Reverses Punitive Damages Award, Finds Late Trial Amendment to Add Recklessness Prejudiced Defense

Marshall Dennehey on 7/31/2025

Bernavage by and through Vanston v. Green Ridge Healthcare Group, LLC, WL 14279152025, (Pa. Super. May 19, 2025) - This case concerned an elderly woman’s slip and fall on a shower floor while being assisted by staff in an...more

Playing the Long Game: Preserving Issues for Appeal

Ward and Smith, P.A. on 4/12/2023

Trials happen fast. Trial counsel are rightly preoccupied with preparing to give opening statements or closing arguments, preparing to examine or cross-examine witnesses, or simply keeping track of admitted exhibits....more

Voir Dire on Content, Not Effect: Lessons from the Tsarnaev Appeal

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message on 8/12/2020

We tend to think of “bias” as it applies to juries, but courts can have their own deep-seated practices. For example, judges will often prefer voir dire questions that focus on the juror’s own assessment of the influence of a...more

Practice Makes Perfect: Mock Oral Arguments and Effective Oral Advocacy

Carlton Fields on 2/19/2020

The key to successful oral advocacy is effective preparation. In this podcast, Carlton Fields attorneys Gary Sasso, Peter Webster, and Christine Davis discuss the importance of mock oral arguments in preparing for oral...more

Losing Twice at Trial: Denying Requests for Admission Can Come Back to Bite You

Weintraub Tobin on 7/10/2019

Litigation tends to be expensive, increasingly so due to the burdens of discovery. (You can thank the advent of emails, text messages, and other forms of communication now documenting conversations that used to take place by...more

The Appellate Oral Argument

McManis Faulkner on 3/19/2019

The Appellate Court: An exciting forum of oral advocacy; a check on the process and the decisions of our trial courts; a second chance for parties to make their case; and a place where novel and important legal principles...more