WARNING: Survivor 50 spoiler ahead — skip past the GIF if you're not caught up.Hey Reader, I’ve been on the couch yelling at Rick Devens for weeks. Devens is a contestant on Survivor 50, if you're not a fan. Early in the season, he was running the island.Then the wheels started to come off his game. His biggest ally got voted out.His fake immunity idol got exposed.He was a dead man walking. Then he got an offer: Flip a coin.Call it right, stay in the game, get a real idol, and double the...
17 days ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, Joaquin's been sick. Not just with one thing. All. The. Things. Tackling the first symptom: Me: Drink this apple juice with honey. It will soothe your throat.J: Yuck. ... Reset. "This will zap the germs." Same cup. Same drink. Different words.He drinks it. Success! And a word selection experiment is complete. Nothing about the drink changed. So what happened? "Soothe" is vague. Passive. Abstract. It’s a conclusion. You just have to believe someone's opinion. People can't feel...
22 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, Reality shows are my jam—or in this case, my hot sauce. We just finished watching Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat. It’s a follow-up to Jury Duty—both shows use the same setup: one real person placed inside a completely staged world, surrounded by actors. In the first, it’s a fake trial.In this one, it’s a company retreat. But that’s not the interesting part—it’s what happens to the one real person. He’s a temp. No real stake. No obligation to care.Could have checked out at any...
29 days ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, Steve loves Superman. The character and the movie. He saw it 3 times in the theater. Thank you, Regal movie pass. By the time I went to see it, I already knew: How good the actor from About a Boy plays a villain (with those eyebrows… can he play anything else?) The “new angle” on Superman that made it a better story. And how perfectly supportive his adoptive parents were. So when I finally watched it on HBO—I turned it off after 10 minutes. It wasn’t bad.I just already knew...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, You may have heard I starred in a movie opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. Yes, I'm an Academy Award winner. Technically. I was an extra in One Battle After Another. It won Best Picture. I’m in that picture. Therefore, the Oscar is partially mine. Duh. Unfortunately, the only way to find me is frame by frame.Pausing at the exact right moment. Sure, it's fine cause I know the moment. Not fine because no one else does. Most depositions work the same way.Except you're not looking for an...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, I’m a die-hard Blockhead — that’s a New Kids on the Block fan. Their first album turns 40 this week. YIKES. In other boy band news… I just watched the Lou Pearlman documentary.It's a great behind-the-scenes look at boy band sweatshops. Lou was the man behind *NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys and other alphabet-soup groups. He also ran one of the longest Ponzi schemes in American history, pulling in thousands of investors, many of them elderly Florida retirees. Most people watched his...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, Not to brag—but I will... Last week, Joaquin came home from school upset (not the brag part). His friend Carson had been called names by another kid, and it really bothered him. But here's what Joaquin told Carson in the moment:"Don't call him names back." The brag:My six-year-old, upset about his friend, de-escalating conflict like a pro. Whether it’s kids on a playground, co-parents trying to make custody work, or anyone in a tough conversation— Comebacks.Yelling.Pushing. All of...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, Sometimes it’s overkill. Not the facts.The explanation. Like a lot of good lawyers, Keith wanted to make sure nothing was left out.Because you care.And you don’t want to leave your client’s case to chance. The problem: too much explanation means you’re “telling” your fact-finder what to think. (They don’t like that. Especially when they know you’re not under oath.) If you’re not sure how to pare down information, think of it like this: A trilogy. If someone breaks the same rule...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, Just as we were heading into the weekend, we got the best news ever. A winning verdict. 🎉 Huge congratulations to our client, San Diego trial attorney Keith Rutman. VERDICT$830Kplus a punitive finding($750K ask) Two jurors actually wanted to go all the way to $1 million. Not a bad way to jump into the weekend, eh? ➡️ More soon on how the case came together. For now, cheers to Keith and his client on a well-deserved outcome! Your dedicated trial consultants, Looking for more...
2 months ago • 1 min read