2025 TTLA Annual Meeting and CLE Seminar

Breakfast Presentation
How to Run your case like Clockwork
SPEAKER: Aaron Michalowski, EvenUp Law

Justice Depends on the Art of Advocacy
SPEAKER: David Mann, Simple Message, Minneapolis, MN

About Topic:
Like great artists, trial lawyers must use their craft to connect ordinary people to a higher purpose: serving justice. Learn practical techniques, drawn from art and advocacy, for telling your client’s story with persuasive power.

• Storytelling as an advocacy tool through the ages
• Expanding your idea of what a powerful theme can be
• Organizing openings and closings for persuasive impact
• Embedding a complex argument in plain language
• Projecting confidence and power in the space

Why Lawyers Lose Winnable Motions that Can Lead to a Trial Loss
Speaker: Judge Dale Tillery, 134th Civil District Court, Dallas

Products and Practices Made Safer by Plaintiff Lawyers
SPEAKER: Mike Slack, Fellowship, Austin

About topic:
This presentation will discuss specific examples of products and practices of defendants that have been made safer through litigation. The paper also provides practitioners with practical suggestions on how to force reluctant defendants and their insurers to change or eliminate unsafe products and practices.

• The Concept of Safer Alternative Design
• The Safest Practical Design or Change
• Examples of Products and Practices Made Safer
• Case Strategies to Implement a Safer Product or Practice

Why Lawyers Must Learn to Adapt, Overcome and Improvise in Depositions and at Trial
SPEAKER: Hartley Hampton, Fellowship, Houston

President's Luncheon and Award Ceremony

Let the Jury Solve Your Problems
SPEAKER: Sari de la Motte, author of, From Hostage to Hero: Captivate the Jury by Setting Them Free, Lake Oswego, OR

About topic:

What if the key to winning your next trial isn't just about the facts and figures, but about a shift in your mindset? In this enlightening presentation, Sari de la Motte explores the undeniable link between emotion and communication. She argues that what you feel for your jurors is what you will inevitably communicate. If you see them as hostile, you’ll treat them as hostages. Sari will teach you how to move from a place of fear to a place of genuine connection, demonstrating that when you love your jurors, you set them free to decide in your favor.

8:15 AM - 9:15 AM

There are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injuries and Disaster -- Who Profits and Who Pays the Price
SPEAKER: Journalist and Author Jessie Singer, "There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster -- Who Profits and Who Pays the Price (Via Zoom)

About topic:
Learn the complicated history of unintentional injury in the U.S. -- from the industrial revolution to the rise of the automobile to the opioid epidemic -- and how the word "accident" has masked decades of government negligence and corporate risk-taking. Today, with the "accident" rate on the rise, trial lawyers remain the last line of defense protecting people from predictable and preventable harm.

About Topic:
How to overcome the misconceptions of a trial lawyer’s profession.

• Preparing to Become a Trial Lawyer
• Understanding Your Purpose
• Dealing with the Negative Perception
• The Truth Regarding a Trial Lawyer’s Role
• We are Greater Than the Courtroom

Never Worry About Winning Again: The One Mindset Shift Trial Attorneys MUST Make
SPEAKER: Sari de la Motte

About topic:
Worry. If you’re a trial lawyer, it comes with the territory. But is it possible to never worry about winning again? Sari de la Motte thinks so. And in this seminar, she'll show you how destructive worry is, and more importantly, how to stop worrying and start winning.

Sari de la Motte is one of the nation’s top trial consultants, author of From Hostage to Hero: Captivate the Jury By Setting the Free, and the creator of the H2H Method. You'll learn how her clients mastered their mindsets and never worried about winning again.

You’ll learn:

• …the number one mindset shift all trial attorneys need to make in order to win big
• the brain science behind worry and how to work with your brain instead of against it
• concrete ways to rewire your brain around risk and increase your confidence
• the key to successful verdicts
• and why it’s vitally important to manage your mind as a trial lawyer