Tag Archives: Featured Speaker

Susan White is our latest Featured Speaker!

Posted on by Faith Pincus
08 Apr

Our latest featured speaker is Susan White from Buchalter!

Susan is speaking at our upcoming Bad Faith Insurance Litigation in CA program on April 16 & 18, 2024. This program will cover critical 2024 hot topics – the latest issues, cases, new rules and common problems associated with Bad Faith Insurance cases in a variety of settings that apply to business clients or individual clients. Susan previously spoke at our Understanding the Legal Impact of Covid-19 as it Affects Your Clients, Your Life and Your Business program in 2020, and our Bad Faith Insurance Litigation program in 2015.

Susan White is an experienced commercial litigation attorney with a specialty in insurance recovery. Ms. White represents corporate and individual policyholders and has recovered millions in insurance proceeds on their behalf in all types of complex litigation against their insurers. She is able to think out of the box, using creative and strategic approaches to both find and maximize insurance coverage for her policyholder clients.

Throughout her 30 years of practice, she regularly has represented a wide variety of clients on numerous insurance coverage issues and has resolved complex insurance matters through settlement, arbitration or trial. Ms. White has extensive experience with complex insurance matters.

Ms. White counsels clients operating in a wide range of industries, including healthcare, pharmaceutical, retail, manufacturing, telecommunications, software and Internet technology, financial services, entertainment, and real estate.

Acting as insurance coverage counsel, Ms. White also represents companies in bankruptcy and advises trustees for bankrupt estates in connection with the recovery of insurance assets for the estate. She also provides risk management guidance to clients to maximize the coverage provided by insurance policies. Additionally, Ms. White speaks regularly on various insurance coverage issues.

We are excited to have her join us!

Joseph Farris is our latest Featured Speaker!

Posted on by Faith Pincus
05 Apr

Our latest featured speaker is Joseph Farris from Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP!

Joe is speaking at our upcoming 20th Annual Federal Court Boot Camp: The Nuts and Bolts (CA) program on April 30 & May 2, 2024. He will be a part of an stellar panel for this program, which will walk you through your case in Federal Court from start to finish. You’ll learn the rules and tasks, strategies and tactics, and the skills and techniques you must have to become a more effective and successful litigator in Federal Court and to be a more effective and successful litigator in general.

Joe Farris is a seasoned trial attorney and trusted advisor to technology companies based in San Francisco who represents clients in a broad range of business and intellectual property disputes. He has significant experience in state and federal courts, private arbitration, and a variety of cross-border disputes.

His clients often face emerging legal issues at the intersections of law and technology, including trade secret, copyright, trademark, patent, and unfair competition litigation. He has recently represented a medical technology company in federal court litigation against an internationally-based competitor that sought to raid the client’s U.S. operational staff and intellectual property. Before that, he defended an international electronics manufacturer against parallel federal and state litigation asserting trade secret misappropriation and trademark infringement.

His work frequently involves complex forensic investigations of digital evidence in disputes and litigation involving trade secret theft, source code copying, hacking and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), subpoenas for Internet content and communications, online defamation and harassment, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), works-for-hire disputes, and use of web-crawling bots. Joe also has experience in a variety of business litigation matters such as breaches of commercial contracts, licensing and royalty disputes, founders’ disputes, violations of fiduciary duties, and false advertising. He regularly advises and counsels clients on issues related to employee mobility, including cases involving breaches of employment contracts, non-disclosure agreements, non-competition agreements, and non-solicitation agreements.

Before joining Arnold & Porter, Joe was an Assistant District Attorney for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office where he was lead trial counsel in 10 jury trials, nine of which resulted in a conviction.

He is a 2008 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law where he was a member of the Board of Advocates and served as an article editor on the Ecology Law Quarterly journal.

We are excited to have him join us!

Hon. Suzanne Segal (Ret.) is our latest Featured Speaker!

Posted on by Faith Pincus
03 Apr

Our latest featured speaker is Hon. Suzanne H. Segal (Ret.) from Signature Resolution!

Judge Segal is speaking at our upcoming 20th Annual Federal Court Boot Camp: The Nuts and Bolts (CA) program on April 30 & May 2, 2024. She will be a part of an amazing panel for this program, which will walk you through your case in Federal Court from start to finish. You’ll learn the rules and tasks, strategies and tactics, and the skills and techniques you must have to become a more effective and successful litigator in Federal Court and to be a more effective and successful litigator in general. Judge Segal previously spoke at our 19th Annual Federal Court Boot Camp: The Nuts and Bolts (CA) program last year, and has also spoken at our Federal Court Boot Camps in 2019, 2020, and 2022.

During her tenure on the federal bench, Judge Segal presided over numerous trials, evidentiary hearings, motions, and discovery conferences involving diverse subject matter. Judge Segal served as the settlement judge in hundreds of cases, settling business and insurance disputes; patent, trademark, and copyright actions; and employment, civil rights, and tort cases. Judge Segal handled a wide range of motions and settlements arising out of class actions, particularly in the wage and hour context.

Judge Segal has broad experience in securities litigation, including matters brought by private investors and the SEC. In addition, Judge Segal has extensive experience in matters involving the False Claims Act and related actions involving the healthcare industry.

Judge Segal has served as a special master or discovery referee in cases involving the False Claims Act, mass tort and insurance claims, patent litigation, and product liability claims.

Before her appointment to the bench, Judge Segal served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division of the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s Office for 12 years. As an AUSA, Judge Segal handled a variety of cases, including contract, employment, civil rights, Medicare reimbursement, and tort claims. She also brought consumer and civil rights actions on behalf of the Department of Justice. From 1999 to 2002, she served as the Chief of Civil Appeals for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Prior to serving in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Judge Segal was a civil litigator at Dewey, Ballantine and Adams, Duque and Hazeltine.

Judge Segal has also served as a lecturer in Law at UCLA School of Law and Loyola Law School. Judge Segal is known for her work ethic and persistent dedication to reach a positive result for the parties.

We are excited to have her join us again!

Ricardo Echeverria is our latest Featured Speaker!

Posted on by Faith Pincus
01 Apr

Our latest featured speaker is Ricardo Echeverria from Shernoff Bidart Echeverria LLP!

Ricardo is speaking at our upcoming Bad Faith Insurance Litigation in CA program on April 16 & 18, 2024. Ricardo previously spoke at our Insurance Solutions for Covid-19 Business Losses and Claims program, and our 1st Party Property Insurance Bad Faith Cases From Start to Finish program. Ricardo will be a part of a stellar panel for this program, which will cover critical 2024 hot topics – the latest issues, cases, new rules and common problems associated with Bad Faith Insurance cases in a variety of settings that apply to business clients or individual clients.

Ricardo Echeverria is a trial attorney with Shernoff Bidart Echeverria LLP handling insurance bad faith and catastrophic personal injury cases. Mr. Echeverria is a past-president of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA) the nation’s largest local association of plaintiffs’ attorneys. He was recognized as one of the Top 30 Plaintiff Lawyers in California in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, and was named one of the Top 100 Attorneys in California in 2017, 2018 and 2023 by the Los Angeles Daily Journal. He was honored by the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association as the 2021 Top Gun Trial Lawyer of the Year. In 2019, he was honored with the Lifetime Legal Achievement Award from Consumer Watchdog. In 2023, Ricardo was recently inducted into The Inner Circle of Advocates, known as the 100 best plaintiff lawyers in the U.S. The Inner Circle of Advocates is an exclusive, invitation-only group of the best plaintiff lawyers in the United States.

Mr. Echeverria was named 2019 Trial Lawyer of the Year by Consumer Attorneys of Inland Empire and was also named the 2010 Trial Lawyer of the Year by CAALA after having been nominated for the award from 2006 through 2009. He has also been a finalist for the Consumer Attorneys of California’s Consumer Attorney of the Year in 2007, 2009, 2018 and 2020. He was also a finalist for the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association 2019 Trial Lawyer of the Year. Mr. Echeverria was presented the 2011 – 2012 Jennifer Brooks Lawyer of the Year Award by the Western San Bernardino County Bar Association. In 2012, he received an Outstanding Trial Lawyer Award from the Consumer Attorneys of San Diego. He has been named a Super Lawyer by Super Lawyers Magazine every year since 2005. He has been named a “Best Lawyer” by the Best Lawyers in America publication every year since 2014.

We are excited to have him with us!

Susan Koehler Sullivan is our latest Featured Speaker!

Posted on by Faith Pincus
29 Mar

Our latest featured speaker is Susan Koehler Sullivan from Clyde & Co LLP!

Susan is speaking at our upcoming Bad Faith Insurance Litigation in CA program on April 16 & 18, 2024. Susan will be a part of a wonderful panel for this program, which will cover critical 2024 hot topics – the latest issues, cases, new rules and common problems associated with Bad Faith Insurance cases in a variety of settings that apply to business clients or individual clients.

Susan Koehler Sullivan has over 30 years of experience as a commercial litigator, focusing her practice on corporate insurance matters. She handles insurance coverage investigations and disputes (including through trial or arbitration) under all types of policies, including fidelity, directors and officers, employment, professional, property, excess and general liability policies.

Susan employs a 360-degree approach to every matter, where fully analyzing factual and legal issues are just the beginning. She evaluates and considers each party’s interests and motivations to determine the best strategy forward and enjoys working closely with her clients to achieve their goals.

Susan was listed as one of the “45 Most Influential Women Lawyers” by the LA Business Journal in 2017. She was also named to the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal’s list of “Top Women Lawyers 2017.”

We are excited to have her with us!

Harry Chamberlain is our latest Featured Speaker!

Posted on by Faith Pincus
27 Mar

Our latest featured speaker is Harry Chamberlain from Buchalter!

Harry first spoke for us back in 2012, and has spoken every year since then at our appellate and insurance related programs.

Harry is next speaking at our upcoming Bad Faith Insurance Litigation in CA program on April 16 & 18, 2024. Harry is a joy to work with and attendees love his presentations. He is one of our regular faculty members, most recently speaking at our 9th Annual Advanced Appellate Practice program, Exam Prep: Appellate Law Certified Legal Specialist Exam (Civil), and our 8th Annual Advanced Appellate Practice (CA).

Thank you for joining us again, Harry! We know it is a lot of work to prepare a good presentation and materials and we appreciate you coming back over and over again!

Harry Chamberlain is a Shareholder of Buchalter, an Am Law 150 firm, with 11 offices across the Western U.S. For over 40 years, he has served as trial and appellate counsel on behalf of Fortune 500 companies, and a variety of public and private sector clients in complex litigation matters. He is certified as an Appellate Specialist by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization, handling hundreds of appeals around the country, including numerous cases before the California Supreme Court and the highest courts of other states.

Before joining Buchalter, Harry was general counsel for California based professional liability insurers and managed the law department of a national group of commercial insurance and financial service companies. He is past president of California Defense Counsel and the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel, preeminent associations of civil defense trial and appellate lawyers. He writes and lectures widely on topics regarding complex litigation and insurance law.

We are excited to have him with us!

Michael Bidart is our latest Featured Speaker!

Posted on by Faith Pincus
25 Mar

Our latest featured speaker is Michael Bidart from Shernoff Bidart Echeverria LLP!

Michael previously spoke at our 1st Party Property Insurance Bad Faith Cases From Start to Finish (CA) back in 2021 to rave reviews, and he will speak at our upcoming Bad Faith Insurance Litigation in CA program. This webinar will be held on April 16 & 18, 2024.

Thank you for joining us again, Michael! We are excited to have you speak again!

As a preeminent consumer attorney, Michael J. Bidart has made a major impact on our healthcare system. Mr. Bidart is the Managing Partner for Shernoff Bidart Echeverria LLP, and he leads the firm’s HMO Litigation and Property/Casualty Departments.

Since bringing his expertise to the firm in 1986, Mr. Bidart has developed the firm’s health insurance practice by successfully prosecuting bad faith disputes against insurers and HMOs.

His inexhaustible efforts were showcased in 1999 with a landmark $120.5 million verdict against Aetna over its refusal to pay for care recommended by the health plan’s own physicians (Goodrich v. Aetna).

Mr. Bidart’s dedication and expertise are also exemplified by many earlier landmark decisions. In State Farm v. Superior Court (1996) he helped establish conclusively that Business & Professions Code §17200 unfair business practice liability applies to insurance companies in California. For victims of the 1994 Northridge earthquake he won more than $300 million.

He was a key player in the California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s decision to expand its health care benefits for women with breast cancer, and he led the firm’s effort to ensure that prostate cancer patients statewide receive proton beam therapy as a covered benefit under their insurance policies.

Mr. Bidart has been named a Super Lawyer by Law & Politics Magazine every year since 2004, has been a Super Lawyer Top 100 Attorney every year since 2004 and Top 10 from 2018 to 2023. In 2019, he was named a Top Healthcare Attorney in California by the Los Angeles Daily Journal. He has been profiled in the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer and California Lawyer Magazine, which have recognized him as one of California’s most influential lawyers. The Wall Street Journal has also noted that Mr. Bidart’s success in healthcare litigation helped to reignite the debate in Congress over whether patients should have the right to sue their health plans.

A well-known lecturer and keynote speaker on HMO litigation and bad faith insurance practices, Mr. Bidart has been a featured speaker for the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Consumer Attorneys of California, American Conference Institute, The Rutter Group, Pincus Professional Education, the California Judges Association and many others.

Mr. Bidart has served on the Board of Governors of Consumer Attorneys of California and Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, on the Board of Regents of Loyola Marymount University.

Mr. Bidart graduated from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (B.S., 1971) and Pepperdine University School of Law (J.D., 1974) and has been the recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award of both universities.

We are excited to have him with us!

Michael Colantuono is our Latest Featured Speaker!

Posted on by Faith Pincus
30 Jan

Our latest featured speaker is Michael Colantuono from Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley!

Michael spoke recently at our  Appellate Law Certified Legal Specialist Exam Four-Part Online Prep Course (CA) in August of 2023 as well as our February 2023 8th Annual Advanced Appellate Practice CA Webinar.

Michael is routinely rated as one of our most popular speaker – he is a fantastic teacher.  Because he is so popular, Michael is invited back time and again.  He’ll be speaking again at our upcoming 9th Annual Advanced Appellate Practice program, which has returned to an in-person with live streaming format in February of 2024. That program will be held in San Francisco on February 1st and in Sierra Madre/Pasadena on February 9th. It will also be live-streamed from both locations, if people cannot attend in person.

Thank you for joining us again, Michael!  We appreciate you coming back.

Michael is a shareholder at Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley where he specializes in municipal law. The Supreme Court appointed him the first Chair of the Board of Trustees of the State Bar of California; he was previously President of the Bar.

The State Bar has certified Michael as an Appellate Specialist and he is a member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers, a prestigious association of fewer than 100 of California’s most distinguished appellate advocates.

In addition to his expertise in municipal law, Michael has mastery over a broad range of legal topics, including: local governments, constitutional law, land use regulation, open meetings, elections, conflicts of interest, public utilities, LAFCO issues, inverse condemnation, cannabis regulation, and various public finance issues involving taxes assessments, fees and charges.

 Michael is one of California’s leading experts on municipal revenues and has appeared in all six Courts of Appeal in California. In addition, he has argued nine public finance cases in the California Supreme Court since 2004 and briefed two others. 

We are excited to have him with us!

Megan E. Thibert-Ind is our Latest Featured Speaker

Posted on by Faith Pincus
02 Dec

Our latest featured speaker is Megan E. Thibert-Ind from Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP!

Megan is a frequent speaker at our Illinois circuit court boot camp programs, most recently at our 12th Annual Illinois Circuit Court Boot Camp in December 2022.

Because of her in-depth knowledge and insight on civil litigation, Megan will be speaking at our upcoming 13th Annual Circuit Court Boot Camp program, which will be held in-person with a live streaming format in Chicago on December 8, 2024.

Megan Thibert-Ind is a health care and civil litigation partner in Manatt, Phelps & Phillips’s Chicago office. She has extensive experience representing businesses across Manatt’s industry sectors, including a focus on health care stakeholders—such as hospital systems and academic medical centers, ambulatory surgery and urgent care centers, pharmacy services providers, and life sciences companies—as they navigate a variety of complex business controversies, contractual and regulatory disputes, and post-acquisition challenges.

Megan also advises pharmaceutical companies on 340B Drug Pricing Program reimbursement and indemnification claims and provides guidance to life sciences companies facing product liability exposure.

Megan represents clients in litigation pending in state and federal courts nationwide and has handled numerous matters before the American Arbitration Association and other alternative dispute resolution tribunals. Additionally, she regularly navigates complex expert witness issues, including financial analysis, lost profits and damages, and causation and other liability issues.

Alongside her litigation work, Megan is noted for her service as an active member of the Chicago community and is dedicated to providing pro bono services across a range of subject matters. She has represented undocumented immigrants; victims of gender-based hate crimes, domestic violence and employment discrimination; not-for-profit arts organizations; and parents wrongfully indicated for abuse. She also serves on the board of directors of Legal Aid Chicago, the largest nonprofit civil legal services provider in Cook County.

Thank you for joining us again, Megan!  We appreciate you coming back.

 

Kimberly Valentine is our Latest Featured Speaker!

Posted on by Faith Pincus
05 Nov

Our latest featured speaker is Kimberly Valentine from Valentine Law Group!

Kimberly spoke most recently our 18th Annual Superior Court Boot Camp: The Nuts and Bolts (CA) webinar on October 13, 2023 as part of the Southern California faculty. The program was also held late October with Northern CA judges and faculty. Both programs are available as Recorded Packages.

Kimberly has taught a few times at our annual Superior Court Boot Camps every October, to rave reviews, which is why we keep inviting her back.  Kimberly is a terrific teacher who always provides a ton of practical information and is very much appreciated by our attendees.

Kimberly  is the principal attorney at Valentine Law Group where she has dedicated her career in the practice of law to advocating for the vulnerable, the injured and the infirm. She practices in the areas of elder abuse, medical malpractice, products liability, serious personal injury, and government tort claims litigation.

Outside of the firm, Kimberly is an Associate with the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and serves as the National Board Representative for the Orange County ABOTA Chapter. She has received the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association’s Top Gun award as an exceptional Elder Abuse litigator multiple times and has been recognized as a California Trial Lawyers Associations “Street Fighter” Award finalist. She was also named a Super Lawyer each year since 2014. Super Lawyers Southern California Magazine named her as one of the top 50 Orange County lawyers and Top 50 Women lawyers in Southern California multiple times and did so again in 2021.

Kimberly’s passion for supporting the community led her to found Operation Helping Hands, a non-profit providing community college scholarships/stipends to housing insecure students as well as providing backpacks full of necessity items to the homeless population. Kimberly received the 2019 Trial Lawyers Care award from the American Association for Justice for her work in the community with Operation Helping Hands. She is one of the founding members and serves on the Board of Directors for Stop Elder Abuses, a non-profit organization which educates the public on the issue of abuse. She also sits on the Advisory Committee to the Los Angeles Elder Abuse Forensic Center. Ms. Valentine also serves on the advisory board for the non-profit organization Together We Rise which is dedicated to improving the lives of foster children.

Thank you for joining us again, Kimberly and we hope to see you again next year!