Episodes

“Being good at what you do is enough to make you successful.” If only. If you want to build a thriving law practice in the modern legal marketplace, business and marketing chops are a must. Tune in as John Fisher provides a masterclass for young lawyers hungry to make (and keep) more money, develop a referral-based practice, and cultivate a valuable referral network. John is the owner and founder of The New York Injury and Malpractice Law Firm in Kingston, New York, where he specializes in the...

Having the facts on your side doesn’t always keep a case from going to trial. There are always arguments on the defense side, and even the strongest facts have to be presented effectively to get a good case result. In this episode of Just Verdicts (formerly Trial & Medical Error), med mal litigators Brendan Lupetin and Greg Unatin welcome Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania based trial lawyer, John Perkosky, to the show. The trio discuss the record setting $16 million jury verdict John obtained in a Penns...

A good trial lawyer, like a good storyteller, knows how to use narratives to connect with their audience. Often, the simplest stories are the most powerful. The challenge can be cutting out the extraneous details and focusing on what is strongest in a case. In this episode of Just Verdicts (formerly Trial & Medical Error), med mal litigators Brendan Lupetin and Maggie Cooney share their insights and successes in a recent slip and fall trial. They discuss effective discovery strategies, how to c...

Whether you’ve tried dozens of cases or are preparing to try your very first case, establishing an effective trial preparation process is key to a successful outcome for you and your client. In this episode of Just Verdicts (formerly Trial & Medical Error), med mal litigators Brendan Lupetin and Greg Unatin discuss the process they go through every time they try a case. Beginning with establishing a trial team and creating a detailed checklist, they go on to discuss the role of organization, th...

While it’s okay to look for positive feedback, don’t try to win the focus group. That’s a mistake. Instead you want that first presentation to be really tough so that you find all the problems, all the ways that the jury hates your case, hates you, hates your client, whatever it is. And then you can iterate, fix, repair, and patch. In this episode of Just Verdicts (formerly Trial & Medical Error), med mal litigators Brendan Lupetin and Greg Unatin discuss how virtual focus groups can be used to...

Anybody can do a focus group. With the prevalence of virtual platforms nowadays, it is so much easier to do focus groups that there’s really no excuse not to. And it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, either. If you aren’t doing focus groups, you’re probably doing yourself, your case, and your client a disservice. In this episode of Just Verdicts (formerly Trial & Medical Error), med mal litigators Brendan Lupetin and Greg Unatin discuss the nuts and bolts of putting together, conducting, and...

In a med mal case, it's easier for people to hold an entity responsible–like a hospital–and make them pay, rather than blaming an individual–like a doctor. Therefore, how you work up a med mal case matters. It’s the difference between working up a case that is easier to win versus a case that is harder to win. What kind of case do you want? In this episode of Just Verdicts (formerly Trial & Medical Error), hosts Brendan Lupetin and Greg Unatin discuss the difference between a “system failure” c...

Medical malpractice cases are complicated for the jury. You have to help them understand the medicine, the deviation, how the mistake was made, and why the mistake led to the harm. You have to try to simplify the case as much as possible. In this episode of Just Verdicts (formerly Trial & Medical Error), med mal litigators Greg Unatin and Brendan Lupetin discuss using the “reptile” in their medical malpractice cases, a “rule” approach to trial. They reflect on what has and hasn’t worked for the...

Learn from your losses. It’s the same for med mal trial attorneys as it is in life. In this episode of Just Verdicts (formerly Trial & Medical Error), med mal litigators Brendan Lupetin and Greg Unatin discuss a recent orthopedic medical malpractice case they took to verdict–a case they felt had real merit, but did not end up going their way. Brendan reflects on what he would have done differently, what he would have done the same, and why he feels the verdict was not in their client’s favor. T...

“Trial is a battle of impression more than it is logic.” As a plaintiff’s attorney your job is to do a deep dive and understand the minutiae of the medicine–along with the specifics of the case, the claims, and the causation–so you can tell the story of the plaintiff in a language that the jury can understand. In part 2 of this 2-part episode series of Just Verdicts (formerly Trial & Medical Error), med mal litigators Brendan Lupetin and Greg Unatin outline their approach in trial during their ...

Concussion cases can be difficult. The injury is invisible. The jury is skeptical. But there is a formula to success. Do you know it? Tune in to the debut episode of Just Verdicts (formerly Trial & Medical Error) as seasoned med mal litigators Brendan Lupetin and Greg Unatin share the tactics they used to win a favorable verdict in a recent concussion case. In this part 1 of a 2-part series, you’ll learn about the type of evidence that is crucial to get a strong verdict in this type of case, an...

Are you a trial lawyer seeking a competitive edge in medical malpractice cases? This is the lawyer podcast for you. On Trial & Medical Error, we share novel insights and legal strategies to help you confidently tackle the most complicated cases. Hosted by Pennsylvania medical malpractice attorneys Brendan Lupetin and Greg Unatin, founders of Lupetin and Unatin, Attorneys at Law in Pittsburgh, this podcast delivers a wealth of knowledge derived from extensive experience in the courtroom. Every e...