Featured National Speakers
Alan Blumenfeld & Katherine James
ACT of COMMUNICATION - Culver City, California
Since 1977, Alan Blumenfeld and Katherine James, the founders of ACT of COMMUNICATION, have brought state-of-the-art trial communication skills to more 30,000 attorneys and their witnesses. Blumenfeld and James are professional actors who make a living in film, television and theatre. They have combined their skills as performance artists with learning and education theory and the study of human behavior to help attorneys, their clients and their witnesses better understand how to effectively communicate with jurors, judges and others who may decide their cases. They work with attorneys to convert ideas, opinions, research and facts from the cases into compelling stories, and then help the attorneys present those stories effectively using both verbal and nonverbal communications techniques. They have presented educational sessions throughout the country on their techniques and methodology, with sessions focusing on witness preparation, depositions, trial strategy, judge and juror communications and orchestrating opening and closing statements.
Jonathan Bridges - Susman Godfrey, Dallas
Jonathan Bridges is a partner at Susman Godfrey LLP, one of the country's leading litigation boutiques. Each of Susman Godfrey's 84 lawyers practices exclusively in high-stakes commercial litigation. The firm's offices in Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York attract the top legal talent and many of the highest profile commercial cases. Bridges’ practice is nationwide. He currently is lead or co-lead counsel in cases pending in the District of Columbia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, in addition to cases in his home state of Texas. His docket includes antitrust, oil & gas, securities, and government and consumer fraud cases in individual, class, and qui tam litigation. He also represented Brent Redstone, son of Viacom chief Sumner Redstone, in his 2006 suit to liquidate his interest in the Redstone family corporation that controls CBS, Viacom, and a host of subsidiaries in the entertainment industry. Since then, Bridges has devoted a portion of his practice to representing minority owners in closely held companies. Bridges attended law school at the University of Notre Dame, where he served as editor in chief of the law review. He also clerked for the Hon. Thomas M. Reavley, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, before joining Susman Godfrey's Dallas office where he is today.
Richard Golomb - Golomb & Honik, Philadelphia
Richard Golomb is managing shareholder and a founding partner of Golomb & Honik, P.C. He has more than twenty years experience representing the catastrophically injured as a result of medical negligence, defective products and pharmaceuticals, construction accidents and other personal injury claims. He also represents victims in medical monitoring and consumer class action. An active member of the bar, Golomb has served as President of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association; is a board member of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice; and is the current Treasurer of the American Association for Justice. AAJ has twice recognized Golomb with the "Distinguished Service Award," and was awarded with the “Citation of Excellence” by AAJ for his pro bono service representing families victimized by the events of September 11, 2001. Golomb also serves as a trustee of the Civil Justice Foundation and is a fellow of the Roscoe Pound Institute. Additionally, he served as an elected member of the Board of Governors of the Philadelphia Bar Association; as Chair of that body’s State Civil Committee; has served two terms as a hearing officer for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Disciplinary Board; and sat for four years on the Judicial Selection and Retention Committee. Golomb is a frequent lecturer and author who addresses trial advocacy subjects for the plaintiffs’ and defense bar in areas such as expert witness preparation, evidence, cross-examination and ethics.
Gary C. Johnson - Pikeville, Kentucky
Gary C. Johnson has been successfully representing plaintiffs in personal injury cases for 35 years. He is the founder of Gary C. Johnson P.S.C., which currently has seven attorneys in three offices in Pikeville, Lexington and Hazard, Kentucky. His fields of practice include vehicular negligence, products liability and medical malpractice. He has tried cases in Kentucky and West Virginia, and he has also handled cases in Ohio, Georgia and several other states. Johnson has been a frequent seminar speaker, presenting programs in both trial strategy and how to maximize damages in cases. He has been named a Kentucky Super Lawyer for the last two years. In 2008, he was awarded the Peter Perlman Outstanding Trial Lawyer of the Year Award by the Kentucky Justice Association. Johnson served as Pike County Attorney and a Kentucky State Senator. He now provides free legal advice on a weekly basis through his television show, Lawyers on Call, which airs in central and eastern Kentucky. He is a graduate of Berea College and earned his J. D. from the University of Kentucky College of Law.
Howard Nations - Houston, Texas
In his more than 40 years of trial practice Howard Nations has tried cases in the areas of product liability, wrongful death, medical malpractice, real estate fraud, insurance bad faith, will contests, breach of contract, child custody, divorce, criminal defense and a variety of personal injury and workers' compensation cases, from both the plaintiffs' and defendants' side of the docket. He is board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization as both a personal injury trial lawyer and a civil trial lawyer. He is board certified on the national level as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocates, and is certified as a Diplomate of Trial Advocacy by the National College of Advocacy. Nations received his law degree from Vanderbilt University and a bachelor of arts degree from Florida State University. As a leader of the trial bar, Nations served on the executive committee and as an officer of the American Association for Justice, formerly known as ATLA, from July 1990 – 1995. He is President of the Belli Society, a Past-President of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, Past-President of the Southern Trial Lawyers Association and Trustee of the American Jury Foundation. Howard continues as a member of the adjunct faculty at South Texas College of Law. He has also published numerous law review articles, CLE papers and legal publications.
WVAJ AFFINITY PARTNERS
.jpg)
