A Trial Lawyer’s Guide to Preserving the U.S. Justice System ft. Eric Weitz

The fabric of American law is changing - courts are in crisis, judges are under threat - and something needs to change. This episode of Between the Briefs by Steno reveals the ‘what’. Tune in as hosts Adrian Cea and Joe Stephens sit down with Eric Weitz, Founder of the Weitz Law Firm and President of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice, to explore why finding your authentic voice in the courtroom matters, how to leverage technology like AI-powered transcript analysis to strengthen case preparation and the key strategies to secure non-economic settlements that drive systemic change in healthcare. Trial lawyers find themselves at an inflection point. This episode reminds us how to make the best of it.

What You’ll Learn:

Leveraging authenticity to build courtroom credibility, instead of performance
The critical gap between law school education and trial practice reality

Why non-economic settlements matter more than transactional case resolution

How to leverage technology for strategic advantage without losing your competitive edge

The three universal needs of every catastrophic injury client

The major shifts taking place in the plaintiff litigation space

Trial lawyers find themselves at an inflection point. This episode reminds us how to make the best of it.

Highlights:

00:00 Introduction

02:22 From Big Law to Plaintiff Advocacy: Eric Weitz's 30-Year Journey

06:00 Authenticity as Your Most Potent Trial Weapon

07:30 Why Persuasion Beats Performance in Trial Law

10:50 The Critical Gap Between Law School and Practice

13:33 Pennsylvania Association for Justice: Defending the Rule of Law

18:04 How Young Attorneys Can Impact the Justice System

20:20 Unity in the Trial Bar: Fighting for Common Causes

23:36 Building the Weitz Law Firm

27:16 Why Non-Economic Considerations are More Important for Trial Lawyers

31:48 Reframing Trial Lawyers: Community Leaders and Advocates for Change

34:08 How Catastrophic Injury Work Changes a Person

37:45 Technology's Double-Edged Sword in Medical Malpractice Litigation

40:05 Learning Without Technology: Lessons from Practice Evolution

41:22 Eric’s Hot Take: Consolidation, Funding Pressures and Rising Verdicts

45:05 Closing Thoughts

Quotes:

“Look, whether I’m on trial and something happens where an opportunity or you see something in your daily practice, I call them gifts. It’s the way I choose to label them because I really view them that way. It’s not, “how did I not know it?”
“Authenticity is the single most potent weapon that anybody has. Jurors are really good at sniffing out nonsense, and if you’re trying to sell something and you’re not being genuine as a person, it doesn’t matter what you say. It doesn’t matter how right you are.”
“Two things strike me right off the bat… I used to be convinced when I was younger that to be a trial lawyer you had to have that it factor… until I spent enough time in a courtroom to see all sorts of different styles. The drama we see today in the media is so exaggerated and so overblown. And I have just found that that doesn’t translate well into a courtroom until the client or the lawyer have earned it.”
“What are you going to law school for? You’re going to learn how to think, you’re hoping to pick up some substance to help you on the bar exam, period. Law schools very much care about their bar passage rate and since the bar is the threshold now, that’s why I think our education is so limited.”
“We are probably facing the single greatest attack on the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary that we have ever seen. Our federal legislature has kind of abdicated their power to the executive branch. The courts are all that’s left. The threats on their family, the threats on their lives, the attacks in the press, we forget judges are human beings too.”