Trial Strategies, Parachute & Monitoring

Our Trial Strategies, Parachute & Monitoring Practice is a specialized litigation group focused on preparing, supporting, and trying high-exposure cases. The practice integrates advanced trial strategy, disciplined courtroom advocacy, and continuous risk monitoring to help insurers and corporate clients manage litigation exposure and position cases for successful resolution at trial.

This practice group is frequently engaged by insurers and claims professionals when matters present significant financial exposure, complex liability issues, or heightened reputational risk. By combining early strategic analysis with experienced courtroom advocacy, the team helps clients maintain control of the litigation narrative and guide juries toward reasoned, evidence-based verdicts.

(1) Strategic Trial Advocacy Program

Our Strategic Trial Advocacy Program is led by Chief Strategies Officer Janine Menendez-Aponte. Janine is a former staff counsel trial attorney with a major auto and transportation insurer and brings significant experience handling complex liability matters from a carrier perspective.

In her role, Janine designs and oversees the firm’s trial advocacy and litigation strategy training programs. Every attorney in the firm participates in mandatory trial advocacy and litigation strategy training, ensuring that our lawyers approach each case with disciplined preparation, strong courtroom fundamentals, and a deep understanding of the strategic issues that affect insurer exposure.

This program helps ensure that clients receive consistent, trial-ready representation across all stages of litigation.

Dedicated First-Chair Trial Parachute Team

Janine also oversees the firm’s Dedicated First-Chair Trial Parachute Team, a select group of senior trial partners who have demonstrated sustained success serving as lead trial counsel in jury trials.

The team is led by Chief Trial Officers Ben Pahl and Frank Sato and consists exclusively of attorneys with proven first-chair trial experience and verdict results.

The Parachute Team can be deployed when a case requires:

• Immediate trial leadership
• Reinforcement of an existing trial team
• Strategic courtroom guidance in high-exposure matters
• Experienced trial counsel for complex liability disputes

This structure allows insurers and corporate clients to access seasoned trial leadership quickly when a matter escalates toward trial, ensuring continuity, preparedness, and disciplined courtroom presentation.

Trial Strategy and Verdict Development

Dan Santaniello oversees the firm’s Trial Strategies team, which focuses on developing sophisticated defense strategies in matters involving significant financial exposure.

The team works closely with trial counsel and claims professionals to evaluate case risk, refine liability themes, and design effective courtroom strategies. Their work includes:

• Jury selection strategy and voir dire planning
• Defense case theme development
• Liability framing and narrative control
• Damages positioning and anchoring analysis
• Witness preparation and examination strategy
• Expert witness presentation
• Cross-examination design
• Evidentiary sequencing
• Opening and closing argument development

The goal is to ensure that juries focus on the evidence, the law, and reasonable valuation of the claim, rather than emotional advocacy or improper persuasion tactics.

Structured Trial Roundtables

Every significant matter handled by the practice undergoes a structured internal trial roundtable, where experienced trial attorneys evaluate the case from multiple strategic perspectives. During these sessions the team analyzes:

• Juror perception and risk themes
• Case valuation anchors
• Potential plaintiff narratives and tactics
• Exposure scenarios and settlement posture
• Strategic opportunities for defense presentation

This collaborative process allows clients to benefit from the collective trial experience of multiple seasoned litigators, strengthening case preparation and providing insurers with a more informed evaluation of litigation risk.

Integrated Litigation Strategy

The practice works in close coordination with the firm’s Reptile and Deposition Trial Strategy Practice Group, which focuses on countering modern plaintiff trial tactics such as Reptile Theory, the Edge Method, and other neuro-persuasion techniques.

Through integrated preparation and coordinated litigation strategy, the combined teams help prepare witnesses, corporate representatives, and claims professionals for deposition and trial in a way that promotes credibility, clarity, and defensibility before a jury.

Focus on Exposure Control and Claims Partnership

The mission of the practice is not simply to try cases, but to help insurers and corporate clients control exposure, reduce uncertainty, and make informed strategic decisions throughout litigation.

By combining disciplined trial preparation, early strategic analysis, and experienced courtroom advocacy, the team provides carriers with:

• Early evaluation of trial risk
• Strategic guidance on settlement posture
• Trial-ready case preparation
• Experienced courtroom leadership when cases must be tried

The result is a litigation strategy designed to protect the client’s interests while ensuring that juries are guided toward a fair and rational evaluation of the facts.

For more information contact Dan Santaniello.