Ted Wacker – Litigation Is a Civil War. Here’s How I Win

His dad taught him persistence. Soccer taught him strategy. Ted B. Wacker combines both skills in the courtroom. That’s how he wins what he calls the “civil war” of litigation. In this conversation with host Dan Ambrose, Ted traces a career defined by bold bets: from clerking on the Exxon Valdez oil spill case, to knocking out expert cardiologists in the bellwether case about Merck’s Vioxx pain medication, to leading a “monster” wrongful death litigation against Uber. He and his brother and law partner will teach the Uber litigation at TLU Beach.

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Episode Snapshot

1. Ted grew up in Seattle where his father was a judge; as a young kid, he watched a client who had lost her leg in Seattle's first Bastille Day Parade toast his dad at a dinner for getting her a $500,000 settlement — the largest personal injury settlement in the city's history at the time. That memory quietly shaped his path to plaintiff's law.
2. Ted played on the state championship soccer team in Washington, earned all-state honors, received pro tryouts from Seattle and San Jose out of high school, and played at San Diego State — ranked No. 2 in the nation his senior year in 1987.
3. Ted paid his own way through law school by bartending and clerking. His first clerk position at San Diego's oldest and biggest plaintiffs’ firm came through a surprising connection: the firm's office manager turned out to be a distant uncle.
4. On the trial team case against the drug manufacturer Merck, Ted deposed both of retained cardiologists. Ultimately, the team won a $51 million verdict.
5. After transitioning out of mass torts, Ted scored back-to-back landmark verdicts: a $3.1 million elder abuse verdict with punitive damages (settling closer to $10 million after attorney's fees) and a $14.6 million verdict in a case where State Farm had refused to pay a $25,000 policy.
6. Ted's advice to aspiring trial lawyers: Find a mentor, prioritize getting into trial, and understand that there is no better teacher than actually practicing in the courtroom and getting reps in trial.

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