Bio

Courtney Rowley

Courtney Rowley has built her career and reputation on representing regular people. She is passionate about the jury system as an imperative pillar of a functioning democracy. Courtney has obtained substantial verdicts and settlements in the areas of personal injury, employment law, wrongful death, toxic exposure and medical malpractice.

In the last year, Courtney has joined a team of lawyers in prosecuting Monsanto, an international chemical corporation, for its toxic injuries to women and children of the Sky Valley School System in Washington, U.S. This year they obtained a verdict of $275 million and plan to prosecute at least two more cases, representing 5 other families, before the end of 2023.

Courtney has authored four books, including Trial By Woman, which can be found on Amazon, Voire Dire and Opening Statement, Running with the Bulls: How to Win Top Dollar Settlements and Damages Evolving with David Ball and Artemis Malekpour.

Courtney is the owner of The Rowley Law Firm , member of Trial Lawyers for Justice, and a founder of Trial By Woman, a nonprofit organization designed to empower, support, and educate women in business and leadership. She is an advocate for civil rights and the importance of equity both inside the courtroom and out. She has obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for clients from states across the country. Her focus in on the clients themselves, as human beings. She finds that by spending time, getting to truly know her clients and honor their dignity as individuals, she is better able to translate their experience.

Courtney tries her cases with her husband, Nick Rowley, founder of Trial by Human and Trial Lawyers for Justice. Nick and Courtney Rowley have been honored with numerous awards for their work in improving healthcare and expanding the civil rights of medical malpractice victims. They are the recipients of the Consumer Watchdog Rage for Justice Lifetime Achievement Award to honor their work in public interest, specifically their work to reduce and change a 45 year medical malpractice caps statute to expand all injured persons’ civil rights, especially for women and people of color. They are also the recipients of CAALA’s Ted Horn Award for Service. They are the producers of Making a Killing, a documentary about the injustices of patients and the healthcare system when caps allow insurance defense corporations to control access to the courts. “This agreement signals the end to one of the most longstanding battles in California politics, and strikes a fair balance protecting patients, while ensuring that physicians and other medical professionals can treat patients without fear of financial ruin,” Gavin Newsom said in a written statement. “This is an important victory for the stability and health of our healthcare system and for patients across California.”

Courtney is an avid advocate for education, especially for girls. She and her family have built water wells and a school in Kenya. She teaches trial skills and speaks across the country for legal and professional organizations.

She and her family live in Montana.

Bio

Nicholas C. Rowley

As a nationally renowned Trial Lawyer who has won over $3 Billion in jury verdicts and settlements across the country, it is essential to know that Nick Rowley’s success did not come easily. The challenges he faced growing up, his time in the U.S. Military, life lessons, and courtroom experience forged Nick into who he is today.

Born in Storm Lake Iowa, Nick spent his early childhood years living on a farm in small town Iowa. He also spent five of his formative childhood years living in the rough and tough border town Nogales Arizona. Living in Nogales, Nick experienced the receiving end of racism being bullied and beat up regularly as he was one of the only caucasian kids in his school. He was teased, treated differently, and bullied because of the color of his skin. During those years Nick learned how to speak Spanish, fight back, and assimilate into that society and hispanic culture.

Life at home growing up was loud, often violent, and always unpredictable. Hot water was a luxury that often came from boiling water on the stove, as was having a phone line, electricity, and simple things like milk and good food. Nick started working and buying his own clothes and food as early as the 5th grade. He fully moved out on his own at the age of 15 and was emancipated at age 16. He worked as a paperboy, washed cars, mowed lawns, did field and farm work in Iowa and worked construction and also as a small engine mechanic before joining the military at age 17. Nick served as a medic in both the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army, for a total of 6 years. In the Army he was the medic in an Air Defense Artillery Unit. Nick took advantage of the military’s education benefits. Tuition assistance and the G.I. Bill afforded him the opportunity to attend college and law school. By age 19, while still in the military, Nick completed his bachelor’s degree and three associates degrees and started working on a Master’s Degree. Nick was trained and certified as a firefighter and worked as a volunteer firefighter for a fire department near his military base. Nick switched from the Air Force to the Army at age 20 and continued his service while he attended law school.

Nick has been recognized by his peers, trial lawyer organizations, and dozens of publications for winning record-setting verdicts across the country on behalf of injury victims and families and also for his representation of physicians against greedy insurance companies. Some of Nick’s successes include a record setting $131 million verdict for the victim of a car accident after the driver was over served at a bar, a record setting $74.5 million dollar verdict for a victim of medical malpractice during the birthing process, a $275 Million verdict against Monsanto for injuries and damages suffered by three families as a result of exposure to PCBs, $40 million for two parents whose 33 year old son was negligently killed due to corporate negligence, a $42 million dollar verdict for a young girl who was brain injured by a motorcycle collision, a $38.6 million verdict for a young man who fell from a hotel balcony while intoxicated, a $17 million dollar victory for a woman who suffered a traumatic brain injury caused by a fall from a hotel balcony that had a defective railing, $21.6 million for a young woman injured when hit by a dentist who failed to stop at a stop sign, $29.5 million in a wrongful death medical malpractice case of a wife and mother who was in her thirties, $10 million in a medical malpractice – wrongful death case for an adult son and wife of a 70 year old man who had cancer, $12.5 million for a husband and wife in a medical negligence case where an unnecessary prostatectomy was performed, $31.6 million for a young girl who was brain injured in a collision, $10 million for a man who suffered a mild traumatic brain injury in a collision, $45 million for a 6 year old girl who suffered a brain injury as a result of a motor vehicle collision, $60 million against Tesla on behalf of a motorcyclist who suffered a brain injury when a Tesla employee negligently broadsided him, $35 million on behalf of a woman who suffered a brain injury in a motor vehicle collision, $26 million on behalf of a boy who suffered chemical burns in an over chlorinated pool at a resort in South Carolina, $16.5 million in an explosion/burn injury case, $20 million in a medical malpractice case for a man who suffered permanent scarring due to medication errors, $15 million against LAPD for negligently hitting a disabled man in a crosswalk, $15 million on behalf of a woman injured in a motor vehicle collision, $10.5 million for a teenage who suffered a mild traumatic brain injury when he was assaulted at a school pep rally, $12 million for a young man with a knee, shoulder, and mild traumatic brain injury in a premises liability case, $7 million in a negligent security case for a woman who lost most of the sight in her left eye as a result of an assault at a nightclub, $9 million against a school district for failing to supervise resulting in a 7 year old boy suffering a moderate traumatic brain injury, $10 million for a boy who suffered a mild traumatic brain injury when he was hit on his bicycle, $10 million for a man whose brain was injured in a collision, $14 million for a young girl who was brain injured by medical negligence, $11.5 million for a family that lives in Mexico for the death of their patriarch who died in a grain bin, $14 million for two adult daughters and the wife of a hispanic man who was an immigrant farm worker who was killed in a collision, $22 million dollars for a family who suffered bad burns during a fire in their mobile home, $25 million for a man who was injured in a collision, $21 million for man with bad burns as a result of a vehicle crashing into a restaurant, $12 million for a child with a brain injury because of medical negligence, $16 million for a young man who suffered a brain injury as a result of a collision, $20 million for two families whose loved one died as a result of a defective and dangerous bath tub, $11 million for a man who lost his arm in a helicopter accident, and $28.5 million for a man who suffered a mild traumatic brain injury in a motorcycle collision. The list goes on and on.

When Nick is not trying cases or spending time with his family he can be found doing philanthropic work across the country and internationally including Costa Rica and Kenya, Africa, where he has worked to fund and build education centers, schools, and drilling and setting up water wells in communities where people otherwise have to walk hours to get a few gallons of water.

Nick has served on the Board of Directors of the Imagination Workshop, which is a non-profit theater arts organization committed to using the unique power of the theater to provide life-changing artistic opportunities to the mentally ill, homeless veterans, senior citizens, and at-risk young people. Nick has also served on the Honorary Board of Governors of TLC, Trial Lawyers’ Charities, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to make a positive difference in the quality of life for people within the greater Los Angeles area, focusing on issues related to education, children, battered women, persons with disabilities, and homelessness, by providing financial assistance to needy persons and groups in the greater Los Angeles area. He is currently on the board of Innoceana, which is a non profit organization dedicated to protecting our oceans, putting a stop to shark finning, and restoring coral.

Nick is known for his caring, empathetic approach to working with injury victims and families. He walks the walk and believes in going the distance for each and every client, doing whatever it takes to make insurance companies, corporations, and the government pay full justice when justice is due. “Always be generous and give more than you take” is a motto Nick has always lived by.

In addition to being an author and co author of multiple books dedicated to protecting and preserving our justice system and helping other lawyers learn the skills they need to be real trial lawyers, Nick and his wife Courtney Rowley founded the Trial By Human program (a non profit advanced trial skills program). The goal of TrialByHuman.com (TBH) is helping lawyers and paralegals learn the skills they need to effectively advocate in the courtroom.

Bio

Jakob Z. Norman

Jakob is an experienced trial and appellate lawyer. Prior to practicing law, he entered the Air Force, where he met Nick Rowley on their first day of basic training. As teenagers, they started to learn the importance of discipline, teamwork, and integrity. As men, the two have maintained these values in the relentless pursuit of justice.

Although Jakob primarily focuses on representing people who have been injured, he has continuously represented criminal defendants in high-profile cases. The common denominators existing in each of Jakob’s cases are his belief in his client and his mission to understand the wrong that needs to be vindicated. Because he is selective in the cases that he takes, Jakob has and takes the time to get to know each client at the personal level. In his pursuit of justice. Jakob helped his client get the largest settlement in Wyoming history for a case with no economic damages.

Jakob also leads and trains trial lawyers throughout the country using the Trial by Human platform based on Nick Rowley’s groundbreaking book written to improve the trial lawyer profession.

Having worked in insurance defense, corporate law, and as a federal prosecutor, Jakob brings perspective to his cases. Additionally, Jakob has served as a military prosecutor and an ethics advisor for both federal and state governments. The practical experience, having been on the other side in these various positions, have proven to not only to be instrumental, tactically, in Jakob’s fight for justice, but it’s shown to be commanding of respect as well.

While pursuing his degree in Psychology, Jakob worked and researched in the detection of deception; he conducted social science experiments on jury decision making; and he interned at Harvard University to help design the first ever fMRI lie detection research for the CIA.

Jakob’s expertise in psychology has proven to be vital in many aspects of trials, including voir dire preparation, witness assessment, and jury profiling/selection.  Jakob has partnered with Harvard psychology professors in his company jury consulting business using the science of psychology to help other attorneys best consider sociological, psychological, and group thought processes as they relate to jury and trial settings.

Having been part of over 10 startups, including one financed by legendary oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens–in which he served as the President & CEO, Jakob has extensive practical business experience, leadership skill, and knowledge.  With $75 million in funds for start-up, Jakob helped grow the company to a national and international platform. The company was awarded the prestigious Department of Defense Freedom Award for its support and employment of veterans during the time in which Jakob led.

With military service spanning over two decades and continuing to-date, Jakob service includes both the Air Force and the Army.  He has held several enlisted ranks and worked his way up through the officer ranks to his current rank of Colonel, all of which has provided invaluable experience. His job assignments have included: transportation, medic, infantryman, as well as a Judge Advocate General (JAG Corps), Air Defense Artillery, Deputy Chief of Staff – Logistics, Regimental Commander, and Brigade Commander. With several deployments under his belt, including post- 9/11 activation, relief efforts in support of Hurricane Katrina, 46^th Presidential Inauguration, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom, Jakob has global experience. Jakob has served on Joint Task Forces and has been awarded the Army Combat Action Badge, Airborne Wings, Air Assault Wings, and over 22 ribbons/decorations. In late 2017, Jakob worked for the Deputy Secretary of the United States Army on a complex investigation and, most recently, was an honor graduate of the prestigious Army War College, whose notable alumni include Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ulysses S Grant III, and H. Norman Schwarzkopf.