Why Our Attorneys Spent Four Days in a Houston Courtroom Classroom

Four attorneys from Caesar & Napoli spent four days this summer at the Lanier Trial Academy Master Class in Houston, Texas. Partners James C. Napoli, Kelsey Crowley and Christian J. Kubic attended, along with Thomas Napoli.

The Lanier Trial Academy was founded by the trial lawyer Mark Lanier and is held each summer in Houston. It is not an introductory program. It is built for attorneys who already try cases, and the sessions run from jury selection through closing argument, with live demonstrations and immediate feedback on how jurors respond. The program carries continuing legal education credit, and 2026 marked its tenth year.

Why a firm sends attorneys to a trial program

Most injury cases in New York never reach a jury. They settle. That fact is often presented as a reason trial skill does not matter very much, and it is exactly backwards.

A case settles for what the other side believes it would cost them at trial. Insurers and corporate defendants track which firms try cases and which firms do not. When a defense team is confident a firm will accept whatever is offered rather than pick a jury, that confidence shows up in the number. Trial readiness is not only about the small share of cases that are tried. It sets the terms for the ones that are not.

That is why the firm places such value on opportunities like this, where attorneys can learn from accomplished trial lawyers, refine their courtroom skills, and gain experience that will benefit the clients they represent.

The litigation this preparation is aimed at

One body of litigation the firm has been following closely involves claims that social media platforms were designed to keep adolescents engaged in ways that damaged their mental health.

Thousands of these cases are consolidated in federal court in the Northern District of California before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, in a proceeding that covers Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, Google, which owns YouTube, TikTok and Snap. A separate group of cases is consolidated in California state court. The claims are brought by families, and in some matters by school districts.

What the plaintiffs allege, in general terms, is that specific product features were built to maximize the time young users spend on a platform, and that the companies understood the effect those features had on adolescents. The cases are about product design decisions rather than about anything a particular user posted.

These are the kinds of cases that make trial preparation matter. The defendants are among the best resourced companies in the world, they are represented by firms that litigate every point, and the claims turn on documents, internal research and expert testimony rather than on a straightforward set of facts. A case like that is won or lost on the ability to make a complicated record clear to twelve people.

What this means if you are a New York family

If you believe a young person in your family has been harmed in a way that connects to the design of a platform they used, the first step is a conversation, not a lawsuit. These claims are fact specific. They depend on medical records, on the history of a young person’s use, and on how the harm presents.

Two points are worth understanding at the outset.

• Deadlines apply, and they can be shorter than people expect. New York gives three years to file most personal injury lawsuits under CPLR 214(5). Where the injured person is a minor, the deadline is affected by CPLR 208. A claim can be viable for years and still be lost to a date.
• Documentation matters more than certainty. Families often wait because they are not sure they have a case. The record that supports one is built while treatment is happening, not afterward.

The same is true of every case the firm handles, which is the thread connecting a trial program in Houston to a consultation in New York. Preparation starts well before anyone files anything.

Talk to us

Caesar & Napoli represents injured people and their families throughout New York City from offices in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. Consultations do not cost anything, and most personal injury cases are handled on a no-win, no-fee basis. We are not paid attorney’s fees unless we win a recovery for your case.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. This article is general information about pending litigation and is not legal advice about any individual claim.

Image note: photographs accompanying our blog articles are illustrative and digitally created. They do not depict actual clients, actual attorneys of this firm, or actual events.