The Cappello Courtroom Series: The Art of the Trial continued into its fifth year with two lectures led by alumnus and veteran trial attorney A. Barry Cappello ’65. In March 2016, the topic was “When Is a Multi-million Dollar Trial Verdict Worthless?” Cappello, who has tried hundreds of cases with cumulative verdicts and settlements in excess of $1 billion, was joined in the lecture by appellate specialist Norman Pine of Pine Pine Freeman Tillett LLP. The lecture focused on actions trial attorneys can take to protect their cases on appeal.
A. Barry Cappello ’65
In November 2015, the subject was “Class Action Warfare: The Secrets to Prosecuting and Defending a Mass Class Action.” The lecture focused on a Santa Barbara oil spill case in which fishermen, property owners, employees and business owners brought a class action against Plains All American Pipeline Co. after a pipeline rupture in May 2015.
The attorneys who brought the case presented the lecture: Cappello, who was lead trial counsel, and co-lead counsel Robert Nelson from Lieff, Cabraser & Heimann and Lynn Lincoln Sarka from Keller Rohrback. Cappello also served as the chief plaintiffs counsel against Union Oil, Mobil, Gulf and Texaco In litigation brought after the 1969 Santa Barbara Channel oil spill.
