Thursday, March 26, 2026
8 am Pacific / 11 am Eastern
Our special guests this week are Victor Vital, Global Chair of Haynes Boone’s Trials Practice Group, Mark Trachtenberg, Partner and Emily Buchanan, Partner will present on:
Dispute Resolution in cases Presenting Nuclear Verdict Risk
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Our presenters:
Victor Vital — the Global Chair of Haynes Boone’s Trials Practice Group and the Dallas Bar Association’s 2025 Trial Lawyer of the Year — is a nationally recognized trial lawyer trusted by general counsel, C-suite executives, and high-net-worth individuals to lead them in their most sensitive, challenging, and high-stakes disputes. Known for his cross-industry fluency, Victor brings strategic insight, courtroom command, and ability to connect with judges, juries, and arbitrators in matters spanning a wide range of sectors and matters. Victor was recently named the Dallas Bar Association’s Trial Lawyer of the Year and is ranked Band 1 by Chambers USA (Litigation: Trial Lawyers, 2024-2025). His verdicts have been nationally recognized in the National Law Journal’s Top 100 Verdicts and Courtroom View Network’s Top 10 Most Impressive Defense Verdicts.
Victor’s ability to rapidly master complex subject matter enables him to both shape compelling trial narratives and drive successful dispute resolution in a wide range of disputes such as business and commercial matters, intellectual property disputes, family and estate disputes, securities fraud, white collar criminal cases, and catastrophic injury and death cases.
Victor is a member of the highly selective, invitation-only American Law Institute (ALI), an honor reserved for the country’s most respected legal minds shaping and refining the future of American law. He is a frequent speaker, author, and educator on trial strategy and high-stakes litigation, and he continues to be a sought-after voice on major courtroom developments and matters.
With a reputation forged in courtrooms across the country and across industries, Victor is the advocate and adviser clients call when the stakes are high, the pressure is real, and the outcome matters.
Mark Trachtenberg represents major companies in high-stakes appeals, is proud to be recognized by his peers as a top lawyer in his field. He was named as a 2023 and 2025 Lawyer of the Year—Appellate Practice in Houston by The Best Lawyers in America directory. He was recognized as one of the top 100 lawyers in Texas and as one of the top appellate lawyers in the state by Texas Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters). And he is highly ranked in Chambers USA,
A highlight of Mark’s career has been his work on behalf of Texas public schools, an opportunity that arose from a law review article he authored on the history of Texas’s school finance litigation while at Yale Law School. Mark played a lead role in a lawsuit that resulted in an infusion of more than $2 billion for public schools in Texas. He later served as lead counsel at trial and on appeal for a coalition of 88 school districts in a second lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s school finance system.
Mark is a member of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and the American Law Institute. He recently served as the chair of the Houston Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Section and currently serves as President of the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists (TACTAS) and Vice-President with the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society. Mark is also dedicated to his community, previously serving as the chair of the Southwest Region of the Anti-Defamation League and on the Education Policy Committee of the United Way of Greater Houston.
Emily Buchanan is a partner in the firm’s Litigation and Insurance Recovery Practice Groups in the Dallas office of Haynes Boone. Her practice focuses primarily on representing commercial policyholders in insurance coverage disputes. Emily advises clients regarding insurance programs and risk management efforts, as well as representing insureds in disputed insurance claims through negotiation, alternative dispute resolution, and litigation. Her experience spans a wide range of business insurance, including various liability coverages, property and casualty coverage, and other specialized forms of coverage.
Emily routinely works as a volunteer attorney with the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program taking on pro bono matters, including intake clinics and preparing wills for pro bono clients. When she is not advising clients, Emily also serves as an adjunct professor at her alma mater, the University of Tennessee College of Law, where she teaches a course on insurance law. Prior to attending law school, Emily taught middle school social studies at a low socioeconomic school in Tyler, Texas.
Emily’s passion for helping others, coupled with a keen insight into complex insurance issues, allows her to provide clients with litigation strategies that maximize their insurance benefits in the most efficient way possible.
Offered by Will Work For Food, founded by Natalie Armstrong-Motin (www.HowToMarketMyMediationPractice.com, moderated by Jeff Kichaven (www.JeffKichaven.com ) and Jean Lawler (www.LawlerADR.com), and Program Coordinator, David Shraga (www.DavidShraga.com).
This worldwide conversation will be like nothing else. Join in! Share, learn, have fun, and raise money for food banks.