Lou Radja is an international keynote speaker, author, and leadership coach known for delivering high-energy, impactful presentations that resonate with professionals across industries. As co-founder and Executive Director of EduCongo, he leads efforts to expand access to education for underserved children in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Drawing from a multicultural upbringing in both the United States and Africa, Lou brings a powerful global perspective to his work. His presentations focus on leadership, resilience, and human connection, challenging audiences to raise their standards, take ownership, and lead with purpose. Lou has worked with organizations around the world, helping teams break through limitations and perform at a higher level. His message is simple and direct: Be more. Give more.

Alexandria Serra is a legal scholar, practitioner, and nationally recognized authority on AI in litigation. She joins the University of San Francisco School of Law as a tenure-track Criminal Law Professor in fall 2026, with a research agenda focused on artificial intelligence, litigation, and technology’s impact on the rights of the accused. She has served as the Advocacy Fellow at UMKC School of Law, where she coached nationally ranked advocacy teams and built one of the first AI-integrated legal education programs in the country. Professor Serra is the author of AI For Litigators: Practical Tools to Transform Your Practice and has built more than fifteen custom AI tools, including tools for trial preparation, evidence analysis, advocacy coaching, and case management. She holds a J.D./M.B.A., is a registered patent attorney, and has a decade of criminal defense litigation experience. She regularly trains lawyers, judges, mediators, public defenders, and students on practical AI integration in legal practice.

Megan Daic is an attorney, mediator, adjunct professor, and legal innovator whose work spans the courtroom, the classroom, and the cutting edge of AI-assisted practice. She owns Daic Law, a Texas-based litigation and debt defense firm, and co-directs the ADR Program at the University of Houston Law Center, where she has taught negotiation, client counseling, and dispute resolution for nearly a decade. Megan is also the founder of Empathic Edge, an AI-powered simulation platform for legal skills training. She independently built her own client counseling application using AI-assisted development tools, without a traditional engineering background. Her work gives her a rare perspective as a practitioner, educator, mediator, and builder. Her conference presentation focuses on using AI not as a novelty, but as a practical tool for better lawyering.

Shawn Kinsey is the founder and principal forensic visualizer at 4ensic IMPACT, where he develops data-driven animations and demonstrative liability exhibits for litigation. Over the past 14 years, he has specialized in reconstructing police shootings, vehicle crashes, workplace accidents, personal injury events, environmental spills and mine plume contaminations, wildfire and explosion causation, and other complex incidents. Using methods such as photogrammetry and videogrammetry, he creates technically grounded visuals that help attorneys and experts communicate complex evidence clearly and credibly. Shawn understands how persuasive visuals are built, how to test whether they are truly grounded in the evidence, and how to help defense teams counter unsupported or overstated graphics with credible, technically sound alternatives.

Mike, a native of North Carolina, attended North Carolina State University receiving two degrees in mechanical engineering. Mike has been in the field of accident investigation and analysis since 1987, providing forensic consulting for thousands of investigations. Mike joined Impact Forensics as a partner in 2024. The primary focus of his professional and academic experience has been mechanical engineering, accident reconstruction, and failure analysis in the field of accident/incident investigation and analysis. He has investigated complex incidents involving motor vehicles, trains and railways, marine vessels, industrial and construction accidents, products, and shooting incident reconstruction. Mike is a licensed professional engineer and has worked in over 40 states and the Caribbean; providing trial testimony in numerous state and federal courts.

Aaron co-founded the Impact Forensics partnership in 2024. He graduated from North Carolina State University with bachelor’s and master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. Aaron conducts forensic analyses of accidents and failures involving vehicles and machinery; his primary focus is motor vehicle accident reconstruction. While at ARS, Aaron has co-authored four peer reviewed journal and conference papers in the areas of accident reconstruction and human factors engineering and he conducts full scale crash testing. In addition, Aaron is a US patent holder and the founder of TrailerGuards LLC, an engineering company that is researching, developing and selling commercial vehicle guarding systems (www.TrailerGuards.com).

Heather A. Salg is a Partner who has tried over 60 trials and arbitrations to verdict. She primarily defends insurance companies and their insureds, as well as large self-insurers in Federal Court and District Courts throughout Colorado. Her primary goal as an insurance defense trial attorney is to develop the relevant facts as quickly and economically as possible, provide an early and accurate assessment based on the facts and law, resolve matters as soon as they can be resolved, and zealously defend those cases if necessary, before a jury. Ms. Salg has been admitted and testified as an insurance industry standards of care expert in Colorado and has been retained in numerous cases expressing opinions on whether carriers engaged in “bad faith” or statutory unreasonable delay. She has presented and written about evidentiary problems associated with the reasonable value of medical expenses (“billed v paid”), Premises Liability, and best claim handling practices. She has written articles for the Colorado Lawyer and Claims Management Magazine. She has been a faculty presenter for the ABOTA Masters in Trial Program, and she is a Continuing Legal Education speaker for the Colorado Defense Lawyers Association, the Colorado Bar Association, the Denver Bar Association, and the National Business Institute. In 2013 Ms. Salg was invited to be a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), an organization with a primary mission of preserving the constitutional vision of equal justice for all Americans and our civil justice system. ABOTA is an invitation-only organization consisting of lawyers who have tried a minimum of 20 civil jury trials to conclusion. Ms. Salg has been AV-Rated by Martindale-Hubbell since 2009. She was named as a Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2012 and has been named a Super Lawyer annually since 2014. She has been repeatedly listed as a Top Lawyer by 5280 Magazine, named to the Super Lawyers’ lists of Top 50 Women attorneys in Colorado, and the Colorado Super Lawyers Top 100 list of Colorado attorneys. Ms. Salg is an active member of the Colorado Defense Lawyers Association (“CDLA”). She has repeatedly chaired professionalism events that are co-sponsored by the Colorado Defense Lawyer’s Association and the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association. She volunteers annually at Mock Trial events for the Colorado Bar Association.

Lindsay Dunn focuses her practice on civil litigation, extra-contractual insurance defense, insurance defense, insurance coverage opinions, and other civil matters. During law school, she was a judicial extern for Chief Judge Michael Martinez in the City and County of Denver District Court. Her litigation experience includes defending clients in diverse areas, including bad faith property and uninsured/underinsured motorist claims, personal injury defense, insurance defense, contract disputes and analysis, aviation, and premises liability. She has also practiced in construction defects litigation, product liability, and employment law. Lindsay has litigated cases in federal and state court and represented clients in several civil jury trials, resulting in verdicts or favorable outcomes for her clients. In addition to her busy law practice, Lindsay teaches the course Deposition Skills as an Adjunct Faculty Member of the University of Colorado School of Law.

Brendan has over 20 years of experience representing and advising clients through all stages of litigation, from discovery to trial and appeals. Known for his calm, steady courtroom presence and thorough, strategic preparation, Brendan brings extensive expertise handling first- and third-party insurance matters to the Insurance Defense and Litigation teams. Brendan was born and raised in Colorado and started his legal career prior to law school as a Deputy Clerk of Court in Park County, Colorado, where he gained valuable knowledge of the inner workings of judicial procedure and case management. After earning his J.D. from the University of Tulsa College of Law, Brendan started his legal career as an associate attorney in a small insurance defense firm. At that Colorado-based firm he served as a partner and managing attorney, where he sharpened his focus on complex insurance defense litigation. He served as principal of his own firm before joining Messner Reeves LLP. Brendan is admitted to practice in Colorado and South Dakota, as well as before the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. An active member of the Colorado legal community, Brendan is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, serves on the Board of Trustees for the Colorado Bar Foundation and is involved with the Colorado Defense Lawyers Association. In his free time, Brendan enjoys spending time with his wife, Yvonne, his two boys, Keegan and Banner, his dog Buck, and can be found outside Skiing, Fly Fishing, River Rafting, Hunting, Camping, attending live music or supporting Colorado sports teams.

EDUCATION University of Colorado Law School, Boulder, Colorado J.D., 2006 Bates College, Lewiston, Maine B.A., cum laude, 2003 EXPERIENCE 2011 – Present Staff Counsel, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company Westminster, Colorado 2009 – 2011 Associate, McConaughy & Sarkissian, P.C. Greenwood Village, Colorado 2007 – 2009 Associate, Montgomery, Kolodny, Amatuzio & Dusbabek, P.C. Denver, Colorado 2006 – 2007 Law Clerk to Hon. John P. Leopold, Hon. Cheryl L. Post, and Hon. John L. Wheeler Arapahoe County District Court, Colorado

Bryan graduated from DU Law in 1998 (at the age of 39), moved his wife and kids back to his home town of Tucson, Arizona and started practicing in a personal injury law firm in for about 9 years before being recruited to the Arizona Attorney General’s Civil Law Section to defend the State from tort claims and wrongful death claims alleged against the State’s Child Protection Service. In 2010, after a reduction in force by the Attorney General’s Office, Bryan and his family moved to Colorado Springs, where he worked for a short time as a contract attorney for the Law Office of Dan Caplis, worked for the firm of Vinci Law Office representing creditors. In 2019 Bryan land his dream job with the El Paso County Attorney’s Office where he continues to defend El Paso County against all manner of tort, civil rights, constitutional and employment claims.

Dylan Lewis has been practicing for over 25 years, spending more than 16 of those years in the litigation division of one of the largest property/casualty insurance companies in the United States, and is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Dylan has defended more than 600 cases, tried more than 20 jury trials, performed EUOs, and advised fraudulent claim investigations.

Jeffrey Clay Ruebel is an accomplished trial lawyer and is well-known and respected in both the defense and the claimant bars. A native of Brush, Colorado, he graduated from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin in 1977. After teaching special education for one year and high school level courses for two more years, he attended the University Of Colorado School Of Law, from which he graduated in 1983. Jeff has tried over 60 civil jury trials of 3-days or longer, and has handled innumerable bench trials, arbitrations and other adversarial proceedings. Jeff is an AV rated attorney and has been inducted into the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), an organization made up of experienced trial attorneys and judges, whose purpose is education about and preservation of the civil jury system. He is also a member of the Association of Defense Trial Attorneys (ADTA), an organization of select, highly qualified, experienced defense trial attorneys. He has served as President and Board member of the Colorado Defense Lawyers Association (CDLA) and has edited its newsletter and acted as its legislative liaison for over 15 years. Jeff also heads the CDLA Amicus Committee. He received the John Grund Lifetime Achievement Award and has twice been recognized as Lawyer of the Year by the Civil Justice League. Jeff has been successful in his career for his effective and cost efficient representation of litigants. His philosophy that litigation and appellate advocacy are specialties has served a wide variety of clients well. He gives back to the community through pro bono work and served as President of the Westminster AFC competitive soccer club for 8 years.

Christopher M. Unger, Esq.is a seasoned attorney specializing in insurance defense litigation. Currently serving as a Senior Supervisory Staff Attorney at American Family Mutual Insurance Company, he oversees complex litigation and provides strategic direction to defense counsel. Christopher has extensive experience in personal injury and property insurance claims, having previously worked with Wells, Anderson, and Race, LLC, and Dewhirst & Dolven, LLC. He holds a Juris Doctorate with Honors from Drake University Law School and a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies from Illinois Wesleyan University. Admitted to multiple state and federal bars, Christopher is recognized for his contributions to the legal field, including awards like “One’s to Watch” in Insurance Defense. He is also proficient in Spanish and has presented at various legal conferences.

Dr. Nathan Hammel is a board-certified, fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon specializing in hip and knee replacement, orthopedic oncology, and fracture care. A Diplomate of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and an active Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery, Dr. Hammel is recognized nationally for his expertise and has lectured at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery Annual Meeting on multiple occasions. He earned his medical degree cum laude from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and completed his orthopedic surgery residency at Naval Medical Center San Diego, followed by a fellowship in Orthopaedic Oncology at the University of Miami. Dedicated to providing comprehensive, individualized care, Dr. Hammel combines his surgical expertise with a patient-centered approach to help restore mobility and improve quality of life.

Kristin joined Ritsema Law as a partner in 2015. Prior to joining Ritsema Law, she was a partner at Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith and before that she was with McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter for over 10 years. Kristin practices litigation in the area of workers’ compensation defense. There is no issue or claim in workers’ compensation law or procedure that Kristin has not analyzed for employers and their insurers. From risk management counseling to defense of claims to appeals, her practice covers all aspects, including: Employers/Insurers in Workers’ Compensation Claims, Administrative Penalties, Bad Faith Claims, Arbitration, Mediation, Settlement, Appeals, Subrogation, Complex Case Analysis and Evaluation, Remedial Writs, Exclusivity of Remedy, Specialized Services, Medicare Secondary Payer Act and Complex Structured Settlements, Conditional Payments and Appeals, and Legislation. Kristin applies her knowledge and expertise to complex, high-stakes workers’ compensation litigation. She serves as counsel to numerous professional sports teams and skillfully and successfully defended traumatic brain injury matters, and occupational diseases that have spanned over decades of time. She has litigated numerous workers’ compensation cases for various insurance companies and large self-insured companies, and argued appellate issues in all of Colorado’s appellate courts. Kristin graduated from Cornell University in 1998, and University of Denver, M.B.A. and J.D. in 2001. She is involved in the Colorado Bar Association in various capacities and frequently provides seminars on the law to the legal community and her clients. She is located at the firm’s Denver office and can be reached at 303.297.7290 or kristin.caruso@ritsemalaw.com.

Jackie’s practice is devoted to defending individuals and corporations, insurance companies and their insureds from pre-litigation investigation through appeals. Jackie writes coverage opinions; trains claim adjusters and managers and defends them when they are accused of unreasonable conduct or bad faith. Jackie knows Insurance, Premises Liability, Auto, Defamation, Wrongful Death and has defended many TBI claims successfully. Jackie has tried over 35 jury trials and has argued appeals before the Colorado Court of Appeals and Colorado Supreme Court. Jackie attended Louisiana State University on a full academic scholarship and graduated with honors. She moved to Denver to attend University of Denver Sturm College of Law where she graduated with honors. Jackie enjoys participating in American Board of Trial Advocates and is on a trustee on the Board of the Colorado Bar Foundation.

Rachel represents corporate and individual clients in first- and third-party insurance claims, wrongful death claims, and premises liability claims. Rachel practices before federal and state courts and has experience in handling all stages of litigation from claim evaluation through trial and post-trial disputes for a wide range of clients, including retail, restaurant and hospitality entities, utility companies and car dealerships. Her practice also includes auto liability defense

Emily Swanson is a partner of the firm and has extensive experience litigating and defending cases involving serious injury, death, product liability, premises liability, subrogation, employer liability, first and third-party bad-faith, professional liability, and workers’ compensation. She specializes in cases where liability or injury causation are highly contested, and she has significant experience with brain and spine injuries. Emily litigates and will try cases in all Colorado counties. As an example, in 2018, Emily tried a case in Durango, Colorado (La Plata County) involving a young mother who fell into a concrete pit at a commercial restaurant, suffering catastrophic brain injuries requiring her to be air flighted to Denver for immediate care. Emily and her partner Scott Lasater tried the case over two weeks obtaining a defense verdict for their client, the property owner. Consistently recognized throughout the legal profession for her fearless advocacy, creative strategy and honest representation, Emily was nominated by her peers as Colorado’s 2018 Top Insurance Defense Attorney, and selected by Law Week Colorado as one of six Top Female Attorneys in Colorado for 2018. She is a Super Lawyers Rising Star, and was nominated and selected by her peers to the “Best Lawyers in America” list for Insurance Law. She has also been named as a Top 40 Under 40 Attorney in Colorado numerous times. In 2018, she was a finalist for the Denver Bar Association’s “Gary McPherson Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year Award”.

Jeff Dougherty earned an M.S. degree in Psychology and completed additional post-graduate studies in Jury Research and Jury Psychology at the only program of its kind in the country. Since 2002 Mr. Dougherty has applied his educational training and jury psychology experience to a broad range of civil litigation across the country. His jury consulting experience throughout his career has included designing and conducting mock trials and focus groups; synthesizing jury research findings into winning trial strategies; crafting voir dire questions and assisting in jury selection; facilitating shadow juries; and conducting post-trial juror interviews. One of Mr. Dougherty’s specialties is helping witnesses prepare for deposition and trial testimony, with a special emphasis on uncovering and resolving the emotional, psychological, and communication barriers to effective testimony. Mr. Dougherty has presented numerous continuing legal education seminars around the country and has written in the areas of ideological considerations when selecting a jury, the nexus of confirmation and ideology on juror decision making, the impact of nonverbal communication on witness effectiveness, improving witness communication in depositions and at trial, and storytelling in opening statements. He has also been published on techniques for effectively preparing witnesses to testify in depositions and at trial, the essential stages of change for witness improvement, avoiding the traps of cross-examination, and the reasons medical professionals fail when they testify in deposition and at trial, and he regularly publishes blog posts on a wide range of jury consulting topics on the “Intelligent Litigation” blog (https://www.litigationiq.com/blog).

Mark Hillman is a Colorado native, a farmer, and a "recovering journalist." He was elected to two terms in the Colorado State Senate, serving two years as Majority Leader, and later served as State Treasurer. Since 2009, he has served as executive director of Colorado Civil Justice League, the state’s leading organization in the fight against lawsuit abuse. In elected office, Mark was a leader in the fight to protect the rights of private property owners against government takings, halting frivolous lawsuits, and using choice and competition to improve options in education and health care. He was named Legislator of the Year by the American Legislative Exchange Council for his work on civil justice reform, including passing Colorado’s Attorney General Sunshine Act. His commentaries have appeared in numerous publications including the Wall Street Journal, Denver/Colorado Springs Gazette, Denver Post, and RealClearPolitics.com. Mark and his wife, Heidi, have two sons and make their home in Burlington where they operate a farm and ranch, raises horses and growing winter wheat. He is board member of Leadership Program of the Rockies, Independence Institute, and the Colorado Thoroughbred Breeders Association. He has also served on his local board of education and ground water management district board.

Melisa Panagakos understands that workplace law is about people and details. She is known for her personal and relatable demeanor with clients and witnesses, a critical factor when presenting complex matters to juries. Melisa defends her clients with practical yet persuasive strategies and does not shy away from trial. Indeed, she secured a defense verdict in a complicated race and age discrimination federal jury trial for one of the firm’s major clients. Melisa has also successfully resolved more than a dozen complex class and collective FLSA and state law wage and hour matters, as well as protected confidential and trade secret information in non-compete matters. She stays current in class action litigation trends and workplace challenges and enjoys sharing her insights with clients. Melisa excels at preventive counseling, and clients turn to her frequently for advice on a range of workplace matters, including leave and accommodation issues, performance counseling, and terminations. Clients frequently ask Melisa to conduct workplace trainings on performance management, anti-discrimination and harassment. As a native New Mexican and a graduate of Colorado State University and the University of New Mexico School of Law, Melisa has a particular affinity for companies in the Rocky Mountain area, and always enjoys in-person visits to better understand her clients’ businesses. In her spare time, Melisa enjoys being outside with her family, trail running, climbing the peloton leaderboard, and riding Lucky, the horse she has had since her childhood equestrian competitions.

Hon. Richard L. Gabriel was appointed to the Colorado Supreme Court in June of 2015, after serving on the Colorado Court of Appeals from 2008-15. Justice Gabriel received his B.A. in American Studies from Yale University in 1984 and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law in 1987. Prior to his appointment to the Court of Appeals, Justice Gabriel was a long-time partner with Holme Roberts & Owen LLP (now, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner) in Denver, where his practice focused on commercial, intellectual property, probate, and products liability litigation, including appeals, and where he headed the firm’s intellectual property practice group. Justice Gabriel has received numerous awards for his service to the community, including the Denver Bar Association’s Award of Merit (that Association’s highest award), a Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center Champions for Children award and its In the Pursuit of Justice Lifetime Achievement Award, the American Board of Trial Advocates’ 2023 Judicial Excellence Award and recognition as an honorary life fellow of the American Board of Trial Advocates Foundation, the 2024 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award in the Tenth Circuit, recognition by Marquis Who’s Who as a Distinguished Humanitarian, and the Richard Marden Davis Award (given to a lawyer under the age of 40 who has combined excellence in the practice of law and creative community leadership). He is a member of the state bars of New York and Colorado, the bars of numerous federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court, and the American, Colorado, New York, and Denver Bar Associations, where he has served (and continues to serve) on many committees. Justice Gabriel is also actively involved on the board of the Colorado Judicial Institute, the board of the American Inns of Court, the executive council of the Minoru Yasui Inn of Court, and the Our Courts civics education program. He writes and speaks frequently on matters relating to the judiciary, trial and appellate practice, and professionalism. In his spare time, he plays the trumpet professionally.

Jennifer R. Friedberg is a seasoned attorney with a distinguished career in prosecution and litigation. She currently serves as a Staff Attorney at American Family Mutual Insurance Company in Denver, Colorado, where she defends cases for insureds statewide, consults with experts, files motions, and provides client counsel. Previously, Jennifer was a Deputy District Attorney in Colorado's 4th Judicial District, handling complex felony and misdemeanor cases, including homicides, sexual offenses, and animal cruelty. She led prosecutions in specialized units, mentored junior attorneys, and streamlined court processes by transitioning to digital files. Her trial experience includes high-profile cases involving child victims and multivictim sexual offenders, often collaborating with medical and forensic experts. Jennifer also served as Deputy District Attorney in the 11th Judicial District, prosecuting a wide range of cases from vehicular homicides to domestic violence, and advising law enforcement on legal procedures. Her early legal career included clerkships and fellowships with district court judges in Denver, as well as an internship at the Boulder District Attorney’s Office. She holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Colorado Law School, where she was recognized for leadership and mentoring, and a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the University of Florida. Jennifer’s career reflects a commitment to justice, expertise in complex litigation, and leadership in legal practice.