Greyson Goody followed his passion for surfing to California but found a new passion for trying jury trials. Join Ben (https://gideonasen.com/our-team/benjamin-gideon/) and Rahul (https://www.psbr.law/ravipudi.html) for their discussion with Greyson about how he developed a courtroom style that has enabled him to win most of his trials, even those that had serious challenges. As a bonus, Greyson shares his insight into work-life balance as a new father and the secrets of the vegan, trial-lawyer diet! You won’t want to miss this episode.
Greyson Goody followed his passion for surfing to California, but found a new passion for trying jury trials. Join Ben (https://gideonasen.com/our-team/benjamin-gideon/) and Rahul (https://www.psbr.law/ravipudi.html) for their discussion with Greyson about how he developed a courtroom style that has enabled him to win most of his trials, even those that had serious challenges. As a bonus, Greyson shares his insight into work-life balance as a new father and the secrets of the vegan, trial-lawyer diet! You won’t want to miss this episode.
About Greyson Goody
Greyson Goody is a Partner and senior trial attorney at the Simon Law Group.
Greyson is originally from Jackson, Wyoming. One of Greyson’s earliest memories is watching his father, a federal public defender, argue and try cases. Greyson always knew he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a lawyer. After graduating from Montana State University, he eventually found his way to California to attend Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. Here he met fellow Simon Law Group attorneys Brandon Simon, Sevy Fisher, Evan Garcia, and Travis Davis.
Since becoming an attorney, Greyson has obtained over $40 million in jury verdicts. Notably, he was the lead trial attorney in Pebley v. Santa Clara Organics, which finally gave clarity to the issue of determining reasonable value for lien-based treatment when the plaintiff is insured. Greyson is a proud member of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA), Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC), Orange County Trial Lawyers Association (OCTLA), Consumer Attorneys of San Diego (CASD), and the South Bay Bar Association (SBBA). He is a current Board Member of CAOC.
Outside of work, you can likely find Greyson catching some waves, crafting up new vegan recipes, and spending quality time with his wife, Taly, of Goody Law Group.
This is the Elawvate podcast where trial lawyers learn, share, and grow. Let's talk about how we can elevate our trial practices, law firms, and lives. And now here are your hosts coming to you from coast to coast trial lawyers, Ben Gideon, and Rahul Ravipudi
33s
Ben Gideon
Today's episode of the elevate podcast is being brought to you by SmartAdvocate. SmartAdvocate is award-winning case management software used to manage personal injury, medical malpractice, MDL class action law firms all over the United States. Great program, highly recommend. Check them out at smartadvocate.com. Today's episode is being brought to you by Expert Institute. Expert Institute is the place to go for everything involving experts to help you win your case. Check them out at expertinstitute.com. Today's episode is being brought to you by Hype Legal. Hype legal is a one stop shop for all of your digital marketing needs.
1m 13s
Ben Gideon
Check them out at hypelegal.com.
1m 17s
Rahul Ravipudi
Welcome to the Elawvate podcast. I'm Raul Ravipudi
1m 21s
Ben Gideon
And I'm Ben Gideon.
1m 22s
Rahul Ravipudi
Ben, how are you? I'm looking forward to seeing you at the PSBR trial college next week.
1m 27s
Ben Gideon
Yeah, I'm really psyched. I'm flying out on Wednesday. So looking forward to getting out there and get getting some cooler temps. It's been like in the nineties here in Maine. So heading out there to cool off.
1m 42s
Rahul Ravipudi
Well, after the trial college, you're staying for a week and then you're gonna be at the inner circle meetings with all of the big wigs like yourself.
1m 51s
Ben Gideon
Yeah. That's the plan, you know, I'm a little worried about COVID. I know it's going around pretty, pretty rampant now. And, but as long as we can avoid that should be a great time. And then every year out in August, I usually take a week and do something with my old high school friends. So we're heading out to mammoth after, after that we're gonna spend a week hiking and doing stuff there. So I'm really, it's gonna be like a California month in, in August looking forward to it. How's life with you.
2m 20s
Rahul Ravipudi
Oh, everything's good. I was just at Greyson's Lodi GRA last, last weekend, Snoop dog, front row seats, Reverend run, performing who was super entertaining by the way. And then actually kind of learned a couple of things along the way, too. So it was great. Seeing a lot of great people out there Greyson. How are you? Thanks for joining the podcast.
2m 45s
Greyson Goody
I'm doing great guys. It's all honored to be here. Thanks so much for inviting me.
2m 49s
Rahul Ravipudi
Oh, looking forward to seeing you next week too.
2m 51s
Greyson Goody
Yeah, no, I'm looking forward to it, man. It's gonna be a really good program and you know, down at the Ritz Carleton, you know, we're all gonna have some fun and, and hopefully learn a lot from you and your crew over there at PSB and R. Yeah. It should be really, really fun, man. Look forward to it.
3m 8s
Rahul Ravipudi
So let's take a couple of steps back. We wanna learn a lot about you. I think the best place to start is how did you become a trial lawyer?
3m 18s
Greyson Goody
Well, it's kind of a roundabout story. I grew up in a little town in Wyoming and my dad was a criminal defense lawyer and I'm the youngest of four boys. And we, you know, we grew up just kind of like being outdoors and all that good stuff. And I was never really very good at school. Well, it, you know, I, I just never really, I think, dedicated myself to school. And so I never really had the plan to become a lawyer. And it just kind of, you know, over time as my older brothers got their education and went out and kind of did their own thing, my dad kind of pressured me a little bit and said, Hey, you know, you should think about being a lawyer, think about being a lawyer. And I always kind of pushed it away.
3m 59s
Greyson Goody
And when I got done with my undergrad in Montana, Montana state university, you know, I just wanted to change a scenery. So I moved out to San Diego, California, and just kind of started surfing and, and met a lot of people out there still with no plan, really to go to graduate school or anything like that. And I eventually, I kind of made my way into, back into the law in San Diego. I had a buddy who was a, an attorney and he took me on, took me under his wing and, and really just kind of taught me everything about the law. And I, I was a law clerk, kind of a paralegal kind of crossover without any sort of paralegal certificate. And, you know, after about three or four years just working for him, I just said, you know what, let me get into law school and sort of took that jump.
4m 47s
Greyson Goody
And that was where I really started, started dedicating myself to school. I, I said, you know, Hey, these next three years are kind of the three years for the rest of your life. And I worked really, really hard in school and did very well in school. And then finally kind of jumped on board with the Simon law group without really thinking about what it meant. And within the first week they had me in my first trial, I kind of, you know, like I said, roundabout way, I worked a little bit for the district attorney down in San Diego. I tried a case for them, but it wasn't until I think I got it. You know, maybe a few or two or three trials in that I really found that I absolutely loved, loved, loved being a trial lawyer.
5m 29s
Rahul Ravipudi
So how many trial, how many trials have you had so far?
5m 33s
Greyson Goody
I think between the trials at the DA's office down in San Diego and, and all the civil cases I've done, I did two down in San Diego in juvenile, which were, you know, just bench trials. But I think since then I've had about 25, the first probably six or seven were, you know, second chair trials with, you know, Bob Simon, Tom fair Chevy Fisher. And those guys
5m 58s
Rahul Ravipudi
Now I just, through becoming friends with you over the years, just kind of looking at you, you look like a guy who actually is having fun through all aspects of trial, lead up during it, after it teaching about it, getting a pate opinions that are really favorable to protect consumers. How do you keep it fun?
6m 23s
Greyson Goody
That's a good question, RA, you know, it, didn't used to be like that. I think when I first started and, and I think, you know, I don't know if you guys are the same way, but I was never really that into keeping presentations. Yeah. I was always really terrified to get in front of people, but as you continue on down this road and you get more comfortable in the courtroom and you kind of know where things should go and where you want things to go, it becomes more fun. And I, and I think you have to make it that way, but otherwise it's just gonna be a miserable effort to get in there. And, and every time you're stressed out and, and while I have stress, I think preparation is really key for me. And I really try to play things out in my mind and then make, you can, you can really be creative if you're completely prepared for a trial and you can kind of just be creative and have fun stemming off of that.
7m 14s
Greyson Goody
So I think that's one element of it. Revel and I, I think the other element is, is try cases with people that you really like and people that, you know, you know, I haven't had the opportunity to, to try a case with YouTube gentlemen, but I tell you pretty much every case I try, I, I pick somebody from my office and try it with, or, you know, maybe I've got a guy who referred me the case who really wants to try it and we go try it. I'll give you an example. This last case I tried was with a good friend from law school. And when he got outta law school, he started his own firm and referred this case over. And this was four years ago. Of course, these cases take a while to get to trial. And we were coming up to trial and I kind of thought, you know, that the case would get trial.
7m 57s
Greyson Goody
So I reached out to him and I said, Hey, man, this case is gonna go get tried. I know you've never tried a case before, but you wanna go have some fun. And he was into it. He was into it. And we, we both went out there and, and in Santa Monica for a couple weeks and just had a really, really good time together. So you make your trials, which you wanna make of 'em and we try to make 'em as fun as we can over here at Simon law
8m 21s
Ben Gideon
Group. Do, do you have a particular case that when you reflect back on it is the one where you think, okay, I've just turned the corner now and I'm, I've really figured this out and I'm starting to have fun with it. And I, this is gonna be something I I'm gonna be really good at and want to do for a living
8m 38s
Greyson Goody
Man, going back a few years. In 2016, we got a case that came into our office and it was, you know, it was only about two or three weeks before trial. And the referring attorney wanted the plaintiff to settle for, you know, just about the amount of his medical expenses. And we took the case over. Bob was actually supposed to go try it, but he was in trial. So he goes, Hey, Grayson, you know, run up to Ventura, go try this case. And I was like, I never tried a first share case. So I asked Debbie to come up there with me and, and it was my first first share case. And it ended up being a really good verdict, you know, 3.7 million on a cervical fusion case.
9m 20s
Greyson Goody
And this is the one that Raoul was talking about that eventually went and, and got published. I think just from that experience of really getting the opportunity to just kind of spread my wings and game plan, the trial, how I wanted to pick the themes, how I, you know, the themes that I thought were gonna be applicable and really just going through the entire trial and taking a ton of witnesses and then closing and getting a verdict. I think just that experience gave me a lot of confidence. And while it wasn't that point where I really turned the corner, I think just having that confidence to go into my next case and be able to game plan it the same way or, or the way that I thought was necessary.
10m 2s
Greyson Goody
I, I think that was really an eye opener for me. It was just such a good experience. That's the pebble versus Santa Clara organics case here in, in California that everybody's so familiar with.
10m 13s
Ben Gideon
And what, what was the appellate
10m 16s
Greyson Goody
Issue was before the pebble case insurance companies were really trying to take this Howell case on medical expenses and say that if a plaintiff doesn't treat through their own health insurance and instead treats on a lien, then they fail to mitigate their damages. And they're really trying to, you know, shoe plaintiffs into treating through their own health insurance. So we had that case, our guy had Kaiser health insurance, and he decided he didn't want to use it and had surgery his next surgery outside of Kaiser on a lien. So the appellate court said that the plaintiff has the ultimate decision because they're the victim.
10m 57s
Greyson Goody
And, and they have the ultimate decision to choose who they want to treat with, particularly for, you know, these big injuries, when you have somebody who's gonna need a surgery that, that could paralyze them. And so that holding is really started to be used in, in pretty much every single personal injury case that we have, which is just, you know, it's just overwhelming. I, I, I honestly never thought that we would be in this position. I, I honestly never thought so it's super overwhelming, but just been a really, really good experience to, to go through all of that.
11m 31s
Rahul Ravipudi
So looking at these cases that you've tried over the years, whether it's a particular type of case, let's just say a, a spine case or any other type of case. You've done wrongful deaths. How have you evolved over time and do things seem simpler to you? And are you able to hear a fact pattern and immediately your mind goes to here's how it deem out that case?
11m 56s
Greyson Goody
I, I it's just like with everything, you know, the experience is so invaluable just being in court and, and trying cases against really good attorneys. I've found that as time has gone on I'll come in on a case and maybe on the defense, they've got in-house council over at state farm. Typically the second we come in that gets sent out to outside council, somebody who's, who's really, really experienced. And so you get to really go up against some of the best attorneys in the game. And with every single case, it's almost like you're playing Dungeons and dragons with your bros and you're going in and you're fighting some, some big monster.
12m 37s
Greyson Goody
You get experience points. I mean, and you learn these little tricks here and there that the folks on the defense do and you kind of adopt them as your own. So I do, you know, now after, I think after trying 25 cases, really, if, if a case comes into our office or I've got a case that, Hey, you know, this one's gonna have to get tried in a couple weeks, as long as I know the facts. And I, and I, you know, I don't have anything hidden from me. It's pretty easy for me to foresee this is how this case needs to be tried. Here's the things that need to be done and to be able to just game plan it. And I don't know about you revel, but, you know, I try to game plan. My, my trials, really, my case is from trial backwards.
13m 19s
Greyson Goody
Right? So no matter where I get it, I go to the end of trial and I think, okay, who are the witnesses? The defense are gonna call, who are the witnesses we're gonna call and how do we win this case? And I start to plan it that way, right? If we're still in discovery, I start taking depos. If we're an expert discovery, I start taking, you know, treating physician depos, but it has gotten easier over time just with experience and just going up against, you know, some of the best guys in the game,
13m 44s
Ben Gideon
You must encounter some of the standard defenses that you see over and over again, or approaches as you've alluded to. Do you have tips on how to confront those?
13m 55s
Greyson Goody
Yeah, man, that's a good question. You know, I think the standard defense in every case is that the plaintiff is a liar. And when I started trying cases, you know, I read like polarizing the case by Rick Friedman. And so I would always try to push the defense into that corner where there, they've gotta say, the plaintiff is a liar over time. It kind of, it it's turned where defense attorneys don't wanna do that. They're like, Hey, I don't wanna be saying that the plaintiff is a liar. And so they go down these other routes, you know, talking about degeneration, talking about plaintiffs, being overweight, talking about other incidents occurring that that might have caused the injuries. I think one of the overarching defenses in our case, aside from the plaintiff is liars is really that degeneration argument.
14m 41s
Greyson Goody
And in order to combat that, I, I really just make it our best friend. It's kind of one of those things you make, every, every fact, a good fact for you, or you try to flip it, flip it on its head, so that it is a good fact for you. When I take treating physician depositions, defense expert depositions, bring up the generation, you know, we all have it. You can be asymptomatic with the generation and you can be asymptomatic with the generation, get in a car crash. And that triggers the symptoms, knowing the Casey jury instructions and kind of using your questions to go along those Casey jury instructions so that when it comes time to close, you can refer back to those with the jury and, and win your case.
15m 23s
Greyson Goody
That way. I think we've won a lot of cases just based on aggravation of preexisting condition arguments. There's a lot of 'em Ben, you know, there's a, there's a ton of these defenses out there. And I think we've got some tips on every single one. And, you know, if there's anything specific you wanted to talk about, you know, particularly the, the plaintiff lying thing is, is, is big. Yeah. I think there's arguments for all of them.
15m 48s
Ben Gideon
Yeah. I mean, one thing you notice about defense lawyers, they do seem to do kind of a paint by number approach. Sometimes it's not even clear they're trying your case, but they still have the same arguments, which is helpful to us. I think, cuz we can generally anticipate what they're gonna do. Are there particular people though that you, I know on the plaintiff's side, the defense knows who the lawyers are like you I'm, I'm sure when you get into a case, they're, they're now transferring it to somebody else to defend it. Are there people when you see them that you worry, okay, this person could be a game changer because they bring something unique into the courtroom and I've got up my game. Yeah,
16m 26s
Greyson Goody
For sure. I think, I think there are few folks that I'll see that when they come on these cases, I, I might kind of groan or give a big sigh like, oh, I gotta deal with this dude again, I tried a case against Dana Fox a couple years ago and it was a really, really bad case for me. But I, I was pretty excited with the outcome. And again, you know, I just got a ton of experience going against him. I tried a case against Bob. Resinger also good trial attorney. I read a, a Jerry Spence book. I love Jerry Spence. You know, he's kind of one of my idols and I kind, I, I model a lot of my stuff after Jerry, but I read a Jerry, just Jerry Spence book about how to argue and, and win every time.
17m 10s
Greyson Goody
And in the book, there's a really good explanation about other attorneys and, and attorneys that you're going up against. And you're always gonna have that, that fear going into the courtroom, right. You're always gonna have that fear going into the courtroom. But if you see another attorney come in and you're all of a sudden scared of them, you know, there's a reason for that. And, and it's the reason is because you're giving them power, right? You, you know, just by their reputation or by their name, you, you attribute some sort of holy aura to them. And if you don't give them that, then you're not gonna have that fear. And, and I think that you really control your perception of other people.
17m 50s
Greyson Goody
And so if somebody comes into a trial like Dana Fox, or, you know, maybe Bob resinger or something like that, I try not to let them be bigger than they really are. I try not to give them so much credibility where I'm scared of them, because I, I realize at the end of the day, look, they're just a person and they're dealing with the same facts that I am in this case. And you know, we're typically gonna be on the right side of justice. So I think that gives me confidence in going up against some of these folks.
18m 17s
Ben Gideon
When you say you modeled your style after Jerry Spence, can you describe what elements you think you've you've taken from, from him? I mean, try your case and when every time or something, I, I, I do recall reading that many years ago and all of his stuff really is great, but then you come away or part of me came away thinking, one of the takeaways is that he's Jerry Spence and I'm not. So I'm curious about your approach to modeling yourself after, after him, you're just given his kind of uniqueness and the, the legend of it.
18m 49s
Greyson Goody
Yeah, well, no, he is a legend man. I mean, he's, he's, I think widely regarded as one of the best trial lawyers of all time and as trial lawyers, I don't know how you guys feel, but you know, I feel like I'm, I'm little bits and pieces of these folks that I, that I watch that I really, really like, you know, like MIT, Nick, I absolutely love his stuff. You know, Spence, I love his stuff. All Keenan, you know, all these guys, I kind of take a piece of, of everything that they do. But specifically with Spence, I, I really just love his approach to trials as, as honesty, just being completely honest with yourself about what the case is, and then telling the jury about the case and being completely open, honest, humble, not hiding anything.
19m 39s
Greyson Goody
I think one of the biggest things that I've learned about juries over the years is that they just hate it when people lie, they hate it when people try to hide stuff or when, when it looks like they're trying to hide stuff. And so I try to have honest conversations with myself before trial, and I try to take those honest conversations with myself and give them to the jury, whether it's through the witnesses or whether it's in closing arguments. And if I make a mistake in trial, I'll own up to it. If I say something that's incorrect, I'll bring it up in closing and I'll apologize for it. I think just having that, you know, that honesty in there has given me confidence as well, because if you don't have to hide anything and you just tell your story, it, it, you know, it's just such an easier process in the courtroom to go through.
20m 33s
Greyson Goody
And I think the juries juries really appreciate that.
20m 36s
Rahul Ravipudi
And that's part of your embracing some of the, what defense facts or bad facts as they like to call 'em and, and making them your own.
20m 44s
Greyson Goody
Absolutely, absolutely. You know, I, there's something to be said for, you know, motions in lemonade and fighting these facts. Obviously you're not gonna take a case and be like, oh, there's all these irrelevant, terrible facts out there. Let me just embrace 'em. And I'll just tell the jury about, you know, how my plaintiff was expelled from high school. There's a process at the beginning of trial where obviously, you know, you're gonna file motions to eliminate, try to exclude some of this stuff, but once, you know, things are coming in yeah. Embrace, 'em absolutely embrace. 'em make 'em your best facts. And just tell the jury before the defense does, because if the defense gets it out, then you're in trouble.
21m 20s
Ben Gideon
What's your approach to jury selection, Raul's approach over the podcast time in the podcast. I'm just curious how you approach it.
21m 29s
Greyson Goody
Ben. I, I think the jury, selection's my favorite part of trial. I really, really, really like jury selection. You know, I always do a mini opening. I always try to get my bad facts out there. And again, it just kind of goes along with that whole honesty theme. I, I tell 'em in, mini-open look, I'm here to be honest with you. And here's, here's all the facts I think that you need to consider when you're considering being a juror on this case. And I really, I I'm, I'm kind of like a, I don't like to talk that much in jury selection. I think I'm good at getting jurors to talk. I try to kind of have a balance of, you know, maybe 20, 25% is me asking questions and then 75 80% is, is the jury talking and I want it to kind of be a town hall meeting.
22m 15s
Greyson Goody
You know, I want people to feel comfortable to just speak up and how many of us agree with this people talk? And they say, Hey, I agree with it. And I think by having that, just sort of openness and making it really okay to have biases and to be on one side versus the other, I think it helps jurors be honest in there. I really do. And, and so that's, that's my goal. I, I don't, I don't go into jury selection with the goal of preconditioning. I think Somers do that and, and that's okay. You know, everybody's got their own style, but I think my ultimate goal is just to really dig in and, and find bias on these cases.
22m 56s
Greyson Goody
And if, if something comes up where some preconditioning might be a little bit appropriate, then, then I might take advantage of that. You know, I'll give you an example. If I'm talking about car wrecks and one of our jurors has been at a car wreck and in many opening, I said, Hey, you know, this is a, a nine mile an hour rear-end collision. So it's a minor impact collision. According to the defense, I might have a juror that says something to the effect of look, I was in a rear-end collision and there was no damage to my car, but I hurt my neck and I hurt my back and my neck still hurts. You know, I might ask that juror because of that, are you kind of, you know, associating with the plaintiff a little bit more lean in our way, maybe they'll say, yeah.
23m 40s
Greyson Goody
And then I'll say something to the effect of like, well, so, so, you know, from your, your own personal experience that you can be hurt in a, a collision that doesn't damage your car. Yeah. And, and so if somebody comes in here from the defense and takes the, takes the stand and says you can't, what were your thoughts be? And they'll say, well, I know they're full of shit. So you, you can kind of take advantage of some of those situations. But I think my overall, my overall goal is really to just talk to people, get to know people, try to figure out what makes 'em tick. And typically if you get to know somebody and you go a few layers down, you're gonna be able to decide, Hey, this is going, this is gonna be a good juror for me, or this is gonna be a bad juror for me.
24m 23s
Greyson Goody
And then you can exercise your peremptories thoughtfully.
24m 26s
Rahul Ravipudi
Do you ever through that process and your methodology for voir di are you uncovering and revealing some of the jurors who you think would be more favorable to the plaintiff versus the defense?
24m 41s
Greyson Goody
Yeah, and I think that's, I think that happens with a good Y idea. I think that if you, you know, I'm not sure what your lead in is what you guys do, but I, I do sort of a, a little bit of a spinoff on what Mitnick does. You know, I think that we all use a lot of MIT in and jury selection, which is his books are super, super helpful. But if you're getting folks to open up and tell you a little bit about how they feel about these cases and, you know, back injuries or whatever, you're, whatever you're dealing with, you're gonna naturally have that. And I think, you know, from a plaintiff's perspective, it's just my experience that the folks who are initially leaning towards the plaintiff are gonna be a little bit more honest in there.
25m 26s
Greyson Goody
And, and they usually speak up first and they might say, well, look, I, you know, I've got a sister, who's got a back injury and I've seen it firsthand and how it affects our whole family. So I just don't think I could be fair. I, I think it's a good opportunity for an attorney. Who's doing warier to, to get a lot of credibility there, because if somebody says that, you know, you all of a sudden go and you try to rehabilitate them, you know, some of the jurors might be like, all right, this, guy's kind of talking out of both sides of his mouth, but if you go in there and you, you, you are honest with them and, and you want them to be honest with you. And they say that they just can't be fair to the defendant. I think that's okay. I think that's okay. And you thank him. And you say, Hey, this is what we're what we're doing here.
26m 8s
Greyson Goody
And that takes a lot of courage for you to say that in front of everybody. And I appreciate you saying it. So absolutely every single time you do boarder, you're gonna find somebody who is not gonna be fair to the defense and, and that's okay. I think that's an important thing to acknowledge.
26m 25s
Ben Gideon
We'd like to thank the sponsors of the elevate podcast, steno national court reporting service that allows trial lawyers to defer the costs of court reporting until the end of the case, take a look, steno.com. And by law pods law pods is the podcast production company that we use to produce the show that produces podcasts for lawyers all over the country. They have an expertise in podcasting and the law, check them out@lawpods.com just to switch over for a moment to the personal life.
27m 7s
Ben Gideon
I, I understand you have a, a new child. So congratulations on that. And how many does that make?
27m 14s
Greyson Goody
I'm just getting started, bro. I, you know, this is, this is our first and you know, I, what, Raul, you got three, right?
27m 22s
Ben Gideon
I do.
27m 23s
Greyson Goody
You got three Ben, where are you at?
27m 24s
Ben Gideon
I'm at three, but I minored older.
27m 27s
Greyson Goody
Why? So this just, it just so happens that all my friends have three kids and, and everybody's sort of wrapping up while we're just getting started. Yeah. We're, we're super excited, man. It's
27m 37s
Ben Gideon
And your wife's a lawyer too.
27m 40s
Greyson Goody
Yeah, she
27m 40s
Ben Gideon
Is. So how are you gonna keep up your rapid trial pace with brand new child and a attorney wife?
27m 49s
Greyson Goody
That's a really good question. It's been pretty good so far. You know, we, I, I tried my last case in, oh, I wanna say like late may and I had another one going to trial and I just told the partners over here at, at SLGs said, look, you know, I'm not gonna be in trial when my baby comes. So, you know, they've given me quite a bit of time. I think my next case is September 2nd. So I still got some time, but once things fire back up again, it's, it's gonna be tough. It's gonna be tough to leave this little girl at home, cuz she's just, you know, all, all the things, you know, correct me if I'm wrong guys, but all the, all the things they say about having kids is absolutely true. You know, you fall in love the moment you first see them and, and that's exactly what happened, man.
28m 34s
Greyson Goody
I, you know, this little girl came out. I was just absolutely in love. She's she's got me wrapped around her finger for sure.
28m 41s
Ben Gideon
It won't change my, my little girl's 14 now and I'm still wrapped around her finger at that age, but no, it's great. Congratulations about that. And on the lifestyle issue, I, I happen to see on your bio that you are a vegan, is that correct?
28m 58s
Greyson Goody
That's true. Yeah. Four years now.
28m 60s
Ben Gideon
So I was wondering if, so I was, I was telling Raul before we went on, I was watching a interview with Novak joke of it who was talking about his vegan lifestyle and how that kind of was a turning point in his tennis career because he, he had a lot of, apparently it never showed, but he had a lot of anxiety on the court and also kind of allergies that caused him difficulty breathing apparently in, in his matches and this whole like conversion to veganism, I think helped them in both of those fronts. I was just curious whether there's a connection between your lifestyle choices and your career in any
29m 36s
Greyson Goody
Way. I think at, at one point and you guys have been through this too, you know, we, when we start as attorneys, there's so much grinding that goes on. I mean your first five years, you just, I just felt like I was grinding so, so hard. And I, I thought it was unhealthy for me and, and between my wife and I, we just made a decision one day to just do a month. You know, it was like a new year's resolution. Like, Hey, let's get healthy. I think we had seen this, this documentary game changers. Have you guys seen that?
30m 7s
Ben Gideon
No.
30m 8s
Greyson Goody
No, it it's really, really good. And it's about this it's about this ultimate fighter guy who gets injured and then he does a bunch of research and he decides to go vegan after all the research he did. And what he found was the Roman gladiators who were just the biggest badasses of their time. They found like this gladiator cemetery, right? And they, and they dug up these bones and the gladiator bones and, and their build was so much stronger than the people around them. And they, they, they dug back deeper and they looked at a lot of literature from that area. And it turns out that the Roman gladiators were mostly vegetarian and a lot were vegan.
30m 52s
Greyson Goody
And so he does this study and goes through veganism and, and finds that it's really, really beneficial for you. And so I think that month that we decided to take was really just for just, you know, personal growth and trying to be healthy. But once we got through that month, we just said, you know, this is great. It feels great. And, and we've stuck with it ever since. So like I said, it's been four years and it's been an experience, you know, it makes it difficult to go out to dinner with your friends sometimes, or go out, go have dinner over at your friend's house. But no, it's, it's been great. It's been great. And I, and I highly recommend it to anybody who wants to get a little bit healthier.
31m 31s
Ben Gideon
So give us like a daily menu. What would you eat on a typical day?
31m 35s
Greyson Goody
Well, I I'll give you my trial diet because it doesn't change. I'm kind of a creature of habit, particularly when it comes to trial. So I get up in the morning, I'll have my coffee, throw some almond milk in there every day during trial, I have a piece of sourdough toast with avocado on it, and then I'll throw tomatoes and cucumbers on it and that's my whole breakfast. And then I make a peanut butter and jelly with banana sandwich, for lunch, with other little snacks, maybe nuts or, or things like that. And then for dinner, you know, I usually come home and have whatever I want. We, we have a, a meal prep plan it's called purple carrot. So it ranges from, you know, every everything from like a vegan Curry or chicken masala to they've got like vegan, tuna, fish sandwiches, spaghetti, all that good stuff.
32m 25s
Greyson Goody
So there's a ton of stuff out there and it it's taken a while to kind of get familiar with the whole, every product that's vegan, but that's kind of my diet as I go through trial. And I usually get really, as you might imagine, I get really cut during trial because I just don't eat that much.
32m 43s
Ben Gideon
Well, now you've disclosed all your secrets. I think that's gonna be dangerous for you, but that's great. Actually, I really it's. It's nice to hear that. I I've found that having some, some habits involving your diet and clothes and all that surrounding trial is great because it just takes away decisions. And when you're in that moment, you want to have fewer decisions about what you're doing. You like just simplify everything else. That's not the trial.
33m 12s
Greyson Goody
Exactly. I mean, particularly, cuz like I don't know about you guys, but if I'm a trial, I'm like, you know my body's here. My mind's like a thousand miles away thinking about things that are gonna happen the next day.
33m 24s
Ben Gideon
Raul, are you gonna do it?
33m 27s
Rahul Ravipudi
Do vegan? Is it yeah
33m 28s
Ben Gideon
Mean I like commitment right here right now.
33m 31s
Greyson Goody
Yeah. No pressure, no pressure brother.
33m 35s
Rahul Ravipudi
And I appreciate that. I feel pressure right now. I don't know why, but the answer's gonna be probably not, but it's an aspiration sometimes, sometime, sometime somewhere I will turn into a vegan. I can feel it, but I love honey, does honey not count? You're not allowed to have that.
33m 56s
Greyson Goody
You're not allowed to have it. No, you're not allowed to have it. You know, I think the thrust behind being vegan is not taking advantage of, of animals or any sort of animal products. And with honey, you know, you have bees that are really making the honey and then you kind of just steal it from them. But I, I, I don't need honey, but I know that there are certain, there are it kind of like with everything there's like little offshoots of veganism. So I think, I think the more extreme vegans don't eat honey, but some, you know, some do and
34m 26s
Ben Gideon
Well let's just slide on the honey Raul.
34m 28s
Rahul Ravipudi
Right. Then I think I might
34m 29s
Ben Gideon
Be it. And, and maple syrup's a good substitute anyway,
34m 33s
Rahul Ravipudi
That just doesn't seem healthy, but okay. So if, if I can have the offshoot of honey chicken, beef and fish I am in.
34m 43s
Greyson Goody
Okay. Yeah. That, yeah. I don't know if that's gonna work for you.
34m 47s
Rahul Ravipudi
Okay. All right. Well we'll fine tune this. We'll fine. Tune this over time. Bob Simon, I was with him this weekend at your Lodi GRA and he asked a question to Panish me in a few others. And he said, what's your trial superstitions. Something unusual that you do every single time when you're in trial for whether it's an unusual reason or it's tradition. So what's one of yours. Grace.
35m 18s
Greyson Goody
I never talk about what the verdict might be. I, I that's, that's my only really super superstition. I, I'm not a superstitious guy. I know a lot of trial lawyers are, I'm just not very superstitious, but maybe before trial I'll talk about value. But as soon as I get into trial, I don't say anything about what, what the verdict may or may not be. I just think it's bad luck. I just think I'm gonna jinx myself. The only case I've ever been defensed on. I did that and I'm pretty sure it's because I did that. I pontificated on the verdict. So don't pontificate on the verdict. What and outta curiosity, well, what was yours?
35m 56s
Rahul Ravipudi
Well, so I'm like you, I'm not incredibly superstitious, but I, for some weird reason developed this tradition and I'm sharing too much right now. And I shared too much this weekend. So I'll do it again. When I was a law clerk over at green bro, let Taylor Wheeler and Panish way back. When, when I was in law school, I worked with a legal assistant, her name, Sherry Dempsey, and she was the legal assistant to brown green. And when I left that firm and got my first job, Sherry gave me a going away present, which were a pair of boxers that say booties booty on the back. And so the first day of every trial, since then, it's been 23 years.
36m 42s
Rahul Ravipudi
That's what I wear. And I'm telling you, they're not in a condition to be worn anymore. So, you know, I need safety pins and all sorts of stuff, but I think that's more for fun than it is that I think that's somehow a good luck charm or anything like that.
36m 58s
Greyson Goody
Yeah. 20, 23 years with the same underwear.
37m 2s
Rahul Ravipudi
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. When you frame it that way,
37m 6s
Greyson Goody
Bro. That's awesome. I love that. I love that.
37m 12s
Ben Gideon
That's a good one. Especially since you're not superstitious. My mine is similar in a, in a way cause it involves clothes. I haven't worn a suit in a courtroom during a trial in at least a decade. I got it in my mind, way back. Maybe it's because I'm in a rural poor state in Northern new England, but folks here, they're not accustomed to seeing people wearing suits. So I, I will wear a sport coat and a tie and I always wanna look professional, but I do not wear suits. I I'm thinking about changing course on that one, just because I think as the world progresses, the suit isn't as, as off putting as it, maybe once was in certain places, but that that's mine.
38m 5s
Ben Gideon
I have one of those sport coats with the, the blue blazer that you literally can't distinguish me from the courtroom deputy. And I always thought if I looked, if I dressed and looked like the court deputy and the jury couldn't tell me apart, that was probably a pretty good thing,
38m 24s
Greyson Goody
Man, of the people, man of the people that's, that's good. I, you know, that goes back to the trust factor, man. You know, you, you wanna be, you wanna look like one of the jurors, you wanna be one of them and create a tribe. So I, I really like that. That's a, that's a good superstition to have.
38m 38s
Rahul Ravipudi
What's the flashiest thing you've worn in, in trial Grayson
38m 42s
Greyson Goody
Dude. I'm so not flashy. I, I, you know, the flashiest thing I've worn in trial is probably like a flashy blue tie. I grew up in the middle of nowhere dude and like my first few suits and actually kind of funny story. The first case I tried with Bob Simon, I didn't have a suit that fit me. I, I think my only suit in the closet was something that I got for my grandpa's funeral when I was in college. And it was this big boxy thing. And I was wearing red ties every day, cuz that's all I had, but I'm just not a flashy guy. I'm just not a flashy guy. I don't have flashy shoes. I got old ass shoes. I got some very, very humble suits that I wear.
39m 23s
Greyson Goody
You know, I always wear this old brown suit. That's kind of, kind of a good luck charm on, on jury selection. But if I'm really digging down and thinking about it, I think I wore a watch one time in trial. So that's probably the flashiest thing I've ever worn.
39m 38s
Rahul Ravipudi
Is that a conscious decision or in kind of thinking, Hey, you're young or you're, you're going into certain venues and you don't want to wear something flashy or is it a lifestyle decision?
39m 53s
Greyson Goody
I think it's a little bit of both. I, I, it, for me, it's just comfortable, you know, I, I wanna be comfortable and I wanna be myself and I'm just not a flashy guy, but at the same time, I love this practice because you just, it's always about learning. You know, you're always learning new things and you know, as you go to these conferences, there's folks that are, that are flashy and they go never wear your flashy stuff in trial or you know, always wear earth, color tones, earth tones early in the case. And then you can get more bold as the case goes on. So I think, I think there's a certain psychology to it, but for me mostly it's just my personal comfort. Just being comfortable is super important. To me.
40m 33s
Ben Gideon
Point we've covered a lot of ground today between diet and, and clothing. I, I think we're, we've got it covered
40m 39s
Rahul Ravipudi
Now. This is, this was awesome. Grace and thanks for joining us. I really appreciate it.
40m 43s
Ben Gideon
Yeah. Thank, thank you so much for doing this. And I look forward to meeting you in person next week.
40m 49s
Greyson Goody
Yeah, same here. Ben look forward to it and I, I thank you guys so much for the invite. You know, this has been a, this has been a blast and good to get to know you guys a little bit more and, and Ben, hopefully we can get to know each other a little bit more next week.
41m 2s
Ben Gideon
Sounds great. Well, thanks again. Good seeing you Rahul.
41m 6s
Rahul Ravipudi
Good. See you too, Ben.
41m 8s
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