CMO Secrets, Branding Strategy, and Major Tort Shifts Ahead of 2026

Confessions of a Law Firm CMO: What Really Drives Growth

Most firms think they have a marketing strategy.

What they really have is paid traffic and guesswork.

This week on the podcast, Marc sat down with Trudy Emlaw, former CMO of Mike Morse Law Firm and current CMO at George Sink Injury Lawyers, to break down what law firms with real, predictable growth are doing differently.

Tune in and learn:

📊 The data foundation that instantly exposes wasted spend

🏆 How brand equity quietly becomes your #1 competitive advantage

🌱 Why community events outperform paid media over the long term

🎯 The 60% rule for mature marketing budgets

🤝 The exact roles you should hire internally and what to leave to agencies

If you want to understand how elite PI firms grow year after year, this episode breaks it down step-by-step.

This Week on Tort Talk

Roundup inches closer to a potential Supreme Court ruling, Zantac faces renewed headwinds, and several emerging litigations now sit in front of the JPML for consolidation decisions.

Here’s where momentum stands this week:

🌿 Roundup: The Solicitor General has formally recommended that the Supreme Court hear Monsanto’s appeal on preemption. The outcome could reshape failure-to-warn claims nationwide, even as other liability theories may remain viable regardless of the ruling.

💊 Zantac: Plaintiffs hit another roadblock in Delaware. The trial court rejected updated expert reports, reinforcing the stricter standard created by the state supreme court and leaving the litigation on unstable footing heading into 2026.

🍼 Toxic Baby Food: A California judge excluded plaintiffs’ toxicology expert in state court, placing even more weight on this week’s Daubert hearings in the federal MDL. If the experts survive in federal court, filings could accelerate despite the state-level setback.

⚖️ JPML: The December hearing centered on whether vision-loss claims will merge with GI injuries in the weight-loss drug MDL, and whether new MDLs will form for Roblox sexual exploitation cases and video game addiction. Rulings are expected within two weeks and could shift the 2026 landscape quickly.

Joe Fantini breaks down why these developments matter and how they may influence strategy as we move into the new year.

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