On Feb. 15, Mark Oberti won a $2.57 million willful age-discrimination verdict for a 65-year-old former Pottery Barn assistant store manager. Oberti, a partner in Houston’s Oberti Sullivan, who frequently represents corporate defendants in his labor and employment practice, says he achieved the victory by trying the case as the lone lawyer and streamlining his case.

"I went to court without a lot of stuff. I didn’t even have a computer. I was telling the jury I didn’t need it, I had truth on my side," says Oberti.