Defeating Reptile Tactics and Mastering Reverse Strategies: Ethical, Step-by-Step Defense to Stop Nuclear Verdicts Before They Start

Donald Patrick Eckler | Freeman Mathis & Gary LLP

Donald Patrick Eckler is a Partner and Chicago Office Co-Chair at Freeman Mathis & Gary, LLP, where he also serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Professional Liability/Errors and Omissions national practice section, Vice-Chair of the Midwest Coverage Team, Vice-Chair of the Transactional Risks/Representations & Warranties practice team, and a member of the Appellate Advocacy Section. A highly experienced litigator, he focuses his practice on professionals, insurers, and businesses in disputes in state and federal courts across Illinois and Indiana — representing lawyers, accountants, insurance brokers, and other professionals in malpractice defense, coverage disputes, and complex commercial litigation. He is an active voice in the organized defense bar at both the state and national level, publishes a weekly column in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, co-hosts the Podium and Panel Podcast, and is among the most prolific legal commentators on LinkedIn in the Midwest defense bar. Before law school, he spent three years teaching history and coaching high school and college basketball. He holds a J.D. from the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law

• Education & Credentials

Patrick holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law (2003), where in his final semester he served as a certified legal intern with the Public Defenders’ Office of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, representing defendants in misdemeanor criminal cases. He is admitted to practice in Illinois (since 2004) and before the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Central, and Southern Districts of Illinois and the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana. He has been selected to Illinois Super Lawyers every year from 2022 through 2025. Before attending law school, he taught history and coached basketball at the high school and college levels for three years — an experience that reflects the teaching instincts and communication skills visible throughout his writing and speaking career.

• Recognition & Leadership

Patrick has been selected to Illinois Super Lawyers from 2022 through 2025. He is a past president of the Professional Liability Defense Federation (PLDF) and current Second Vice President of the Illinois Defense Counsel — two of the most significant peer leadership positions in the Illinois and national defense bar. He publishes the weekly For the Defense column in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and is the civil practice columnist for the IDC Quarterly, and is a frequent contributor to the PLDF Quarterly — a volume of published legal commentary that is exceptional among defense practitioners. He is a member of the DRI Third-Party Litigation Finance Task Force and the Amicus Committee of the Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana, and is a member of the Rules Committee of the Appellate Lawyers Association.

• Professional Involvement

Patrick is past president of the PLDF, current Second Vice President of the Illinois Defense Counsel, a member of the DRI Third-Party Litigation Finance Task Force, a member of the Amicus Committee of the Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana, and a member of the Rules Committee of the Appellate Lawyers Association. He publishes the weekly For the Defense column in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, serves as civil practice columnist for the IDC Quarterly, and is a frequent contributor to the PLDF Quarterly. He gives an annual Illinois insurance coverage update to the Insurance Law Committee of the Chicago Bar Association. He co-hosts the Podium and Panel Podcast, covering recent oral arguments before the Illinois and Indiana courts of review, the Seventh Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court, and maintains an exceptionally active LinkedIn presence with three daily posts focused on developments in Illinois and Indiana law and trends affecting civil justice.

• Experience

Patrick Eckler has built a defense-side professional liability and insurance coverage practice at Freeman Mathis & Gary that is as distinguished for its institutional leadership as for its courtroom record. His representation of lawyers, accountants, insurance brokers, and other professionals in malpractice defense, coverage disputes, and complex commercial litigation across Illinois and Indiana courts is matched by a publishing and podcasting presence — his Chicago Daily Law Bulletin column, his IDC Quarterly civil practice column, his PLDF Quarterly contributions, and the Podium and Panel Podcast — that has made him one of the most visible and prolific legal commentators in the Midwest defense bar. His PLDF past presidency, his IDC Second Vice Presidency, his DRI Task Force membership, and his Super Lawyers recognition collectively reflect a practitioner whose career contributions extend far beyond his own client work to the institutional health and development of the national defense bar.

Kate S. Whitlock | McAngus Goudelock & Courie LLC

Kate Whitlock is a Partner at McAngus Goudelock & Courie, LLC in Atlanta, Georgia, where she has spent her entire career defending and counseling individuals and companies accused of professional misconduct. Her practice centers on professional liability, bad faith, and sexual misconduct matters, representing clients in the legal, insurance, accounting, real estate, and education fields, among others. She has tried over 100 cases to jury verdict, bench decision, or final arbitration award in state court, federal court, licensing board proceedings, arbitration, and other venues — and handles her cases through appeal, often being called upon by other attorneys to assist on appeal after adverse first-level outcomes. In 2025, she earned a Master Negotiation certification from Harvard Law School Executive Education’s Program on Negotiation, and in 2019 she earned the Certified Litigation Management Professional (CLMP) designation from CLM. She is a recognized leader in DRI and CLM, a passionate mentor of young trial attorneys, and an active contributor to Atlanta’s nonprofit community. She holds a J.D. and B.A., both with honors, from the University of Iowa.

• Education & Credentials

Kate holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Juris Doctor, both with honors, from the University of Iowa. She has been licensed to practice in Georgia since 1986 — a career of nearly four decades in professional liability defense. In 2025, she earned a Master Negotiation certification from Harvard Law School Executive Education’s Program on Negotiation, and in 2019 she earned the Certified Litigation Management Professional (CLMP) designation from the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance — credentials that reflect a commitment to continuing professional development that is exceptional for a practitioner of her experience. She is admitted to practice in the State of Georgia and before multiple federal courts.

• Recognition & Leadership

Kate has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America and by Georgia Super Lawyers continuously from 2019 through 2025 in Professional Liability Defense. She was named among America’s Top Lawyers by The American Law Society in 2018. Her record of more than 100 trials to verdict — across state court, federal court, licensing boards, arbitrations, and other venues — represents a depth of first-chair trial experience that distinguishes her among professional liability defense practitioners anywhere in the country. Her Harvard Law School Master Negotiation certification in 2025 reflects a lifelong learner’s commitment to adding new tools to an already exceptional advocacy practice.

• Professional Involvement

Kate serves in leadership roles with the Defense Research Institute (DRI) and the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM), and is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the Atlanta Bar Association, the Lawyers Club of Atlanta, and the Georgia Defense Lawyers Association. She is a frequent lecturer and author on emerging issues in professional liability and insurance defense, and is passionate about mentoring the next generation of trial attorneys. Outside the firm, she contributes her time to nonprofit organizations in Atlanta.

• Experience

Kate Whitlock has built one of the most distinguished professional liability defense practices in Georgia through nearly four decades of exclusive focus on defending professionals and their insurers against the most serious and reputationally consequential claims they face. Her 100-plus trial record across every type of adjudicative forum — state court, federal court, licensing boards, arbitration panels — reflects a trial lawyer of extraordinary breadth and endurance. Her appellate work, her Harvard negotiation credential, her CLMP designation, her DRI and CLM leadership, and her Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers recognition collectively define a practitioner who combines the courtroom record of a true trial lawyer with the institutional engagement and continuing development of a career professional fully invested in the future of the defense bar.

SESSION 1 – Introducing the Reptile Theory | 2:00pm – 2:30pm

Examine the definition and core principles of Reptile theory, including how plaintiffs leverage fear and safety rules to influence jurors. Identify early warning signs in pleadings and correspondence, and trace the direct line connecting Reptile tactics to nuclear verdicts.

SESSION 2 – Understanding the Landscape | 2:30pm – 3:00pm

Explore how third-party litigation funding, alternative business structures, and private equity investments are reshaping the legal industry. Connect these structural shifts to aggressive marketing strategies and juror conditioning that set the stage for Reptile tactics and inflated verdicts.

BREAK | 3:00pm – 3:10pm

SESSION 3 – Countering Reptile Before Trial | 3:10pm – 3:20pm

Use written filings and motions to neutralize Reptile arguments before they reach the jury. Leverage procedural tools to limit inflammatory framing, and align defense strategy with jury psychology to counteract plaintiff pre-conditioning and fear-based narratives early in litigation.

SESSION 4 – Defeating Reptile in Depositions | 3:20pm – 3:50pm

Spot Reptile questioning techniques during discovery and deploy tactical objections to protect the record. Prepare witnesses to recognize loaded safety-rule questions, avoid traps that reinforce the plaintiff’s narrative, and maintain composure under aggressive deposition pressure.

SESSION 5 – Fighting Reptile at Trial | 3:50pm – 4:10pm

Apply voir dire approaches that uncover juror bias rooted in pre-conditioning. Use cross-examination techniques to reframe safety rule arguments on your terms, and deliver closing strategies that dismantle Reptile’s fear-based appeal and restore rational decision-making.