From failed minister to car salesman to Oregon Secretary of State, Shemia Fagan has taken one of the more unconventional roads to plaintiff employment law. Now managing partner of six HKM Employment Attorneys offices and running over 200 active cases as the sole attorney on her team, Shemia joins guest host Stephen King and her partner Matthew Westerbeck to show how she does it: with Claude. Together they walk through a practical framework for trial lawyers — using the acronym TRIAL — covering AI-driven triage, research, intake review, advocacy prep, and continuous learning. Tune in for concrete strategies on email automation, judge simulation, deposition prep, and how AI frees lawyers to focus on the human skills no machine can replace.

Train and Connect with the Titans

☑️ Shemia Fagan | LinkedIn

☑️ HKM Employment Attorneys LLP | LinkedIn

☑️ Matthew Westerbeck | LinkedIn

☑️ Stephen King | LinkedIn

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Episode Snapshot

• Shemia dropped out of a bachelor of divinity program at Boston University, sold cars for a couple of years to save for law school, then graduated from law school in Oregon in 2009 — building persuasion skills at every stage.
• While working at a corporate defense firm, Shemia simultaneously served in the Oregon legislature, passing paid sick leave and wage transparency laws — and quickly realized she would never make partner at a firm whose corporate clients were her political adversaries.
• Representing her mother in an age discrimination case, produced a settlement that let her mom buy her first home ever; that moment of purpose drew Shemia fully to the plaintiff side.
• After discovering Claude Cowork, Shemia spent the entire following weekend building email triage and expense-report automation — a "camel's nose under the tent" that transformed how she runs her practice.
• The episode introduces the TRIAL acronym — Triage, Research, Intake, Advocacy, Learning — as a practical roadmap for how plaintiff lawyers can deploy AI across every phase of their practice without sacrificing professional responsibility.
• Shemia used Claude to download all prior deposition transcripts of an opposing attorney 30 years her senior, extract their patterns and rule citations, and build a cheat sheet.
• Stephen King describes sleeping only an hour and a half per night during trial because AI had already anticipated every contingency — letting him stay fully present for the jury instead of managing logistics in his head.

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