Firm Honored for Trial Strategy Innovation and Technology (Including AI)
DiCello Levitt has been named the winner in two categories at the 2026 Elite Trial Lawyers Awards, presented by Law.com and The National Law Journal, earning top honors for Trial Strategy Innovation and Technology (Including AI).
The Elite Trial Lawyers Awards celebrate the exceptional accomplishments of U.S.-based plaintiffs’ firms and attorneys. The awards recognize groundbreaking legal strategies, significant results, innovation in advocating for plaintiffs, and a commitment to advancing justice for clients. The 2026 winners were announced July 23 during an awards ceremony at the JW Marriott Essex House in New York City.
Read The National Law Journal’s full feature on the 2026 Elite Trial Lawyers Awards and DiCello Levitt’s winning work online here.
Trial Strategy Innovation Award
The Trial Strategy Innovation award recognizes DiCello Levitt’s trial-first approach and the science-based methodology of the DiCello Levitt Trial Center. Co-led by Bobby DiCello and Ken Abbarno, the Trial Center draws on a research-driven framework grounded in linguistics, literacy, information processing, and cognitive neuroscience to study how jurors and judges receive evidence, process information, and make decisions. Through focus groups, mock trials, and iterative testing, the firm refines case narratives and translates complex evidence into clear, persuasive presentations long before stepping into a courtroom.
That methodology helped drive two of the firm’s most significant recent results. Kashef et al. v. BNP Paribas SA et al. was brought on behalf of Sudanese refugees who alleged that BNP Paribas provided financial services that supported the Sudanese government while it committed widespread human rights abuses during the al-Bashir regime. After a five-week bellwether trial, the jury returned a $20.75 million verdict—the first U.S. jury verdict holding a global financial institution civilly liable for financing genocide.
Brought into the case less than 70 days before trial, DiCello Levitt translated nearly a decade of complex financial and geopolitical evidence into a compelling jury narrative. Bobby DiCello served as lead trial counsel, and the firm’s team also included Ken Abbarno, Greg Gutzler, Carrie Syme, Scott Gilmore, Mark A. DiCello, Adam J. Levitt, Joseph Frate, and Madeline Harding. Hausfeld LLP and Hecht Partners LLP serve as co-lead counsel in the matter, with Zuckerman Spaeder LLP also partnering in the litigation.
In Siqueiros v. General Motors, led by Founding Partner Adam Levitt, the firm conducted more than 20 focus groups to test how jurors perceived the company and which language and themes resonated most effectively. That preparation contributed to a $102.6 million jury verdict and, ultimately, a $175 million post-verdict settlement for more than 40,000 vehicle owners and lessees.
Technology (Including AI) Award
The Technology award reflects DiCello Levitt’s leadership at the intersection of technology, privacy, and public accountability. In In re Google RTB Consumer Privacy Litigation, the firm helped secure a landmark settlement addressing how Google shares users’ personal information through its real-time bidding advertising system. The settlement requires Google to create a new, easy-to-use control that allows users to limit how their information is shared across websites and mobile apps, whether they are signed into a Google account or not.
Google must also provide clearer explanations and directly notify millions of users about the new control. DiCello Levitt Partner David A. Straite, CIPP/US, served on the court-appointed Executive Committee and was a key member of the settlement mediation team. The firm also represents a majority of the lead plaintiffs in the action.
DiCello Levitt is also pursuing novel litigation involving the risks posed by rapidly developing artificial intelligence. The firm represents the mayor and city council of Baltimore in the first action of its kind brought by a major U.S. city against X Corp., x.AI, and affiliated entities over their deployment of the generative AI system Grok. The lawsuit alleges that artificial intelligence was used to create and disseminate non-consensual, sexually explicit deepfake content, including images involving minors.
DiCello Levitt also represents the State of New Mexico in litigation alleging that Meta misled users and exploited their personal information—a case proceeding toward trial after surviving eight summary judgment motions.
These honors continue DiCello Levitt’s record of recognition by the Elite Trial Lawyers Awards. In 2023, the firm was named Plaintiffs Firm of the Year and received top honors for Trial Strategy Innovation, Environmental Protection, and Privacy/Data Breach.
About DiCello Levitt
DiCello Levitt LLP is one of the leading plaintiffs’ law firms in the United States. Nationally recognized for our work in high-stakes class actions, mass torts, and complex litigation, we have recovered more than $25 billion for clients, including individuals, businesses, and communities. We take on some of the world’s most powerful interests, pursuing justice that reshapes industries and improves lives.
Built for trial, DiCello Levitt is among the few plaintiffs’ firms with a dedicated trial center, where our acclaimed trial lawyers bring both art and science to courtroom preparation and trial strategy. We are frequently appointed to lead major multidistrict litigation (MDLs) and consistently recognized among the nation’s top plaintiffs’ firms by Chambers USA, Benchmark Litigation, and The National Law Journal, which has named DiCello Levitt Plaintiffs’ Firm of the Year and Trial Strategy Innovation Firm of the Year.
