McGeorge School of Law Alumnus Robert T. Eglet Inducted Into Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame
Robert T. Eglet, a 1988 graduate of University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law, has achieved a milestone that places him among the most distinguished legal professionals in American history. In a ceremony held in his hometown of Las Vegas, Eglet was inducted into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame, joining an exclusive group of just 91 attorneys nationwide who have received this recognition. This latest USA news highlights not only an individual’s remarkable legal career but also the caliber of education and training that McGeorge School of Law provides to its students.
Understanding the Significance of the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame
The Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame represents the pinnacle of achievement in the American legal system. Inductees are selected based on their lifetime of service to the public, their dedication to upholding the Constitution, and their contributions to the American trial bar. The roster of inductees includes figures of profound historical importance, such as U.S. President John Adams and former Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Thurgood Marshall.
Eglet’s induction carries particular weight because he is the first and only Nevada trial lawyer to receive this honor. More than 650 lawyers and judges attended the induction ceremony, underscoring the respect Eglet commands within the legal community. For aspiring attorneys and current law students, this recognition demonstrates the heights that a dedicated legal career can reach when combined with exceptional skill and unwavering commitment to justice.
What Sets Hall of Fame Inductees Apart
Membership in the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame is not awarded for a single case or a moment of brilliance. It requires decades of consistent excellence, a pattern of taking on difficult cases against powerful interests, and a demonstrated impact on the legal profession as a whole. Inductees must show that they have chosen what Eglet described during his acceptance speech as “not the easy path, but the harder one.”
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Examining Robert T. Eglet’s Record-Breaking Legal Career
The statistics surrounding Eglet’s legal career are extraordinary by any measure. Over the past 26 years, he has secured more than $7 billion in verdicts for his clients. His 38-year career has yielded a 98% win rate at trial, with more than 200 civil jury trials argued to verdict. These numbers do not merely reflect legal proficiency; they indicate a systematic approach to trial preparation, case strategy, and courtroom advocacy that few attorneys ever achieve.
Early Career Foundations
Eglet’s career began with a remarkable streak of 85 consecutive defense verdicts without a single loss. This early success demonstrated his ability to construct compelling legal arguments and connect with juries from the outset. The skills developed during this period would later prove invaluable when he transitioned to plaintiffs’ work, where he has recorded only four trial losses out of approximately 120 cases as a plaintiffs’ attorney.
Landmark Verdicts That Made History
Eglet has secured the nation’s largest jury verdict on three separate occasions—in 2010, 2013, and 2025. Six of his verdicts rank among the Top 50 in United States history. His most recent record-breaking verdict of $3.1 billion came against a water bottle company whose product was linked to liver failure and autoimmune diseases, demonstrating his willingness to take on cases with significant public health implications.
His representation of plaintiffs in the 2017 Las Vegas Strip shooting resulted in an $800 million settlement, providing critical support for victims and their families during an unprecedented tragedy. In 2023, Eglet secured $1.2 billion in opioid-related settlements on behalf of the state of Nevada, holding pharmaceutical companies accountable for their role in the opioid crisis that has devastated communities across the USA.
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Building a Leading Law Firm in Nevada
As the founding partner of Eglet Law, Robert T. Eglet has built what is recognized as the leading law firm in Nevada. The firm focuses on product defect cases, catastrophic injury claims, and wrongful death suits—areas of law that require not only legal expertise but also the ability to understand complex technical evidence and present it effectively to juries.
The success of Eglet Law illustrates an important principle for law students and young attorneys: specialization, when combined with exceptional trial skills, can lead to remarkable outcomes. Rather than attempting to be a generalist, Eglet identified areas of law where his skills could have the greatest impact and built his practice around those strengths.
Awards and Recognition Throughout the Legal Career
Beyond the Hall of Fame induction, Eglet’s career has been marked by numerous accolades. He was named National Lawyer of the Year in 2010 and is one of only two attorneys in the country to receive both the Nevada Trial Lawyer of the Year award twice and the National Trial Lawyer of the Year award twice, with the most recent national honor coming this year. These recognitions from peers and legal organizations validate not just the outcomes he achieves but the quality of his legal work.
The Connection Between McGeorge School of Law and Trial Excellence
Eglet’s success did not emerge in a vacuum. His legal education at McGeorge School of Law provided the foundation upon which he built his career. The school’s emphasis on practical skills, advocacy training, and experiential learning prepared him for the realities of courtroom practice in ways that purely theoretical education cannot achieve.
Today, McGeorge continues to rank among the nation’s best programs for training trial lawyers. The Blakely Advocacy Institute at the University of Houston Law Center ranked McGeorge’s moot court program No. 13 nationally in the fall 2025 semester. U.S. News & World Report ranked McGeorge No. 16 nationally in trial advocacy and No. 24 for dispute resolution in 2026. These rankings reflect the school’s sustained commitment to producing graduates who can excel in courtroom settings.
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The Eglet Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution
Robert T. Eglet and his wife, Tracy A. Eglet, have demonstrated their commitment to the next generation of trial lawyers through transformative philanthropy. In 2021, the Eglets made a historic $25 million gift to McGeorge School of Law. This funding created scholarships for first-generation students, established a fund supporting competition teams, and endowed chairs at the law school’s advocacy center. In recognition of this generosity, the center was renamed the Eglet Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution.
In 2025, the Eglets contributed an additional $5 million to establish a new endowed faculty chair focused on moot court, create a competition for jury trial articles, and endow funding for jury trial speakers. The gift also provides for a program manager and sustains the center’s ongoing initiatives. This sustained investment ensures that future McGeorge graduates will have access to the same caliber of advocacy training that contributed to Eglet’s own success.
Lessons for Aspiring Trial Lawyers
Eglet’s induction into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame offers several important lessons for those considering or currently pursuing a legal career:
Commitment to Continuous Improvement
A 98% win rate over 38 years does not happen by accident. It requires constant refinement of trial skills, staying current with legal developments, and learning from every case—both victories and the rare defeats. Aspiring lawyers should view their education as the beginning of a lifelong learning process.
Willingness to Take on Difficult Cases
Eglet’s career demonstrates that the most meaningful legal work often involves challenging powerful interests. Whether facing pharmaceutical companies in opioid litigation or corporations in product liability cases, he has consistently chosen cases where the stakes are high and the opposition is formidable. This approach requires courage, thorough preparation, and deep conviction in the justice of one’s cause.
Investment in the Next Generation
Even as he continues to practice at the highest level, Eglet has prioritized giving back to the institution that trained him. His service on the university’s Board of Regents, which he joined in 2024, and his substantial philanthropic contributions reflect an understanding that individual success is most meaningful when it creates opportunities for others.
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The Future of Trial Advocacy at McGeorge School of Law
The Eglet Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution stands as a tangible legacy of one alumnus’s extraordinary career and his commitment to ensuring that others can follow a similar path. The center’s programs, supported by $30 million in gifts from the Eglets, provide students with opportunities to develop their trial skills in realistic settings, compete against top programs nationwide, and learn from experienced practitioners.
For prospective students evaluating law schools, the presence of such a center—and the success of alumni like Robert T. Eglet—should be significant factors in their decision-making process. Trial advocacy is a skill that must be practiced and refined, and institutions that invest heavily in these programs provide their graduates with a measurable advantage as they enter the profession.
What This News Means for the Legal Profession
The induction of a McGeorge graduate into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame reinforces the school’s reputation as a premier institution for trial advocacy training. It signals to the legal community that McGeorge produces not merely competent attorneys but practitioners capable of operating at the highest levels of the profession. For current students, it provides a concrete example of what is possible with dedication, skill, and the right educational foundation.
Explore our related articles for further reading on McGeorge’s programs and alumni achievements.
Conclusion: A Legacy of Excellence in the American Legal Tradition
Robert T. Eglet’s induction into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame represents the convergence of individual talent, rigorous legal education, and decades of unwavering commitment to the principles of justice. His career—from early defense victories to record-breaking plaintiffs’ verdicts—illustrates the profound impact that a skilled trial lawyer can have on individual lives and on society as a whole.
As Eglet stated during his acceptance speech, being a trial lawyer means choosing “the harder one. The path that requires standing up for others, day after day, often against powerful interests and long odds.” For those inspired by this example, McGeorge School of Law continues to provide the training, mentorship, and opportunities necessary to walk that path with confidence and skill.
