Courtside with Mark Ferrer Hayden

In this episode of Courtside, Etan sits down with the Honorable Scott Silverman — former circuit court judge, current arbitrator and mediator with JAMS, and Chief Historian of the 11th Judicial Circuit — inside the very courtroom where history was made.

What do trial lawyers miss in the heat of the moment—and why can those decisions determine what happens on appeal?

In this episode of Courtside, Etan and Jose sit down with appellate attorney Deija Lifshitz to explore the differences between government and private practice, how appellate thinking shapes litigation strategy, and why preserving issues for appeal can make or break a case.

They discuss jury perception, the hidden role ...

What happens when a state housing law overrides local control — and a small coastal community faces the prospect of millions of additional square feet of development?

In this episode of Courtside, Etan and Jose sit down with Bal Harbour Mayor Seth E. Salver to unpack Florida’s Live Local Act, the Bal Harbour Shops dispute, and what’s at stake for residents. They discuss how Live Local reshapes zoning and approvals, the real incenti...

What happens when rap rivalries collide with defamation law—and when presidential tariffs collide with the Constitution?

In Episode 8 of Courtside, Etan and Jose break down the Drake v. UMG dispute over Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us,” exploring whether calling someone a “pedophile” in a song can ever qualify as defamation per se—or whether context and artistic expression protect even the sharpest lyrical attacks. They co...

Does law firm culture actually matter — or is it just marketing fluff?

In this episode, we dig into one of the most uncomfortable questions in the legal profession: are the firms that reward aggression, intimidation, and “bulldog” behavior actually delivering better results for clients?

Drawing on real law-firm experiences, team-sport analogies, and high-stakes examples from outside the legal world — including Boeing, Tylenol, an...

What happens legally when a self-driving car causes harm—and no human was driving?

In this episode of Courtside, we dig into AI liability through a series of real-world scenarios and uncomfortable hypotheticals: a Waymo ride with no driver, passengers with no real ability to intervene, what “emergency response” looks like when there’s no human to call 911, and why the terms you clicked through may matter more than you think.

We a...

You pay for parking in good faith — estimate your time, use the app, go about your day. Then, days later, a letter arrives in the mail with a photo of your car and an “invoice” for $90–$115 because you overstayed by a minute or two.

Is that legal? How are private parking operators getting drivers’ home addresses? And what happens when hidden arbitration clauses and data access collide with federal privacy law?

In this episode, we s...

Featuring Desiree Fernandez  |  In this episode of Courtside with MF&H, the hosts unpack two very different cases with the same underlying lesson: credibility wins trials—and overreach destroys it.

The conversation begins with the viral Cardi B civil trial, where a $24 million damages demand, unfocused cross-examination, and tone-deaf questioning turned a winnable case into a cautionary tale. The panel breaks down why juries pu...

Featuring: Yaniv Adar

In this episode of Courtside, the MF&H team breaks down two of the most misunderstood — and most abused — areas of modern law: non-compete agreements and TCPA spam-text lawsuits. With New York companies and employees pouring into Florida, the panel examines why Florida’s employer-friendly rules shock newcomers, when a non-compete is actually enforceable, and how judges draw the line between legitimate busi...

Courtside with Mark Ferrer & Hayden kicks off with a deep dive into two headline-making battlegrounds of recent litigation: the Ozempic lawsuits and the Tesla autopilot verdicts.

In this first episode, Etan Mark and José Ferrer explore the line between innovation and accountability - when life-changing drugs and self-driving cars collide with the realities of product liability. From failure-to-warn claims and deep-pocket defend...