Randi McGinn is one of the country’s leading trial lawyers, having represented thousands of men and women in her 40 years of practice and having tried to verdict over 130 civil and criminal cases – everything from trucking collisions to workplace violence to medical malpractice to products liability lawsuits. She lost only 6 of those trials, giving her a 95% success rate.
Trials are won and cases are settled based on who tells the best story. Having started out as a journalist, Randi McGinn is a consummate storyteller. From the pile of facts that is your case, she reaches in and pulls out the beating heart of your story. She is famous for her creativity in the courtroom and use of both high- and low-tech demonstrative evidence to help the jury see and understand what happened. She has utilized powerful animations, life-size human blowups, persuasive PowerPoint presentations, toy cars and trucks, and three-dimensional models of roadways and a mountain hillside to re-create accidents in the courtroom.
The first woman president of the Inner Circle of Advocates (a group of the 100 best trial lawyers in the U.S.), she is able to reveal the truth through her devastating cross-examinations. Ms. McGinn has destroyed adverse witnesses by leaving a pretentious Beverly Hills doctor standing in front of the jury covered with post-its and clutching a grapefruit to his chest and by grilling a government snitch until he threw up. You can watch her takedown of an expert in this cross-examination of Bill Lewinski.
She recently was appointed as a special prosecutor and tried the first New Mexico criminal case against any police officer. Two Albuquerque police officers faced charges for an on-the-job shooting of a homeless man, James Boyd. The case ended in a hung jury but reduced the number of shootings of citizens by the Albuquerque Police Department.
Ms. McGinn has obtained several of the largest verdicts in New Mexico history. In 2019, she obtained the largest verdict ever against a semi-trailer manufacturer for its decision not to build its trailers with side underride guards that would prevent passenger cars from becoming trapped underneath the trailer.
She started her career with a bang by giving birth to her daughter, Heather, the day before the 3-day bar examination.
Honors
AV Rated, Martindale-Hubbell
The Best Lawyers in America®: 1993 - Present
Best Lawyers in America® Lawyer of the Year:
Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs, Albuquerque: 2019
Medical Malpractice Law - Plaintiffs, Albuquerque: 2015
Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs, Albuquerque: 2014
Criminal Defense: White-Collar, Albuquerque: 2013
Criminal Defense: General Practice, Albuquerque: 2011
Top 25 lawyers in NM, Southwest Super Lawyers®
Super Lawyers® 2007 - 2021
Top 10 Lawyers, Albuquerque Magazine
Recipient, Justice Mary Walters Award, UNM Women’s Law Caucus
Recipient, UNM Distinguished Alumni Award
Recipient, NM Status for the Commission on Women Award
Emerge NM Woman of the Year
First Woman Admitted to Roehl Circle of Trial Lawyers
Listed in American Lawyers Magazine “Women Leaders in the Law”
Lawyer of the Year, Albuquerque Bar Association, 2017
500 Best Lawyers in the US, Lawdragon 500
Legends of the Law, Lawdragon 2020
First Woman President, Inner Circle of Advocates, 2016-2017
Compassionate Gladiatrix Award
Professional Memberships
Inner Circle of Advocates (Best 100 plaintiff’s lawyers in the U.S.) First Woman President, 2016- 2017
New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association (NMTLA) Board of Directors, 1986- Present
New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association (NMTLA) President, 1994- 1995
American Association for Justice (AAJ) Board of Governors, 2003- Present
International Academy of Trial Lawyers, 2005- Present
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) Board of Directors, 1999- 2005
American Board of Criminal Lawyers (ABCL), 2004- Present
New Mexico Innocence and Justice Project President, 2000-2007
State Bar of New Mexico
Classes/Seminars
Lecturer, National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA)
Lecturer, American Association for Justice (AAJ)
National Criminal Defense College (NCDC)
Adjunct Professor, University of New Mexico Law School
Peter Chase Neumann Lecturer, University of Arizona, 2017
Regularly teaches or lectures 1-2 times a month at bar associations, legal groups, and law schools around the country
Pro-Bono Activities
Founder and Member of the Board of Directors, Emerge NM
EDO Community Development Board, 2011 to 2020
Shareholder, Sandia Motorsports Raceway
Menaul School Board of Trustees 2010-2013
Books
Changing Laws, Saving Lives: How to Take on Corporate Giants and Win, Trial Guides, 2014.
Education
University of New Mexico School of Law, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Licenses
New Mexico
Colorado
U.S. District Court District of New Mexico
U.S. District Court District of Colorado
Awards
Inner Circle
Lawdragon 500
Best Lawyers in America
Super Lawyers
AV Preeminent Rated
