Blowing Away The Competition – Arnold & Itkin Turns Twenty

Kurt Arnold and Jason Itkin built their firm from the ground up.

Kurt Arnold and Jason Itkin founded the law firm of Arnold & Itkin with a simple goal – winning the best results for their clients, no matter what. Twenty years later, the firm boasts more than $22B in verdicts and settlements, a feat accomplished by outsmarting, outworking and out-lawyering their opponents. Along the way, the firm has helped secure the futures of thousands of families and forced big companies to affect meaningful changes to how they do business.

Arnold and Itkin met as undergraduates, remained close throughout law school, and eventually began their careers at the same boutique trial law firm. Frustrated by the bureaucratic world of corporate litigation, they envisioned a more meaningful career. As the pair etched out the specifics, their goal became clear – they would build an elite trial firm and have fun while doing it.

In the early years, the duo may have known that a bright future was possible, but they couldn’t possibly have predicted the success they would achieve.

In 2023, Arnold & Itkin lawyers won three of the top 10 verdicts in Texas. Recent verdicts in the Roundup Litigation and highly publicized settlements for the crowd crush victims in the Astroworld litigation represent the latest achievements in a long line of record-breaking verdicts and settlements. Achieving results for families in need is the work that the firm is most proud of – this is why they love what they do.

The Early Days

Upon graduating from law school from the University of Texas, Arnold and Itkin both found themselves working at Susman Godfrey and living in the same downtown lofts – the historic Rice Hotel in Houston. Arnold was on the seventh floor and Itkin on the tenth.

Being young lawyers at the start of their careers, the duo would spend a lot of their free time together playing basketball, going for drinks, and imagining what it would be like if they were the ones calling the shots.

“We'd go out with friends and then and we'd be back to Kurt's place afterwards, and talk about what it would look like if we started our own firm,” says Itkin. “What I didn't realize at the time is that Kurt is the most organized person I've ever met. As we were talking, Kurt would be taking notes of all the things we needed to do to start our own firm.”

All that note-taking led to three very practical things they needed to get started – office space, someone to trust them to handle their case, and the ability to finance the case.

After being turned away by every major (and minor) bank in Houston, Itkin found a small bank in Las Vegas, New Mexico willing to give the start-up a small business loan. They then found a small office sublease in downtown Houston. The wheels were in motion, now all they needed was a case.

Arnold and Iktin spent days upon days driving around Houston, all around Texas, and even Louisiana. They would knock on the doors of established lawyers in various practice areas and bring them a pitch – the new firm would take on your worst case simply for the chance to show what they could make something of it. Eventually this tactic led to their first case – one that several firms had turned down. Despite serious legal and factual challenges, Arnold and Itkin secured a $1.75M settlement on the courthouse steps and the new firm was off to the races.

Creating The Culture

The early days were lean.

Kurt and Jason worked every job at the firm themselves – receptionist, filing clerk, secretary, copier and of course trial lawyer. In those first five years, they put in the time, built the relationships and tried upwards of 50 cases.

“If someone was going to give us an opportunity, we'd drive for four hours and meet with them for lunch and drive four hours home,” recalls Arnold. “We started getting referrals from other law firms. We tried a lot of cases and were fortunate to win a lot of big verdicts, and eventually we built a great reputation.”

The partners are no longer driving four hours each way for any meeting they can get. Now, lawyers across the country seek out Arnold & Itkin to be the lead trial lawyers on their most important cases.

The dynamic between Arnold and Itkin is a big part of their success. They have an infectious energy and truly love the work. They’re not only connected to their clients, but they’re also connected to their employees and it shows in the tenure of many. Five of their lawyers have been with Arnold and Itkin for 13 or more years, and their Firm Administrator and both Arnold's and Itkin's Senior Paralegals have been with the firm nearly since inception. Beyond those, there are nearly two dozen employees who have been with the firm for more than 10 years.

Arnold and Iktin lead by example and have built a firm culture that celebrates people who work harder than most to win for their clients. There is a palpable energy inside the hallways of the firm that radiates an air of success – and a love for winning huge results for the underdog.

“Jason and I just wanted to work on cases that mattered with people we like being around,” says Arnold. “We didn't go to law school to represent oil companies or insurance companies. It's a lot more meaningful to represent widows than it is to represent big corporations.”

Making Things Right When Catastrophes Happen

In 2010, Arnold & Itkin was thrust into the national spotlight for the firm’s role in the Deepwater Horizon explosion litigation. Being in Houston, a major hub of energy and shipping, Arnold & Itkin built a reputation for winning cases for offshore workers, mariners, and workers in the oil and gas industry. When a catastrophic explosion caused the BP oil spill, the phone at Arnold & Itkin started ringing. The firm ultimately represented a third of the Deepwater Horizon crew, including crane operator Dale Burkeen who was tragically burned alive in the explosion. The firm ultimately secured the largest settlements in maritime history for its clients.

Since the Deepwater cases, Arnold & Itkin has been called upon to represent victims of other mass-casualty disasters – including the widows of mariners lost during the tragic sinking of the cargo ship El Faro, workers injured and killed in high-profile plant explosions including Williams Geismar Olefins in Louisiana; ExxonMobil in Baton Rouge, La.; Packaging Corporation of America in DeRidder, La.; ExxonMobil in Baytown, Texas, and many others.

“We are known nationwide as leaders in maritime law,” says Arnold. “Right now, we represent about 50 crew members from two rigs that Noble and Transocean left out in a category 5 storm in 90-foot waves. Those families trust us because of the great results we’re known for, results that we're able to build upon.”

Arnold & Itkin isn’t only known for maritime law. Their results across all types of personal injury litigation are staggering, routinely setting records across the country. In the last few years, they have won:

• $8B verdict against Johnson & Johnson
• $2.25B verdict for a Roundup cancer victim
• $860M verdict for victim of fatal crane accident
• $557M verdict against Union Pacific
• $357M settlement for workplace accident
• $222M wrongful death verdict
• $209M wrongful death verdict

And the list goes on. 

The Recipe for Success

Arnold's and Itkin's leadership has allowed the firm to grow from a small start-up to a juggernaut. The firm has recovered an astonishing $22B in the last 10 years and the founders are rightfully proud of the well-oiled machine that they’ve built.

The partners are no longer driving four hours each way for any meeting they can get. Now, lawyers across the country seek out Arnold & Itkin to be the lead trial lawyers on their most important cases. The partners are discerning, selective and intentional with the cases they take on.

We didn't go to law school to represent oil companies or insurance companies. It's a lot more meaningful to represent widows than it is to represent big corporations.

“We're not there to be everything to everybody,” says Arnold. “But we want to take the most important cases, the cases that need the most attention, that need the resources, and ensure that they get the best result.” The results are certainly speaking volumes. In the past 12 months alone, six different trial teams within the firm each achieved individual nine-figure results.

The culture at the firm dictates that if you were the one who wrote the brief or reviewed the documents, you should be the one arguing the motion or taking the deposition. “When it comes to work at the firm, everyone puts their egos aside to focus on winning the best result for the clients,” says Itkin. “There's opportunities to succeed and fail on your own, and I think that's helped build teams that stick together.”

Success as a plaintiffs’ lawyer at Arnold & Itkin relies on key traits that are a rare combination – one must be aggressive yet empathetic, smart and loyal, hardworking and brutally honest. A true “no matter what” attitude and a continuous drive to improve.

That human element is heavily emphasized at the firm. “Nothing substitutes for hard work and being smart. But empathy is paramount,” says Itkin. “We've represented billionaires and we've represented people with less than $100 in their account. Bad things can happen to everybody. So you have to have a natural sense of empathy. Without it, you don’t succeed here.”

If an attorney is going to join the team at Arnold & Itkin, first and foremost they must have the ambition to become an incredible trial lawyer. They also must be relentless in their work ethic. They must outsmart their opponents and never back down from a challenge.

It’s a lot of pressure, it’s high risk when you’re working on the plaintiffs’ side – you have very real people relying on you to get the best results for their futures no matter the challenge. This is a responsibility the lawyers at Arnold & Itkin take very seriously.

Innovating Through Cultivating

Never ones to lose sight of why they started the firm in the first place, Arnold & Itkin now looks to law schools to recruit the next generation of superstars. They’re looking for the best and the brightest, and they want to make sure that the next great legal minds know that there is a path in plaintiffs’ law that will help them to achieve their goals.

Law schools often push their students toward Big Law as the most desirable destination post-graduation, and those big corporate defense firms have robust recruiting teams that buoy that process. Arnold and Itkin are interested in disrupting that process, showing law students that Big Law doesn't have to be the automatic next step or some rite of passage on one's journey toward a fulfilling career. “We try to let these law students know that there is another path out there,” says Itkin. “A path where you can do right and still make a great living.”

When Arnold and Itkin were coming up, they didn’t have organizations like PALS (Plaintiffs’ Advocacy & Litigation Society) – a new student group that launched in October 2023 at the University of Texas that is focused on connecting students, alumni and practitioners working on behalf of plaintiffs, with a mission to spread education and awareness around opportunities for work on the plaintiffs’ side.

Itkin is impressed with the changes he’s seen since graduating from law school over two decades ago. “When Kurt and I were in law school, we didn't know that you could do things that really make a difference in how industry behaves and help people who've had something terrible happen,” he says. “It's been eye-opening and transformational for us as we look towards the future.”

Making It Count

Kurt and Jason, and their wives, Tara Arnold and Kisha Itkin, launched The Arnold & Itkin Foundation in 2015 as a way to expand the firm's impact and outreach in the community. Each project that the Foundation takes on is rooted in their passion for improving the lives of people who have had something terrible occur.

There are problems that can’t be fixed by a courtroom victory, and for a firm that’s fueled by empathy, it can be heart-breaking to look at the myriad issues they are unable to help through the legal system. This foundation is their answer to these issues, and an attempt to help bridge the gap.

“When chemical companies poison people, you can take them to court and hold them accountable and hope you can get them to change,” says Itkin. “But if a child is born with terrible neurological problems and their parents need a place to help educate and care for their child – that's not something you're going to fix with a lawsuit.”  

That’s where the Foundation comes in – to help people who need help beyond what the legal system can provide. Itkin says, “We wanted to find areas where there were gaps in funding where we could make a real meaningful difference.”

No Place for Complacency

In 2023, the firm won more top Texas verdicts than any other firm, including a $860M verdict for a young woman killed by a crane collapse, a $557M verdict for a woman catastrophically injured in a train accident, and a $209M wrongful death verdict for the family of an oil and gas worker. The firm started 2024 in a similar manner with a $2.25B dollar verdict for a cancer victim. These numbers are a clear indication of just how far the firm has come in twenty years.

Clients call Arnold & Itkin on their worst day, when the unthinkable happens and they find themselves in the fight of a lifetime. It’s the firm's job to help families secure the best possible future after a tragedy. When it comes to making things right for their clients, Arnold & Itkin never backs down.

For Arnold and Itkin, it’s deeply personal. The firm is inspired by the challenges that complex matters present and is always thinking about the next step – what can we do better? A commitment to winning, no matter what. And, if you ask Arnold and Itkin what’s next to come, they will say that they are still “just getting started.”