With apologies to Aldous Huxley, personal injury lawyers have entered a "brave new world" in which they confront a largely unprecedented confluence of factors impacting their decision-making and advice to clients. Decades ago, so-called "runaway verdicts" were considered outliers warranting only limited consideration in the assessment of risk. In today's litigation environment, "runaway" has been replaced by consideration of verdicts deemed "nuclear" in excess of $10 million, and "thermonuclear" when they surpass the $100 million level. In the first two months of 2024 alone, Pennsylvania juries awarded $38.5 million based upon the death of two teenage girls; $24.5 million to two women who were the surviving victims of a human trafficking ring; $183 million to the family of an infant who suffered lifelong brain damage during a traumatic birth; and an incredible $2.25 billion to a plaintiff diagnosed with lung cancer allegedly caused by a well-known weed killer.