With the diminishing number of cases going to trial, how can you as a young attorney gain meaningful trial experience and guidance on ethical obligations and responsibilities? As a junior associate you may very well be engaged in exciting cases, but the cases usually settle. If they do go to trial, chances are you won’t be giving the opening statement, examining the witnesses, or making the tough strategic and ethical decisions in the courtroom. More senior colleagues will usually take the reins, leaving associates to learn merely by watching and listening.
Yet watching and listening to your colleagues will only get you so far. To grow as a trial lawyer, you need to feel inspired. You need to observe outstanding attorneys at work, practice trial advocacy yourself, and benefit from peer critiques. If you could combine exposure to inspiring mentors, exemplary demonstrations, and role-play within a short period of time, you would have a recipe for a rewarding educational experience. With this in mind, the ABA Litigation Section Council under the leadership of Kim Askew, Section Chair, has established LITT, the Litigation Institute for Trial Training. LITT offers attorneys an innovative opportunity to gain confidence in the courtroom.
Each year, LITT’s “boot camp” trial training program will give young lawyers from around the country a chance to hone their trial skills in the company of a star-studded faculty of renowned litigators, jurists, and professors. The rigorous curriculum will help you practice elements of the trial, gain hands-on experience, and connect with exemplary courtroom advocates. Condensed into two days, the program has been designed to fit busy lawyers’ schedules, yet is rich enough in content to offer a formative and inspirational experience for attorneys in the early years of their legal careers.
This first LITT program is scheduled for July 12 -13, 2007, at the DePaul University School of Law in Chicago. As the curriculum below indicates, the program is balanced with demonstrations, stimulating lectures and workshops. Imitation is a powerful tool, and if you grew up watching actors play lawyers on television and in movies you need real trial lawyers and judges as role models.
The LITT program will inspire you to reach for the next level of experience in your career as a trial lawyer, help you gain confidence in the arena of the courtroom and enable you to answer important questions about trying real cases. For example, is cross examination all about impeachment? What are the techniques used by some the best trial lawyers in the country in opening statements and closing arguments? Do jury consultants really help? What about mock trials? How do you develop a theme for the case that resonates with the jury? When and how should you use Power Point presentations in the courtroom?
Also, what are some of the ethical problems confronting young trial lawyers? Assume you are at the trial table assisting the partner trying the case, and you both realize that the witness is testifying to materially false information. The partner says: “Let’s let this go or we could lose this case.” Can you rely on the partner’s decision? If you do, you may be in violation of Rule 5.2 of the Rules of Professional Responsibility. This rule governs the responsibility of a subordinate lawyer. If you know that witness is lying, you cannot avoid your responsibility by relying on the partner to take action regarding the testimony.
One of the most valuable aspects of the program will be the chance to become acquainted with esteemed trial attorneys, jurists and scholars from around the country. The faculty of July’s LITT program in Chicago will include Stephen D. Susman of Susman Godfrey in Houston, Judge Marvin E. Aspen of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, national jury consultant Jo Ellen Demetrius, and many other luminaries of the bench and bar.
I’ve provided the program curriculum below. As the attendance will be limited to 40 people, I encourage you to contact me this month (pms@shapirosher.com) if interested in participating.
LITT CURRICULUM
Thursday, July 12, 2007
(DePaul University College of Law)
8:00–8:30 a.m.
Registration and Breakfast
8:30–8:45 a.m.
Opening Remarks, Introductions
8:45–9:30 a.m.
Discussion of Case Analysis, Themes Strategy – Plenary session with student participation
9:30–10:00 a.m.
Lecture: Opening Statements
10:00–10:45 a.m.
Demonstration of Opening Statements and Critique
10:45–11:00 a.m.
Break
11:00–12:15 p.m.
Lecture on Direct Examination, Demonstration and Critique
12:15-1:30 p.m.
Lunch Lecture: Great Trials and Great Trial Lawyers – Plenary Session
1:30–3:30 p.m.
Workshop: Direct Examination (Participants
perform in small groups and view video tape)
3:30 – 3:45 p.m.
Break
3:45–5:00 p.m.
Lecture on Cross-examination, Demonstration and Critique
7:00 p.m.
Social Event, Bar Association of Chicago
Friday, July 13, 2007
(DePaul University College of Law)
7:30 – 8:00 a.m.
Breakfast
8:00 – 10:00 a.m.
Workshop: Cross-examination of Fact Witnesses
(Participants perform in small groups and view video tape)
10:00 – 10:15 a.m.
Break
10:15 - 11:15 a.m.
Demonstration of Direct Examination and Cross-examination and Critique
11:15 – 12:00 p.m.
Lecture: The Trial Lawyer’s Ethics, Civility, and Professionalism
12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Lunch with National Jury Consultant Jo Ellen Demetrius
1:30–2:45 p.m.
Lecture on Closing Argument, Demonstration and Critique
2:45- 3:00 p.m.
Break
3:00 - 4:30 p.m.
Workshop: Closing Arguments
4:30- 4:50 p.m.
Lecture: The Art of Persuasion
4:50 - 5:00 p.m.
Closing Remarks