15 02, 2013

COURT REPORTER’S ADVICE FOR TRIAL LAWYERS

By |February 15th, 2013|Court Reporter, Depositions, Pretrial Tips, Trial Tips|14 Comments

Making a Record and MoreA court reporter provided me with this article which could be entitled “The Court Reporter’s Lament.” The reporter’s comment to me when he gave me the article was that sadly they don’t teach lawyers things like how to make a record and that, with fewer civil trials, what lawyers used to [...]

12 06, 2012

COURTHOUSE DOGS – IMPROVING THE JUSTICE SYSTEM

By |June 12th, 2012|Courthouse Dogs, Pretrial Tips, Trial Tips|1 Comment

"Promoting Justice with Compassion"Yesterday, I had lunch with a former colleague Ellen O’Neill-Stephens, who, along with Dr. Celeste Walsen DVM, is on a mission to “bring about a major change in how we meet the emotional needs of all involved in the criminal justice system.” This goal can be accomplished with courthouse dogs. Their Courthouse [...]

29 03, 2012

CHANGING MEXICO’S JUSTICE SYSTEM – INTRODUCING ORAL TRIAL ADVOCACY

By |March 29th, 2012|Mexico's Justice System, Pretrial Tips, Proyecto Diamante, Trial Tips|1 Comment

Proyecto Diamante at the National Advocacy CenterLast week I participated in a program that is designed to dramatically change Mexico’s criminal justice system. It’s called “Proyecto Diamante,” and it is intended to bring oral trial advocacy to Mexico.Proyecto Diamante, which was launched on February 7th, is an undertaking to train Mexico’s 2500 prosecutors and 6000 [...]

20 01, 2012

VALUABLE WEBSITE FOR ADVOCACY INSTRUCTORS

By |January 20th, 2012|Pretrial Tips, teaching techniques, Trial Tips|0 Comments

Visit Teaching Advocacy BlogThis blog is dedicated in part to teaching pretrial, trial and appellate advocacy, and, therefore, I was delighted to discover Teaching Advocacy Blog, which has teaching advocacy skills as its focus. That blog is administered and often written by Christopher Behan (Assistant Professor of Law, Southern Illinois University School of Law), Charles [...]

17 01, 2012

FOCUS GROUPS AND DAVID BALL

By |January 17th, 2012|David Ball, Focus Groups, Preparation, Pretrial Tips|49 Comments

Book Review: How to Do Your Own Focus Groups: A Guide for Trial LawyersEven with a thorough investigation and analysis of the case, you can overlook things, even the most obvious. This is especially true once you’ve formulated a case theory because there is a natural tendency to miss or reject that which is inconsistent [...]

23 12, 2011

MICHAEL PETERSON GETS A NEW TRIAL

By |December 23rd, 2011|Pretrial Tips, The Staircase|1 Comment

The Staircase Case Not Over Prior post recommended Academy Award recipient and French director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s documentary of a murder trial in Durham, North Carolina as an excellent tool for teaching both pretrial and trial techniques. The defendant in this documentary film of a murder trial is Michael Peterson (pictured on right with his [...]

29 11, 2011

NEW SET OF PRETRIAL AND TRIAL BOOKS AND DVDs LAUNCHED

By |November 29th, 2011|Books, Pretrial Tips, Trial Demonstation Movie, Trial Tips|1 Comment

Litigation Bundle with a 50% Price Savings – Call 1-800-294-6777Wolters Kluwer (Aspen) has just launched the sale of a litigation bundle of materials at a price that can’t be beat. The suite of books and DVDs covers pretrial litigation and trial from START to FINISH. The BooksThe litigation package includes four books: Pretrial Advocacy, Trial [...]

7 10, 2011

CONSULTING WITH COUNSEL DURING A DEPOSITION

By |October 7th, 2011|Books, Depositions, Pretrial Tips|2 Comments

“We Need a Break”David Boies, representing the government in the Microsoft antitrust case, famously annihilated Bill Gates when he took Gates’ deposition. Scenes from the deposition can be viewed on YouTube. In his book Courting Justice, Boies commented on remedial action that he would have taken if he had represented Gates: “It was an understatement [...]

22 04, 2011

PRACTICAL ADVICE ON TRIAL PROFESSIONALISM

By |April 22nd, 2011|Bench Trials, Judge John Erlick, Jury Selection, Lower Bench, persuasion, Pretrial Tips, Professional Responsibility, Trial Tips|0 Comments

The Courtroom Culture A successful trial lawyer adapts to the courtroom culture. While protocols vary somewhat from courthouse to courthouse and even courtroom to courtroom in the same courthouse, minimum standards of conduct do exist. In the following article, King County Superior Court Judge John P. Erlick provides concrete advice concerning those standards. His advice [...]

12 03, 2011

IMPORTANCE OF THE SCENE VISIT

By |March 12th, 2011|Pretrial Tips, Scene Visit, Seattle University Law School|1 Comment

Garage Tavern – Scene of the ShootingTo understand a case requires a sense of the people and the place involved. It is critical to go to the scene at the earliest opportunity. You can’t truly understand the place unless you have been there. The scene could be an intersection in a negligence collision case, a [...]

Go to Top