Trial Advocacy Course?

[Dnian]

Hi all,

Currently trying to sort out my upper year course selection, and was wondering if there were any alumni or incoming 3Ls here who have taken the Trial Advocacy course and could speak more about it. This year it is being taught by Rosenthal. 

More specifically:

• Is a class with what I presume is a higher weekly workload like this advisable to take in 2L, while juggling OCIs (since it's in the Fall)?
• Is it worth it if you're looking to gain experience in civil trials as opposed to purely crim?
• & lastly, how is this kind of a class graded - is the curve brutal?

Thanks!

[Hegdis]

A lot of advocacy skills are transferable. I'm not familiar with this specific class in this specific school, but anything that gives you even basic training in standing on your feet and arguing a position before a decision maker is worth it in my book. FWIW.

[LoganRoy]

3 hours ago, Dnian said:

& lastly, how is this kind of a class graded - is the curve brutal?

Trial Ad is graded as Pass/Fail

[LMP]

Probably the best course I've ever taken. You'll be taught by a rotating group of about 15 practioners. Every class you'll practice different advocacy skills and be critiqued by the lawyers. You do a mini trial and a final trial in front of a judge. 

I would highly recommend it if you have any interest in litigation.

[Dnian]

22 minutes ago, LoganRoy said:

Trial Ad is graded as Pass/Fail

This basically immediately erases any lingering hesitancy I had about taking it, thanks for clarifying this!

[StephenToast]

7 hours ago, Dnian said:

This year it is being taught by Rosenthal. 

Rosenthal is the course director. The class will be split into small groups, taught by instructors rotating through the groups. Last year, the instructors included civil litigators, professional discipline and regulatory lawyers, judges, and criminal lawyers.

7 hours ago, Dnian said:

 

• Is it worth it if you're looking to gain experience in civil trials as opposed to purely crim?

The pass/fail "final" was a tort case and we had a class exclusively on examining expert witnesses for civil trials. Anecdotally, most students in the class last year were civil-oriented. In my small group, I was the only one interested in crim.

[SNAILS]

This was an awesome class. It is actually less work than an average class, and it can be substantially less work if you do the bare minimum.

I put more work into it since I wanted to get more out of it (I.e. I read the textbook, prepared a thorough argument for each evening session, collaborated on the final group project, etc).

The only downside of taking it is if you hate public speaking or you  envision your future work to not involve litigation.

[silverductape]

The whole thing is just a crash course on opening/closing statements and direct/cross-examination.

You get put into small groups w/ practitioners as your instructors so it's really chill, and a lot of people go in without any trial experience. Honestly it was probably 1-2 hours of work max per week. 

The final assessment is usually a mock trial down by the University courthouses with a real judge, which imo was a really fun experience (probably bc I'm going into corporate law)!

Edited August 18, 2023 by silverductape