Trial teams are about as close as you’ll get to competitive sport in law school. So if you want to make the proverbial “varsity” I suggest you enroll in the course titled: Trial Lawyer. Trial Lawyer is a class that combines evidence and trial advocacy in the same semester for a total of seven credit hours.
Evidence is best described as “the rules of the game.” And the trial advocacy part is obviously the game. But remember if you don’t understand the rules of the game you won’t know how to play. Evidence class is taught in the evening by Federal District Judge John Darrah. If you’re going to learn the Federal Rules of Evidence you might as well learn them from a man you could potentially appear before in federal court. While the evidence portion of the course will teach you the rules, trial advocacy is the practice that will allow you to hone your litigation skills.
The Trial Advocacy class is the very next night after your Evidence lecture in a courtroom at the Daley Center from 6-9pm. Trial Advocacy is hands down my favorite course at John Marshall. Why? Because trial advocacy is hands-on learning. The trial advocacy component of Trial Lawyer assigns you to a court room, an experienced trial attorney and 7 other students to learn and evolve with. Trial advocacy classes are always small and your instructors are successful litigators or judges. During class at the Daley Center you will present opening statements, closing arguments, and perform direct and cross examinations of witnesses.
So again, if you’re competitive, if you want to litigate, and you want to learn from the best then register for Fall 2011’s Trial Lawyer course!
