Overview

“There are three ways to get real experience: a case or problem within the firm; a pro bono case; or a NITA program. The first two are very hard to obtain.  NITA is available to your associates.”   A leading professional development officer

NITA is not just for trial skills anymore.

NITA is the market leader in custom skills training programs for leading law firms and governmental entities.  In the last three years we trained over 7,000 attorneys at nearly 200 professional development programs.  Drawing from our 40 years of training experience, our programs are unmatched in quality and relevance to the profession.

We have expanded our training menu to address the core competencies needed of both corporate and litigation associates.  NITA's learning-by-doing programs are known for developing the following fundamental skills clients expect from associates:

• The ability to strategically analyze a client issue,
• The capability to effectively gather the facts in a cost effective fashion,
• The capacity to advocate persuasively for the best solution for the client.

For years we have held programs that develop these competencies in workshop scenarios that replicate the corporate associate experience.

Why Customize

What are the benefits of NITA custom training programs?

• A client brings a case to the firm. The firm takes on a pro-bono case. The firm presents a NITA program. All are excellent ways to gain real life experience. However, the first two aren’t always available for your attorneys. NITA is available, with real experience, real time.
• NITA programs shorten the learning curve so associates can provide clients with superior work more quickly, and become the leaders in the firm.
• Associates seek more challenging work with the skills and confidence gained from a NITA program.
• NITA in-house programs incorporate the firm’s culture. NITA designs each program schedule based on the law practiced at the firm and the scheduling requirements facing the firm. In addition, we conduct teacher training for your firm’s partners allowing them to play an integral role in the lectures, demonstrations and performance critiques.

Where are you in the training process?

NITA has recently expanded its training options to address the core competencies in advocacy and business skills demanded by today's marketplace. Whether your firm is in the process of reviewing your training efforts to ensure they meet your core competency goals, in the initial stages of formalizing training efforts or looking to augment an existing training program, NITA is a leading resource for addressing your professional development needs.

• Harold Abramson
  Harold Abramson
  New York, NY

• George Akwo
  Entrtn & Technology Law Grp
  Santa Monica, CA

• John Baker
  Law Office of John T. Baker
  Denver, CO

  
  John T. Baker

  J.D., University of Denver College of Law
  
  Following graduation from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 1973, John taught as a clinical instructor at the College of Law for three years, directing a juvenile and criminal advocacy clinic. In 1975 John joined the plaintiff’s personal injury and civil trial practice law firm, Carrigan & Bragg, P.C., which eventually became Bragg & Baker, P.C. John spent the next 26 years concentrating his legal practice in products liability litigation, representing individuals that have been injured by defective pharmaceutical products and vehicles. John currently continues with his own firm concentrating on complex litigation and public interest law.  John has been listed as a Colorado Super Lawyer for 2007 to the present.
  
  During his legal career John has taken a national leadership role in multi-district litigation and other consolidated complex litigation, concerning birth control pills, intrauterine devices, L-Tryptophan dietary supplements, Jeep CJ-5 utility vehicles and diet pills. In those leadership roles John coordinated and conducted nation-wide plaintiffs’ discovery, managed document depositories, and served on nation-wide litigation plaintiffs’ steering or management committees. John has a special interest in professionalism and professional responsibility and has served or is serving in bar association leadership positions. The Denver Bar Association awarded the 2007 Award of Merit to John for his bar service. The specific bar positions include, 2009-2010 President  Denver Bar Association, past chair of the Denver Bar Association Professionalism Committee, past co-hair of the Metropolitan Conciliation Panel, past chair of the Colorado Bar Association Attorney Admission and Law School Committee, member of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado Conduct Rules Committee, and past chair of the law school working group of the Colorado Bar Association Professional Reform Initiative Task Force. John is a member of the American, Colorado, and Denver Bar Associations and the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association. He is a fellow of the International Society of Barristers.
  
  In addition to the practice of law, John has a strong interest in teaching. John has been appointed as President of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (“NITA.”) John served as NITA’s Public Programs Educations Director 2007-2010. NITA has honored him with the Honorable Prentice Marshall Faculty Award for 2005. John’s legal teaching experience includes adjunct professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law; Program Director and Lead Faculty for the NITA Hanley Advanced Advocacy Program; Program Director or Faculty for NITA pro bono programs for the American Civil Liberties Union, the Legal Services Corporation, and the American Bar Association; and Faculty for joint NITA advocacy programs with the Law Society of Ireland and the Law Society of Scotland. The University of Denver College of Law Institute for Advanced Legal Studies honored John as “Educator of the Year” in 1997. John, also, lectures in Colorado, nationally, and internationally on professionalism issues, on torts/product liability issues, and on trial advocacy.

  In Denver John is active in the community. As an appointed member of the Colorado Supreme Court Judicial Advisory Council, in 2006-07John chaired the year-long 40th Anniversary Celebration of Merit Selection of Judges in Colorado. He is past president of the board of directors of Denver Kids, Inc., a program to keep “at risk” Denver Public Schools students in school. John is married and has three children, who have involved him over the years in coaching youth soccer, basketball and baseball. 

• Jonathan Barnard
  Adams Cnty Circuit Court
  Quincy, IL

• Mary Jo Barr
  San Diego County Public Defender
  San Diego, CA

   
  Mary Jo Barr

  Mary Jo began her practice in 1986 in San Diego, California, as an associate with a small plaintiffs and criminal defense firm.  In 1989, Mary Jo joined the Office of the Public Defender for San Diego County where she was a member of the team responsible high profile media cases and homicides.  There she developed relationships with local and national media representatives.  Mary Jo’s experience as a trial lawyer and as a teacher made her the natural selection to be the office’s training deputy.

  Her interest in teaching began when she was awarded a Prettyman fellowship at Georgetown School of Law School in 1988.  Although she chose trial work over academics, she has been teaching since 1992.  Mary Jo began teaching with NITA in the regional trail skills programs.  Since her début with NITA she has been teaching trials skills, deposition skills, teacher training, and motion practice for NITA at regional, custom, and international programs.  She has been the program director for both trials skills and deposition programs, and she is the co-director of the annual trial skills program Pacific Regional in San Diego.

  Mary Jo has taught lawyers and judges in Nigeria on behalf of the United States Department of Justice, in Japan for the Osaka Bar Association, in Canada for the Canadian Society for Advocacy and at the firm Borden,Ladner,and Gervais, and in both Ireland and Northern Ireland on behalf of NITA.

  Mary Jo has also served as an adjunct professor at California School of Law and the University of San Diego School of Law in their advocacy programs.  

   

• Robbie Barr
  JAG Denver
  Denver, CO

• Barbara Barron
  Hofstra University
  Hempstead, NY

  
  Barron, Barbara S.
  
  Barbara S. Barron is a Professor of Legal Writing and Research and Director of Student Advocacy Programs at Hofstra University School of Law. Ms. Barron, a former Assistant District Attorney in the District Attorney's Office for New York County, has practiced extensively in the areas of commercial and matrimonial litigation on both the trial and appellate levels. Before attending law school, Ms. Barron was a Russian linguist with the Department of Defense. Ms. Barron has been a team leader in the Hofstra Trial Techniques Program and has been a member of the Northeast Regional Program and the Master Advocates Program for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.

• George Berger
  Allen Matkins Leck Et Al
  San Diego, CA

• Douglas Blaze
  Univ of Tennessee Colg of Law
  Knoxville, TN

  
  
  Douglas A. Blaze
  
  B.S., magna cum laude Dickinson College
  J.D., summa cum laude, Georgetown University
   Professor Blaze, who received a J.D. summa cum laude degree from Georgetown University, was appointed Dean of the College of Law in 2008.   Professor Blaze joined the Tennessee faculty in 1993 as Director of Clinical Programs and served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2006-2008.  He came to Tennessee from Phoenix, Ariz., where he worked in private practice and later joined the faculty at Arizona State University. Professor Blaze is co-author of The Law of Negligence in Arizona. His work has been published in the Arizona State, Georgetown, Tennessee and William & Mary law reviews. Professor Blaze is the past-chair of the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services and is a member of several other bar committees. In 2004, Professor Blaze received the Thomas Jefferson Prize. He received the Bass, Berry & Sims Award for Outstanding Service to the Bench and Bar in 1996 and 2004, the Harold Warner Outstanding Teacher Award in 1997, and the Carden Institutional Service Award in 2000 and 2005.
   
   

   

• Lynn Bocchino
  Assistant US Attorney EDPA
  Ardmore, PA

  Lynn Shafer Bocchino
  
  Following graduation from law school, Lynn served first as a judicial clerk and then an associate in a civil defense firm. After five years of experience she was appointed as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division where she served for 20 years and received numerous awards before her recent retirement. Her federal practice included the litigation and trial as a defense attorney in medical negligence cases where she represented doctors practicing in all of the major Philadelphia Hospitals under federal grants and in age, gender, race, and section 1983 civil rights actions where she represented various federal agencies, their employees, and special agents of the FBI.  She was frequently appointed to represent her colleagues in the U.S. Attorney’s office and federal judges who were sued in their official capacity.  In addition, she litigated and tried civil cases as plaintiff’s counsel for the United States pursuant to the False Claims Act regarding billing by hospitals and other medical providers for Medicare and Medicaid benefits.  Her federal practice includes over 45 trials, 10 appeals to the Third Circuit, and depositions too numerous to count.
  
  While an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Lynn was a frequent faculty member at programs sponsored by the Department of Justice at the Justice School in Columbia South Carolina, teaching substantive courses in evidence, civil procedure, and the various civil rights acts, and skills courses on trial, deposition, motions practice, negotiations and ADR.
  
  Lynn has over 15 years experience in teaching public, governmental and in-house law firm NITA programs on a full range of skills topics including fact investigation, depositions, on the record examinations, motion practice, ADR and trials.
  
  She has also served as a faculty member for the Temple University Beasley School of Law Masters Program in Trial Advocacy.  

• Anthony Bocchino
  Prof Anthony J Bocchino
  Ardmore, PA

  
  Anthony J. Bocchino
  
  J.D., University of Connecticut
  
  Professor Bocchino is an honors graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law after which he was a Bradway Fellow at the Duke University School of Law. He served as a full time faculty member at both the University of Connecticut School of Law and the Duke University Law School before joining the Temple University Beasley School of Law faculty in 1979. At the Beasley School of Law for the period 1979 -1989 he was Director of Temple's Trial Advocacy and Clinical Programs. He has designed the program, written materials and taught in the law school's Integrated Trial Advocacy Program which has been twice awarded the Gumpert Award for Excellence in Teaching Trial Advocacy from the American College of Trial Lawyers, in addition to receiving the Gambrell Award for Teaching Professionalism from the American Bar Association. In 1997 he was named by Temple University as the Jack E. Feinberg Professor of Litigation.
  
  Professor Bocchino has been honored with teaching awards from Duke University School of Law were he received the Mordecai Society Award and the Beasley School of Law where he was the first recipient of the George P. Williams II Memorial Award. In addition, he has received the Oliphant Award from the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and the Richard S. Jacobson Award from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America for excellence in teaching the art and science of trial advocacy.
  
  In addition to his law school duties Professor Bocchino has served as a faculty member for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) since 1974, served as NITA's Director for five years and served as the organization's Editor in Chief. Bocchino has written materials and designed programs for trial, deposition, fact investigation, motion practice and appellate advocacy programs for more than 30 law firms and numerous public agencies. He has also conducted needs analyses and designed litigation skill curricula for numerous law firms. His CLE materials and program designs are among the most frequently utilized by those organizations.  In addition, he has and will customize materials to the specific needs of individual clients.
  
  Professor Bocchino is the author of over 60 books and articles, predominantly in the fields of Evidence, Trial Advocacy, Civil Litigation and Professional Responsibility. His trial advocacy and/or deposition practice materials are used in a majority of the law schools in America, as well as in CLE litigation skills training in the public and private sectors.
  
  Professor Bocchino has been elected as a member of the American Law Institute, and named a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, Litigation Counsel of America and the International Society of Barristers.

• George Brauchler
  George H. Brauchler, P.C.
  Highlands Ranch, CO

• Cary Bricker
  Pacific McGeorge Schl of Law
  Sacramento, CA

  
  
  Cary A. Bricker
  
  B.A., University of Rochester
  J.D., Boston University

  Professor Bricker comes to Pacific McGeorge from the Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia, where she was director of the highest-rated Trial Advocacy program in the country. She began her legal career as a staff attorney with the New York Legal Aid Society, Criminal Division, taking 20 jury trials to verdict in four years. As a senior staff attorney with the Federal Defender Division of the Legal Aid Society, she tried 25 jury trials to verdict. While working in New York City, she served as a trial advocacy adjunct professor of law at Fordham University, provided guest commentary for numerous Court TV trials, and joined the National Institute for Trial Advocacy as a faculty member teaching in regional programs, the national session and numerous law firms. She became an associate professor at Temple in 2002, teaching Trial Advocacy and Advanced Trial Advocacy as well as coaching the law school’s top-ranked competition team. Professor Bricker was voted Professor of the Year in 2006 by The Pacific McGeorge Day and Evening Division.

   

• Steve Briggs
  JAG Denver
  Denver, CO

• Henry Brown
  Univ of San Francisco Law Schl
  San Francisco, CA

  
  
  Henry Brown
  
  J.D., University of San Francisco
  B.A., Auburn University

  As director of advocacy programs at USF, Assistant Professor Brown oversees all advocacy programs, both trial and appellate. He has taught at numerous law schools, including Stanford Law School and UC Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law. His courses include: Evidence, Law & Literature, and Constitutional Law.

  Brown is the co-director of the Western Trial and Deposition Programs offered by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) and recipient of NITA's 2009 Hon. Robert Keeton Faculty Award. He has instructed NITA courses for more than 18 years, including public service programs in Africa.

  Prior Experience
  • Of Counsel, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
  • Associate, Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati
  • Adjunct Professor, Stanford Law School
  • Visiting Professor, East China University of Politics and Law
  • Law Clerk, Hon. Barbara A. Caulfield, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

• Charles Brown
  Attorney at Law
  Albuquerque, NM

• Robert Burns
  Northwestern Univ Schl of Law
  Evanston, IL

  
  Burns, Robert P.
   
  Mr. Burns directs the following program: Deposition Skills: Midwest

  Robert Burns is a professor of law and litigation attorney in the Northwestern University Legal Clinic. He teaches courses in evidence, civil procedure, professional responsibility, health care law, and the philosophy of law. In 1996, and again in 1998, he was awarded the Robert Childress Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence and in 1997 was elected the outstanding Professor of a Small Class. The Class of 1997 elected him to give the "Last Lecture" on the day before graduation. He is Program Director for the Law School's Litigation and Dispute Resolution Concentration and has been both Perkins-Bauer Teaching Professor and Stanford Clinton, Sr. Research Professor. His current research interests focus on the theory of the trial and on professional responsibility.

  Professor Burns is a National Institute for Trial Advocacy Distinguished Faculty Member, having taught for the preeminent continuing legal education organization since 1982. He is a principal architect of Northwestern's unique coordinated program in Evidence, Professional Responsibility, and Trial Advocacy and is co-author of Problems and Materials in Evidence and Trial Advocacy, Vols. I & II, Exercises and Problems in Professional Responsibility, and essays and articles on trial, evidence, professional responsibility, mediation, and legal philosophy.

  Contact Information:
  r-burns@northwestern.edu

• Mark Caldwell
  NITA
  Boulder, CO

  
  MARK S. CALDWELL

  Mr. Caldwell is Public Program Development and Resource Director for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. In this role he designs, administers, and teaches at a wide variety of NITA’s advocacy skills programs, including the Rocky Mountain Building Trial Skills Program, The Rocky Mountain Deposition Skills Program, the on-line Deposition Skills Programs, and NITA’s Faculty Training Programs. His past work also includes many of NITA’s specialty programs, including Bankruptcy Litigation, Family Law, Patent Litigation, and Tax Court Litigation. Mark Caldwell also serves as Program Director for some of NITA’s pro bono efforts, including programs to Native American lay advocates, lawyers working for legal service and public service organizations, including courses for lawyers working in juvenile settings and domestic violence cases.

  Included among his published works are NITA case files and problems, NITA’s Faculty Training Manual, and law review articles on both international law and continuing legal education. He lectures on continuing and adult education and advocacy skills on a national basis, including presentations to the Association of Continuing Legal Education Administrators, the Colorado Women’s Bar Association, and Stetson University College of Law.

  Mark Caldwell has worked as a consultant with a number of organizations and law firms in the development, administration and marketing of continuing education courses, including the American Bar Association, Professional Education Systems, Inc. He served as Assistant Dean of the University of Denver College of Law and as Executive Director of Continuing Legal Education in Colorado, Inc.

  Mark Caldwell volunteers his time in a variety of forms. He has served as a member of the Water Board for the town of Shawnee, Colorado and the Board of Directors for The Legal Center for People with Disabilities and Older People. He was a member of the State Board of Education Advisory Committee on Gifted and Talented Education. He shares his time in working with high school students who compete in the Colorado Bar Association’s Mock Trial Competition.

  Mr. Caldwell earned his J.D. from the University of Denver. He has been recognized for his work as teacher, program designer and administrator, receiving NITA’s Robert Oliphant Award for Service (2001) and Hon. Prentice Marshall Award for Excellence in the Creation of Education Techniques (2009), the University of Denver’s Institute for Advance Legal Studies Educator of the Year Award (1999), and recognition from the Colorado Asian American Bar Association, and the American Bar Association Section of Family Law.

  Contact Information:
  mcaldwell@nita.org

• Therese Cannata
  Cannata Ching & O'Toole LLP
  San Francisco, CA

  

  Therese Cannata
  
  Ms. Cannata has practiced law since 1979 in both large and small firms, as well as acquiring significant trial experience while a senior trial attorney at the San Francisco Public Defender's Office.
  
  In the mid-1980's, Ms. Cannata was an associate attorney at the San Francisco law firm of Morrison & Foerster, serving corporate clients in state and federal courts, including antitrust, intellectual property, "white collar" crime, and commercial fraud actions. She joined the Oakland law firm of Alborg & Dictor as an associate in 1989, which became Alborg, Veiluva & Cannata LLP in 1996. While a partner there, Ms. Cannata developed her business, legal malpractice defense, and real estate litigation practice in their Walnut Creek office. In 1999, she opened a branch office for the firm in downtown San Francisco. The San Francisco office became Ms. Cannata's main office in March 2003.
  
  Although she remains active in the criminal defense community, Ms. Cannata currently specializes in professional liability defense and business litigation on behalf of institutional and individual clients. In representing attorneys, accountants, corporations, public entities, and financial institutions, Ms. Cannata maintains her considerable talents as a trial attorney, having successfully tried professional liability, real estate and commercial cases on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants. She consults as well with attorneys and insurers in preventing litigation by early identification of conflicts and claims repair before litigation. For her business clients, Ms. Cannata provides assistance in the formation corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies, business reorganization, bankruptcy court workouts for creditors, arbitrations and mediations.
  
  Ms. Cannata was admitted to the California bar in 1979 and is also admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court in the Northern, Southern, Central and Eastern Districts of California, and the U.S. Court of Appeal, Ninth Circuit. She was a certified Criminal Law Specialist from1983 to 1994. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. cum laude, in 1976, and University of San Francisco with a J.D. in 1979.
  
  Ms. Cannata is a member of the American Bar Association, Bar Association of San Francisco, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, and University of San Francisco Inn of Court. She also serves on the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers' Professional Liability. She is a regular faculty member for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, teaching at the Deposition and Trial programs. More recently, Ms. Cannata has served as a commissioner pro tem for the Contra Costa Superior Court.
  In addition to her business law practice, Ms. Cannata has dedicated herself to promoting delivery of pro bono legal services to low income and indigent persons throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Her philosophy is simple and direct: every private attorney should have at least one active pro bono case open during every year of his or her legal career. She is also active with a local shelter meal program providing for homeless adults and families.

   

• Jean Cary
  Campbell Univ Schl of Law
  Durham, NC

  Jean M. Cary
  
  B.A., Magna Cum Laude, Duke University,
  J.D., Georgetown University Law Center

  Jean Cary is a member in good standing of the North Carolina Bar, United States Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, United States District Courts for the Western, Eastern and Middle Districts of North Carolina.  She presently is a Professor of Law at Campbell University School of Law teaching Family Law, Family Law Planning, and Advanced Trial Advocacy and Pretrial Litigation.  She has been an Adjunct Professor at the School of Law at the University of North Carolina and the Director of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy’s Southeast Regional Program. Ms. Carey previously was a Staff Attorney from with East Central Community Legal Services in Raleigh, North Carolina and for Legal Services of Southern Piedmont, Charlotte, North Carolina where her responsibilities focused on Public Benefits, including representation of indigent clients on cases concerning Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Food Stamps, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Unemployment Compensation and Black Lung Benefits.  During the last two years at East Central Community Legal Services, my work included a large range of general work in the area of social services, landlord-tenant, juvenile and domestic law.

   

• Carl Chamberlin
  State Court of Appeals
  San Francisco, CA

  Carl Chamberlin
  
  J.D., magna cum laude, Hastings
  B.S., Stanford University

  Mr. Chamberlin is a Senior Judicial Attorney for the California Court of Appeals and an adjunct professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where he has taught Trial Advocacy since 1999.  From 1985 to 1999, Carl practiced law at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, specializing in intellectual property and complex civil litigation.  There he supervised the firm’s litigation training program, was Chair of the Internet and Computer Litigation Group, and received awards for his pro bono service.  Carl was also an Acting Assistant District Attorney for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and, beginning in 1998, served local courts as an arbitrator and judge pro tem.  He has taught trial skills, deposition skills, and motions practice for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy since 1992, as well as courses for California’s Continuing Education of the Bar and Santa Clara University Law School. 

   

• Doris Cheng
  Walkup Melodia Kelly et al
  San Francisco, CA

  
  Cheng, Doris
   
  Ms. Cheng directs the following program: Advocacy Teacher Training: San Francisco

  Ms. Cheng joined the Walkup firm in 1998 after a distinguished academic career at the University of San Francisco School of Law. Her areas of concentration include wrongful death, catastrophic injury, government liability, medical negligence, premises liability, sexual molestation and vehicular negligence. She has prosecuted cases throughout California and in the Federal District Courts. She has tried cases to verdict in multiple Northern California counties. She has experience in trial, mediation and arbitration.

  A graduate of the University of California at Davis, Ms. Cheng attended USF School of Law, from which she graduated with distinction as a Public Interest Law Scholar. In 1997, she served as an extern law clerk to the Honorable Saundra Brown Armstrong, United States District Judge for the Northern District of California.

  Ms. Cheng is also active in local bar affairs. She has been elected to membership on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association as well as the Board of Governors of the University of San Francisco School of Law. She has also served as Chair of the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Barrister’s Club newsletter. She is active in the American Inns of Court, having served as Program Chair and Secretary-Treasurer of the USF Inn of Court. She serves on the teaching faculty and the Executive Committee for the University of San Francisco School of Law’s Intensive Advocacy Program.

  Ms. Cheng currently serves as the assistant Program Director for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy’s Western Region Teacher Training Program and has taught trial advocacy for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy at its Western Regional and Pacific Region Trial Skills programs. She also serves on the faculty of Emory University’s Kessler-Eidson Trial Techniques Program in Atlanta, Georgia.

  She is a member of the State Bar of California, the American Trial Lawyers Association, the Consumer Attorneys of California.
   

• Caroline Cinquanto
  Cornerstone Legal Consultants
  Philadelphia, PA

• Michael Dale
  Nova Southeastern University
  Fort Lauderdale, FL

  
  Dale, Michael J.
  
  Mr. Dale directs the following program: Deposition Skills: Florida
  
  Michael J. Dale has been a member of the faculty at the Nova Southeastern University Law Center since 1985, teaching courses in family law, juvenile law and in the family and juvenile clinic. He also teaches litigation courses including civil procedure, conflicts of laws, intensive trial advocacy, judicial administration and international litigation. Before joining the Nova faculty Dale spent time in private law practice in Phoenix and was Executive Director of the Youth Law Center in San Francisco after serving as Attorney in Charge of the Special Litigation Unit of the Juvenile Rights Division of the Legal Aid Society of the City of New York. He has been a practicing lawyer specializing in civil rights litigation for 30 years. He is admitted to practice in the states of Arizona, Florida, New Mexico and New York as well as the United States Supreme Court and numerous federal appellate and district courts.
  
  Professor Dale teaches in National Institute For Trial Advocacy Programs concerning children including trainings held in Denver, in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania, in New York at Hofstra University and in Houston at the University of Houston. For the past 12 years he has been program director for the National Institute For Trial Advocacy Florida Deposition program. He has been a consultant to a number of federal and state agencies on civil rights issues and to law firms on litigation issues.
  He is the author of over seventy articles focusing primarily on juvenile and children’s law topics. Professor Dale is also the author of the two volume text, Representing the Child Client, published by Matthew Bender Co. He speaks regularly to professional groups on children’s law and litigation topics.
  
  Contact Information:
  dalem@nsu.law.nova.edu

• Maria Danaher
  Olgetree Deakins et al PC
  Pittsburgh, PA

  
  
  Maria Greco Danaher
   
  Maria Greco Danaher is a shareholder in the Pittsburgh Office of Atlanta-based Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, and regularly represents and counsels companies in employment related matters.  She specializes in representing management in labor relations and employment litigation, and in training, counseling, and advising human resource departments and corporate management on these topics.

  Ms. Danaher’s prior experience includes having acted as in-house litigation counsel for a Fortune 100 company based in Pittsburgh, where she was involved in oversight and management of litigation done by outside counsel in over twenty domestic locations, including general tort litigation and employment law matters.  She also coordinated counseling and training of that company’s management, supervisory, and line employees regarding basic obligations under various employment-related statutes.

  Ms. Danaher also has acted as outside counsel for various corporations on labor and employment issues, including participation in defense of claims made to EEOC and state agencies, resolution of grievances, and trials of employment matters in both federal and state courts.  Her current legal work includes formulation and drafting of corporate employment policies and procedures, and training and counseling regarding various labor and employment issues.  In addition, she regularly instructs attorneys in trial tactics and procedures, both through the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and through in-house programs. 

  In addition to her litigation experience, Ms. Danaher regularly acts as a “neutral” for the local federal court’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, and was a co-drafter of the federal court’s local rule related to ADR.  She counsels and trains companies on dispute resolution procedures and facilitative communication.

  Ms. Danaher writes regularly for HR News, a monthly publication of the Society for Human Resource Management, and is on the Advisory Board of “You & the Law,” a publication of the National Institute of Business Management.  She is a presenter for Pennsylvania Bar Institute continuing legal education programs, and is an adjunct professor for the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

• James Dasso
  Foley & Lardner LLP
  Chicago, IL

• Daniel Deasy
  Ammarell Deasy LLP
  Englewood, CO

  
  Daniel N. Deasy
  
  B.A., University of Colorado at Boulder
  J.D., University of Colorado at Boulder
  
  Daniel Deasy received both his Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder, graduating from the School of Law in 1993.  He was presented with the William O. DeSouchet Award for outstanding trial advocacy while in law school.  Following graduation, Mr. Deasy completed a judicial clerkship with the Jefferson County District Court and worked as a prosecutor in Colorado’s First Judicial District (Jefferson and Gilpin Counties) until 1998.  Mr. Deasy then served as Director of Contracting and Legal Affairs at a medical management group for approximately one year, but in 1999 returned to litigation as in-house counsel for Colorado’s largest insurance carrier.  In 2005, Mr. Deasy became the managing partner at Caplis & Deasy, LLC., where he specialized in personal injury litigation.  In 2008, Mr. Deasy moved to a prominent domestic relations law firm in the metro Denver area as special counsel and then partner, and earlier this year, he again formed his own firm, Ammarell Deasy, LLP.  Today, Mr. Deasy continues to handle a variety of courtroom matters, including family law, personal injury and criminal defense. 
  
  Mr. Deasy’s teaching experience includes advocacy skill instruction at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), the University of Colorado School of Law, the University of Denver College of Law, and the Colorado District Attorneys Council Trial Techniques School.  He has also taught courses in Juvenile Law, Delinquent Behavior, Criminal Investigation and Judicial Function in the college setting.  Mr. Deasy has presented for the Colorado Defense Lawyers’ Association and instructed for the Colorado Bar Association and the First Judicial District Bar Association.  He has also lectured nationally on case analysis, direct and cross examination techniques, expert witnesses, opening statements, closing arguments, visual courtroom persuasion, courtroom technology, investigational strategies and deposition practice.
  
  Mr. Deasy brings a wealth of courtroom experience and advocacy knowledge to the teaching arena, having prosecuted and defended well over 250 trials and contested hearings in criminal, civil and family law courtrooms across the state of Colorado. 

• Mary Pat Dooley
  California Supreme Court
  Alameda, CA

  
  
  Mary Pat Dooley
  
  B.A., George Washington University
  J.D., Hastings College of the Law

  Mary Pat Dooley has been teaching with NITA since 1996.  She is a judicial staff attorney for the Honorable Carol A. Corrigan of the California Supreme Court. 

  After graduation from law school, Ms. Dooley clerked for the Honorable William Schwarzer, United States District Court, Northern District of California.  She was a deputy district attorney for eleven years with the Alameda County (Oakland, California) District Attorney’s Office.  Her trial experience included homicides, sexual assaults and major narcotics offenses.  For two years, Ms. Dooley served as the supervising deputy district attorney in the law and motion department.  In an exchange program with the California Attorney General’s Office, she worked for six months in the criminal appeals unit, preparing written briefs and arguing before various California Courts of Appeal.

  After leaving the District Attorney’s Office, Ms. Dooley was a litigation associate with Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe in San Francisco for three years, with an emphasis in commercial litigation and employment discrimination.  Since 1998, she has worked with Justice Corrigan, first as her senior staff attorney in the Court of Appeal, and then joining Justice Corrigan at the Supreme Court.

  Ms. Dooley has served as program director for trial skills and motion practice programs, and assisted in deposition programs.  She has taught at the NITA National Session and Western Regional programs.  In addition to her work with NITA, Ms. Dooley is an adjunct professor of law teaching trial advocacy at Boalt Hall Law School and Hastings College of the Law, which she has done since 1998.

   

• John Douglass
  Univ of Richmond School of Law
  Richmond, VA

  
  
  John G. Douglass
  
  B.A., summa cum laude, Dartmouth College
  J.D., magna cum laude, Harvard Law School

  John Douglass is a Professor of Law at the University of Richmond, where he teaches Criminal Law, Evidence and Criminal Procedure and manages a program in litigation skills and trial advocacy.  His principal academic publications have focused on prosecution, the criminal trial process and the Confrontation Clause.  Before joining the Richmond Law faculty in 1996, he practiced law for 15 years.  He served for eight years as an Assistant United States Attorney in Baltimore and Richmond, and was Chief of the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office in Richmond from 1992 to 1996.  He also served on the staff of Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh in the Iran-Contra investigation. As a partner in a Richmond law firm, he specialized in commercial litigation, insurance defense, construction litigation and white collar criminal defense.   He is a faculty member of the Virginia State Bar’s Course in Professionalism, an instructor in trial advocacy and other litigation skills for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, and a frequent lecturer at continuing legal education.

• Daniel Dowd
  Cohen Kennedy Dowd & Quigley
  Phoenix, AZ

  
  Daniel G. Dowd

  Dan Dowd is the managing partner of Cohen Kennedy Dowd & Quigley.  Dan attended Iowa State University and obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration (with an emphasis in finance) with distinction in 1985, finishing with the highest grade point average among finance students.  He received his J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1988, where he graduated with high distinction and was a member of the Order of the Coif.  He was admitted to practice in Arizona in 1988.

  Dan has received substantial peer recognition during his career.  In 2004, The Business Journal recognized Dan as one of the “Best of the Bar – Litigation” as selected by his peers.  In 2007, Dan, Ron Cohen and Laura Kennedy obtained a $360 million verdict in a multi-week, hotly contested commercial tort trial. This is the second largest verdict in the history of the state of Arizona and the fourth largest in the U.S. in 2007.  Dan has also been selected as a "Super Lawyer" in every edition of “Southwest Super Lawyers”, a peer-evaluated publication recognizing individuals ranked in the top five percent of lawyers practicing in their state.  In 2011, Southwest Super Lawyers identified Dan as a member of "The Top Fifty" recognizing the Arizona lawyers who received the highest point totals in the review process.  Dan is recognized in "Best Lawyers in America" 2010 - 2012 editions and has an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell.  In 2010, Dan was inducted into "Arizona's Finest Lawyers", a peer-reviewed organization that limits membership to approximately six percent of the Arizona State Bar members.  In 2011, The Litigation Counsel of America ("LCA") selected Dan as a Fellow.  The LCA is an invitation only trial lawyer honorary society and membership is limited to 3,500 Fellows, representing less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers.

  Dan is a member of the Maricopa County Bar Association, the State Bar of Arizona, the American Bar Association and a former member of the Sandra Day O’Connor Inn of Court.  Dan currently serves as co-chair of the American Bar Association's Judicial Intern Opportunity Program ("JIOP"). He was co-chair of the Special Committee on the Future of Civil Litigation of the American Bar Association's Section of Litigation from 2009-2010.  He served as Director of Division IV in 2009, co-chair of the Section's Solo and Small Firm Committee from 2006 to 2008 and as co-chair of the Federal Practice Task Force from 2001 to 2005.  Dan is also heavily involved with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, serving as the Program Director for NITA’s Arizona and Nevada Deposition Skills Programs and a NITA faculty member.

  Dan is admitted to practice in the courts of the State of Arizona, the United States District Court for the District of Arizona and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Dan concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial litigation, ADR and administrative dispute proceedings.

• Mark Drummond
  8th Judicial Crct of Illinois
  Quincy, IL

  
  Mark Drummond
  
  A trial lawyer for 20 years before taking the bench as a trial judge, Mark Drummond is one of the highest rated NITA instructors by in-house program participants.  A NITA instructor since 1986, he also teaches others how to be NITA instructors at all three NITA teacher training sites.

  Mark was selected by the prosecutor’s office of the United Nation’s War Crimes Tribunal to train prosecutors at The Hague and in Arusha, Tanzania.  He regularly teaches barristers at Oxford and has been asked by the Federated Bar Association of Japan to teach advocacy skills to attorneys in anticipation of their judicial reform in 2009.

  He is the author of “The Eight Keys to the Art of Persuasion”, a one-day trial advocacy program and has done numerous training videos for NITA.  He writes an advocacy column for litigation News, a publication of the Section of Litigation of the American Bar Association.

  Sample Comments from in-house participants and other NITA instructors:
  “Perhaps the best NITA teacher I have seen in 20 years of teaching NITA.”
  “Mark Drummond was easily the most effective instructor I have ever seen.”
  “I would come listen to him anywhere, anytime.”
  “Fantastic!  When I grow up I want to be a female Mark Drummond.”
  “The gem of the program.  Mark Drummond was a star.”

   

• William Elward
  Attorney General's Office
  Chicago, IL

  
  
  Bill Elward is the Criminal Trials Assistance Bureau Chief for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.  Bill is lead counsel on complex prosecutions ranging from commercial fraud and internet crime cases to first degree murders.  Similar to complex commercial practice, Bill's cases involve extensive pretrial discovery, depositions and experts; however, the vast majority of his cases end up in trial, which has given him the opportunity to try over 100 jury trials to verdict.   Bill is “Distinguished Practitioner in Residence” at Loyola University of Chicago Law School where he teaches Evidence, Advanced Evidence, and Trial Advocacy.  In 2008 he received the Robert Bellarmine Award for Outstanding Law School Alumnus.  Elward also teaches Trial Advocacy at the University of Chicago School of Law each year, and has taught trial advocacy at numerous law schools. 
   
   Elward is the director of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) Midwest Trials Skills Program Bill teaches deposition practice and trial skills nationally and internationally.  In addition to his law school teaching, Bill supervises deposition training state-wide for the Illinois Attorney General’s office.  In addition to teaching several deposition and trial programs each year for private law firms throughout the United States, the Irish Department of Public Prosecutions has twice invited Bill to teach trial skills in Dublin, Ireland.  Elward also taught evidence and criminal procedure at the Alberto Hurtado University Law School in Santiago, Chile, and taught comparative criminal procedure in Rome, Italy. 

  Elward routinely receives the highest evaluations in both his law school classes and in NITA programs.  In 2010 Elward was recognized by the Illinois State Appellate Prosecutor’s Office for Outstanding Instruction in Depositions and Trial Skills. Since 2005 Bill has also taught evidence, criminal law and bar exam preparation for Bar-Bri.  Elward is a cum laude graduate of Loyola University of Chicago Law School where he was the Research Editor on the Consumer Law Reporter.  Bill is married and has four sons.

• JoAnne Epps
  Temple University Schl of Law
  Philadelphia, PA

  

  JoAnne Epps 
  Dean Epps assumed the deanship of the Beasley School of Law on July 1, 2008.  She has been on the faculty at Temple Law School since 1985, and served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 1989-2008.  She was most recently asked to chair a special task force at Temple University to review the Freeh Report and provide recommendations to the University where needed.  She is an officer of the American Bar Association Section of Litigation, serves on the Board of Directors of the Defender Association of Philadelphia, is a former member of the Board of Directors of Women's Way, and is an active member of several other professional organizations.  At Temple, Dean Epps teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Evidence.   In addition to teaching at Temple, Dean Epps has taught in China, in Japan, at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and twice in a program for Sudanese Lawyers working for victims of the Darfur crisis.  Dean Epps is the author or co-author of a number of academic publications, including, most recently, The Twelve Secrets of Persuasive Argument, written with Paul Mark Sandler and Ronald J. Waicukauski.  She was recently honored by On Being a Black Lawyer as one of the 100 most influential black lawyers in America.  She is a recent recipient of the Doris May Harris Image Award from the National Bar Association's Women Lawyers Division, the Women of Distinction Award from the Barristers' Association of Philadelphia, was one of three winners of the 2002 Women Making History Award presented by the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners and was honored as one of the 2008 Women of the Year by the Legal Intelligencer and the Pennsylvania Law Weekly. Most recently, Dean Epps was honored with a 2009 Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania Take the Lead Award, the Philadelphia Bar Association's 2009 Sandra Day O'Connor Award and the 2009 Wiley A. Branton Award from the National Bar Association.  Dean Epps is also a recipient of the 2011 Torchbearer Award for Outstanding Leadership in Law, given by the Women’s Christian Alliance of Philadelphia and a recipient of a 2011 Minority Business Leader Award, given by the Philadelphia Business Journal.

   Dean Epps received her B.A. degree from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. in 1973 and her J.D. degree from Yale Law School in 1976.

   

   

   

   

     

• John Farrell
  Fish & Richardson PC
  Redwood City, CA

  
  
  John M. Farrell
  
  B.A., Indiana University
  J.D., University of Chicago

  John Farrell is a principal at Fish & Richardson, P.C.  John is a trial attorney, handling both intellectual property cases and commercial litigation.  Mr. Farrell is an experienced trial lawyer, having tried over 90 jury trials.  He served as a head attorney in the homicide unit of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, where he worked from 1987-2001.  He served as a law clerk to the Honorable S. Hugh Dillin, United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.  He also has taken and defended hundreds of depositions and regularly argues motions in both state and federal court.  In addition to teaching trial advocacy, he often is called on to lecture on how to take and defend depositions and how to prepare witnesses to be deposed. He also lectures on rules of hearsay and the art of cross examination.

   Mr. Farrell is a veteran teacher of advocacy skills and has taught for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy for over 15 years, in regional programs, the national program in Boulder and numerous in house programs around the country.  He regularly is one of the top ranked instructors for NITA

• Scott Fortune
  Fortune Law Ofcs
  Jacksonville Beach, FL

• Daniel Foster
  Lawyers Without Borders
  Hartford, CT

• Adrienne Fox
  North Carolina Central Univ
  Durham, NC

  
  
  Adrienne M. Fox
  
  Adrienne Fox is an associate dean and professor of law at North Carolina Central University School of Law and the author of Admissibility of Evidence in North Carolina and North Carolina Rules of Evidence with Objections.  She is a frequent NITA teacher in programs and law firms throughout the country.  In addition, she has lectured and consulted on evidence, procedure and trial practice matters for many other CLE programs and at the University of St. Petersburg, Russia.

   

   

• Cynthia Goode Works
  Law Office Cynthia Goode, LLC
  Largo, MD

  
  
  Cynthia Goode-Works
  
  B.S., Texas A&M University
  J.D., The American University, Washington College of Law
  L.L.M., Temple University, James E. Beasley School of Law

  Cynthia Goode Works brings a unique blend of education, training and experience to the practice and teaching of law.  Her trial and appellate experience in both criminal and civil proceedings, teaching as a law professor, and Master of Laws in Trial Advocacy has equipped her with the skills needed to provide the highest caliber of legal representation and advocacy training.

  She received a Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M University, a Juris Doctor from The American University, Washington College of Law, and a Master of Laws, (LL.M) in Trial Advocacy, with highest honors, from Temple University, James E. Beasley School of Law. An accomplished trial attorney, Works holds bar memberships in the state and federal bars of both the District of Columbia and Maryland.

  Following her graduation from law school, Works was a law clerk for the Honorable Henry Francis Greene, District of Columbia Superior Court. Following her clerkship she worked as a criminal defense attorney at the D.C. Public Defender Service (PDS) representing individuals in both misdemeanor and felony matters in bench and jury trials and at the appellate level.  Following her tenure at PDS, Works left criminal litigation and worked as a corporate and civil litigator for law firms specializing in corporate, insurance and medical malpractice defense.  Prior to opening her own law office, she served as the Director of Training and Education for the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) the national membership association for legal aid and public defenders.  At NLADA, Works had responsibility for the content, direction and development of educational training programs for civil legal aid attorneys and public defenders across the country.  Currently, Works maintains a law private law practice located in Maryland where she provides representation in civil, employment and criminal matters.
  
  In addition to the practice of law, Works has a solid background in the academic arena.   She has held academic appointments at The George Mason University School of Law, The Howard University School of Law, and The American University, Washington College of Law.  During her tenure as professor at Howard, the team compiled an impressive number of accolades and titles. A few of them include: being named as one of the top sixteen trial advocacy programs in the nation from 1999, 2000 and 2001.  In 1991, the team she coached won the National Championship at the NITA Tournament of Champions Competition. Works was visiting professor at Howard University School of Law during which time she taught in and managed the Criminal Justice Clinic component of the Law School's Clinical Law Center. Works concentrated her legal research agenda and teaching activities in the fields of criminal law and procedure, evidence, and clinical education. For her writing in the area of trial advocacy and evidence, Works received the Distinguished Faculty Author Award from the president and provost of the university. She also served as a guest lecturer at the Howard University School of Medicine, presenting lectures to physicians regarding medical malpractice defense. Her work was also published in the Howard University Hospital Newsletter.
  
  She also served as a guest lecturer at the Howard University School of Medicine, presenting lectures to physicians regarding medical malpractice defense. Her work was also published in the Howard University Hospital Newsletter.

  Works specializes in the development of trial advocacy training programs across the United States to law firms, government agencies, legal aid attorneys, public defenders, and corporations.  She has also served as a faculty member and program director National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) in both their public and in-house training programs for many years.

• Andrew Gordon
  McDonald Carano Wilson LLP
  Las Vegas, NV

   
  Andrew Gordon
  
  Mr. Gordon is a partner in the Las Vegas office of McDonald Carano Wilson LLP. His practice focuses on Commercial Litigation, including general business disputes, shareholder derivative actions, construction, real estate and title disputes, landlord/tenant issues, employment disputes and securities claims. His practice also includes significant alternative dispute resolution experience. He is a Commercial, Construction, and Employment Arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association, and serves as a private arbitrator and mediator.
  
  Mr. Gordon served as Chair of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' Lawyer Representative Coordinating Committee, was one of seven Nevada Lawyer Representatives to the Ninth Circuit Conference (2001-2007), and has served on several federal court committees. He is Chair of the State Bar committee drafting the Nevada Recommended Jury Instructions (Civil).  He is admitted to practice in the state and federal courts of Nevada and Arizona, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States.  Mr. Gordon has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America, Mountain States Super Lawyers, and The Chambers USA Guide, and has an “AV” rating from Martindale-Hubbell.  He is a court-appointed Mediator for the United States District Court of Nevada’s Early Mediation Program for Pro Se Inmates.
  
  Mr. Gordon graduated from Claremont McKenna College, cum laude, in 1984, and received his JD from Harvard Law School in 1987.  He coaches high school lacrosse, is a Trustee of the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame, and was a member of the Leadership Las Vegas Class of 1995.

• Christina Habas
  Keating Wagner Polidori Free
  Denver, CO

  
  
  Christina M. Habas
  
  J.D., University of Denver College of Law
  
  Christina M. Habas was born in Denver, Colorado and received her undergraduate degree and Juris Doctorate from the University of Denver.  She became licensed to practice law in October, 1982 in all Colorado State Courts, as well as the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.  She was admitted to the United States Supreme Court Bar in 1994.
  
  She began her legal career with the law firm of Watson, Nathan & Bremer, P.C., and there represented many governmental entities, school districts and worked in the fields of general litigation, employment law and civil rights.  Beginning in April 1998, she moved to the offices of Bruno, Bruno & Colin, P.C., where she specialized in representation of members of law enforcement in the administrative, civil and criminal arenas.
  
  In December, 2003, she was appointed by then-Governor Bill Owens as a Denver District Court Judge.  She served in the Domestic, Civil and Criminal Divisions of that Court until her resignation in July of 2012 to resume her work as a trial lawyer.  During her time on the bench, Ms. Habas was also Presiding Grand Jury Judge for 5 years.  She served on the Judicial Ethics Advisory Board and the Supreme Court Committee on Civil Procedure Rules, was a mentor judge for newer appointees and also taught at training for judges throughout the State of Colorado.  She also had the honor of being among a list of 6 finalists for a vacancy in the United States District Court, District of Colorado.
  
  Ms. Habas has been a frequent lecturer and teacher.  She has taught with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy since 1991, and serves as senior faculty and Program Director on many programs.  She has also lectured in the areas of civil rights, employment law, trial advocacy, jury selection and storytelling for many groups.  She also values her time volunteering as a coach for Aurora Central High School's CBA High School Mock Trial Competition.  She has served as an adjunct professor with the University of Denver College of Law on Advanced Trial Practice.  She has also participated in many Masters in Trial throughout the United States, on both the Plaintiff's and the Defendant's side.  She is currently a National Board Representative for the Colorado Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

   

• Susan Halpern
  The Halpern Law Firm PLLC
  Dallas, TX

  Susan M. Halpern
  
  B.S., summa cum laude, University of Maryland
  J.D., cum laude, Albany Law School of Union University

  During Susan Halpern’s more than 25 years of practice, she has successfully litigated a broad range of commercial matters involving banking and lender liability issues, bankruptcy issues, all manner of complex contracts, trade secrets, Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act issues, partnership and corporate dissolutions, veil piercing theories, real estate and title issues, business aviation issues, including leases, liens, freight forwarding and engine maintenance, landlord tenant issues, alarm monitoring, embezzlement, fraud and the Uniform Commercial Code.  Ms. Halpern has also handled and tried countless injunction matters involving commercial disputes. In addition, Ms. Halpern has assisted in family law matters involving significant assets, focusing on business and stock option valuation issues, but also extending to more traditional issues such as property division and custody.  Ms. Halpern is admitted to practice before all Federal Courts in Texas and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.  Ms. Halpern is a member of State Bar of Texas, American Bar Association, Dallas Bar Association and the Denton County Bar Association.  She has been an Adjunct Instructor of Trial Advocacy at SMU Dedman School of Law since 2000, and a faculty member of National Institute for Trial Advocacy since 2001.

• Zelda Harris
  Loyola Univ School of Law
  Chicago, IL

  
  
  Prof. Zelda B. Harris
  Loyola University Chicago School of Law
  25 E. Pearson Street
  Chicago, IL 60611
  (312) 915-7783
  zharris@luc.edu

  Prof. Harris joined the faculty of Loyola University Chicago School of Law in August 2012 as Director of the Dan K. Webb Center for Advocacy. Prof. Harris provides leadership in all aspects of the school’s advocacy programs, including curriculum development, program growth, and alumni relations. In addition to her administrative duties, Prof. Harris teaches courses in trial advocacy and evidence. Prof. Harris taught civil procedure and evidence at Loyola as a Visiting Professor in 2006-2007.

  Prior to joining Loyola, from 1998 to 2012, Prof. Harris was a member of the law faculty at the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona as Director of the Domestic Violence Law Clinic and Co-Director of the Child and Family Law Clinic. She also taught separate courses on legal ethics for family lawyers and a seminar on domestic violence law. Further, Ms. Harris has held several positions for national, state and local organizations dedicated to addressing issues relating to family violence.

  Prof. Harris’ past experience includes her position as a Visiting Professor at Villanova University School of Law (2006), a senior instructor for the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University School of Law (1992-1998) and as a staff attorney for Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation, Inc. in Alton, Illinois (1991-1992).

  Prof. Harris serves as a faculty member for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA). Since 1996 she has provided advocacy training and leadership to young attorneys nationally and internationally.

  Prof. Harris is a 1991graduate of Washington University School of Law, St. Louis, Missouri. She received her undergraduate degree from Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. She is married to Jonathan Peck and they are the proud parents of two children, Jonathan and Wesley.

• Albert Herring
  US Department of Justice
  Washington, DC

• Peter Hoffman
  Elon Univ School of Law
  Greensboro, NC

  
  Peter Hoffman

  Professor Peter Hoffman, a 1971 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, is a Professor of Law and Director of Skills Programs at the Elon University Law School in Greensboro, North Carolina.  Before joining the Elon faculty, Hoffman taught at the University of Houston Law Center (where he held the Newell H. Blakely Chair in Evidence and was also the Director of the Blakely Advocacy Institute) and the University of Nebraska College of Law (where he was the Earl Dunlap Distinguished Professor of Law).  Hoffman has also taught as a visitor at the University of Michigan, University of Hawaii, University of San Diego, Washington University – St. Louis and City University of Hong Kong.  Professor Hoffman is a frequent teacher for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and has now taught in more than 400 litigation-related CLE programs in 33 states and territories and 16 foreign countries.  He also served as an Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of Palau.  He is the author of the Effective Deposition:  Techniques and Strategies That Work (with Malone), and is an Academic Member of the International Society of Barristers.

• Mariana Hogan
  New York Law School
  New York, NY

  
  
  Mariana Hogan
  
  A.B., magna cum laude, Brown
  J.D., Georgetown

  Mariana Hogan teaches Trial Advocacy, Advocacy of Criminal Cases, and Deposition Skills at New York Law School where she is also the Director of Externship Programs and Co-Director of the Criminal Law Clinic. 
  She has been on the faculty at New York Law School since 1992.  

  Professor Hogan began her career as a staff attorney in the Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Division in the South Bronx.  During those early years she was in court everyday representing clients facing the full range of criminal charges.  The demands of that practice helped her to develop her trial skills.  Later, she honed her skills working as a public defender in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

  Professor Hogan’s experience teaching Trial Advocacy and Evidence as an adjunct faculty member at Wayne State Law School in Detroit, Michigan led her to look for a full-time teaching position that would also allow her to continue to represent clients in court.  She found that clinical teaching combined the challenge and interest of teaching with the rewards of client representation.  As a clinical law professor, Professor Hogan has handled civil and criminal matters in the New York City courts, first at Pace University School of Law and then at New York Law School.

  Professor Hogan is an active member of the legal community in New York City.  She has served on the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary and she is a member of the Indigent Defense Organization Oversight Committee for the local appellate court.  She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the New York County Lawyers’ Association, where she is also a member of the Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Advisory Board and Chair of the Communications Committee. 

  Professor Hogan has also taught Trial Advocacy at St. John’s Law School and Pace University School of Law.  She is a member of the faculty for the New York City Law Department Annual Intensive Trial Advocacy Program.  In addition, she is the co-sponsor of an annual Federal Criminal Practice Institute, which seeks to diversify the panels of attorneys available to represent indigent clients in the federal district courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York by training women and minority lawyers for federal practice. 

• William Hornbostel
  Law Firm of William Hornbostel
  Colorado Springs, CO

  
  
  W I L L I A M  J.  H O R N B O S T E L

   Colorado Springs, CO (719) 473-9908

  SELECTED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES

  Litigation____________________________________________________
  • Trial of major, complex civil cases including contract, antitrust and commercial cases 
  • Trial of major criminal cases including murder and attempted murder
  • Faculty member, National Institute for Trial Advocacy, 23 years
  • Significant appellate work in state and federal courts

  Conflict Management_____________________________________________________________
  • Developed a multidimensional conflict intervention model for use with communities,
      corporations, schools, families and individuals
  • Successful resolution of critical incidents in medical, commercial, family and criminal
      cases using negotiation and mediation skills
  • Successfully mediated disputes between citizens and government offices
  • Ongoing mediation practice
  • Developed and taught graduate, continuing education courses  in               
      interviewing, negotiation, mediation, conflict resolution and trial practice

  Leadership____________________________________________________________________
  • Established strategic plan for five law clinics
  • Established new statewide legal aid offices
  • Founded and directed the Drake University Trial Advocacy Institute
  • Co-founded local chapter of a national professional organization
  • Created independent profit center within a nonprofit corporation
  • President of  Board of Trustees,  community leadership program

  
  PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
  Practice of Law
  Private Practice, Law office of William J. Hornbostel, Colorado Springs, CO, 1991-present: Litigation in commercial, real estate, criminal, and family law. Mediation, arbitration and conflict resolution training, business consulting.  Mediator, Office of Dispute Resolution. Adjunct faculty, Center for Creative Leadership.
   
  Senior Attorney, Colorado Interstate Gas, Colorado Springs, CO, 1989-1991: State and federal commercial, contract and oil and gas litigation.

  Associate Director of Clinical Programs, Drake University School of Law, Des Moines, IA,    1983-1989: Teaching, supervision, administration, program development and staffing, and grant writing for the clinical jurisprudence program. Director, Drake University Trial Advocacy Institute.

  Ombudsman, Iowa Citizen’s Aide, Des Moines, IA, 1982-1983: Federal, state and municipal dispute resolution.

  Associate, James & Galligan, Des Moines, IA, 1980-1982: Commercial, contract, construction and personal injury litigation. 

  Managing Attorney, Legal Services Corporation of Iowa, Des Moines, IA, 1977-1980: Established and managed the south central LSCI office, hiring, supervising and budgeting professional staff, paralegals and clerks for nine statewide offices, as well as direct client service.

  Partner, Bullock & Hornbostel, Stillwater, OK, 1975-1977: Commercial, contract, criminal defense, family law and appeals.

  Faculty Appointments
  Honorarium Faculty, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO, Graduate School, 1998-2000: Conflict Resolution and Mediation

  Faculty, National Institute for Trial Advocacy, Denver, CO, 1984-present.

  Associate Director, Drake University Law School Legal Clinic, Des Moines, IA, 1983-89.

  Faculty, Center for Creative Leadership, Colorado Springs, CO 2001-present.

  EDUCATION
  J.D., University of Oklahoma, 1975
  M.A., University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, 1996
  B.A., Oklahoma State University, 1971

  Boards of Directors and Commissions
  Chair, Board of Directors, Urban Peak Colorado Springs (founding member)
  Board of Directors, Colorado School of Professional Psychology
  Board of Directors, Carolina Institute for Conflict Resolution and Creative Leadership
  Co-Founder and Treasurer, Ben Wendelken American Inn of Court
  President, Citizen’s Goals (Leadership Pikes Peak), Colorado Springs, CO
  Advisory Board, The Kindness Campaign
  El Paso County Placement Alternatives Commission
  Chairman, Citizen’s Advisory Committee to Spring Creek Youth Detention Facility
  Co-Chair, Action Research Team on Youth Crime and Violence
  Board of Directors, Downtown Colorado Springs, Inc.
  President, Board of Directors, HomeCare Plus, Inc.
  President, Board of Directors, Polk County Legal Aid

  Presentations  
  Effective Cross Examination, National Institute for Trial Advocacy, Denver, Colorado, continuing
  Effective Direct Examination, National Institute for Trial Advocacy, Denver, Colorado, continuing
  Handling the Difficult Witness, National Institute for Trial Advocacy, Denver, Colorado, continuing
  Capturing the Creative Power of Conflict, continuing
  Demonstration of an Ethics Trial, National Institute for Trial Advocacy, Denver, Colorado, August, 1997
  Direct and Cross Examination of Expert Witnesses, National Institute for Trial Advocacy, Denver, Colorado, August, 1993 and continuing
  An Ounce of Prevention, an Examination of Youth Crime and Violence in Colorado Springs, various community organizations, December, 1996
  Effective Trial of  Worker’s Compensation Cases, Des Moines, Iowa, November, 1981

  References, professional and civic associations available upon request

• Maureen Howard
  University of Washington
  Seattle, WA

  
  Howard, Maureen
  
  B.A. 1982, Gonzaga University
  J.D. 1986, University of Washington

  Professor Howard was named Director of the Trial Advocacy Program as an Assistant Professor of Law in 2005. She joined the law school as an adjunct professor in 1997 and became Interim Director of the Trial Advocacy Program in 2002. Her research and teaching interests include trial advocacy, civil procedure, evidence, and criminal law. Professor Howard began her career as a civil litigator in Seattle with the law firm of Stoel Rives LLP, where she concentrated her practice in commercial and employment law. After twelve years, she moved to the King County Prosecutor's Office where she tried criminal felony cases. She later became a Judge Pro Tempore for King County, presiding over both civil and criminal trials, until joining the faculty full-time. Professor Howard has taught trial advocacy for over fifteen years: in addition to teaching at the UW School of Law, she has taught trial skills at Emory University and Loyola University law schools. She has also taught at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) programs at Stanford University, University of San Francisco, William Mitchell College of Law, Seattle University, and in San Diego, as well as at the NITA national program at University of Colorado. Professor Howard serves on the Washington Pattern Jury Instruction Committee, the Judicial College Board of Trustees, and the Executive Committee for the William L. Dwyer Inn of Court. She also coaches several Washington state high school mock trial teams for state and national competitions. In addition to her formal teaching, Professor Howard writes and speaks nationally on the art of trial advocacy and has appeared on several television programs as a legal commentator. Professor Howard is admitted to practice in Washington and California.

  Contact Information:
  mahoward@u.washington.edu

• William Hunt
  Clark Hunt Ahern & Embry
  Cambridge, MA

  

  William J. Hunt

  NITA Trustee: 2013-present
  William J. Hunt, Chairman of the Litigation Department of Clark, Hunt, Ahern & Embry, has been a civil trial lawyer for all of his professional life.
  For over 40 years, he has tried and settled impact lawsuits, protecting the rights of individuals, companies and organizations. Early in his career, as a Peace Corps Volunteer, he drafted the first statute for The Federated States of Micronesia, which established that new nation’s territorial waters. Later in his career, as a Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania, he won the first reported case to help determine under what circumstances the state may be sued. After helping found Clark, Hunt, Ahern & Embry, he won important federal cases establishing the rights of disabled students in a university setting and protecting the rights of individual landowners in the context of cell tower construction.
  In recent years, Mr. Hunt has helped injured clients recover millions of dollars for their injuries. He has tried cases throughout the northeast. In recognition of his accomplishments, he has been elected to two of the most prestigious legal honorary societies, the International Society of Barristers and the American Board of Trial Advocates. He holds an “AV” rating (highest rating) from Martindale Hubbell and has been selected as a New England Super Lawyer, as published annually by Boston Magazine. He has been honored by various groups for his work on behalf of disabled individuals.
  His commitment to legal education is internationally known. Mr. Hunt is an adjunct faculty member for the trial advocacy programs at Emory University and the University of San Francisco. He is on the USF Intensive Advocacy Program Advisory Committee and has been honored by the USF advocacy program with the Excellence in Teaching Award. He is a program director, team leader and instructor for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) in many cities throughout the United States and many nations abroad, including the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Republic of Palau. Under the auspices of NITA and the American Bar Association Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA-CEELI) he designed the first ever trial advocacy programs for the former Soviet republics served by ABA-CEELI and ran the first trial advocacy and advocacy teacher training programs in Chisinau, Moldova and Istanbul, Turkey, respectively. He inaugurated the first trial advocacy training program for prosecutors in Bosnia and was invited twice by the Japan Federated Bar Association to assist in the training of Japanese attorneys involved in the new Saiban-In jury trial system. In recognition of these efforts he has been honored by NITA with the Robert E. Keeton Faculty Award for professionalism and ethics.

  Professional Organizations: He is a member of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Bar Associations and a Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU). Active in his community, he is Chair of the Town of Topsfield Board of Health.

  Education:  He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Dickinson College and a Juris Doctor degree from Suffolk University Law School.

• Lee Ann Huntington
  Attorney at Law
  Denver, CO

  
  
  LEE ANN HUNTINGTON 
  
  QUALIFICATION HIGHLIGHTS:
  • Over 20 years litigation experience as partner in prominent litigation firm, with extremely successful trial/settlement outcomes; admitted to Bars of California                 (# 79077) and Colorado (#32543)
  • Proven litigation, management and facilitation skills 
  • Extensive mediator experience and training
  • Frequent teacher for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy

  PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
  Self-Employed:  Mediator, Trial Advocacy Teacher, Legal/Organizational Writer                            Denver, Colorado   2006 – Present
  Trained as a facilitative, transformative and divorce and family law mediator.  Have conducted over 55 mediations for the United States Postal Service, the Court Mediation Services program (“CMS”) sponsored by the Colorado and Denver Bar Associations, and the Jefferson County Mediation Services program. Lead mediator for CMS and Jefferson County.

  For the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (“NITA”), served as teacher/ trainer in trial advocacy programs for numerous government and private clients, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Legal Services Corporation, the Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women, and the NITA Rocky Mountain Trial Advocacy Program. 

  Drafted opinions for signature and review by the Special Master to the Federal District Court in Los Angeles in the Newman immigration class action cases. Drafted/edited corporate documents, promotional materials and website content for two nonprofit organizations: Project Education Sudan, which funds and assists indigenous Sudanese communities in creating educational infrastructure in rural Southern Sudan; and Adoption Options, which is a progressive, nonsectarian adoption agency.
   
  Morgenstein & Jubelirer:  San Francisco, California (1982-1998) and Denver, Colorado (1998 – 2006)
  - Partner (1984 – 2006)
                               -Managing Partner (1990 – 1993)
                               -Associate (1982 – 1983)
  Tried cases before juries and judges for major corporations, small businesses and individuals. Argued appellate matters in state and federal courts, including the California and Oregon Supreme Courts.  Advised clients on employment matters, including litigation avoidance.  For more than 15 years, effectively managed overall responsibility for a wide variety of litigation matters, including strategic planning and supervision of junior attorneys and staff, and ensuring ethical, successful and timely results for clients.

  Specific accomplishments include:
   *Litigated and negotiated resolution of securities, trade secret, construction, fraud, malpractice and other business litigation on behalf of major corporations, officers and directors and several law firms:  For example:
   -won summary judgment and denial of class certification for McDonald’s Corporation in action alleging company improperly collected sales tax.
   -defeated attempt by the State of Indiana to regulate the trucking activities of Federal Express Corporation; also obtaining summary judgment for same company in multimillion-dollar class action fraud suit.
   -obtained defense verdict in multimillion-dollar securities fraud/RICO jury action against McDonnell Douglas Corporation (second chair); as first chair, tried jury securities case on behalf of company director for two months before case successfully settled.
  *Briefed and argued numerous state and federal appellate matters, including cases in the California and Oregon Supreme Courts.  Appellate victories include Rutherford v. Owens-Illinois, Inc., 16 Cal. 4th 953 (1997) and O’Hara v. Teamsters, 151 F.3rd 1152 (9th Cir. 1998).
  *On behalf of Fortune 500 companies, including Centex Corporation, Federal Express Corporation, Owens-Illinois, Inc. and Raytheon Corporation, and other businesses, successfully defended wrongful discharge, discrimination, harassment, assault, wage and hour, NLRB, labor arbitration and other employment related claims.
  *Served as trial counsel in numerous product liability cases, including winning defense verdict in three-month jury trial for Owens-Illinois, Inc.

  Steinhart, Falconer & Morgenstein  San Francisco, California
    Associate  (1978 – 1982)
  Tried significant cases alone; acted as second chair to senior partners on others.   Completed three-week course, National Institute of Trial Advocacy, Boulder, CO (1980).  In 1982, invited to join Marvin Morgenstein in forming Morgenstein & Jubelirer.
  
  National Labor Relations Board  Washington, D.C.
  Appellate Court Branch (1977-1978)
  Briefed and argued cases before Federal Courts of Appeal and District Courts.
  
  EDUCATION:
  Harvard Law School J.D. 1977
  -Graduated cum laude
               -Selected for and served on Board of Student Advisors
  
  Stanford University A.B. Economics, 1974
  -Graduated with Distinction and With Honors in Economics, Phi Beta Kappa,   Junior Year
    -Served as Chair of Stanford-in-Washington, 1973-1974
  
  CIVIC ACTIVITIES AND OTHER TRAINING:
  
  Faculty, National Institute for Trial Advocacy, numerous times 1998 – present; completed NITA Advocacy Teacher Training, April 2007                                   
   
  Vice-Chair and Member, Board of Directors, Project Education Sudan (non-profit creating educational infrastructure  in Southern Sudan) – prepare corporate and informational materials, and various legal matters, 2008-present
  Community forester for George Washington High School (Denver, Colorado); grant writer for the GWHS Community Gateway Committee, 2007 – present
  Landscape Architecture, Master’s Degree Level course work, University of Colorado, 2000 – 2003; Rocky Mountain Gardening certificate from Denver Botanic Garden, 2002 – recognizing horticultural training and volunteer commitment at the Gardens
  Leader, Girl Scout Troop 604, 1999-2009
  Vice-Chair and Member, Board of Directors, Adoption Options (non-profit, non-sectarian     adoption agency) -redrafted corporate documents and other legal matters, 1999 –2005
  Member, Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Group for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, 1995-1998
  Chair, Vice-Chair and Member, Federal Courts Committee of the State Bar of California, 1991-1995
  On pro bono basis, litigated significant matters for the ACLU, including winning appellate   reversal of trial court decision in free speech case and summary judgment in a sex discrimination suit against local county and private club
  Public speaking on legal topics for organizations such as Practising Law Institute, National Institute for Trial Advocacy, California State Bar

• Thomas Innes
  Defender Assn of Philadelphia
  Philadelphia, PA

  Tom Innes
  
  Tom Innes is a senior trial attorney with the Defender Association of Philadelphia.  He has tried cases for the Defender Association for the past thirty years, and was a member of the Defender Association Homicide/Capital Case Unit for five years.  He has been a member of the faculty of NITA for over twenty years and has guest lectured in the area of criminal trial practice and litigation at a number of law schools including University of Pennsylvania, Villanova University, Temple University He is adjunct faculty for the Temple University Law School Masters in Trial Advocacy Program.  Mr. Innes has taught at and co-administered a number of trial advocacy programs over the past ten years in New York State, Texas, California, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Louisiana,  Virginia and Washington, D.C. as well as a number of statewide trial advocacy programs in Pennsylvania. 

   

• Doug Irish
  Maricopa Cnty Attorney's Ofc
  Phoenix, AZ

  
  
  Douglas L. Irish
  
  University of Colorado School of Law, LL.B., 1963
  
  Mr. Irish is a senior trial lawyer, and was the firm's Managing Partner from 1987 to 1992. His experience includes trials, appeals and litigation management in Montana, Texas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Nevada, and Arizona, of complex and national/regional cases involving: corporate, business and commercial disputes; class action defense; engineering/scientific products; pharmaceuticals; and medical devices.
  
  In 1996 E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. presented Mr. Irish with its Gold Eagle Award, the highest honor given by DuPont, and only the second time in the company's history that the award had been given to outside counsel. The award was for his outstanding achievement as co-leader of the company's National Counsel Team, and as leader of a regional team, in the defense of one of the largest mass tort product liability matters in the company's history, resulting in 55 trial and appellate decisions in a row ruling in favor of DuPont, and the adoption of provisions in Restatement of Torts: Products Liability (1997) exonerating raw materials suppliers from liability for finished product performance.
  
  For nearly 20 years Mr. Irish has also used, and taught others to use, decision tree analysis techniques in the business-oriented management, strategy, evaluations and settlement of major and complex disputes.
  
  Mr. Irish serves annually on the faculty, at both the basic and Master Advocate levels, of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy's national and regional programs, teaching primarily direct and cross-examination skills.
  He has more than 25 years experience in mediation and arbitration of major disputes, both as an advocate and as a neutral. Mr. Irish is a member of the American Arbitration Association's National Panel of Arbitrators and its “Large Complex Case Panel,” and has been appointed by FEMA as an arbitrator in the New Mexico fire dispute resolution process.
  
  Mr. Irish leads the firm’s pro-bono practice group that advocates the rights of victims of crime. In addition, Mr. Irish has been Co-Chair of the State Bar of Arizona's Law Practice Management Committee, and served as Chancellor (general counsel) of The Episcopal Church in Arizona, 1977-1992.

   

• William Jack
  Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge
  Grand Rapids, MI

  
  WILLIAM W. JACK, JR.
  Attorney at Law
  Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge
  Grand Rapids, Traverse City, Ann Arbor
  
  William W. Jack is a graduate of Denison University and the National Law Center, George Washington University.  He started at Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge, P.C. in 1975 specializing in general litigation, health law and the defense of professional liability actions.  He served as the Chief Executive Officer of the firm from 1991 to 1997, was President of the firm from 1997 to 2009 and is currently Chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee.
  
  Bill is on the faculty of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and has trained lawyers in advocacy skills for NITA Regional and National Programs, individual law firms in several states and  litigation counsel for a number of national insurance carriers.  In addition, he serves on the faculty and steering committee of the Western District of Michigan Hillman Advocacy Program and is the recipient of the first annual 2011 Hillman Award.
  
  He is certified as a facilitative mediator by the United State District Court for the Western District of Michigan and a number of state Circuit Courts and has mediated several hundred matters.
  
  Bill is past-president of the Western Michigan Chapter of the Federal Bar Association; former president of the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel; past-President of the Grand Rapids Chapter of the American Inns of Court; and past President of the Grand Rapids Bar Association.  He currently serves on the State Bar of Michigan Judicial Qualifications Committee. 
  
  Bill is the recipient of the 1998 Service and Mentoring Award presented by the Young Lawyers Section of the Grand Rapids Bar Association; the 1999 Boss of the Year Award presented by the Grand Rapids Association of Legal Support Professionals; the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel 2002 Excellence in Defense Award; and, most recently, the 2009 Michigan Association of Justice Respected Advocate Award. 
  
  He is a Fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates.  Bill is listed in The Best Lawyers in America in Alternative Dispute Resolution, Legal Malpractice, Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury Litigation.

• Daniel Jacobs
  Kogod School of Business
  Washington, DC

  
  
  Daniel S. Jacobs
  B.A., Middlebury
  M.Phil, Cambridge University
  J.D., Duke University

  Mr. Jacobs has a wealth of federal court civil litigation experience gained during his career as an award-winning Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. Presently, he teaches full-time at American University, where he serves as Director of the Sustainability Management Program.  .

   

• Brian Johnson
  Johnson & Hunter Inc
  Phoenix, AZ

  
  Brian K. Johnson
  
  Bachelor of Theater Arts, University of Minnesota

  Brian K. Johnson has been NITA’s communication specialist since 1981. In 2000 he received the Honorable Prentice Marshall Faculty Award for his unique contribution to NITA training. Since 1998 he has trained all new Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the D.O.J. at the National Advocacy Center. His clients include many of the countries biggest law firms. In addition to teaching in the U.S. he works in Canada and overseas in Dublin, Belfast, London and Brussels. He also specializes in lawyer/witness preparation for complex litigation. He has assisted trial lawyers preparing witnesses to testify in litigation involving high tech patent infringement, bank fraud, breast implants, financial services, fraud, and the airline industry.

   

• Michael Johnson
  UALR School of Law
  Little Rock, AR

  
  
  Michael Johnson
  
  B.S., Washington State University, 1970
  J.D. University of Washington, 1973

  Michael Johnson is the Senior Legal Advisor for the United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas.   He previously served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas and as the First Assistant/Criminal Chief for the same office for many years.  Mr. Johnson has been a member of the Department of Justice since 1973, having served 11 years in the Civil Rights Division.  In 1984, Mr. Johnson was the 34th person designated Senior Litigation Counsel for the United States Department of Justice.  Mr. Johnson has extensive experience in the prosecution of complex criminal matters including civil rights, public corruption, white collar crime, fraud, RICO, and tax matters.  In addition to his prosecution experience, Mr. Johnson has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at the William H. Bowen, University of Arkansas Little Rock, School of Law since 1985 where he has taught Trial Advocacy, Evidence and Criminal Law.  He also has been an Instructor for the United States Department of Justice Advocacy Institute since 1980.  Mr. Johnson has lectured on numerous topics to the Arkansas Bar Association, the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association, the International Association of Arson Investigators, the Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee, the Internal Revenue Service, the Greater Little Rock Leadership Conference, the Arkansas Bankers Association, and many other civic and professional groups. 

  In 2005, Mr. Johnson led a team that presented a seminar on Public Corruption Investigation and Prosecution in the Republic of Nigeria.  He returned to Nigeria in March 2006 to present a seminar on Plea Bargaining.       

  Since August 2003, Mr. Johnson has served as a Legal Advisor to the Republic of South Africa on Racketeering and Organized Crime matters.  As part of that assignment, Mr. Johnson has lived in South Africa for extended periods of time and worked with the police and prosecution services in that country. 

  Mr. Johnson has served as an Instructor for numerous NITA regional programs, including the Southern Regional Program in Dallas, the North Central Regional Program in Minneapolis-St. Paul, and the Western Regional Program in San Francisco.  Mr. Johnson has also taught the last two years at the National Session in Colorado, including service as an Assistant Team Leader in 2007.

• Sidney Kanazawa
  McGuireWoods LLP
  Los Angeles, CA

  Sidney Kanazawa
  
  Mr. Kanazawa was selected by the publishers of Los Angeles magazine as one of Southern California's "Super Lawyers" in 2007, 2008, and 2009. He has extensive experience maximizing the opportunities and minimizing the dangers of products liability, environmental, intellectual property (including patents), regulatory, white collar crime, construction, commercial, class actions, employment, banking, and other disputes.
  Sid Kanazawa began his working career as a teacher and has never forgotten the thrill of helping others understand and master a subject.  Understanding and teaching the art of trial advocacy and persuasion has been a particular passion for him.  He has taught in a number of NITA programs and was part of an energetic team of instructors at the Boulder National Program that all received across the board perfect scores from their students.  His trial experiences include trials in California and Hawaii, trials in state and federal court, trials using video and computer technology, trials involving interpreters and witnesses presented via video telephone and videotape, trials with and against some of the best trial attorneys in practice, trials on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants, trials with a wide range of difficult judges and opponents, trials won on fact development, trials won on the framing of the question, and trials won on responding to surprise evidence.

• Joseph Kennedy
  Univ of NC School of Law
  Chapel Hill, NC

  
  
  Joseph E. Kennedy
  
  B.A. with honors, Stanford University
  J.D., University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)

  Before beginning teaching Professor Kennedy enjoyed a practice career that included both extensive complex civil litigation as well as numerous criminal jury trials.  After spending a year as a homeless advocate at St. Joseph Center in Venice, California, Kennedy worked for three years as a litigation associate at the law firm of Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco, California. His practice experience during that time involved taking and defending numerous depositions in a major class action lawsuit as well as second chairing two liability hearings before federal special masters.  He left the firm in 1991 to work as a deputy public defender for the city and county of San Francisco, where he practiced indigent criminal defense until 1994.   During that time Kennedy tried twenty jury trials in addition to handling hundreds of trial court hearings.  From 1994 to 1997, Kennedy served as an Instructor in New York University School of Law’s acclaimed Lawyering Program where he taught Interviewing, Counseling, Negotiation, Fact Investigation and Trial Advocacy. He joined the UNC-Chapel Hill law faculty in 1997.  Kennedy spent his first six years at UNC teaching in the school’s criminal clinic where he supervised students handling juvenile matters at the trial and appellate level.  Since then he has taught Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Computer Crime Law and Criminal Justice Policy.  He served as Associate Dean in 2005-06, provides frequent media commentary on criminal matters of local and national interest, and is a Fellow at UNC’s Parr Center for Ethics. 

   

• Kirte Kinser
  Fishman Jackson Luebker
  Dallas, TX

  
  
  Kirte M. Kinser
  
  J.D., cum laude, Southern Methodist University School of Law, 1984
  B.B.A., University of Missouri - Kansas City, 1981
   
  Kirte Kinser is a partner in the Litigation Group of Brown McCarroll, LLP in Dallas, Texas.  His practice consists primarily of the counseling of his individual, emerging business and large corporate clients in the avoidance, management and resolution of disputes, including pre-suit negotiations, litigation, mediation, arbitration and other dispute-resolution processes.  Mr. Kinser has a wide-ranging commercial practice covering many areas of the law, including fiduciary duty, franchise relations, defamation and other first amendment, intellectual property and software licensing, lender liability, employment, UCC, FCRA, hospitality, healthcare, financial services, telecommunications and cable, real estate and entertainment.  Mr. Kinser also has an active mediation/ADR practice in which he serves as the neutral at the appointment of the courts and/or litigants.  Mr. Kinser has served as a member of the NITA faculty for many years, including numerous trial skills and negotiation/mediation programs.

   

• Kathleen Lang
  LaPorte Superior Court #1
  Michigan City, IN

• Lynne Lasry
  Sandler Lasry Laube et al
  San Diego, CA

  
  Lasry, Lynne R.
  
  Ms. Lasry directs the following programs: Deposition Skills: Pacific; Deposing the Expert Witness; Building Trial Skills: Pacific
  
  Lynne Lasry is a 1979 USD law school graduate, having previously attended U.C. Davis and the University of Barcelona for a degree in comparative literature. She has been a trial lawyer and litigator for over 27 years, trying many complex criminal and civil federal and state cases.
  
  From 1980-1982, Lynne focused on the representation of architects and engineers sued for malpractice. From 1982-1987, she was a prosecutor with the United States Attorney's Office in San Diego, trying traditional federal crimes as well as civil rights violations, murder for hire, arms and technology smuggling and participation in foreign counter-intelligence investigations. Since 1987, she has been in private practice, first as a partner with Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch, LLP and, since 2000, as a partner with Sandler, Lasry, Laube, Byer & Valdez LLP.
  
  Her firm is a boutique litigation firm specializing only in civil litigation, trial work and appeals. For the last 20 plus years, Lynne has been a recipient of numerous local and national awards and recognition for her professional work, and for teaching trial and pre-trial skills to law students and lawyers. She is a regular volunteer in various community service opportunities, and serves on a number of non-profit boards as a director. She was twice nominated by President Clinton to the Senate for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench but never afforded a confirmation hearing before President Clinton left office.

  In 2005, 2006 and 2007 Lynne was voted by her professional colleagues as one of the top 10 lawyers in the County of San Diego in the areas of employment law (2005) and commercial litigation (2006, 2007). In 2007 she was also selected as one of the top 50 Super Lawyers, one of the top 25 female Super Lawyers, and one of the top commercial litigation Super Lawyers in San Diego.
   

   

• Thomas Leach
  Pacific McGeorge Schl of Law
  Sacramento, CA

  
  Leach, Jay
  
  Mr. Leach directs the following Programs: PowerPoint and Technology for the Courtroom; Building Trial Skills: Western; Deposition Skills: Western; Deposing the Expert Witness

  Jay Leach, an accomplished trial attorney, didn't have to give up the courtroom for the classroom when he joined the McGeorge faculty three years ago. His classroom for his Trial Advocacy courses is McGeorge's on-campus courtroom.
  "I get to be in the courtroom every day now and I really enjoy it. I like to teach. I was a high school and grade school teacher (he has a Masters in Teaching) before I went to law school. At my law firm in Philadelphia, I was often the partner chosen to instruct the young associates," Leach said.

  Leach practiced law for 18 years with Drinker, Biddle & Reath in Philadelphia. He has litigated general corporate and commercial disputes, franchising, construction, and automotive products liability. He also chaired the firm's alternative dispute resolution resources group.

  Leach was an adjunct professor at the Temple University School of Law and has taught trial-skills courses for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.

  Leach's interests include golf and singing. He grew up in Greenwich Village, appeared in amateur theatre, and even had a role in an off-Broadway production.
   

• Brian LeRoy
  Portia Group Ltd
  Glen Haven, CO

  Brian E. Leroy, Q.C.

  Brian E. Leroy, Q.C. is a trial consultant and barrister who has been awarded a Queen’s Counsel for his professionalism and trial excellence in his native Canada. In addition to his over 25 year career as a trial lawyer he has worked for over 10 years in the US as a trial consultant conducting jury research on cases ranging from pharmaceuticals to commercial disputes and toxic torts to patent infringement. Along with Mary Ryan he has conducted research with 1000’s of focus group and mock trial participants as well as assisted counsel in trial preparation and assistance at trial.  Brian was awarded the 2008 Hon. Prentice H. Marshal Award for Innovative Teaching Methods Using Focus Groups by the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.

   

• Marcia Levy
  Cardozo Sch of Law
  New York, NY

  
  Levy, Marcia R.
  
  Ms. Levy directs the following programs: Building Trial Skills: New York; Deposition Skills: New Jersey; National Disability Rights Network; Equal Justice Works Trial Skills Training; Deposition Skills: New York

  Marcia Levy is the Special Counsel-Pro Bono Initiative in the New York office of Sullivan & Cromwell.
  
  Formerly, Levy was the Clinical Professor of Law and the Assistant Dean for Skills at Hofstra University School of Law, having overall responsibility for developing and teaching skills courses and supervising the externship program.  Prior to teaching at Hofstra, Levy was the Director of the University of Denver Clinical Program and before that she was a Clinical Law Professor at Rutgers – Newark.  At Rutgers, she was the first Director of the Eric Neisser Public Interest Program and created and taught in the intensive skills program.  She is a former assistant federal defender in the Eastern District of New York, former staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society's Prisoners' Rights Project, and former assistant public defender at the Metropolitan Public Defender's Office in Portland, Oregon.  She has done extensive work in international arenas to help to develop clinical legal education and trial skills.  Levy served as the clinical law specialist in the Moscow, Russia office of the American Bar Association Central and East Europe Law Initiative (ABA CEELI), and was the Associate
  
  Director of Columbia Law School's Public Interest Law Initiative in Transitional Societies. 
  
  She has traveled extensively to work with law faculties and lawyers to develop clinical legal education or trial skills, in places as diverse as China, Mongolia and the Balkans.  Levy is the author of a chapter on the development of clinical legal education in the United States in the Clinical Law Textbook (in Russian), published by ABA CEELI; and contributed to a chapter on clinical legal education in PILI's Handbook on Public Interest Law. Levy frequently comments on legal issues on CNN, CNBC, and Court TV. Levy earned a B.S. from SUNY at Albany and a J.D. from Lewis and Clark College, Northwestern School of Law.  Levy is a teacher, program director and Public Service Education Director for NITA.

  Contact Information:
  levym@sullcrom.com

• Karen Lockwood
  NITA
  Boulder, CO

  
  Karen M. Lockwood
  Founder and CEO
  The Lockwood Group, LLC

  “ACHIEVING SUSTAINED DIVERSITY IN BUSINESS”
  
  The Lockwood Group serves the profession’s needs where your concerns about business, diversity, and leadership intersect.
  
  We focus on cracking the code of business systems and structures to better cultivate, incorporate, and advance the talents of all professionals.  This business-practices approach cuts across the core values of diversity, creativity, client value, client responsiveness, and billing practices to help firms retain and advance all professionals -- those impacted by their diversity, and those not -- effectively and evenly. 
  
  A former law partner with 31 years of practice and involvement in firm management, Karen M. Lockwood founded The Lockwood Group in May 2009 to advance diversity in the profession. Using her 24 years of experience as a law partner, she helps firms with strategy, design, and communication initiatives to leverage and retain diverse talent. She teaches, creates workshops, writes, conducts research, and facilitates strategic diversity plans. She also works on retainer for firms that outsource their diversity needs, and takes special projects.
  
  Always a trial lawyer, Ms Lockwood continues to teach trial and litigation skills, both leading and teaching NITA’s gold-standard programs.  In addition, she also maintains a caseload as a commercial arbitrator. 
  
  Ms Lockwood brings the insights and creativity rooted in serving corporate and business clients, first-chairing numerous jury and bench trials, and arguing appeals. Her specialty areas have included construction litigation, large disaster cases, multi-party commercial disputes involving all types of contracts, antitrust, trademark and copyright, and ADR. She also counseled on commercial transactions including leases, contracting, joint ventures, and other deals. Ms Lockwood has represented clients pro bono in trials and federal appeals throughout her career. Handling these matters required use of not only strategy, courtroom examination, and argument, but also team leadership in complex litigation, analysis regarding technical, financial, and specialized legal topics, and collaboration with general counsel and other firms.  She is AV-rated.

  Ms Lockwood is an experienced law practitioner who understands partnership structure and business, lawyer needs and development, and the larger practice’s revolutionary evolution. She has significant expertise in diversity issues.  In The Lockwood Group, she uses those foundations to help firms strategize and solve their concerns where business, diversity, and leadership intersect.

  __________________________________________________________________________________
  PERSONAL PROFILE: KAREN M. LOCKWOOD, ESQ.

  Law Practice (retired)
  Howrey LLP, Washington DC, Trial Partner (2000–2009)
  Collier, Shannon, Rill & Scott, LLP, Washington DC, Trial Partner (1990–2000)
  Wickens, Koches & Cale, Washington DC, Founding Partner (as Karen McClearyCale) (1986–1990)
  Surrey & Morse, Washington DC, Senior Associate through the firm’s final year (1984–1986)
  Hogan & Hartson, Washington DC, Associate (1978–1984)

  Teaching
  Program Director, NITA’s District of Columbia Program of Intensive Trial Skills (2004--present)
  Program Director, NITA’s pro bono trial skills program for Equal Justice Works (2009)
  Faculty in numerous NITA programs, including NITA Intensive Trial Skills Program, NITA Deposition
        Programs (public and private), and NITA private programs (1997-present)
  Washington College of Law, American University, Lecturer, Legal Methods (1980-81, 1982-83)
  Consultant, Project on Attorney Retention (PAR) (2009–present)

  Arbitration
  Arbitrator, American Arbitration Association Commercial Panel (2004-present)

  Bar Activities
  Delegate, ABA House of Delegates, incumbent representing DC Bar (2008-2011)
  President, Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia, where she created the ground-breaking 
      Initiative on Advancement and Retention of Women in the Profession (2005-06)
  Liaison, ABA Commission on Women in the Profession (2009–present)
  Board, National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations (2008--present)
  Editorial Board, ABA Commission on Women’s Perspectives Magazine (2009–present)
  Membership Chair, Woman Advocate Committee, Section of Litigation (2004-05)
  Moderator, General Counsel Forum at Corporate Counsel Committee Annual, Section of Litigation (2003)
  Board, Litigation Section Chair, Annual Dinner Chair, Women’s Bar Association of DC (2001–2006)
  Board, Development Committee Chair, Women’s Bar Association Foundation (2006–present)

  Awards and Honors
  The Annice Wagner Pioneer Award, Bar Association of the District of Columbia (2009)
  The Women’s Bar Association Stars of the Bar Recognition (2007)
  The Women in the Law Leadership Award, American University Washington College of Law (2006)
  The Woman To Watch Award, American University Washington College of Law (2004)
  Outstanding Graduate Award (American University Washington College of Law, JD 1978)
  Galpin Prize (outstanding graduate) (The College of Wooster, BA 1972)

  Speaking
  Frequent speaker and lecturer to audiences of attorneys, state-wide bar associations, and students on subjects relating to the improvement of the legal profession, and the skills of navigating careers as lawyers.  Frequent moderator of dialogues at conferences, workshops, and bar groups to enable difficult conversations and find solutions to issues in law practice.

  Community Service
  Washington College of Law, American University (Annual Giving Chair, Dean’s Advisory Council) (ongoing)
  St. Jude’s Research Hospital for Children, Committee For DC Gourmet Gala Fundraiser (2007-08)
  The College of Wooster Alumni Board (1990–93)

• Cecil Lynn III
  Littler Mendelson PC
  Phoenix, AZ

• Richard Markus
  Private Judicial Service Inc.
  Fairview Park, OH

• Ernesto Marrero
  Emblem Health
  Brooklyn, NY

  Ernesto Marrero
  
  Ernesto Marrero, a graduate of Princeton University and Hofstra Law School, started his career as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, NY where he conducted several complex felony trials that resulted in life sentences.  Thereafter, he conducted jury trials prosecuting and defending civil matters and defending criminal cases (including murder), and conducted administrative trials as a petitioner, respondent, and judge. 
  
  The bulk of Ernie’s career has been in the public sector in New York City, and he has served as an Inspector General for the NYC Department of Investigation, Deputy Commissioner for Trials for the NYC Department of Sanitation, General Counsel for the NYC Department of Correction, Regional Counsel for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Executive Director of Correctional Health Services for the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation.  Currently, he is the Director of Medical Research at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City.
  
  He has taught trial techniques in Bosnia, in NITA programs in Puerto Rico and Chile, and is a regular instructor at the New England Regional and the Northeastern Regional, serving as a Team Leader in the latter.  He is also an Adjunct Professor of Trial Techniques at Hofstra Law School, and a regular instructor at the Intensive Trial Advocacy Program at Widener Law School.
  
  He currently conducts trials as a Pro Bono Assistant District Attorney, and is a regular commentator in TruTV.

   

• Marcellus McRae
  Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP
  Los Angeles, CA

  
  Marcellus McRae, Esq.
  
  B.A. summa cum laude, University of California at Los Angeles
  Law degree, Harvard Law School 
  
  Marcellus Antonio McRae is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  He is a member of the firm's Litigation, Employment and Labor, White Collar Defense and Investigations, and Media and Entertainment Practice Groups.   Mr. McRae's litigation and white-collar criminal defense practices focus on a wide variety of business disputes, internal investigations, and criminal prosecutions including defense of individuals and corporations in cases involving allegations of: financial fraud, public corruption, violation of federal and state environmental regulations, health care fraud, wrongful death, criminal antitrust violations, and other matters.  He also represents and advises employers in a broad range of employment and labor matters including gender and race discrimination cases, wrongful termination and whistleblower claims, sexual harassment cases, and retaliation claims.
  
  Mr. McRae has tried a number of jury cases in both federal and state court.  He also writes and speaks on white-collar criminal defense, labor and employment law, and other topics.  From 1995 until joining Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in February 1998, Mr. McRae served as an Assistant United States Attorney with the Criminal Division, Major Frauds Section, of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.  While he was an Assistant United States Attorney, Mr. McRae investigated and prosecuted complex white-collar crimes (tax, securities, bankruptcy, and other business frauds) and traditional crimes that involved both jury and non-jury trial experience with a 100 percent conviction rate at trial.  He also drafted numerous appellate briefs filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and had several arguments before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Prior to joining the United States Attorney's Office, Mr. McRae was an associate with Debevoise & Plimpton.
  
  Mr. McRae is Co-Chair of the firm's White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group. Mr. McRae was a 2003-04 co-chair of the Lawyer Delegates to the Ninth Circuit--Central District of California.  He has also served as an adjunct professor of Advanced Trial Advocacy at Loyola Law School and is an instructor at the national level of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.   Mr. McRae has conducted mock jury trial demonstrations at numerous national American Law Institute-American Bar Association conferences and has been a featured panelist at numerous professional seminars regarding a wide range of topics including individual and corporate criminal defense, federal sentencing guidelines, employment litigation, and trial advocacy.  He has also appeared repeatedly on television and radio as a legal commentator on such programs as "CNN Talkback Live".  Mr. McRae is the chair of the Environmental Crimes Committee for the West Coast Chapter of the American Bar Association.  He is also currently a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Committee on Diversity in the Profession; the Board of Directors of the Federal Bar Association; the Executive Committee of the Criminal Justice Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association; the Attorney Discipline Committee for the Central District of California; and the Attorney Admissions Fund Board for the Central District of California.  Mr. McRae was also a member of the Steering Committee of the California Minority Counsel Program and the LAPD Police Commission Rampart Review Panel.
  
  Mr. McRae received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1988. He earned a B.A. degree summa cum laude in 1985 from the University of California at Los Angeles, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

  Mr. McRae was listed among the top "20 Under 40" California lawyers by the Daily Journal in 2003.  In January 2004, Mr. McRae was selected by Law & Politics Magazine as one of California's "Superlawyers" in the area of Business Litigation, based on a survey of more than 65,000 California lawyers.  He was named in 2006 among the "New Stars, New Worlds" by Lawdragon magazine, which features up-and-coming talent and lawyers with fascinating new practices.  He has also authored several articles including "Is Government Knowledge a Defense to False Claims Liability: A Discussion of the Role of Government Knowledge Under the California and Federal False Claims Acts," published by BNA, Inc., Federal Contracts Report, Volume 84, No. 11, September 27, 2005; "Gauging Organizational Exposure to Environmental Criminal Liability: A Comparison of the Proposed Environmental Sentencing Guidelines to the Organizational Guidelines and the Department of Justice's Revised Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations," published by the American Bar Association for the National Institute on White Collar Crime in March 2004; "Proof and Pretext: Reeves provides some clarification of the burden-shifting formula in employment discrimination lawsuits," published by the Los Angeles Lawyer in March 2004; "Seeking and Defeating Summary Judgment In Light Of Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products And Its Progeny" which was published in the ALI-ABA Course of Study-Employment Discrimination and Civil Rights Actions in Federal and State Courts, Volume 1 in May 2003; and "Grace Under Pressure: Fifteen Steps You Should Take To Manage a Search of Your Client's Office Pursuant to a Federal Warrant" published in the Corporate Counsel's Quarterly and The Lawyer's Brief, Volume 18, No. 3 in July 2002.  He is also the co-author of  "Closing Arguments," Chapter 37, Business and Commercial Litigation Treatise, West Publishing 1998

• Louis Natali
  Temple University Schl of Law
  Philadelphia, PA

  
  Natali, Jr., Louis M.
  
  Mr. Natali directs the following program: Deposition Skills: Mid-Atlantic

  Professor Natali graduated from Georgetown Law Center in 1966. He was an Associate Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. He clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, working for Judge Herbert Boreman. Professor Natali was a graduate fellow in Criminal Law and Litigation at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in a program directed by Professor Tony Amsterdam.

  In 1971 Professor Natali formed the law firm of Segal, Appel and Natali specializing in criminal defense. He became an associate professor at Rutgers-Camden Law School in 1974, leaving that position in 1976 to become First Assistant Defender at the Philadelphia Defender's Association. From 1973 to the present Professor Natali has also been involved in the training of trial lawyers with the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.

  He has published numerous articles on Evidence and Trial Advocacy. In 1992 he published In Re Grooten, a trial file in professional responsibility. Professor Natali co-published with Professor Ohlbaum an article on the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the constitutionality of the federal preventive detention statute. The article appears in 62 Temp. L. Rev. 1225 (1989).

  In 1990 he joined the Temple law faculty teaching courses in Death Penalty Litigation, Criminal Law, Evidence, Professional Responsibility, and Interviewing, Negotiating and Counselling.

  The death penalty clinical enjoyed its first victory in March 1991 when Judge Fullam granted a writ of habeas corpus setting aside a death sentence on the grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. Two third year students worked extensively with Professor Natali in the preparation and presentation of the petition.

  Contact Information:
  louis.natali@temple.edu
   

• Scott Nelson
  Ruff Weidenaar & Reidy Ltd
  Chicago, IL

• Olu Orange
  Orange Law Offices
  Los Angeles, CA

  
  Olu K. Orange
  
  B.A., Howard University
  J.D., Howard University School of Law
  
  Mr. Orange handles civil rights and entertainment litigation in private practice in Los Angeles. He has taught numerous deposition, trial and negotiation programs for private law firms and government agencies. Based upon excellent ratings, NITA and Martindale-Hubbell awarded Mr. Orange the “NITA Faculty” designation in 2008. In addition to NITA teaching, Mr. Orange currently teaches at the University of Southern California where he authored the instructional trial advocacy curriculum. Since 2006, Mr. Orange has also taught as invited faculty for Harvard Law School’s winter session clinical trial advocacy course. Mr. Orange’s recent work of note includes the following: In 2009, Mr. Orange argued and won Millender v. County of Los Angeles, a blended 4th and 2nd Amendment case, before an en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Later, for SCOTUS on Millender, Mr. Orange served as briefing counsel and was joined by both the NRA and ACLU as amici curiae against 26 states and the U.S. Solicitor General. In 2010, Mr. Orange tried and won the will contest case over the Estate of Sammy Davis, Jr. In 2011, Mr. Orange tried and won the first post-9/11 case wherein a police officer who also served as a member of the U.S. armed forces was found liable for the unlawful shooting death of a Muslim man -- Chaudhry v. City of Los Angeles.

   

• Karl Pilger
  Boring & Pilger PC
  Vienna, VA

  
  Karl W. Pilger

  Karl Pilger practices in Vienna, Virginia where he litigates business, estate and ERISA cases. He has taught trial advocacy since 1985 for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, the U.S. Department of Justice and numerous law school programs. His published articles on closing argument and impeachment of witnesses have been made part of the trial advocacy teaching materials for the law schools of the University of Virginia and Southern Methodist University.

  Karl is currently an adjunct professor at American University’s Washington College of Law, where he has taught trial advocacy, pretrial litigation, and ethics for trial attorneys. He has received listings in Northern Virginia Magazine's "Top Lawyers" and in Best Lawyers in America.   Karl is a 1977 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and is admitted to practice before the state and federal courts of Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

   

• Preston Pugh
  Pugh Jones et al
  Chicago, IL

  
  Preston L. Pugh
  
  J.D., New York University School of Law
  
  Mr. Pugh's practice combines his expertise in employment and labor law, along with pre-trial litigation, trials and appeals. He has tried in United States District Court in Chicago, and has argued in various United States Courts of Appeals. Mr. Pugh was an attorney at the National Labor Relations Board's Appellate Court Branch, where he had first chair responsibility for some of the Board's most important appellate cases. 
  
  Mr. Pugh was also an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago, where he worked in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office defending federal employers against Title VII, ADEA, Rehabilitation Act and FMLA claims. For his work at the U.S. Attorney's Office, Mr. Pugh was one of a handful of attorneys selected by the Department of Justice to instruct attorneys at the National Advocacy Center on employment law trial advocacy.
  
  Mr. Pugh is the Vice-Chair (Chair-elect) of the Chicago Bar Association's Committee on Labor and Employment Law, and an advisor to the New York University Center for Labor and Employment Law. He serves as a member of the Character and Fitness Committee for the State of Illinois. Mr. Pugh is admitted to practice in the State of Illinois; the United States Supreme Court; the United States Court of Appeals for the First, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and District of Columbia Circuits; and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He is an Instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy’s National Program and was an Adjunct Professor for Appellate Advocacy and Advanced Appellate Advocacy at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
   

• Dan Rabinovitz
  Michaels Ward & Rabinovitz LLP
  Boston, MA

  

  Dan Rabinovitz
  
  After spending the first seven years of his legal career as a prosecutor in Chicago, Illinois with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, Dan Rabinovitz returned home to Boston in 1997 to focus his practice on complex civil business litigation, family and probate litigation, the defense of criminal matters, both at the state and federal level and securities litigation.
  
  Mr. Rabinovitz has tried hundreds of cases, and regularly represents individuals and corporations in a wide variety of complex business litigation. This includes intellectual property disputes, trade secrets and trade dress infringement claims; employment discrimination and restrictive covenant disputes, breach of contract claims and commercial litigation.
  
  Mr. Rabinovitz also represents individuals before the United States Department of Justice, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Association of Securities Dealers, FINRA and other state securities regulatory agencies, including those in Massachusetts, New York, and Illinois.
  
  As an instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (“NITA”), Mr. Rabinovitz regularly teaches young lawyers how to conduct all aspects of civil and criminal trials. He was also named a "Massachusetts Super Lawyer" in 2006 and 2007 by Law and Politics and Boston Magazine, and a "New England Super Lawyer" in 2007.
  
  Mr. Rabinovitz also represents musical artists in various contract disputes and the pursuit of unpaid royalties. As a part-time professional trumpet player, who has worked for artists such as Solomon Burke, Son Seals, Luther Johnson and Sleepy LaBeef, he brings a special knowledge of the music industry to the firm.
  
  Mr. Rabinovitz earned his B.A. from Union College in 1987 and his J.D. from Boston University in 1990. After his stint prosecuting violent crimes, Mr. Rabinovitz practiced in Boston with Abrams, Roberts, Klickstein & Levy; Dwyer & Collora, and Menard, Murphy & Walsh before joining Michaels, Ward & Rabinovitz, LLP in 2006.

   

• Stuart Reynolds
  Schneider & Miller PC
  Richardson, TX

  

  Stuart M. Reynolds, Jr.

  B.A., University of South Carolina, magna cum laude

  J.D., University of North Carolina School of Law
  
  Schneider & Miller, P.C.
  300 N. Coit Road
  Suite 1125
  Richardson, Texas 75080
  972.479.1112 Direct
  972.479.1113 Fax
  stuart@schneidlaw.com

  I am pleased to announce that, effective January 19, 2009,I have joined my friends Steve Schneider and David Millerin their commercial litigation firm.
  
  I started my law practice with a large law firm in New York City,where I assisted with antitrust, securities and banking litigation until 1983 when I moved to Dallas. I have first-chaired numerous complexjury and non-jury trials and appeals in state and federal courts in Texas and elsewhere and have been elected to the American Board of Trial Advocates.

  My litigation experience includes arbitrations and covers a broad spectrum of subject matter areas – securities, mergers and acquisitions, contracts, joint ventures, trade associations, antitrust, employment, covenants not to compete,proprietary business information, trade secrets, real estate, financial institutions, insurance coverage, reinsurance, fraud, negligence and other business torts. I have represented companies and individuals in white collar criminal investigations,advised companies on federal and state laws affecting their businesses and have prepared compliance guidelines for directors, officers and employees.
  
  I know how expensive and time-consuming dispute resolution can be, so I always conduct an initial risk/reward analysis with clients. I also review their situation often in order to avoid or resolve their disputes as simply and quickly as possible. With my more than 35 years of experience as a counselor and trial lawyer, and in consideration of today’s economy, I look forward to providing
  my clients with valuable and cost-effective legal services.

• Mark Risk
  Mark Risk PC
  New York, NY

  Mark Risk

  Mark Risk practices employment law and litigation at Mark Risk, P.C. in New York City, including litigation of discrimination, restrictive covenant, contract, wage/hour, and employee benefits cases.  He is co-editor of Labor and Employment Law, the quarterly newsletter of the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, and is a frequent speaker about employment law issues. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Labor and Employment Law at NYU Law School, and a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. He is AV rated, and is recognized in Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers ratings in employment law. 

  A member of NITA faculties since 1996, Mark has taught in many in house programs in law firms and government agencies, and serves as a team leader in two public deposition programs.  He is a graduate of Swarthmore College, the University of Chicago, and New York University Law School.

• J. Michael Roake
  Legal Professionals Intrntl
  Corrales, NM

  
  J. Michael Roake

  Mr. Roake combines the skills of an accomplished practitioner with pertinent teaching experience.  He trains judges and lawyers both domestically and internationally in ethics, advocacy, professional skills, and human rights and works well with diverse audiences. Mr. Roake has recently returned as the Country Director for Syria with the American Bar Association's (“ABA”) Rule of Law Initiative, following a one year assignment training criminal lawyers and judges in Azerbaijan.  He was requested to work with the O.S.C.E. training judges in Azerbaijan, a unique honor for an American. Lately, he has trained practitioners in advocacy and arbitration in the U.K., Japan, and Micronesia.
  He approaches advocacy training from a practitioner’s viewpoint. With over a hundred jury trials to verdict since 1977, to include two death penalty cases in 2005, he specializes in employment law, intellectual property, tax controversy, governmental entanglements (white collar fraud), and military law.  He has been a Special Assistant United States Attorney, the Chief Prosecutor as well as Regional Defense Counsel with the Marines, a trial judge, an instructor at the Dept. of Justice Attorney General’s Advocacy Institute, and a Level V Chief Capital Attorney with the San Diego County Defenders' Office.  He was with Baker and McKenzie before leaving the world's largest law firm to join his attorney wife in their own practice. Throughout his career, he has always blended practice with training.   
  He has balanced his career between criminal and civil practice.  While named as one of the finest criminal defense attorneys in Southern California by the local press, he was also one of four attorneys chosen by the courts to explore governmental misconduct on the part of the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office in the People v. Butler case.  His last years of California practice, before volunteering with the ABA, were spent in white collar fraud and death penalty defense.  He was counsel in the largest fraud case in the 9th Circuit and obtained an acquittal in a high visibility death penalty case in San Diego before heading Overseas.
  Mr. Roake teaches extensively in advocacy and trial/arbitration related areas. He has been the Director of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy ("NITA") Pacific Regional Trial and Deposition Programs since 1990 and was honored as the 2011 winner of the Keeton Award for excellence in teaching.  Aside from in-house training at large firms (national and international), Microsoft’s Legal Skills Academy enlists him to help train their outside IP counsel.  In the public sector, he works with the O.S.C.E., Tribal Courts, Bankruptcy Judges, Military Lawyers, DOJ, ACLU, Legal Aid, and with Domestic Violence and Juvenile Law programs.  A native of San Francisco, Mr. Roake received an A.B. from Stanford, a J.D. from McGeorge and his L.L.M. in Employment Law from Georgetown.  He is admitted to practice in California, New Mexico, before several Federal Courts, and the U.S. Tax Court.  He retired from the Marine Corps as one of its only lawyer/combat aviators.

• Andrew Rossner
  Rutgers University Schl of Law
  Newark, NJ

• Ben Rubinowitz
  Gair Gair Conason et al
  New York, NY

  

  Ben Rubinowitz
  
  NITA Trustee: 2009-present
  
  Education:  Boston University, magna cum laude with distinction, 1978, Phi Beta Kappa; Hofstra Law School; Juris Doctor, 1981 Recipient, American Jurisprudence Award in Trial Practice
  
  Present position: Partner, Gair, Gair, Conason, Steigman, Mackauf, Bloom & Rubinowitz
  
  Previous positions: He has served as an instructor for a host of organizations that include: adjunct professor of law, Hofstra Law School, course-Advanced Trial Techniques; adjunct professor of law, Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, course-advanced Trial Techniques; Harvard Law School, Trial Advocacy Workshop, 1991-present, faculty member; Hofstra Law School, Trial Techniques Program, 1982-present, faculty, member; Cardozo Law School, Intensive Trial Advocacy Program, 1986-present, faculty member; Emory Law School, Trial Advocacy Program, 1984-1988, faculty member; Pace Law School, Trial Techniques; National Institute for Trial Advocacy, 1982-present; Team Leader, north east program (NITA), 1982-present; Team Leader National Program, NITA, Boulder, CO, 1991, 1997, 2000; Team Leader, MFY Legal Services, NYC, 2007; Harvard Teacher Training Program, NITA, 2007.
  
  Organizations/Honors/Awards: New York State Bar Association; New York State Trial Lawyers Association, Dean; New York County Lawyers Association; The American Trial Lawyers Association; American Board of Trial Advocates, New York City chapter, past President; The International Academy of Trial Lawyers, Fellow; and International Society of Barristers, Fellow; Chair, Masters of the Art of Trial Advocacy Program, New York State Trial Lawyers Association; Chair, New York State Bar Association program on Construction Site Accidents; Listed in Best Lawyers in America; Listed in New York “Superlawyers” (one of the top 100 lawyers); and appeared as legal expert on Court TV.
  
  Recent Writings/Publications: Co-author of Trial Advocacy column, New York Law Journal; The Cross Examination of the Defense Economist, October 31, 2008; The Art of Jury Selection: Working with Challenges, August 29, 2008; Getting the Big Picture: Using Exhibits Throughout a Trial, July 31, 2008; Prep is Key to Cross-Examining Medical Witness, May 29. 2008; Redirect Examination, November 29, 2007; Proving Damages in a Wrongful Death Case, October 23, 2007; Jury Selection: Time Constraints and Weaknesses in Cases, August 29, 2007; Using Operative Terms From Jury Charge in Cross-Exam, July 26, 2007; Authoritative Texts From Jury Charge in Cross-Exam, July 26, 2007; Authoritative Texts and Cross-Exam of Medical Experts, June 7, 2007; Hypothetical Questions on Cross, December 29, 2006; The Use of Hypothetical Questions as Weapons at Trial, October 31, 2006; Common Mistakes and Simple Remedies, September 21, 2006; Introduction of Exhibits in Civil Cases, July 25, 2006; Continuing to Try Your Case After the Summations, May 4, 2006; “Compendium of Trial Advocacy Drills,” by Robert Stein and Ben Rubinowitz, NITA, 2006;
  
  Recent Lectures: North Shore/LIJ Hospital, Cross Examination of the Forensic Psychiatrist, April 18, 2008; St. John’s Law School, Mastering the Art of Cross Examination, April 11, 2008; Suffolk County Bar Association, Directed Cross Examination Skills, April 8, 2008; Winter Urologic Forum Scientific Program, State of the Art Urology, Lecture: Issues in Medical Malpractice sponsored by the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine; N.Y.S.T.L.I., 2008; Chair, Masters of the Art of Trial Advocacy, January 16, 2007, February 26, 2007, and March 19, 2008; N.Y.S.T.L.A., Trial Practice, 2007; Chair, Construction Site Accidents: The Law and The Trial, New York State Association, 2007 and December 2008; Social Security Disability Law Forum, Cross Examination of Medical Experts, N.Y.C., 2007; Update on Trucking Litigation and Claims, N.Y.S.B.A., 2006; Kings County Bar Association, Jury Selection Seminar, 2006; Bronx County Bar Examination, Lecture, How to Cross Examine an Expert, 2006; A.T.L.A., Thinking Inside the Box: Jury Selection and Opening Statement Seminar, April 21-22, 2006, Austin, TX; Cross Examination, Bronx County Bar Association, April 19, 2006; Masters Class in Jury Selection, Brooklyn Bar Association, April 3, 2006; Chair, Cross Examination Seminar, N.Y.S.T.L.A., 2000-present; Jury Selection Seminars, N.Y.S.T.L.A., 2000-present; National CLE Program, 1999-present; National Institute for Trial Advocacy, Team Leader, teaching attorneys trial advocacy, 1982-present.
  Admissions: New York, 1982; U.S. District Court, Eastern & Southern Districts of New York, 1982 

• Terre Rushton
  NITA
  Boulder, CO

  
  Terre Rushton
  
  
  Terre Rushton is the Associate Executive Director of Programs for NITA.  She has been teaching NITA since 1982 in regional, international, public service, teacher training and custom programs, and has held various positions including the Program Director of NITA’s National Session.

  Ms. Rushton graduated from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law served a judicial clerkship, and then worked for the Colorado Attorney General in its General Legal services section, specializing in election law.  She was a partner in the litigation practice of Kelly/Haglund/Garnsey &Kahn, in Denver Colorado for 20 years.  Ms. Rushton has argued before courts in the state, appellate, federal, and federal bankruptcy levels, the10th circuit and the United States Supreme Court, where she successfully argued Budinich v. Becton Dickinson. She has been active in many Colorado Bar association activities, including those focusing on civil court reform, served as Chair of her Section and on the CBA Executive Committee. She has chaired a statewide Multidisciplinary Committee on Domestic Relations, and authored the pro se forms and procedures used in Colorado district courts. She is a frequent lecturer at CLE programs, and an expert witness in court. 

   

• Eric Sacks
  Jenner & Block LLP
  Oak Park, IL

• Joan Saltzman
  Joan Saltzman
  Philadelphia, PA

  Joan Saltzman
  
  M.A., University of Pittsburgh
  J.D., Rutgers Law School
  
  Joan Saltzman has practiced civil law in her own firm in Philadelphia for over twenty years.  She has a philosophy degree from the University of Pittsburgh, an M.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from Rutgers Law School. 
  
  After law school Joan was a criminal lawyer with the Defender Association of Philadelphia. At the Defender Association she tried criminal cases and mental health commitment proceedings, dealt with many expert witnesses, interviewed myriad clients and negotiated pleas.  After leaving the Defenders, Joan practiced medical malpractice and appellate law in both state and federal courts at the firm of Klovsky, Kuby and Harris for five years, and later in her own firm. She has interviewed a host of civil case clients, taken many depositions, negotiated settlements for her clients, tried cases and argued appeals. The highlight of her appellate practice was a series of briefs she wrote for the United States Supreme Court. She also assisted in the oral argument preparation for that case. 
    
  Ms. Saltzman was a Clinical Instructor/Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Law School for two years. At Penn she taught courses in interviewing, counseling and negotiation. She also supervised Penn law students as they interviewed and counseled clients, negotiated for their clients, took depositions and tried cases. After Joan left the University of Pennsylvania Law School, she started her own firm specializing in medical malpractice and appellate law. 

   

• Maria Savasta-Kennedy
  Univ of NC School of Law
  Chapel Hill, NC

• Andrew Schepard
  Hofstra University
  Larchmont, NY

  
  Schepard, Andrew
  
  Mr. Schepard directs the following programs: Modern Divorce; Deposition Skills: New York City

  Professor Schepard's special interests are in family law, especially as it affects children, civil litigation, alternative dispute resolution and developing simulation-based programs of clinical education. He is the co-director of the Hofstra University-North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System's Center for Children, Families and the Law. In 1995 Professor Schepard was awarded the Chair's Cup of the Family Law Section of the American Bar Association for "meritorious service exceeding what is expected of our leadership."

  Professor Schepard is a 1972 graduate of Harvard Law School and was articles editor of the Harvard Law Review. Following graduation he clerked for Judge James L. Oakes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Later, he was special counsel to the City Attorney of Los Angeles and in private practice in civil litigation, with several law firms in Los Angeles and New York. He has served as a special consultant to the State Bar of California to develop legislative proposals to simplify court procedures. Professor Schepard was previously on the faculties of Columbia University and the University of Southern California Law School. He was a principal consultant to the New York Law Revision Commission's Report on the Child Custody Dispute Resolution Process, which recommended a program of mediation for child custody disputes.

  Professor Schepard is a founder and project director for Parent Education and Custody Effectiveness (P.E.A.C.E.), an interdisciplinary, court-affiliated education program for parents to help them reduce the difficulties their children experience during divorce and separation. P.E.A.C.E. has produced an award-winning video for parents, and has been recognized by the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts for its "ongoing contribution to improving the lives of parents and children." Professor Schepard also helped design PARTNERS, an educational program for high school students about the legal responsibilities of marriage and communication skills, sponsored by the Family Law Section of the American Bar Association, in use in more than 400 schools nationwide. He is the reporter for the Task Force of the American Bar Association Family Law Section, for Standards of Practice for Divorce and Family Mediation, recently adapted by the ABA. He is the editor of the Family Court Review, an interdisciplinary journal focusing on constructive resolution of family conflict, sponsored by the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts and published at Hofstra Law School. He is the director of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy's Northeast Deposition Program for Practicing Lawyers.

  Professor Schepard has written many articles about divorce, child custody law, procedure and mediation of child custody disputes, as well as other aspects of judicial administration. He founded the Law and Children column of the New York Law Journal. He is an adjunct professor in the Department of Child Psychiatry at New York University Medical School. He was formerly chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee of the National Governing Board of Common Cause, and a member of the Board of Education of the Mamaroneck School District. He is a former member of the board of directors of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and an elected member of the American Law Institute.

  Contact Information:
  lawazs@hofstra.edu
   

   

• Richard Schoenberger
  Walkup Melodia Kelly et al
  San Francisco, CA

  
  Richard H. Schoenberger
  J.D., Hastings College of the Law
  
  Richard H Schoenberger is one of the most highly respected trial lawyers in California. In 2011, he was selected as the Trial Lawyer of the Year by the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association. It was his second nomination for this prestigious award. Rich has been included in the national publication The Best Lawyers in America since 2005 and has been a Super Lawyer in Northern California for every year the designation has existed. He was selected to be in the Top 100 Super Lawyers in Northern California for the years 2010 and 2011. He is "AV" peer review rated by Martindale-Hubbell.
  
  He is an invited member of the most prestigious trial lawyer organizations in the country: the American College of Trial Lawyers, a fellowship extended only to a select group of experienced trial lawyers who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards; the International Society of Barristers, an honor society of trial lawyers chosen by their peers on the basis of excellence and integrity in advocacy; and, the American Board of Trial Advocates, where he serves as an officer and chaired the San Francisco Chapter's 2009 Masters In Trial program.
  
  After graduating from Santa Clara University in 1982, Rich attended the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He began practice in 1985 as a Deputy District Attorney in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, where he prosecuted serious felonies. He joined the Walkup office in August of 1987 and became a partner in 1995. With Walkup, he has tried dozens of cases in more than ten counties throughout the state of California.
  
  Rich has taught trial advocacy on a national and international level since the early 1990's. In California, he teaches Advanced Trial Practice as an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). He has also served as a faculty member for the Judicial Council of California's Judicial Studies Program. As a highly rated member of the faculty for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, Rich has been invited to teach advocacy at NITA's rigorous National, Midwestern, Northwestern, Western and Pacific Regional programs; as well as for private firms throughout the country. Rich has also served frequently as a team leader at Emory Law School's renowned Kessler-Eidson Trial Techniques Program in Atlanta, Georgia.
  
  In June of 2004, The American Bar Association, in concert with the Department of Justice's Central European Eurasian Law Initiative, invited Rich to the Republic of Georgia where he taught advocacy to 24 selected attorneys whose government had only recently allowed the right to a jury trial. In 2005, he was invited to lead a similar program in Sarajevo.  In 2011, Rich led a trial advocacy program in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

  In an article printed in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, an opponent was quoted as follows: "Schoenberger is everything that a good plaintiff's lawyer should be: ethical, professional and smart, and he works hard."

  For years, Rich served as CYO Athletic Director at St. Patrick's in Larkspur and as Minor League Rep for the Twin Cities' Little League Board of Directors. Rich also used to be found on some field or court, having coached more than 30 of his three kids' teams over the last decade. Now he just watches silently from the stands in full recognition that each of his kids is finally being coached by someone who knows what he or she is talking about.

• Steven Scholl
  Dixon Scholl & Bailey PA
  Albuquerque, NM

  

  Steven Scholl,
  
  Steve Scholl is a 1989 graduate of University of New Mexico School of Law (UNMSOL). He practice in the eight member Albuquerque, New Mexico firm of Dixon, Scholl & Bailey, P.A., where his practice is primarily limited to civil litigation in state and federal courts. He has been lucky enough to take all manner of personal injury, professional liability, medical malpractice, product liability and commercial cases to trial.  He has done about 80 trials.  He has argued before the New Mexico Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, and before the 10th Circuit.
       
              In addition to practicing law full time, is an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law, where he has coached the National Trial Competition mock trial team since 1992.  He also teaches Trial Practice and Taking and Defending Depositions in the Spring semesters, and has been a regular adjunct in Evidence/Trial Practice classes over the years.  He has been on the NITA faculty since 1992.

              Prior to entering law school, he was a member of the Dallas, Texas Police Department between 1980 and 1986.  He worked in the Patrol Bureau as a field training officer, and then in Special Operations as a Tactical (SWAT) officer and sniper.  He testified in countless jury and bench trials over the years, which gave him an invaluable perspective as a trial lawyer.  Since becoming a lawyer, he has been an expert witness in a number of legal malpractice and other type cases.

              Him and his wife Chris were high school sweethearts and still are today. They travel whenever and wherever they can, and have some fun ports-of-call in their passports.  Outside is where they prefer to be.

   

• James Seckinger
  Univ of Notre Dame Law Sch
  Notre Dame, IN

• Carmen Shepard
  Buc & Beardsley
  Washington, DC

• Elizabeth Sher
  Day Pitney LLP
  Parsippany, NJ

  
  Sher, Beth
  
  Ms. Sher practices in the area of litigation. She has represented many long-standing clients of Day Pitney, LLP including Exxon Mobil Corporation, AT&T Corporation, Ford Motor Company and Sony Electronics, Inc. A member of the New Jersey and New York Bars, Ms. Sher has participated in trials, appeals, and hearings in both state and federal court in New Jersey and New York, as well as the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. She has participated in applications address to the United States Supreme Court and state administrative matters. In addition to her litigation experience, Ms. Sher has training and experience in mediation, both as a mediator and representing clients in mediation.

  Contact Information:
  esher@daypitney.com

• Jane Siegel
  Attorney at Law
  San Marcos, CA

• Rebecca Sitterly
  Rebecca Sitterly
  Grand Rapids, MI

  
  Rebecca Sitterly
  
  J.D., University of Kentucky

  Rebecca Sitterly’s trial practice has focused on neurolaw and commercial litigation. She taught evidence and trial practice as adjunct faculty for the University of New Mexico for more than twenty years, and has taught numerous NITA programs in the United States as faculty, assistant team leader and team leader. She was a district judge in the Second Judicial District Court, State of New Mexico for seven years and served as the Chief Judge of the Civil Division for the last two of those years.  Ms. Sitterly now practices law in arbitration and mediation; serves as special master; acts as guardian ad litem, and offers services as a trainer and trial coach for students and attorneys.  

• Allen Snyder
  Univ of San Diego Schl of Law
  San Diego, CA

  
  Snyder, Allen C.
  
  Mr. Snyder directs the following programs: Deposition Skills: Pacific; Deposing the Expert Witness; Building Trial Skills: Pacific

  Allen Snyder is a Law Professor at the University of San Diego School of Law where he teaches primarily in the live client clinics and related skills classes such as Interviewing and Counseling, Negotiations, Trial Skills and Mediation. 

  He has received awards and recognition for his law school teaching over the years.  Allen has also taught with NITA and directed NITA programs for over 15 years.  In addition he has taught trial and other legal skills to lawyers, judges and law students in numerous international settings including: UK, Italy, Australia, China (PRC), China (HK), Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Spain. 

  Before beginning his academic work, Allen worked both as a commercial litigator and a Legal Services attorney where his client were primarily people with mental disabilities.

  
  Contact Information:
  asnyder@sandiego.edu

   

  
   

• Mindy Solomon
  17th Judicial Circuit of Florida
  Fort Lauderdale, FL

  
  Mindy Solomon
  
  J.D., Nova Southeastern Law Center
  
  Mindy Solomon graduated law school in 1981. She   was an Asst. State Attorney until Nov of 1993. During those years she took numerous depositions and tried numerous jury trials to verdict.  She spent her last 5 years in that office trying Murder cases involving death penalty litigation. In 1993 she joined the Public Defender's Office. Ms. Solomon defended serious cases including and representing clients facing the death penalty. She was the Chief Assistant in charge of the Major Crimes, County Court and the Juvenile Division. Currently, she is a Broward County Court Judge. Ms. Solomon is an adjunct Professor at Nova Southeastern University Law Center teaching Trial Advocacy, Intensive Trial Advocacy, Psychology of Jury Selection, and the Criminal Clinic. She has been an instructor, assistant team leader and team leader in the NITA Florida Regional Program for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and also has been an instructor and program director for the NITA Deposition Program. Additionally she has taught in many in-house NITA trial programs, fact investigation programs, motion programs, expert deposition programs, and deposition programs.

• John Sonsteng
  William Mitchell Colg of Law
  Saint Paul, MN

  
  Sonsteng, John O.
  
  Mr. Sonsteng directs the following program: Advocacy from Start to Finish
  
  Education
  B.A., 1964; J.D., 1967, University of Minnesota
  
  Experience
  William Mitchell College of Law: professor of law, 1982-; associate dean, 1989-90; associate professor of law, 1981-82; assistant professor of law, 1979-81.
  
  City Solicitors Education Trust Visiting Professor in Litigation Advocacy, Nottingham Law School, England, 1993-96.
  
  Dakota County, Minn.: county attorney, 1973-79; assistant county attorney, 1969-73.
  
  Assistant Hennepin County attorney, Minnesota, 1967-69.
  
  Admitted: Minnesota, 1967.

  Leadership & Service
  Regional Director, National Institute for Trial Advocacy, 1989-.

  Contact Information:
  jsonsteng@wmitchell.edu

   

• Theresa Spahn
  Inst Adv of American Legal Sys
  Denver, CO

• Emmett Stanton
  Fenwick & West LLP
  Mountain View, CA

  
  Emmett Stanton
  
  B.A., Stanford University, 1975
  J.D., Santa Clara University School of Law, magna cum laude, 1978

  Emmett Stanton's practice focuses on the litigation and trial of complex business and commercial disputes, including intellectual property, antitrust and unfair competition, trade secrets and shareholder and securities litigation. He has represented clients in a broad range of industries, including computer hardware and software, electronic commerce, medical devices, and manufacturing and industrial equipment.

• Robert Stein
  The Stein Law Firm PLLC
  Concord, NH

  Bob Stein
  
  B.A., magna cum laude, Washington & Jefferson College
  J.D., magna cum laude, University of Michigan Law School

  Bob Stein is a simple country lawyer.  A 1971 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, his career started in 1971 as a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania public defender. At a time when  there was little or  no advocacy training in the U.S., Bob was sent to the 1973 National Institute for Trial Advocacy National Session in Boulder, Colorado-its second ever session. To this day, no one admit why he was sent to the  NITA training, nor will anyone admit or deny whether he was deemed hopeless or hopeful.  In any event, he graduated. After moving to New Hampshire in 1975, Bob started teaching trial advocacy part time at the Franklin Pierce Law Center and for NITA. Since that time, Bob has served as an adjunct in trial advocacy at Harvard, Hofstra, Emory, Widener, and Cardozo law schools, has taught in-house programs at a variety of American law firms as well as law firms in England on the continent.  He has served as a team leader at the Advanced Advocacy Sessions in Colorado and New York City, the Northeast Regional, Indiana Regional, Northern California Regional, New York City Regional, Southeastern Regional, and currently serves as the director of the New England Regional Trial Advocacy Program.  In 2007 he was awarded the H. Prentiss Marshall award for creative teaching, one of four awards given yearly to NITA faculty. Finally, Bob has been fortunate enough to serve on the faculties of trial advocacy programs of The Law Society in both Dublin and Belfast.
   
  Bob is admitted to the Bars of the United States Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, the First Circuit Court of Appeals, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia(ICTY).
   
  He is a Fellow of the American Board of Trial Advocates and the International Society of Barristers and was on the ISOB’s governing board for six years.  For over 10 years, Bob has been listed by in Best Lawyers in America in multiple categories.
   
  Last, Bob's website at Robertsteinandassociates.com lists Sage the Wonder Dog as the firm mascot. In truth,  Bob practices all his material, drills, opening and closing statements and cross-examinations on and with Sage who, from time to time, has been known to growl or fall asleep during his presentations and who has become his harshest if not hairiest critic.

• Susan Steingass
  University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Madison, WI

  
  Steingass, Susan
  
  NITA Trustee: 2002-present
  NITA Chairman of the Board: 2009-2010
  NITA Chair Elect: 2008-2009
  NITA Board Secretary: 2008
  
  Education:  B.A., Denison University; M.A., Northwestern University; and J.D., University of Wisconsin Law School
  Steingass received her undergraduate degree from Denison University in 1963, her M.A. in English literature from Northwestern University with honors in 1965, and her J.D. degree magna cum laude from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1976 where she was an editor of the Wisconsin Law Review and a member of Coif.
  
  Present position: Clinical Professor of Law Emerita, University of Wisconsin Law School
  
  Previous positions: After graduation from law school, Steingass served as law clerk to the Honorable Nathan S. Heffernan, Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. She was an associate and then partner at Stafford, Rosenbaum, Rieser & Hansen in Madison from 1977 to 1985. She was a Dane County Circuit Judge from 1985 to 1993, and was elected Wisconsin Trial Judge of the Year in 1993 by the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. In 1994, she joined Habush Habush & Rottier, where she has focused her practice on personal injury and commercial litigation.
  
  Organizations/Honors/Awards: Steingass was President of the State Bar of Wisconsin from 1998-1999 and is Director of the University of Wisconsin Law School's Communication and Advocacy Program. She has been named one of the Best Lawyers in America, and is a recipient of the Marygold Melli Achievement Award given by the Legal Association for Women. In 2003 she was named chair of the Wisconsin Sentencing Commission, and she chairs the Wisconsin Judicial Selection Committee, which screens judicial candidates. She was president of the Wisconsin Equal Justice Fund, supporting legal services to the poor, and President of the Wisconsin Law Alumni Association. She remains a member of the Wisconsin Law Alumni Association Board of Directors.  She is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and the William F. Vilas Trust.
  
  Writings: A member of the American Law Institute, Steingass is also an adviser to the Institute's work on the Restatement (Third) of Torts, Apportionment of Liability, as well as co-editor and author of Wisconsin Civil Procedure Before Trial, and co-editor of The Wisconsin Rules of Evidence: A Courtroom Handbook.

• Karen Steinhauser
  Law Ofc of Karen Steinhauser
  Centennial, CO

  
  Karen Steinhauser
  
  B.A., University of Colorado
  J.D., University of Colorado Law School

  Karen Steinhauser is a trial lawyer and owner of The Law Office of Karen Steinhauser LLC, focusing primarily in the area of criminal defense and family law. She began her legal career in 1981 as a prosecutor in the Denver District Attorneys’ Office, specializing in Child Abuse, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.  After working in the office for 20 years, as well as having taught as an adjunct professor at DU Law School for many years, she joined the faculty at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law on a full-time basis.  She taught Evidence, Criminal Procedure and Trial Advocacy, as well as ran the internship program and continued to coach the mock trial travelling trial teams to two national championships.  In 2006, Karen left the law school to go back to a full-time practice at the law firm of Pryor Johnson Carney Karr Nixon, P.C.  Her practice focused on a wide variety of civil trial work including employment law, professional liability defense and plaintiff’s personal injury.  She joined Isaacson Rosenbaum P.C. in 2008 to June 2011 when the firm dissolved, and then worked for Gutterman Griffiths PC, practicing family law and criminal defense as well.   Karen continues to serve as an adjunct professor at DU Law School, and is also an instructor for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, where she teaches lawyers both nationally and internationally in the art and skill of persuasion and trial advocacy.  Her work in the community includes serving as a former chair of the Board of Directors of the Anti-Defamation League, serving as a Board Member for the Colorado Judicial Institute, and has served the Denver Bar Association and Colorado Bar Association in a number of different capacities.  She also serves as a media consultant both locally and nationally concerning various high-profile criminal cases.

• Edward Sullivan
  Faegre Baker Daniels LLP
  South Bend, IN

  
  Sullivan, Edward
  
  Areas of Expertise
  Education Law
     –Faculty & Staff Employment
     –Student Life & Discipline
  Litigation;
  Product Liability

  Education
  University of Notre Dame
  Law School, J.D., 1993;
  Villanova University,
  B.A., 1983

  Bar Admissions: Indiana, 1993

  Court Admission: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, 1993;
  U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, 1993

  
  Ed Sullivan has extensive and varied experience in litigation and in advising Indiana public schools, private businesses and individuals on managing risks and resolving disputes.  On behalf of his clients, Ed has litigated disputes to a jury, to a judge, to arbitration panels and administrative bodies and has argued before the Indiana Court of Appeals and the Indiana Supreme Court.  As part of his practice, Ed routinely resolves disputes for his clients through mediations and through direct negotiation.  Ed has experience in handling a wide array of issues including:
  • Commercial disputes
  • Special Education legal issues
  • Public financing disputes
  • Construction disputes
  • Director & officer liability
  • Personal injury defense
  • Employment disputes
  • Labor negotiation for Indiana Public Schools
  • 1st Amendment disputes for schools
  • Premises liability defense
  • School Board governance issues

  A nationally recognized teacher of trial advocacy skills, Ed has been invited to teach by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy ("NITA") through its "Next Generation" program in trial and deposition skills seminars in Fort Lauderdale, FL, Denver, CO, and Minneapolis, MN.  Each November, as the Co-Program Director and Team Leader for NITA's annual Mid-Central Deposition Skills program in Indianapolis, Ed works with Indiana's top trial lawyers in training young attorneys in advocacy skills and legal analysis.   Through his association with NITA, Ed has conducted "in-house" training seminars on trial skills for some of the world's leading law firms in New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Los Angeles. Ed is also an adjunct faculty member at Notre Dame Law School where he has taught deposition skills, trial advocacy and coordinated the moot court team (twice reaching the national finals).

  Ed has a focus in representing public schools, and he is the leader of the Baker & Daniels school law team. He is a frequent contributor to the Indiana School Boards Association seminars and has presented at conferences for the National School Boards Association as well as the Council of School Attorneys. 

  Honors
  • The Best Lawyers in America — Education Law, 2008-11
  • Indiana Super Lawyers — Business Litigation, 2010
  • Indiana Bar Foundation — Fellow, 2010
  • Kraft W. Eidman Award from the American College of Trial Lawyers — Recipient (member of 1993 National Trial Competition championship team)
  • A. Harold Weber Award for Achievement in Oral Argument
  • Jon E. Krupnick Award for Excellence in Trial Advocacy

  Professional Associations
  • St. Joseph County Bar Association
  Indiana State Bar Association

• Thomas Swett
  Hurth Sisk & Blakemore LLP
  Boulder, CO

  
  Thomas A. Swett
  
  J.D., University of Colorado

  Thomas A. Swett (Tom) is a partner in Hurth, Yeager, Sisk & Blakemore, LLP, in Boulder, Colorado.  His practice includes civil, criminal and domestic trials in Colorado.  Before joining the firm he clerked for the 17th Judicial District Court in Colorado. Tom began teaching NITA public and in-house programs in 2006, including Pretrial Fundamentals, the National Public Service Trial Skills, Rocky Mountain Regional Building Trial Skills, Child Advocacy Trials and Advanced Negotiation and Mediation.  Tom also enjoys coaching local high school mock trial teams.

   

• Roosevelt Thomas
  Warner Norcross & Judd LLP
  Grand Rapids, MI

  Roosevelt Thomas
  
  Roosevelt Thomas received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Western Michigan University and Law Degree from Notre Dame Law School. He is admitted to practice in Illinois and Michigan and is admitted to the Trial Bar in the United State District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Northern District of Indiana, Western District of Michigan, Eastern District of Wisconsin and the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th and 7th Circuits. Beginning 1977, Mr. Thomas was a criminal defense lawyer in Chicago, where he was involved in many high profile criminal cases and 10 death penalty cases including the Pontiac, Illinois prison riot case which was the largest death penalty case ever in the state of Illinois. In 1995 he returned to his roots in Cass County, Michigan where he enjoys a criminal and civil practice which includes municipal law, condemnations, civil rights, personal injury, family law, probate and estate planning. Mr. Thomas has taught trial practice at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy Midwest Regional since 1983, the National Institute for Trial Advocacy National Session in Bolder, Colorado and now Louisville, Colorado where he was a team leader in the 2007 session, the Emory Law School, Kessler-Edison Trial Techniques Program since 1988 and the Hillman Advocacy Program in the Federal District Court for the Western District of Michigan since 1997 where he has been a team leader for the past five years, a member of the Steering Committee for the past three years of which he presently serves as vice-chairman.

   

• Nancy Vaidik
  Indiana Court of Appeals
  Indianapolis, IN

  
  Vaidik, Nancy
  
  Nancy H. Vaidik was appointed to the Indiana Court of Appeals by Governor Frank O’Bannon on January 19, 2000.  Prior to her elevation to the appellate court, Judge Vaidik served for 7 years as Judge of the Porter Superior Court.  She began her legal career as a deputy prosecutor, achieving the status of chief deputy prosecutor before entering private practice.

  As a private practitioner and prosecutor, Judge Vaidik tried nearly 100 jury trials.  As a trial court judge, she presided over hundreds of jury and bench trials. 

  Judge Vaidik has had a life-long interest in legal education and particularly the litigation process.  She currently teaches as an adjunct professor of law teaching trial advocacy at Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington, Indiana.  She also is a visiting professor with the College of Law of England and Wales and serves on its advisory board.  She teaches for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy in numerous venues and is the program director for the Mid Central Regional Trial Program.  Last month she had the honor of teaching international criminal prosecutors at the United Nations’ criminal tribunal for Rwanda located in Arusha, Tanzania. 

  Vaidik is the former president of the Indiana Judge’s Association and the former chairperson for the Indiana Supreme Court’s Judicial Education Committee.  She has also served on the advisory board member of the Indiana Women and Law Conference since its inception in 2000. 
  
  In 2007, Judge Vaidik was named an Indiana Lawyer Distinguished Barrister and received the National Institute for Trial Advocacy Robert Keeton Faculty Award.  She has also received numerous other awards including the Indiana Domestic Violence Coalition Judge of the Year, the Indiana State Bar Association’s Women in Law Achievement Award, the Paragon of Justice award from the BLSA and HLSA chapters at Valparaiso University School of Law, and the Sagamore of the Wabash award from two Indiana governors.
  
  Judge Vaidik is married and has two daughters—Kelly, a medical doctor and Kristin, a lawyer
   

• Robert VanderLaan
  VanderLaan and Associates PLC
  Grand Rapids, MI

  
  Robert D. VanderLaan
  
  B.A., cum laude, University of Detroit
  J.D., University of Detroit

  Mr. VanderLaan is the principal in the AV rated trial practice firm of VanderLaan and Associates, P.L.C.  He is nationally recognized in the concentration of courtroom litigation and alternative dispute resolution.  Prior to entering the practice of law, Mr. VanderLaan enjoyed a twelve-month law clerkship with the United States Attorney's office in the Eastern District of Michigan under the tutelage of then-United States Attorney Ralph Guy, in which Mr. VanderLaan was substantially involved in the grand jury investigation into the disappearance of James Hoffa and the office implementation of the Speedy Trial Act.  He has served as trial counsel in numerous jury trials and bench trials in many jurisdictions throughout the United States.  In August, 1994, at the invitation of the New Zealand Law Society, Mr. VanderLaan joined the faculty of that country's Trial Techniques Program in the cities of Wellington and Dunedin.  Since 1982, Mr. VanderLaan has frequently appeared as a faculty member for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy's (N.I.T.A.) many regional programs including the Midwest Regional and the Southern Regional.  Other faculty appointments include the Chair for the Hillman Advocacy Program and a visiting faculty appointment to the Kessler-Eidson Program for Trial Techniques at Emory University Law School.  He was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court in 1981. 

• Robert Vaughan
  Ward Kim Vaughan & Lerner LLP
  Fort Lauderdale, FL

  
  Robert C.L. Vaughan

  Robert C.L. Vaughan is a Partner with Kim Vaughan Lerner LLP, and
  focuses his practice on commercial litigation and international dispute
  resolution, including litigation and arbitration. He represents clients
  with matters pending in US state and federal courts as well as with
  matters pending before Caribbean courts. Mr. Vaughan is rated AV
  by Martindale-Hubbell, its highest rating for professional excellence.
  In 2011, 2012 & 2013, Mr. Vaughan was named a “Top Attorney for
  Business Litigation” by Florida Super Lawyers Magazine. In 2009 he
  was listed in ICABA’s inaugural directory of the Top 100 Blacks in
  Healthcare and Law and Florida Trend magazine has listed him among the Legal Elite
  each year since 2007.
  Mr. Vaughan is a past president of the Caribbean Bar Association and a Member of the
  Caribbean Bar Foundation Board. He has also served on the board of directors of the
  Dade County Bar Association. In 2007 he received the prestigious Presidential Volunteer
  Service Award for his Board service to Hands on Miami.
  Mr. Vaughan is a trial advocacy instructor at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy
  (NITA) where he has taught trial advocacy skills in domestic and international programs
  to Judges and attorneys.

• Camille Ventrell
  Dynamic Attorneys
  Brooklyn, NY

• Marvin Ventrell
  Juvenile Law Society
  Estes Park, CO

  
  Marvin Ventrell founded the Juvenile Law Society in 2009 following 15 years as the chief executive officer of the National Association of Counsel for Children. In his 26-year legal career, Mr. Ventrell has been a litigation firm associate and partner, a public defender, an association director, a policy advocate, a teacher, and a trial skills instructor. He is a recipient of the ABA Child Advocacy Award and the Kempe Award, and is a Fellow of the Colorado Bar Foundation. Mr. Ventrell co-directed the national program sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of HHS Children’s Bureau that established Child Welfare Law as a formal legal specialty and created the Child Welfare Attorney Certification Program. He co-edited the national treatise, Child Welfare Law and Practice, and compiled the national examination for child welfare law proficiency. He is also the author of numerous articles and book chapters including, The Evolution of the Dependency Component of the Juvenile Court. Mr. Ventrell is responsible for the creation of the National Children’s Law Office Project that supports the creation and maintenance of model children’s law offices through the project publication, Children’s Law Office Guidebook. Together with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), Mr. Ventrell established the annual NITA Rocky Mountain Child Advocacy Training Institute, now in its 18th year. He serves as a faculty trial skills trainer for NITA's National, Regional, and Specialty Programs. He published the NITA book Trial Advocacy for the Child Welfare Lawyer: Telling the Story of the Family in 2011.

   

• Susan Walker
  Attorney at Law
  Chicago, IL

  Susan L. Walker
  
  B.A., University of Illinois
  J.D., University of Chicago School of Law
  
  Susan L. Walker teaches Dispute Resolution and Commercial Arbitration as an Adjunct Professor at DePaul’s College of Law and coaches the moot court negotiation and client counseling teams.  She also teaches Introduction to Trial Advocacy and Dispute Resolution as an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University’s School of Law and was a coach for the moot court trial team.  In these courses, she instructs students on dispute resolution theory, process and advocacy.
  
  Ms. Walker has extensive experience teaching in the dispute resolution field for practicing lawyers.  She has taught in the Mediation Training Certificate Program at DePaul’s Center for Dispute Resolution and has taught in the trial and deposition programs for the Nation Institute of Trial Advocacy.
  
  As a practicing attorney for over twenty years, she focused on product and commercial litigation as a partner with the law firm of Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon and as chief of litigation for the Chicago Park District. At the Chicago Park District, she was also involved in business dispute resolution and problem solving as acting Chief Operating Officer and acting Chief Administrative Officer.
  
  She has authored and edited publications on arbitration and international business practice. She is a chair certified arbitrator for the National Association of Securities Dealers and the Cook County Mandatory Arbitration program.  Ms. Walker has completed the arbitrator training program with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is member qualified. Ms. Walker attended the University Of Chicago School Of Law.

• Michael Washington
  Primary Public Defender
  Temecula, CA

  Michael Washington
  
  B.A in Accounting, San Diego State University 
  J.D., California Western School of Law
  
  Michael Washington is committed to advancing the profession by sharing his experience and knowledge in trial advocacy. He has taught the National Institute of Trial Advocacy’s basic and advanced trial skills and deposition programs since 1998.  This year he served as Co-Director of the Southern California basic trial skills regional.  He has been a Team Leader at NITA’s National Session in Colorado, as well as the Pacific, Southern California, and Midwestern regionals.  He was also Co-Director of the PowerPoint for Litigators program.  Michael has also been a faculty member at the Western and Southwestern regionals, and Teacher Training in San Francisco.  He is also in demand to teach at custom advocacy programs for civil litigation, child advocacy, public service and insurance defense firms and organizations.  From 2007 to 2010, Michael was co-presenter of NITA sponsored trial skills sessions at the National Bar Association’s annual conference.
  
  Michael is a senior felony trial attorney with the San Diego County Public Defender’s Office.  His current caseload includes all types of felony crimes including capital murder cases, and he conducts up to nine felony jury trials a year. In addition to his work at the Public Defender’s office, in 2003 he joined the University of San Diego School of Law as an adjunct professor teaching advanced trial advocacy, deposition and negotiation skills.  From 1994 to 2002, he coached the Mock Trial Teams at California Western School of Law.  He was named the Outstanding Public Lawyer by the Bar Association of North San Diego County in 2000.
  
  Since 2010, Michael has taught advocacy skills internationally to judges and lawyers in Monrovia, Liberia and Nairobi, Kenya as a teacher sponsored by the NITA Foundation, and co-sponsored by the State Department and Lawyers Without Borders.
  
  Michael is supported in all of this by his wife, Vanessa, and his three children, Cynthia, Annette and Malcolm.

• Cheryl Wattley
  University of Oklahoma
  Norman, OK

  
  Cheryl B. Wattley
  
  Cheryl Wattley is an Associate Professor of Law and Director of Clinical Education at the University of Oklahoma College of Law.  Professor Wattley teaches courses in Trial Techniques, Litigation Skills, Advanced Criminal Procedure, Criminal Law and Issues in Professionalism.  Through her direction of the clinical education programs, Prof. Wattley supervises the criminal and civil clinics which afford law students the opportunity to represent indigent clients.  She also supervises the externship program which allows law students to earn academic credit for work in approved legal placements. 
  
  Prior to joining, OU, Ms. Wattley had been in private practice for over twenty years.  In her criminal practice, her primary focus was the defense of federal white collar criminal cases.  Ms. Wattley also maintained an active civil caseload handling employment discrimination, commercial litigation, civil RICO and civil rights cases. 
  
  Ms. Wattley began her legal career as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.  She was later appointed to the position of Chief of the Economic Crime Unit for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.  During her time with the Department of Justice, Ms. Wattley was twice honored with a Special Achievement Award.  She also received the Chief Postal Inspector’s Award and special recognitions from the Department of Labor, the Immigration and Naturalization Service; and the Treasury Department, Secret Service.
   
  In 1995, Ms. Wattley was nominated by President William Clinton for appointment to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

• Ann Williams
  US Court of Appeals 7th Circ
  Chicago, IL

  
  Williams, Hon. Ann C.
   
  NITA Trustee: 1996-present
  NITA Secretary: 2005-2007
  NITA Faculty: 1979-present
  
  Ms. Williams teaches the following NITA programs: Advocacy Teacher Training: Lawyers Without Borders; and Kenya Domestic Violence Trial Skills Training.
  
  Education: Wayne State University, B.S.; The University of Michigan, M.A.; and University of Notre Dame Law School, J.D.
  
  Present position: Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Chicago, Illinois
  
  Previous positions: Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois; Chief, Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force for the North Central Region, United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois; Deputy Chief and Trial Attorney United States Attorney’s Office, Chicago, Illinois; Law Clerk to the Honorable Judge Robert A. Sprecher, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Chicago, Illinois.
  
  Academic positions: Adjunct professor or lecturer in trial advocacy, Northwestern and John Marshall law schools
  
  Organizations: Member, United States Supreme Court Fellows Program Commission (2005-Present); Chair (1993-1997) and Member, Court Administration and Case Management Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States; Member, Judicial Council of the Seventh Circuit (1999-Present); President, President-Elect and Treasurer (1993-2003) and Board Member (1993-Present), Federal Judges Association; Lecturer, Kenyan Judicial Colloquium (2006-2008); Program Director, Kenyan Women’s Advocacy Program (2007-2008); Team Leader, Liberian Trial Advocacy Program (2007); Lecturer, Ghanaian Judiciary (2002-2003, 2008); Faculty Member, trial and appellate advocacy training programs of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia (2004-2006); Founder and lecturer, Minority Legal Education Resources, Inc. (1985-Present); Secretary and Member, Board of Trustees of the University of Notre Dame (1987-Present); Founder, fellowship program and Board Member of Equal Justice Works; Founder, Former President, and Chair of Judicial Advisory Committee of Just The Beginning Foundation (1992-Present); Founder and Member, Black Women Lawyers Assn. (1987-Present); Lecturer and Team Leader, Lawyers Without Borders (2006-Present); Member, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
  
  Offices/Honors/Awards: American Bar Association – Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award (2008); National Bar Association – Gertrude E. Rush Award (2008); American Bar Association – Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) Award (2008); Filipino American Bar Association and John Marshall Law School – Unity Award (2008); MLER Judge Ann Claire Williams Leadership Award (2007); Cook County Bar Association Hall of Fame (2007); American Bar Association’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession – Spirit of Excellence Award (2006); National Association of Women Lawyers – Arabella Babb Mansfield Award (2005); Crain’s magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times Chicago’s 100 Most Influential and Powerful Women (2004); National Bar Association – William H. Hastie Award (2002); National Council of Negro Women – Women Making History Award (2000); Chicago Lawyer Person of the Year (2000); Chicago Bar Association – Vanguard Award (2000) and Earl Burrus Dickerson Award (1997); Honorary degrees from Lake Forest College (1987) and University of Portland (1993)

• Matthew Williams
  King County Courthouse
  Auburn, WA

  
  Matthew Williams

  Matthew W. Williams is a King County District Court Judge.  King County is the largest population county in Washington State and includes Seattle.    Judge Williams handles both Criminal and Civil jury trial matters.
   
  Since 1991 he has taught both Trial and Pre-Trial Advocacy at Seattle University School of Law (University of Puget Sound).   He serves as the Director of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) Northwest Regional Deposition program and has served many terms as faculty team leader at Emory Law School's renowned Kessler-Eidson Trial Techniques Program.

  He is committed improving access to justice and the rule of law through out the world.  He has led training for judges, advocates, and law enforcement personnel throughout the United States, as well in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Africa.  He is a frequent speaker before local high schools, attorneys, and citizen groups, and has given over 500 presentations on issues related to our justice system. 

  Judge Williams holds a BS in Economics from the University of Nebraska (1980), and a JD from the University of Nebraska School of Law (1983) where he served as a member of the Moot Court Board.  He began his legal career with the Nebraska, Iowa, and Washington State Attorneys General where he handled a wide variety of cases ranging from death penalty/criminal appeals to complex commercial and tax litigation.  He served as an aviation prosecutor supervising drug and weapons interdiction efforts, and as the Managing Attorney of both governmental and private sector law offices.

  Judge Williams is an active volunteer with the Northwest Sarcoma Foundation and serves as a board member of the Auburn Washington Rotary.  He has served as a Special Disciplinary Counsel and as an Investigative Counsel for the Washington State Bar Association. He is a former Trustee of the Washington Defense Trial Lawyers.

  Judge Williams is an accredited Collision Reconstructionist.  He holds the rank of Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and has served as a martial arts and personal defense instructor.  He is a pilot and has logged hundreds of pilot-in-command hours throughout the United States.

• Akin Gump
  http://www.akingump.com

• Allstate Insurance Company
  http://www.allstate.com

• Baker & McKenzie LLP
  http://www.bakermckenzie.com

• Baker Botts LLP
  http://www.bakerbotts.com

• Barack Ferrazzano et al
  

• Becker & Poliakoff LLP
  http://www.becker-poliakoff.com

• Briggs & Morgan
  http://www.briggs.com

• Chamberlain Hrdlicka
  

• Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass
  

• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
  

• Covington & Burling LLP
  http://www.cov.com

• Crowell & Moring LLP
  http://www.crowell.com

• Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
  

• Delaware Dept of Justice
  http://attorneygeneral.delaware.gov

• Dept of Homeland Security
  http://www.dhs.gov

• Dept of Justice
  http://www.justice.gov

• Dept of Labor
  http://www.dol.gov

• Dept of Labor Off of Regional
  

• Desmarais LLP
  http://www.desmaraisllp.com

• DLA Piper LLP
  

• Duane Morris LLP
  http://www.duanemorris.com

• Farella Braun Martel LLP
  http://www.fbm.com

• Federal Trade Commission
  http://www.ftc.gov

• FedEx Ground Package System
  http://www.fedex.com

• Fenwick & West LLP
  http://www.fenwick.com

• Finnegan
  

• Fish & Richardson
  http://www.fr.com

• Fitzpatrick Cella et al
  http://www.fitzpatrickcella.com

• Goodwin Procter LLP
  

• Greensfelder Hemker & Gale PC
  http://www.greensfelder.com

• Hanson Bridgett LLP
  http://www.hansonbridgett.com

• Hogan & Lovells
  http://www.hoganlovells.com/

• Hogan Lovells LLP
  

• Inter-American Development Bank
  

• J M Harty
  http://www.hselaw.com

• Jackson Gilmour & Dobbs PC
  http://www.jgdpc.com/

• Jackson Walker LLP
  http://www.jw.com

• Jenner & Block LLP
  http://www.jenner.com

• Kaye Scholer
  http://www.kayescholer.com/index

• Keker & Van Nest LLP
  http://www.kvn.com

• King & Spalding
  http://www.kslaw.com

• Labaton Sucharow LLP
  http://www.labaton.com

• Littler Mendelson PC
  http://www.littler.com

• Loeb & Loeb LLP
  http://www.loeb.com/

• Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP
  http://www.manatt.com

• Mccarter & English Llp
  

• Milbank Tweed Et Al
  http://www.milbank.com

• Mintz Levin PC
  http://www.mintz.com

• Munger Tolles & Olson LLP
  http://www.mto.com

• Paul Hastings Et Al
  http://www.paulhastings.com

• Peckar & Abramson
  

• Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp
  http://www.pbgc.gov

• Pfizer Inc
  

• Public Company Acct Board
  

• Quarles & Brady LLP
  http://www.quarles.com

• Securities & Exchange Comm
  http://www.sec.gov

• Social Security Administration
  http://www.ssa.gov

• Squire Sanders LLP
  http://www.squiresanders.com

• State Farm Insurance Corp
  http://www.statefarm.com

• Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox
  

• Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
  http://www.sullcrom.com

• Sullivan & Worcester LLP
  

• Thompson Coburn LLP
  http://www.thompsoncoburn.com

• US FAA
  

• US International Trade Comm
  

• US Nuclear Regulatory Comm
  http://www.nrc.gov

• Womble Carlyle Et Al
  http://www.wcsr.com

• Zuckerman Spaeder LLP
  http://www.zuckerman.com

Inquiry

To schedule a program or discuss what is the best fit for your professional development needs contact NITA at 1.800.225.6482 or sales@nita.org.