LAW COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

LAW-2009 Trial Advocacy

Hon. Michael Bolden, Mr. Henry Burke Brennan, Hon. Serge Georges, Jr., Hon. Linda Giles,

Hon. Thomas C. Horgan, Hon. Angel Kelley Brown,

2 credits day; 2 credits evening.

Limited to 16 students. Students using this course to fulfill the experiential learning requirement

may not also use this same course to meet the legal writing requirement.

The focus is on having each student participate in various phases of a trial. Students will be

asked to select a jury, make an opening statement, conduct a direct cross-examination, examine

an expert, and give a closing statement. Classes consist of short lectures on each topic followed

by student participation based on fact situations in Mauet & Wolfish, Materials in Trial

Advocacy. Students are required to read about each phase of a trial in Mauet, Trial Techniques,

Edition. Evidence is helpful but not a prerequisite. There is no paper. Grades are based upon

evaluation of students as they conduct phases of a trial. Because of the heavy emphasis on

student participation, enrollment is limited.

Faculty comments

: Judge Giles: The operative word for this course is "practice": students in

this class will have at least bi-weekly opportunities to get up on their feet and perform the

fundamental skills of a trial, including opening statements, direct and cross examination,

introducing exhibits, and closing arguments. Each performance will be critiqued by the course's

instructor, a trial judge with over thirty years of experience in trying and presiding over cases in

the trial courts of Massachusetts. By the end of the semester, the students will have acquired

enough trial lawyering proficiency to be able to try their first cases, either civil or criminal, in

any jurisdiction.

A student's grade will be based half on his/her performance during exercises throughout the

semester (and improvement thereon) and half on his/her performance in a final mock trial at the

end of the course. Students also are required to view at least two of his/her videotaped exercises

and submit a brief self-critique.

Elective Course

Meets Skills Menu Requirement

Meets Civil Litigation Concentration Requirements

Meets Labor and Employment Law Concentration Requirements

Meets Experiential Learning Requirement

<<Course Updated: July 05, 2016>>