| Greetings!
 Next year we will celebrate NITA's 40th birthday. Throughout 2010 and 2011 we will have the opportunity to combine our trusted history with a future of innovation. Here, in my first column for NITA Notes, I will talk about both.
In July 2011 NITA will hold its 40th consecutive National Program. In 1972, NITA founders (Fuchsberg, Corboy, Carrigan, Hanley, Brosnahan, Jeans, Keeton, Marshall, Broun,and many others) developed a revolutionary and innovative trial lawyer training course in Boulder, Colorado. The program incorporated the NITA "learning by doing" method. They hoped that law firms, lawyer organizations, bar associations, and law schools would adopt this course to train their trial lawyers to be effective, ethical, and professional courtroom advocates, which many did.
Judge Carrigan once told me that the NITA originals expected the program to be needed for only five years. In the 1970s this was seen as the "cure" for a rapidly growing legal profession and a burgeoning court system plagued by ineffective trial advocates. NITA transformed the way lawyers learned trial advocacy skills, but as we've seen, the need for NITA has extended much further than five years.
The NITA Hallmark - Innovation, Outstanding Faculty, and Training Quality
NITA has continued as an advocacy skills innovator by developing regional basic trial programs, advanced advocate programs, teacher training programs, and deposition programs. When training money dried up for public service lawyers to attend the public programs, NITA developed special lower cost programs for government lawyers, legal service lawyers, public defenders, child advocates, and others. When large firms found private programs more economical and appealing, NITA developed in-house programming. Throughout all this innovation, NITA retained its three key hallmark components: The NITA method, the NITA faculty, and the high educational quality!
Changes in Legal Terrain Requires More Innovation
Years before the economic downturn of 2008-09, the work of the trial lawyer began to change. Except for lawyers in primarily criminal practices, the jury trial and even the bench trial became increasingly rare. Most lawyers in civil practice spend the majority of their time in pre-trial discovery, depositions, motions hearings, negotiations, mediations, and arbitrations. Simply put, there are just not enough trial opportunities to learn trial skills or to keep an advocate's skills sharp.
Lawyers have had to cope with this phenomenon in two ways. "Bluff" that their law school trial ad courses taught them enough, and "hope" that their early legal jobs as prosecutors and public defenders will carry them through.
Challenges for NITA
In the years to come, NITA faculty and program directors will work together to provide more skills training in ways that maximize the program participant experience. This includes:
1 - More programming in variable durations with more time for performances;
2 - Quick refresher programs to keep skills sharp;
3 - Development of "learning by doing" skills courses for arbitrations, negotiations, mediations, and transactional settings;
4 - Online offerings to provide NITA program materials and distance learning opportunities: and
5 - Outreach programs for public interest lawyers, solo practitioners, and others who are currently not receiving training.
While NITA will stand by its strong history and reputation as a high quality legal skills training provider, we also plan to innovate. Will you join us on this quest?
Sincerely,
John Baker NITA President |
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Program Director Q&A: Anna Fletcher |
In an effort to highlight and introduce NITA's faculty, program directors, and authors to the NITA community, we periodically publish one-on-one question-and-answer sessions. In this issue of NITA Notes we are talking to NITA Program Director Anna Fletcher of Raleigh, North Carolina.
1.) A little bit about you. What is your legal background?
I began working in the District Attorney's Office in Asheville, North Carolina, when I was sixteen-years-old and interned there during high school, college, and law school; my focus was primarily on homicide trial preparation. After law school, I served as an Assistant District Attorney there, running misdemeanor and felony district courts, including juvenile court, trying cases to juries, and eventually supervising district court operations as Misdemeanor Chief. I began teaching Legal Research and Writing at Campbell Law School in January 2008 and currently teach that course as well as Trial Advocacy at Campbell.
2.) How did you come to know NITA? What is your knowledge and experience of the organization's publications and programs?
I became familiar with NITA's method and materials in my Trial Advocacy class in law school at the University of North Carolina. After I began teaching at Campbell, I took a NITA teacher training course at Elon Law School taught by Peter Hoffman, Jean Cary, and Sandra Johnson. In May of 2009, I served as an Assistant Team Leader for the Southeast Regional Trial Program in Chapel Hill and later that same year was appointed to be Director of the Southeast Deposition Skills Program. We held that program at the beginning of March this year in Raleigh at Campbell.
3.) How has NITA (or NITA training/experience) played out in your practice?
I found the NITA method and materials effective for teaching Trial Advocacy when I was in law school and often referred back to what I learned there in my trial practice. Having been a trial lawyer, I know that what we are teaching participants and how we are teaching them ("learning by doing") works. 4.) Describe your greatest success.
I think success for us as teachers comes when a student or a participant in one of our programs walks out of the program or class with concrete skills that they can use to better serve their clients. While NITA is such a rewarding, amazing experience for us as teachers, the real point is for participants to be more skilled and more comfortable taking depositions or trying cases. The organization and the programs are dedicated to these attorneys and their clients, and that is what we should be focused on. 5.) Describe the program you will direct in two sentences. The Deposition Skills program is designed to provide participants with opportunities to practice their deposition skills in a simulated deposition setting. We provide lectures on basic skills, but the focus is on small-group breakout sessions where attorneys can practice these skills and receive immediate constructive critique from experienced attorneys facilitating the sessions. 6.) Why do you think an attorney should attend a NITA program? New experiences and challenges are important to growing both personally and professionally. As attorneys, we should be focused on constantly improving our knowledge and skills. NITA programs offer the opportunity to do just that - for both participants and faculty. I have learned so much as a student, faculty member, and director of NITA programs. 7.) What do you think NITA's impact has been and continues to be?
I think NITA's impact is to improve the profession generally. That happens because NITA is a place to learn from those with experience, to grow, and to share ideas. As lawyers, we are so busy, but NITA offers the opportunity to take a time out and focus on getting better at what we do. 8.) What else do you want the NITA community to know? I am grateful for the opportunity to be a member of this NITA community and I am grateful for the warm welcome I have received. As a new program director, I received so much encouragement and support from NITA itself, other program directors, and my mentor, Jean Cary, who has directed the Southeast Deposition Program for many years. Thank you!
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Sonsteng Named Director of International Programs at William Mitchell |
 William Mitchell College of Law has named Professor John O. Sonstengdirector of international programs. In this capacity, Sonsteng will work with students, faculty, and alumni on codifying and expanding William Mitchell's international opportunities. Read more about the position on the William Mitchell Web site.
John is the program director for NITA's Complete Advocate program, which takes place in St. Paul, Minnesota, from September 11-17.
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Volunteer Faculty Conduct Training for Florida Department of
Children & Family Lawyers |
On March 12, NITA volunteer faculty conducted a one-day training on "Introducing and Accrediting the Expert Witness" for Florida Department of Children & Families lawyers who handle abuse and neglect cases. The program was held in Orlando at the state agency's annual conference.
Presenters Louis Reidenberg and Michael Dale led the one-hour lecture/demonstration at a plenary session and then conducted five-hour long workshops. With eight participants per session, everyone practiced advocacy skills using the NITA "learning-by-doing" methodology.
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First Quarter NITA Advocate |
Congratulations to Nicole Eldredge, NITA alum and attorney at the United States Office of Special Counsel, who received the NITA-Martindale Advocate Designation during first quarter 2010. Anna completed three NITA programs that made her eligible for this prestigious recognition. If you would like to learn how you can become a NITA Advocate or Master Advocate, read more online by clicking here. | |
E. John Wherry, Long-Time NITA Friend |
Special NITA Notes contribution from Program Director William J. Hunt
On March 21, long-time faculty member E. John Wherry passed away. John was a stalwart of the New England program and the Northeast Regional program, where he was a team leader for many years, and taught at the National Session, Teacher Training, and various regional and specialty training programs throughout the world, including being the first person, under NITA auspices, to teach jury trial concepts to practicing attorneys in Armenia.
John was effective, smart, tough, passionate and compassionate, honorable, loyal, fearless, iconoclastic, bawdy, and irreverent. He was quick with a retort and most especially with a helping hand. He embodied all that is good about being a lawyer and a member of the NITA family. He is already sorely missed by his many NITA friends.
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Your Gift Ensures Others Benefit |
There are lawyers who are in need of NITA training but whose organizations are without funds to support their attendance. If NITA made a difference in your career, practice, or community, please consider giving.
Your act of generosity will be magnified by the work of each NITA scholarship recipient who represents the underserved and indigent. As John D. Rockefeller once said, "think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege."
Your support will make a substantial difference for scholarship recipients such as Anne from Legal Aid of SW Ohio who said, "Two days after my return from NITA's program, I could see the difference in my own performance. I was calmer in court, because I was so confident and I used the direct and cross-examination skills I learned and gave the closing argument of my life. The true benefit, however, is that a medically fragile infant is in a safe placement today because I went to a NITA program."
NITA holds more than 200 programs and trains more than 6,000 participants each year, reflecting our tireless commitment to justice and excellence. Students like Anne join the ranks of thousands of NITA alumni who continue the NITA tradition of giving back to their communities both locally and globally.
Cecil Lynn at the October 2009 Legal Services program.
One of the ways to reciprocate the rewards of NITA training is by ensuring that others get to benefit. To make a secure gift online, please visit www.nita.org/donate. We thank you in advance. | |
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The Docket | |
Trial Advocacy | |
Deposition Skills
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| Featured Program: Building Trial Skills, Western |
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Program Director Thomas Leach will lead attorneys through the NITA "learning-by-doing" method for one week starting June 21. Held at San Francisco's Westin on Market Street, participants will perform opening statements and closing arguments, impeachment, direct and cross examinations, and more in a real-life trial setting. Read more about the program and register here. | | Save Time, Maximize Your Skills with Additional Programming | | |
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| Meet with NITA on the Tradeshow Floor |
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NITA representatives will be attending several conferences and tradeshows throughout 2010 including the upcoming Association of Legal Administrators Annual Conference & Exposition and the National Association for Law Placement Annual Education Conference. If you will be in attendance, we hope to see you there!
Association of Legal Administrators
May 3-6
John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center
Boston, MA
Booth number 1300
The Association for Legal Career Professionals (NALP)
April 28 - May 1
Caribe Hilton, San Juan, PR
Booth number 24
| | NEW Law School Catalog |  |
The 2010-2011 NITA Law School Catalog is now available for download from http://www.lexisnexis.com/nita.
While there, take a look around the newly designed publications section of the NITA Web site. We've made navigating NITA's list of growing publications easier than ever.
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| About NITA Notes |
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NITA Notes is published monthly by e-mail and covers topics of interest to the NITA community.
To subscribe to the newsletter or to view archived issues of NITA Notes visit www.nita.org/nitanotes.
To submit story ideas, to write for the Best Practices section of NITA Notes, or to publish a professional announcement, please send an email to [email protected].
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| Connect With NITA Online |
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Join our Facebook group, become a colleague on LinkedIn, follow us on Twitter, or even watch our videos on YouTube! We invite you to participate and share your advocacy experiences with the entire NITA community through social media.
While there are postings of upcoming programs and other events on our social media sites, all publication purchases and program registrations are completed by calling 800-225-NITA or visiting www.nita.org.
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