Elon Law and Wake Forest Law School co-hosted a National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) faculty training course on Saturday, January 24 at the Elon University School of Law.
The course was taught by Elon visiting Professor of Law Peter Hoffman, long-time NITA trial advocacy instructor Sandra Johnson, who also works in private practice in Raleigh, NC, and Jean Cary, Professor of Law from Campbell University.
Thirteen faculty members from Elon, Wake, University of North Carolina, and North Carolina Central University participated in the program. Workshops focused on effective critiquing skills for direct and cross examination, as well as for review of closing arguments. The event concluded with a broader discussion of issues in advocacy training, including the teaching of case theory and the use of drills and video review in advocacy training.
Professor Hoffman said, “We were pleased to bring together a number of the state’s advocacy teachers to help strengthen the quality of trial advocacy instruction for law students across the region and to build lines of communication among faculty that we hope will lead to future collaboration.”
Four first year law students from Elon Law volunteered in support of the event: David Ahmedi-Torshizi, Chris Anglin, Lucrecia Johnson, and Daniel Lyon.
NITA’s trial skills programs form the foundation of the institute’s learning-by-doing method. These programs, consistently ranked among the best in the world, utilize proven methods of training and mentoring lawyers to be competent and ethical advocates.