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The Bartlit Center offers an extensive curriculum covering both the theory and practice of litigation, with courses ranging from the beginning of the process (Civil Discovery) to its ultimate conclusion (Advanced Trial Practice).
Introduction to Trial Advocacy
The Introduction to Trial Advocacy courses provide students with the training necessary for effective performance in the courtroom. Bartlit Center faculty assemble a team of leading judges and practitioners who observe and comment on the work of students as they present opening statements, direct and cross examinations, and closing arguments. Students also conduct simulated bench and jury trials under the supervision and observation of clinical faculty and skilled trial lawyers.
Evidence
Through the Bartlit Center, students enroll in integrated evidence and trial advocacy courses. The issues discussed in the evidence course are timed to coincide with the problems assigned in the trial advocacy course. As a result, students are able to see how rules discussed in the evidence course are actually enforced in the courtroom and how those evidentiary rules influence the way in which argument and witness examinations are conducted.
The exercises in evidence and trial advocacy are also tied to the problems assigned in the ethics and professional responsibility course, making apparent the important relationship between ethics, professional responsibility, and trial strategy.
Ethics
The Bartlit Center Legal Ethics course is coordinated with Introduction to Trial Advocacy and its companion Evidence course. In this section, students participate in simulated interviews, counseling sessions, negotiations, and trial exercises that present central issues in professional responsibility. Students defend and prosecute simulated cases against attorneys; other students deliberate on the cases and present opinions. The course covers the traditional range of topics in Professional Responsibility, with an emphasis on those that arise in relation to litigation and negotiation.
Advanced Trial Practice
This course is an advanced study of trial practice, intended for students who are seriously considering careers as courtroom advocates. Students perform weekly simulation exercises, focusing on advanced concepts in the trial of civil and criminal cases. Issues include trial theory development, expert testimony, complex trials, and advanced examination techniques. The course is taught by a team of experienced practitioners and judges.
Civil Discovery
This seminar addresses the civil discovery process from a practice-oriented perspective. Using the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as an organizational focus, the seminar addresses strategic and ethical considerations in the use and planning of the various tools of discovery: interrogatories, document requests, depositions and requests to admit. The seminar is led by Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier along with eleven adjunct professors drawn from a variety of practice experiences. Class sessions typically involve both a presentation from one of the faculty members on a discovery topic, and an opportunity for students to try their hands at conducting case planning sessions, drafting discovery requests and responses, taking and defending mock depositions, and preparing and arguing motions on selected discovery issues.
Advanced Topics in Litigation
This class covers a series of advanced topics in litigation practice. Taking students beyond the substantive legal principles governing litigation and investigations, the course explores practical strategies for recognizing and addressing issues that arise in these matters. We focus on four topics that are of increasing importance in the modern practice of complex litigation: (1) project management in discovery; (2) government and internal investigations; (3) scientific and economic experts; and (4) technology and intellectual property. These areas raise some of the most interesting and challenging problems in complex litigation.
Trial Technology
This course is designed to cover the ins and outs of using technology in each stage of litigation - discovery, case management and at trial. The course will focus on the fundamentals of high-tech courtroom presentations. It will combine faculty lecture and demonstrations with student on-your-feet exercises. Students prepare arguments and witness examinations incorporating computer-aided presentations. Lectures, discussions and required reading materials cover such topics as "storytelling through visuals," "using the high-tech courtroom," "the new jury," "the development of the use of technology in the practice of law," and "evidentiary issues raised in the electronic world."
Narrative Structures
This course compares the narrative techniques of lawyers, novelists, journalists, and film directors. In particular, the course explores the devices used by lawyers to tell stories as the means of persuasion in the trial of cases, in comparison to the approaches of "non-adversarial" narrators. We will study the process by which a trial lawyer takes raw material, as it might be presented or perceived by a client, and shapes it into a coherent narrative through a process of inclusion and omission. This craft has been roundly criticized from both the right and the left. Conservative lawyer-bashers complain that lawyers teach their clients how to lie and dissemble. Critical theorists, in contrast, complain that lawyers stifle the true voices of their clients in favor of the hegemonic narratives required by the law. The class will consider whether both criticisms may be wrong.
Ethics and Memory: Lives in Court
The class will attempt to answer a perennial question, can a good lawyer be a good person?, through an examination of lawyer memoirs. We often study legal ethics through the use of hypothetical problems that are intended to raise vexing issues for practicing lawyers. Even in sophisticated simulations (such as those used at Northwestern), however, it is nearly impossible to duplicate the exigencies, pressures, and conflicting demands experienced by contemporary lawyers. Lawyer (and judge) memoirs may be the means to bridge this gap, providing an opportunity to explore the ways in which individuals assume roles, make compromises, and seek solutions to daily problems in law firms and in courts. Of course, most memoirs are self-serving (when they are not self-aggrandizing), so they will have to be read with much skepticism. But that will be revealing as well, as we will be able to consider the most common rationalizations that are used to excuse, and sometimes glorify, questionable choices and conduct.
The Strategy of Litigation
This course is designed for third year students who are interested in pursuing a career in civil litigation. The instructor has been a civil litigator for thirty-four years, has tried more than seventy cases to verdict, and recently has represented defendants in the Cendant, Enron, Parrnaiat, Global Crossing and Oracle securities fraud class actions. The course is designed to be a practical, real world approach to discussing and analyzing the strategy of civil litigation. Topics include picking a theme for the prosecution or defense of a case, developing a strategy for discovery, managing risks, negotiating the settlement of a complex case, as well as being effective with clients. A number of guest speakers will appear during the course. The General Counsel of a Big 4 accounting firm or major corporation will give the general counsel's view of big stakes litigation. The CEO of a large public company will provide their view of managing the risks of bet-the-company cases. A federal district court judge will give their view of high quality advocacy, what works and what doesn't work. A jury consultant will provide their view of whether such a consultant can help you win a big case. Similarly, a seasoned expert witness will provide their view of being an expert witness in major litigation. Students will receive a realistic perspective on what challenges are presented by big-stakes commercial litigation.
Intellectual Property Litigation
This class is designed to teach both analytical and practical skills for handling intellectual property disputes, using an imaginary fact pattern that takes the student-attorneys from the beginning of the case when the client first walks through the door up through a summary judgment motion. Along the way, student-attorneys will gain hands-on experience in dealing with pre-trial considerations (including pre-filing considerations and preparing cease and desist letters), initial pleadings in federal court, discovery, and preparation of a summary judgment motion. Student-attorneys will focus on both written and oral skills as part of this course. During the first half of the course, weekly assignments will focus on short writing assignments. During the second half of the course, emphasis will be on developing oral skills, such as questioning witnesses in a deposition. Throughout the course, where relevant, student-attorneys will compare and contrast district court proceedings from administrative agency proceedings. The primary objective of the course is to prepare students for the types of assignments they would likely receive during their first few years of practice as intellectual property lawyers.
The Strategy of Litigation
This course is designed for third year students who are interested in pursuing a career in civil litigation. The instructor has been a civil litigator for thirty-four years, has tried more than seventy cases to verdict, and recently has represented defendants in the Cendant, Enron, Parrnaiat, Global Crossing and Oracle securities fraud class actions. The course is designed to be a practical, real world approach to discussing and analyzing the strategy of civil litigation. Topics include picking a theme for the prosecution or defense of a case, developing a strategy for discovery, managing risks, negotiating the settlement of a complex case, as well as being effective with clients. A number of guest speakers will appear during the course. The General Counsel of a Big 4 accounting firm or major corporation will give the general counsel's view of big stakes litigation. The CEO of a large public company will provide their view of managing the risks of bet-the-company cases. A federal district court judge will give their view of high quality advocacy, what works and what doesn't work. A jury consultant will provide their view of whether such a consultant can help you win a big case. Similarly, a seasoned expert witness will provide their view of being an expert witness in major litigation. Students will receive a realistic perspective on what challenges are presented by big-stakes commercial litigation.
Pretrial Litigation
In this two credit class, we will examine strategies, procedures, and simulations dealing with pre-trial proceedings, with a particular focus on obtaining preliminary relief and motion practice. The vast majority of civil cases never proceed to trial - much less to a jury. Rather, most cases are resolved either through settlement or through dispositive motion practice. To that end, this course will focus on the pre-trial activities and motion practice that most law firms and governmental agencies will expect junior attorneys to undertake upon graduating from law school. During class, students will study the law and strategies applicable to filing various types of court pleadings, and apply these concepts to real-world litigation scenarios and cases. Among other things, students will draft motions, present brief oral arguments, and engage in pre-trial negotiations and other simulations with adversaries (i.e., classmates). Specifically, students will draft a complaint, an answer, a motion for a preliminary injunction, a motion in limine, and a summary judgment brief. Through course materials, lectures, and discussions, students will garner the tools and insights necessary to perform these real world litigation tasks.
