California MCLE - Trial Skills Courses
This is a listing of Trial Skills CLE Courses for California. Please make your selection below of California CLE courses. Click "Add To Cart" to purchase Individual CLE Courses. For more information about a particular CLE course, click on the "More Info" link. Click the "Preview" button to view a short preview of the course.
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Legal Writing: Striving for Clarity
This CLE program (“Striving for Clarity”) will discuss steps to achieve clarity in legal writing. The presenter, Judge Bob Bacharach, will draw on examples from psycholinguistics, oratory, and advocacy to illustrate techniques to enhance clarity in legal writing. The main topics will involve: creating context before detail, using simple language, linking the information in your sentences, and conveying the information in manageable chunks. In discussing the creation of con... More Info
$501General Credit -
How to Conduct a Deposition in a Pandemic
The pre-trial deposition stage is a critical point in any litigation. Indeed many personal injury and commercial cases are either won or lost during the deposition phase. Our panel of experts provides practical guidance, while teaching basic deposition skills, techniques for handling commonly encountered problems, how to use depositions at trial, how to seek rulings from a trial judge, and what you need to know about conducting depositions during the pandemic. A demonstration of how to conduct... More Info
$1252.5General Credits -
Panning for Gold: Making Preliminary Hearings Count
Preliminary and other pretrial evidentiary hearings are excellent opportunities to learn more about the prosecution case, test defense legal theories, and lock in the witness’s story. Just because we often lose these hearings on the merits does not mean that they cannot help us. It is important to think about the goals for the hearing, each witness, and each topic that will be covered in the hearing. The goals dictate our strategy and tactics at the hearing, especially our choice of questionin... More Info
$501General Credit -
Writing and Editing Tips
This highly practical presentation is designed to immediately help participants improve the quality of their legal writing. Marilena David-Martin takes us through practices designed to improve the readability, credibility and clarity of written expression by providing tips on how to make good choices on formatting issues, language choices, sequence, and analysis. She also provides great suggestions for improving the quality of the editing process. More Info
$501General Credit -
COVID-19 and Due Process
This CLE program will focus on due process issues related to litigating cases during the COVID pandemic. Topics can include issues with jury selection, public access to courts, witness testimony, use of remote/video testimony, speedy trial, and best health practices in offices and in court. The presentation is designed to be modular and specific areas can be expanded or removed based on other presentations. More Info
$350.75General Credit -
Batson v. Kentucky and the Continuing Challenge of Racial Discrimination in Jury Selection
Prosecutors continue to strike people of color in jury selection, resulting in all-white juries even in jurisdictions with diverse populations that include many people of color. Prosecutors give trivial reasons for their strikes, often reading them off lists of “approved race-neutral reasons.” Judges routinely approve the reasons. There is a growing recognition that Batson has completely failed to prevent discrimination. Some states have adopted other approaches to prevent discriminati... More Info
$501General Credit -
Attorney Relationships and Challenges with Them
Andrea Lyon and Ashley Nunn speak from their perspectives of lawyer and investigator and discuss ways that attorneys and investigators can improve their working relationship for the benefit of their client. Topics addressed include: having a team that brings diversity of perspectives, humility and awareness of blind spots and an intentional willingness to learn and understand the client’s perspective the importance of regular, timely, clear and open communication among the team me... More Info
$501General Credit -
25 is the New 18: Protecting Emerging Adult Clients
This CLE presentation will share the innovations in Maryland to protect emerging adult clients. The Maryland Office of the Public Defender has begun a pilot project to create a specialized unit representing “emerging adult” clients. Emerging adult clients are 18-25 years old and are over-represented in our criminal legal system and prisons despite the science indicating they are less culpable, more capable of growth and change, and still maturing neurologically. Recent research shows t... More Info
$501General Credit -
Beyond Storytelling: Using a Story Lens to Improve Fact Investigation, Case Theory, Evidentiary Arguments & Preservation
As trial lawyers, storytelling is our most powerfully persuasive advocacy tool. Stories connect us to one another, help us to understand events, and solve problems. The instinct to communicate through story is so deeply and universally ingrained in the human condition that it seems encoded in our DNA. Yet we sometimes miss opportunities to communicate persuasively because we get lost in the weeds of facts, evidence and legal issues. Storytelling can be used at every stage of your rep... More Info
$501General Credit -
Virtual Civil Jury Trial and Advanced Zoom Techniques: A Guideline for Remote Proceedings
Join this panel as they present a three part lecture outlining the guidelines during remote proceedings. The first part will address advanced Zoom techniques from initiation through bench trial. The second part will discuss the tools need to successfully complete a virtual civil jury trial. Lastly, the panel consisting of Lawyers and a Judge will come together in a group discussion to discuss their recent participation in a virtual civil jury trial. More Info
$751.5General Credits