Litigation Skills Program Curriculum

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Miami Law’s Litigation Skills is Unique from Other Law School Programs

Comprehensive, NOT Condensed Training: Our Litigation Skills Program delivers a comprehensive litigation experience that combines pretrial practice and trial practice together with a lecture series in a semester-long course.  Other programs typically teach  trial advocacy as a separate intensive course over a short period of time.  At Miami Law, students learn for an entire semester in small groups from stellar adjunct faculty consisting of federal, state and appellate court judges and local trial attorneys along with professors from the University of Miami Theatre Arts Department.  Our adjunct faculty enables students to learn techniques while providing a direct connection to the local legal community.

Coordinated Curriculum: Our Litigation Skills Program is unique among law schools because both trial and pretrial advocacy are taught in a coordinated approach, utilizing adjunct faculty who teach from an established curriculum.  In addition to their small group pretrial class, each week in their small group trial class students perform trial technique excises that are recorded allowing for immediate feedback as well as future review with an adjunct faculty member.  Our comprehensive curriculum also includes a lecture series that provides students with an immersive exposure to litigation practice.

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Integration of Trial and Pre-trial Skills: A cornerstone of the program is that students learn how the skills of pretrial and trial are interrelated:

  • Questioning techniques are involved both in witness examination and client/witness interviewing;
  • Depositions and discovery are an integral part of trial;
  • The development and use of prior statements are coupled with impeachment techniques;
  • Motion argument is joined with bench trials;
  • Exhibit foundations are developed along with fact investigation.

Experienced and Dedicated Faculty: A full-time faculty member directs the program, and a superb adjunct faculty of more than 65 highly experienced trial attorneys and federal, state and appellate court judges, assist with the lecture series, demonstrations, trial and pre-trial courses.

Immediate Feedback: The skills learned by each student are reinforced through contemporaneous critique by faculty members, which include adjunct faculty and University of Miami Theatre Arts professors.  Additionally, trial technique exercises are recorded to provide students with an opportunity to view their performance along with a faculty member.

Litigation Skills Course Descriptions

Litigation Skills Course Descriptions

Litigation Skills I

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  • Course Description

    The Litigation Skills I course is comprised of a weekly lecture series that includes demonstrations as well as a pretrial workshop and a trial workshop that each meet once a week.  These workshops are taught in small sections consisting of 8 to 12 students. In their pretrial workshop, students may select a civil or criminal section and learn how to litigate a case from start to finish by developing a full range of pretrial practice skills such as: client interviewing, pleading, deposition and discovery, investigation, arguing motions and negotiation/mediation. In their trial workshop, students receive instruction in trial advocacy skills including: jury selection, opening statements, direct and cross examination, objections, exhibits and closing argument.

    Mid-semester, students conduct a bench trial  and the course culminates in a highly anticipated Final Trial where students bring together all the skills they have acquired throughout the semester and conduct a full mock trial before real jurors. After the trial, students receive feedback from the both the faculty and guest judges.

    Litigation Skills I is open to all second and third year law students who have successfully completed Evidence and uses a pass/fail/honors evaluation. Honors grades are determined based on student participation and performance in classroom simulations, as well as performance in a mid-semester bench trial and the final trial.

    Students who do particularly well are given awards and scholarships.

  • Registration Procedure

    The Litigation Skills department has a separate registration process that is completed earlier than regular law course registration. Students interested in taking Litigation Skills should visit the Lit Skills Course Registration in Courses & Registration area of the web.

Litigation Skills II

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  • Course Description

    Litigation Skill II is a three-credit course in advanced litigation where students perfect their pretrial and trial skills with a concentration on jury selection, negotiation, expert witness testimony and multi-party or multi-claim lawsuits. Cases used by Litigation Skills II courses include:

    • Sexual harassment;
    • Personal injury;
    • White-collar crime;
    • Murder;
    • Conspiracy

    Students have the option to take either Advanced Business Litigation Skills II or Advanced Criminal Litigation Skills II. All courses are taught by leading trial lawyers and judges. Litigation Skills II is open to students who have successfully completed Litigation Skills I.

Litigation Skills Externship Program

Miami Law's students who complete Litigation Skills I have the opportunity to select a field placement in our externship program in which they are certified by the Supreme Court of Florida (or other jurisdictions) to engage in the supervised practice of law. Miami Law's Litigation Skills Externship Program provides students with the opportunity to apply the trial and pre-trial skills learned during the Litigation Skills I semester in a live client setting.

Students may represent clients in criminal and civil matters and argue cases in Circuit, County, and Federal courts or other tribunals under the supervision of practicing attorneys. Externs are placed locally, nationally and internationally.

Litigation Skills Externship Handbook

Successful completion of Litigation Skills I is a prerequisite for the Externship. Students must also become Certified Legal Interns authorized by the Supreme Court of Florida or other jurisdictions. Obtaining a Florida Clearance to work as a Florida Certified Legal Intern takes approximately 120 days to complete.  You must register for clearance even if you do not intend to take the Florida Bar Exam. Information can be found on the Florida Board of Bar Examiners page.

Students can elect to participate in a future externship program when they register for Litigation Skills I or can enroll during regular registration. All externships require completion of at least 220 hours of work at the field placement. Students also attend a weekly online Clinical Placement and Theory Seminar providing training in advanced skills and professional responsibility. Although externships are available during the regular semester after Litigation Skills I, many students choose to do a summer field placement.

Past Externship Program Placements - Students have  gained “hands-on” experience at government agencies and legal aid organizations, locally, nationally and internationally, including:

  • State Attorney's Offices
  • Public Defender's Offices
  • County Attorney's Offices
  • City Attorney's Offices
  • Attorney General Offices
  • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
  • ACLU
  • EEOC
  • Legal Aid (local and national offices)
  • Department of Homeland Security

Juror Registration

Register and participate as a juror in the Litigation Skills final trials.

For Information:

Contact the Litigation Skills Program
Phone: 305-284-2303
Email: litskill@law.miami.edu
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