The Bootcamp is a hands-on trial skills seminar, limited to 75 attendees, and is designed for young trial lawyers (under 40 years old) who are kicking, scratching, and clawing to get in the courtroom and try more cases
The general structure of the Bootcamp is FILM. LECTURE. PRACTICE.

In the past, the advice given to young, ambitious trial lawyers was always – if you want to learn how to try cases, go to the courthouse and watch trial lawyers in trial. Well, Courtroom View Network (www.CVN.com) has gone around the country video-taping the greatest trial lawyers in the country in some of their biggest trials. CVN’s trial library is one of the greatest, most powerful educational tools for trial lawyers that has ever existed. Not only does CVN videotape the trial, but they also capture the exhibits being displayed to the jury, and you can take screenshots of those slides. This is an amazing tool that we all should take advantage of.

Bootcamp attendees will be given free access to the CVN trial library for 2 weeks in advance of the Bootcamp and will be “required” to watch selected videos of great trial lawyers in trial (e.g., Mark Lanier’s opening/closing/cross exams in the recent Talc trial; Karen Koehler’s opening in the Duck Boat case; Nick Rowley and Courtney Rowley doing a voir dire; John Romano’s cross examination of an expert in a TBI case; Keith Mitnik, etc.).

Some of the greatest trial lawyers of our generation will be giving long-form lectures on voir dire, opening statements, cross examination, closing arguments, and general trial advocacy skills (see the full agenda for details). Because we have limited the Bootcamp to only 75 attendees, the lectures will be interactive and you will be able to ask questions and engage with the speakers. On Sunday we will have a 2-hour panel discussion on cutting edge ways for trial attorneys to obtain Electronically Stored Information in discovery and to lay a foundation and get ESI admitted at trial.

On Saturday and Sunday, we will have small group workshop sessions. Each group will have 7-8 attendees and 1 veteran trial attorney “coach.” The attendees will perform 10-15 minutes of an opening/closing from a case they are currently working on—and will get immediate feedback from the veteran trial attorney “coach.” The more you put into this the more you will get out of it. So please come prepared! We will have a TV set up in each of the breakout rooms so you will be able to—and we strongly suggest that you do—use the TV for your presentations (i.e., displaying pictures or documents or using a PowerPoint/Keynote/Prezzi presentation). Hand-held demonstrative exhibits are also highly encouraged.

On Friday night we will have “Dinner and Drinks with the Veterans,” during which we will have intimate and interactive conversations, discussing topics like “What it means to be a trial lawyer?”—and “How can young lawyers try more cases?”