Dabbling in Criminal Law?

The Illinois Trial Practice Weblog is mostly concerned with civil cases, something that unfortunately isn't obvious from the title. But even civil lawyers sometimes dabble in criminal cases. In fact, my longest trial experience ever was a three-month criminal trial in Greenbelt, Maryland, back in 1995 I was working for a large defense firm. I was the "second chair," as they say. I lived in a Marriott and had a heck of a time, especially when the jury returned a verdict in our clients' favor.

Admittedly, I haven't returned to criminal law since. If I did, though, I'd probably take a look at the CCJA's Criminal Pretrial and Trial Practice website. Here's how the CCJA describes its mission--

The Center for Criminal Justice Advocacy was formed as a free, nonpartisan, grassroots training resource to assist new lawyers in becoming competent criminal trial practitioners. Our public service mission is to provide newly licensed sole practitioners and prosecutors, who toil daily in criminal courtrooms across our country, with a body of materials that support a structured analytical approach to planning, preparing, and conducting a persuasive and convincing criminal trial. 

On this site, you will find techniques for honing your pretrial and courtroom presentations. All the pages are information-rich with skills you can put into practice. Feel free to explore the thousands of hyperlinks to other web-based sources, providing a world of practice enhancing data at your fingertips.

There are plenty of examples on the website, including a number of sample opening statements that will please the readers who've said my "Notes on Opening Statement" is lacking in this sort of concrete detail.

I highly recommend the site for criminal law. Now, where are the similar sites for civil cases?

Comments

[JR]

Evan: Thanks for the tip. I hadn't seen the CCJA website before, and, as a greenhorn lawyer practicing criminal law, I am always looking for whatever help I can get.

[Carolyn Elefant]

Evan,

Thanks for a fabulous link. I handled criminal cases when I started my firm to get courtroom experience and the DC Public Defenders' Office offered a fantastic and FREE 2 day training, and put out a $60 book, which together covered some of what the CCJA site does. This is really going to go a long way towards improving the quality of legal representation and it will encourage more new solos who want to get trial experience to sign up for court appointed cases.