Adjunct Professor Richard Mitchell (far right) observes students interview a witness during the Civil Pre-Trial Litigation course during the fall semester.
How do you discover the facts that you need to support your claims? Once you know the facts, how do those facts inform business decisions you and your client might make about a given case? Those are among the questions that a new class, Civil Pre-Trial Litigation, helped prepare students to answer. A third-year capstone course, taught by Professor Andrea Curcio and Richard Mitchell, an adjunct professor and Atlanta litigator, debuted in the fall 2016 semester.
Students plunged into the course from the first moment. Teams of students came to the initial class prepared to interview volunteer “clients” on one of a wide range of claims that included: car wrecks, a slip and fall, a sexual harassment claim and business disputes.
After the client interviews, student lawyer teams presented the case to the class and a discussion ensued about whether this was a case the firm should take, Curcio said. Students were challenged by the professors and one another to consider legal and factual questions as well as financial considerations such as the extent of damages, and potential medical or other liens on any damages recovery.
Professor Andrea Curcio (second from left in the background) observes another group of students interviewing a witness during the Civil Pre-Trial Litigation course during the fall semester.
This exploration of real life issues continued through the second class which required students to engage in statutory interpretation and fact discovery to properly name and serve parties to a lawsuit.
After exposure to some basic factual investigation and business decision-making considerations, the class turned to deposition taking skills. Using three different case files, students developed their abilities to identify the key legal elements and how to question witnesses to develop the facts necessary to support or defeat claims and defenses.
Throughout the deposition skills building process, students turned in written assignments and got feedback on their written and oral performance. They also learned the single most important key to becoming a strong litigator: preparation.
“When we first started with the deposition modules, the practice and procedures seemed like a foreign language, and we were all a bit awkward,” said Blake Fluevog, (J.D. ’17). “I was pleasantly surprised when I watched the Panapto video for my final deposition and realized that it looked eerily similar to what a real deposition looks like,”
Throughout the semester, various practicing lawyers helped critique students, talked about mediation, conducted a class on the law of liens and settlement contract drafting and negotiation, and otherwise engaged with students so that they got feedback and input in virtually every class.
While the class was a tremendous amount of work, students felt the work was worth it. As one student, Betsy Lamarind (J.D. ’17), said, “Although I know I have a lot to more to learn, involvement in this class gave me more confidence in my ability to ask questions and to listen, and I am not ruling out pursuing trial work (which I never imagined myself doing before law school).”