Litigation Lab

Litigation Lab is a new concept in legal education.

What makes this course unique? Practicing attorneys pay to workshop an open case with a small class of law students. Class sessions provide students with professional skills experience and offer lawyers new viewpoints on case issues.

Students

Litigation Lab is a three-credit hour collaborative skills course in which students actively work with lawyers to prepare cases for trial.

Classes of approximately 12 students work with a different attorney on a new case each week. Students learn to analyze and present the persuasive elements of a case including background, approach, theme and logic. Through class preparation, peer collaboration and student-attorney class work, they develop and improve essential teamwork skills.

Students also develop project management skills in Litigation Lab. Prior to the session, a student project director contacts the lawyer to explain how the course works and to gather case materials for class preparation. Students review the lawyer’s materials, summarize depositions or other data, and search for other useful resources such as Web sites, standards, and legal and factual information.

During class, students discuss and debate the most challenging case issues with the presenting attorney. Students may be asked to offer their reactions to clients, exhibits or videos; to answer case questionnaires; or to help write jury instructions. Students often present arguments for and against hotly contested propositions. They also help prepare lawyers for appellate argument or motions with rounds of questions.

Litigation Lab sessions are fast-paced and intense. Students and lawyers frequently linger after class to continue talking about the case. After each session, the student project director collects additional thoughts, comments and materials from the class to send to the lawyer, and later reports back to the class on the outcome of the case.

Litigators

Litigation Lab offers attorneys new perspectives on their cases through ideas and information generated in the class session.

Attorneys appreciate students asking “the big questions” about their cases—ones that might not have occurred to them. Students help lawyers think about themes and strategies, as well as discover details in exhibits and films that may have gone unnoticed. Students also give objective feedback on how clients or witnesses may appear to the judge and jury. Attorneys credit Litigation Lab for helping them achieve successful case outcomes.

Lawyers take away a new sense of energy and excitement about their cases, and many participate in additional sessions. Lawyers present a wide variety of cases, including insurance and medical defense and plaintiff tort work, product liability, birth injury, wrongful death, nursing home, motor vehicle, homeowners, tax, probate, employment, insurance coverage, appellate and intellectual property.

Lawyers also value the viewpoints of DePaul’s diverse student body. The mix of cultural and ethnic backgrounds and the variety of occupational and life experiences that students bring to Litigation Lab offers lawyers new perspectives about their cases. They also find that the technical background of some students helps with medical, engineering and accounting issues involved in some cases.

Trial Consultants

Students and lawyers benefit from the participation of nationally known trial consultants like Dr. Pat McEvoy of Zagnoli McEvoy Foley LLC in Chicago, Dr. David A. Ball of Miller Malekpour and Ball in Durham, North Carolina, Katherine James and Allen Blumenfeld of ACT of Communication in Los Angeles, Eric Oliver of MetaSystems in Canton, Michigan, and Adrienne LeFevre of LeFevre Trial Consulting in North Aurora, Illinois. These talented consultants are experts in many areas of case preparation and presentation and they frequently work on high profile cases.

Networking

Litigation Lab is a great place for students, lawyers and trial consultants to make professional connections. Students form associations with the lawyers they meet in class, and lawyers see the class as a great opportunity to meet enthusiastic students who will soon be practicing alongside them.

Confidentiality and Conflicts of Interest

Prior to each session, students are screened for conflicts of interest and sign confidentiality agreements, which acknowledge their understanding that each case is never to be discussed with anyone outside the session.

Cost and Credit

Lawyers pay $350 for a two-hour class session, which generally includes the participation of a trial consultant. Lawyers also receive MCLE credit for their preparation and presentation time.

Director

Mike Panter is the founding director of Litigation Lab and an adjunct professor at DePaul University College of Law. A DePaul law graduate (’78) and an experienced trial lawyer, he has managed his own litigation firm for 28 years.

Contact

Mike Panter
mpanter@depaul.edu
312-362-5737