Litigation and Training Resources

General Resources

• Stetson Law School's Advocacy Resource Center--a tremendous collection of video lectures and presentations on all aspects of litigation. Free for students, judges, and government attorneys.
• When the Interests of Municipalities and Their Officials Diverge: Municipal Dual Representation and Conflicts of Interest in § 1983 Litigation, Mishra, Dina, Yale L. J. (2009). Well-researched article.

Pleading Resources

• Florida Litigation Guide--an outstanding outline of elements of causes of action and defenses

Discovery Resources

• ALM experts This website provides information, including CVs, about experts all over the world.
• RN Experts This service is run by a former JMH nurse and will recommend nursing experts tailored to your case.
• How to Vet an Expert
• Deciding Whom to Depose
• Digging up Dirt on Experts
• Florida Bar Trial Section's Handbook on Discovery Practices
• How to Take an Out-of-State Deposition
• The Opponent's Expert: Preparing for the Most Important Deposition in the Case, 59 Fed'n Def. & Corp. Couns. Q.145 (2008)
• The Defense Deposition Atlas. A compendium of deposition questions compiled from over 3,000 psychological and neurological claims.

E-Discovery Resources

• Electronic Discovery Best Practices. A lawyer-centric work flow model created by R. Losey & other attorneys.
• EDRM (Electronic Discovery Reference Model). Useful guidelines, standards and resources for electronic discovery
• Sedona Conference. Publishes many white papers generally recognized as standard-setting in e-discovery.
• Ethics Opinions regarding Metadata
• Discovery team
  • Ralph Losey's links.
• Managing Discovery of Electronic Information: A Pocket Guide for Judges (Second Edition 2012)
• Ball in Your Court.

Trial Resources

General

• ABA Trial Standards
• ABA Litigation Section
• Advanced Trial Handbook by Ervin Gonzalez
• Art of Cross-Examination The classic text by Francis Wellman, still worth reading.
• Cross-Examination Links--from James Elkins (WVU) Art of Advocacy page
• D. Shane Read's "16 Books to Read if you Want to Become a Better Trial Lawyer." Mr. Read himself wrote a great book, Winning at Trial, which I highly recommend. I do not, however, recommend Read for anything having to do with math--despite the title, his list contains 21 books!
• Direct Examination Links--from James Elkins (WVU) Art of Advocacy page
• Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Trial Procedure and Tactics--by James Tanford, Indiana University School of Law
• Famous Trials--Excellent source of materials--including, e.g., opening statement and closing argument transcripts--from famous trials throughout history.
• Jury Verdict Research
• Mark Lanier Lecture at Harvard Law (12/08): Great war stories from a master litigator.
• Principles and Pitfalls of Preservation of Error, by Jack Reiter, Fla. B. J. Nov. 2004 at 32.
• The Fifth Amendment Privilege in Civil Litigation: What Is the Practical Effect of an Adverse Inference?
• Skills Curriculum--Loyola University--Good set of videos on developing a theory of the case.
• Story-Telling Links--from James Elkins (WVU) Art of Advocacy page
• Theme Development in Trial Practice
• Trial Agreements--An unique site with complete pretrial and trial agreements.

Voir Dire

• 16 Simple Rules for Better Jury Selection--a great article! Must read!
• Deliberations
• Florida Jury Selection Blog
• How to document the jury selection process
• Juror Misconduct--good Fla. Bar J. article
• Voir Dire Links--from James Elkins (WVU) Art of Advocacy page

Opening and Closing

• Closing Argument Links--from James Elkins (WVU) Art of Advocacy page
• Closing Argument of Larry Mackey in United States v. McVeigh, No. 96-CR-68 (D. Colo. May 29, 1997)
• Opening Statement Links--from James Elkins (WVU) Art of Advocacy page
• Opening Statment of Joseph Hartzler in United States v. McVeigh, No. 96-CR-68 (D. Colo. Apr. 24, 1997).

Jury Instructions

• Florida Standard Jury Instructions--Criminal
• Florida Standard Jury Instructions--Civil
• Eleventh Circuit Pattern Jury Instructions--Civil and Criminal
• Communicating with Juries: Nice article on how to draft understandable jury instructions

Fees and Costs

• Significant Attorney's Fees Cases 2013. Nice outline by Attorneys Fee expert James Hauser.

Legal Advocacy Links

• Introduction to Basic Legal Citation by Peter Martin
• Blue Book
• University of Chicago Maroon Book
• Typography for Lawyers
• Painting with Print
• To Go Boldly Without the Bold (and Italics and Underlining and All Caps)--another great article by Dr. Opipari.
• Seventh Circuit Requirements and Suggestions for Typography in Briefs and Other Papers
• Art of the Reply Brief--links to several good articles.
• Barger on Legal Writing--"A web site of writing, research, and advocacy resources for law students, " according to Prof. Barger, but there's plenty here for practitioners, too.
• Be Wise--Revise--a good approach to revising and proofing your document.
• Beyond Redlines And Spell-Check: Proofreading Tips From The Dark Ages, by John Paschetto
• Bryan Garner's Interviews. Bryan Garner has videotaped some 200 interviews with federal and state judges, law-firm partners, and professional writers on the topic of persuasion. Full versions of the Garner interviews with eight Supreme Court Justices are available here, as are shorter video clips from other interviews.
  • Transcripts of the Interviews
• Counting Each Shot: Techniques for Emphasis and De-emphasis: Excellent article by Raymond Ward contrasting styles of Stevens and Scalia writing about the same case.
• CiteGenie Copies text from Westlaw with proper citation form
• Document Design--Part I, by Gerald Lebovits
• Document Design--Part II, by Gerald Lebo
• A Few Tips for Better Briefs --a good article by Mark Painter
• Five Ways to Write Like John Roberts--excellent article by Ross Guberman
• The Great Escape: How to Draft Exculpatory Clauses That Limit or Extinguish Liability
• LawProse--a great collection of interviews with Supreme Court Justices on legal writing
• Making Your Case-- excerpt from The Art of Persuading Judges by Justice Antonin Scalia and Bryan Garner
• What Attorneys Can Learn from Children’s Literature, and Other Lessons in Style--excellent article on writing style by Benjamin R. Opipari.

Training Resources

• Florida Bar CLER Forms--including application for accreditation, lecture credit, etc.
• ABA CLE- ABA members can register for free monthly online CLEs. The programs generally run from 12 noon to 1:30p, which amounts to 2 hours of CLE credit in Florida.