Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professor Francis Allegra

J.D. Seminar 1042 | 1 credit hours

“It is not what you know, it is what you can prove,” an old litigation maxim states. Numerous studies and commentators report that, if properly employed, courtroom technology can make it easier for lawyers to prove their case – while also producing substantial savings in trial time and associated costs. Taught by a Federal judge, this course focuses primarily on trial preparation and especially on the pretrial work that is essential to good trial presentations and examinations. It covers all of the equipment now commonly used in courtrooms and focuses on how that equipment may be best used in performing common trial tasks – preparing and managing exhibits, opening and closing arguments, arguing motions, and examining witnesses. It also spends time considering some of the legal issues raised by the use of electronics in the courtroom, including questions raised under the Federal Rules of Evidence.

This is a practical class not intended as an exhaustive treatment of any of the subjects involved in the use of technology in the courtroom. Its central objective is to provide students with some basic information and helpful methods that will allow them to incorporate the use of courtroom technology into their litigative practices. Grading will be based on class participation (25 percent) and a final project (75 percent).

Prerequisites: Evidence and Civil Procedure.

WEEK ONE COURSE. This seminar will meet for one week only, on the following days: Monday, January 6, 2014, through Friday, January 10, 2014, 2:45 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. This course is mandatory pass/fail and will count toward the 7 credit pass/fail limit for J.D. students. Attendance at all class sessions is mandatory and all enrolled students must attend the first class in order to remain enrolled. Students on the wait list must attend the first class in order to be admitted off the wait list. Enrolled students will have until Monday, January 6, 2014, 5:00 p.m. to drop this course.