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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sara Musfeldt
Marketing Communications Manager
National Institute for Trial Advocacy
Phone: 877.648.2632; Fax: 720.890.7069
E-mail: smusfeldt@nita.org
NITA Faculty Award Winners Announced
Each year attorneys are recognized for their major contributions to the mission
Louisville, Colo. (June 26, 2008)—Today, the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) announced the winners of the organization’s 2007 faculty awards. There are three awards in all, each recognizing a different NITA community member who has contributed to the NITA mission in an outstanding sense.
“This year’s award winners have all contributed to the teaching of advocacy and the promotion of ethical lawyering,” said Laurence M. Rose, NITA’s president and CEO. “As gifted teachers, they have implemented methods with enthusiasm, good spirit, and unbounded energy, and for that we are grateful.”
All award winners were nominated by other members in the community and then selected by an anonymous committee composed of NITA faculty members and program directors.
John Sonsteng, program director for NITA’s North Central Regional, is the 2007 Honorable Prentice H. Marshall Faculty Award winner for his innovative teaching methods. Sonsteng is a professor at William Mitchell College of Law. He has been a NITA faculty member since 1974.
“William Mitchell Professor Emeritus Bob Oliphant, former NITA executive director, invited me to take a class in Boulder, Colo., at NITA headquarters in 1974 because I was helping organize an advocacy school in Bemidji, Minn., for county attorneys. It changed my life.
“Because of my NITA experience, I was able to teach all over the world. NITA’s outstanding faculty, creative programs, innovation, and excellent learning-by-doing methods have helped us all become better lawyers.”
This award is named for the late Prentice Marshall, one of the original teachers at NITA’s National Session and a fixture on the NITA faculty. He pioneered efforts to support pro bono advocacy and teaching at major law firms and by the judiciary.
Robert Vanderlaan, of Grand Rapids, Mich., is the 2007 Honorable Robert E. Keeton Award winner for his outstanding service as a NITA faculty member. Vanderlaan is the principal attorney at VanderLaan and Associates, P.L.C. He is a nationally-recognized litigator and is also well-versed in alternative dispute resolution. Vanderlaan has been a NITA faculty member since 1983 and focuses much of his time in NITA’s various in-house programs and the National Session, Midwest Regional and the Southern Regional.
This award is named for Bob Keeton, one of the original teachers at the National Session and a long-time contributor to many programs. Keeton authored one of the first texts on trial advocacy and was NITA’s director from 1973 to 1976.
Marcia Levy, NITA’s director of public service education, is the 2007 Robert E. Oliphant Service to NITA Award winner for her long-time dedication to promoting our public service programming. Levy is special counsel (pro bono initiative) at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, N.Y. She has been a NITA faculty member since 1994, and she currently directs NITA’s Building Trial Skills: New York; Deposition Skills: New Jersey; National Disability Rights Network; Equal Justice Works Trial Skills Training; and the Deposition Skills: New York programs.
This award honors Bob Oliphant, NITA’s first administrator, who has taught at the University of Minnesota and William Mitchell law schools for over 35 years.
For more information on the awards, and for a listing of pervious award winners, please visit www.nita.org/awards.
About NITA
The National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) is the nation’s leading provider of legal advocacy skills training. A 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization based in Louisville, Colorado, NITA pioneered the legal skills learning-by-doing methodology over thirty-five years ago and has since remained the ultimate standard in continuing legal education. With an average student/faculty ratio of 4:1 and an all-volunteer faculty drawn from a cadre of judges, law professors, and practicing attorneys, NITA’s multi-day “boot camps” deliver unparalleled professional development for nearly 6,000 attorneys each year. As a public service organization, NITA provides, at little or no cost, the same high-caliber training we provide to the nation’s largest firms to legal service attorneys, public defenders, and attorneys who have chosen to work in child advocacy, tribal law, death penalty defense, immigration, domestic violence, and other vital areas of public interest. NITA is also one of the largest publishers of legal publications. NITA’s references, texts, case files, and audio-visual materials are used by thousands of attorneys and are incorporated into the curriculum at over 85 percent of the nation’s law schools. For more information, visit www.nita.org.
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