September is Suicide Prevention month. Last year at this time, I wrote and spoke about my father’s suicide, about the statistics facing the legal community in regard to mental health. I highlighted some of the initiatives that firms, bar associations, and individuals are doing to change the environment and increase la...

On August 8 - 9, NITA had the opportunity to work alongside the Florida Guardian Ad Litem Foundation attorneys for a public service course, training 13 attorneys on deposition skills. The course was led by NITA Program Director, Bill Elward, who has been a longtime NITA faculty member. Elward stated, "The attorneys at Flori...

NITA's courses encompass tried and true trial techniques that work to improve advocacy skills for attorneys of all experience levels. Recently, we spoke with three NITA graduates, John Connell, Whitney O'Byrne, and Andy Wilson whose experiences, although differing in course location and type, all had a positive impact with...

On August 1 - 3, an esteemed group of NITA faculty led by Program Director, Cary Bricker, teamed up with the Legal Aid Association of California (LAAC) for a deposition skills course in San Diego, CA. This three-day course trained forty-six attorneys on skills such as basic questioning techniques, information gathering, usi...

In his 2017 critique of the judicial system, The Federal Judiciary: Strengths and Weaknesses, retired Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner wrote, “[B]ad writing is a related bane of the judiciary, the literary culture in America being either dead already, or rapidly dying from the rapid rise in texting and other forms...

For many years now, NITA has teamed up with the South Dakota chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) for a Teacher Training course, followed by either a Trial Academy or a Deposition Academy. This year, the Deposition Academy was held in Vermillion, SD at the USD Law School, July 18–19. According to T...

In just a few weeks, NITA will head to Belfast to partner with the Law Society of Northern Ireland to hold the Advanced Advocacy for Solicitors public service course. This year is especially exciting, as we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of this course's inception. To express our gratitude to the Law Society and NITA...

The U.S. just celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of landing on the moon. I’m in awe, thinking about the risk and innovation involved. Yes, there was the actual launch, but it was preceded by years of research, prototyping, failure, safety concerns, and technology. And by people—scientists and engineers and math...

As part of NITA's international public service programming efforts, a group of esteemed NITA teachers including Board Members, Judge Ann Williams and Geraldine Sumter, along with NITA Faculty, Judge Michael Washington, Stephanie Ledesma, and Judge Margo Brodie, traveled to Namibia for a training on trial advocacy skills wit...

It is always inspiring to read the testimonials of NITA course participants and truly understand how attending the course has helped in their career with confidence, added skills, and overall their professional development. Recently, I got in touch with Lindsey G. Smith, Executive Director of North Carolina's Innocence Inqu...