Professor H.T. Smith recently lectured at the Second Annual Civil Trial Advocacy Boot Camp.
Held in New Orleans, and sponsored by partnering organizations the National Bar Association and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), the boot camp was led by a faculty of the nation’s leading trial lawyers and designed to instruct on effective, winning trial skills and preparation strategies.
Professor Smith’s two presentations –Opening Statements: Winning at Hello! and Vetting and Preparing Expert Witnesses to Testify – were well-received by the capacity crowd.
“The overflow room of lawyers really appreciated a step-by-step format for giving an effective opening statement,” Professor Smith said. “More importantly, by stressing why to say and do certain things, and not to say and do others, the trial lawyers in attendance received a deep understanding about just how indispensable an ingredient storytelling is for delivering a powerful and persuasive opening.”
The National Bar Association — of which Professor Smith is a past president — was founded in 1925 and is the nation’s oldest and largest national network of predominantly African-American attorneys, judges, law professors, and law students, dedicated to the cause of justice and advancing minorities in the legal profession. The boot camp was held during the NBA’s 93rd Annual Convention & Exhibits at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel.
ABOTA is an organization of premier plaintiff and defense civil trial attorneys dedicated to preserving the civil jury trial and helping younger attorneys achieve a higher level of trial advocacy.
Professor Smith is the founding director of the FIU Law Trial Advocacy Program. He teaches Advanced Trial Advocacy and Trial Advocacy. Reach him at htsmith@fiu.edu.
Professor H.T. Smith Lectures at NATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION/ABOTA Civil Trial Advocacy Boot Camp
