Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution

Lectures, Seminars, and Presentations

The Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution periodically sponsors lectures, seminars, and presentations by members of the bench, bar, and business community, as well as visiting scholars.

Past events and programs:

• August 3-10, 2002, the Center and the National Trial Institute for Trial Advocacy co-sponsored the Second Annual Smoky Mountain Regional Trial Advocacy Program. This program, which was available for CLE credit, helped practitioners prepare and deliver opening statements and closing arguments, and examine witnesses on direct, cross, and redirect. The courses also helped eliminate the mystery and unnecessary confusion that surround trial evidence. It also taught the strategy, tactics and skills involved in using the latest in presentation technology. In response to popular demand by the previous year's participants, the program was expanded to eight days to provide participants with a final full jury trial.
  
  • September 22, 2000, CLE Seminar, “Communicating with Juries.” Speakers included: Deanne Siemer, Managing Director, Wilsie Colk LLC; Paul Zwier, Director, University of Tennessee College of Law, Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution; Anthony Bocchino, Temple University School of Law; Bethany Dumas, Chair, University of Tennessee Linguistics Program; Elizabeth Loftus, Univ. Of Washington Dept. Of Psychology; George Castelle, Federal Public Defender, West Virginia; and Neil Cohen, University of Tennessee College of Law.

  • March 15, 2001, 2001 Visiting Scholars Spring Symposium on “The New Federal Rules of Civil Procedure: How Will They Affect Litigation Strategy and Tactics?” On December 1, 2000, a number of new federal rules of civil procedure went into effect that affected voluntary discovery obligations, the grounds for obtaining additional discovery, service of process, jurisdiction, venue, mass torts, and ethics and privilege obligations. Congress’s latest attempts to try to standardize procedures that will balance discovery demands against the costs of fairly resolving disputes once again shifts the field upon which litigators play. Professors Tom Rowe (Duke), Linda Mullinex (Texas), John Oakley (Cal Davis), and Morgan Cloud (Emory) discussed the changes that had been made and their likely effect on litigation and the fair resolution of disputes.
  
  • March 14-15, 2002,“Act of Communication: What can Lawyers Learn from Actors?” Presented by Katherine James. Topics covered in this two day seminar ranged from Opening Statements, Connecting with the Jury, Vocal Inflection in Opening and Questioning, to Direct Examination, Cross Examination, Voice and Body and Closing Argument. Katherine James is a partner and founder of the consulting firm Act of Communication and a member of American Society of Trial Consultants. She and her husband and partner, Alan Blumenfeld hold Master of Fine Arts degrees from American Conservatory Theatre. Their seminars draw accolades from trial lawyers across the county (“This makes an incredible difference . . . the ability to tell a story, to communicate on an emotional level, and to really be yourself - that’s not something focused on in the traditional law school education.”) The opportunity to gain new skills and sharpen techniques through their unique presentation puts CLE in a new light.
  
  • April 4, 2002, The Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution at the University of Tennessee College of Law 2002 Visiting Scholars Spring Symposium on “The Ethics 2000 Commission: The Adversary System and the Law Client Relationship. The American Bar Association Commission on Evaluation of the Rules of Professional Conduct (the “Ethics 2000" Commission) was established in the spring of 1997 to undertake a comprehensive study and evaluation of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct in light of developments in the law and in the legal profession since the Rules adoption in 1983. Experience had revealed substantive shortcomings in some rules and lack of clarity in others, and the need to reconcile text and commentary in a number of cases. Moreover, while 38 states and the District of Columbia had by then adopted some version of the Model Rules, there were significant variations in particular rules from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The desirability of a complete review of the rules to promote national uniformity and consistency was underscored by the extensive and innovative interpretive work of The American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers (the “Restatement”), then nearing completion. These changes may have a profound effect on the lawyer client relationship and the role of the advocate. The visiting scholars – Professors Charles Wolfram (Cornell), Carrie Menkel Meadow (Georgetown), and Carl Pierce (Tennessee) and the Ethics 2000 Commission Chair, Chief Justice Norman Veasey of the Delaware Supreme Court – discussed various aspects of the work of the “Ethics 2000" Commission and the effect on Lawyering.

  • April 3, 2003, “Damages in Tort Law.” Recent events combined to make “Damages in Tort Law” an important and timely subject. The events of September 11, 2001 caused the national to concern itself with the economic measure of a person’s life to their survivors, stripped of any concerns about the victim’s fault, run away juries, and lawyer fees. Second, a Republican majority in government after mid term elections puts back into play possible federal tort reform. Tort reform means a renewed look at questions of fair compensation for injuries caused by another. In combination these two events put on the table for national discussion questions concerning 1) whether an alternative system to tort law is appropriate for awarding compensation in certain types of cases, 2) what is the appropriate measure of pain and suffering, 3) whether the collateral source rule ought to be revived or eliminated, 4) what is the appropriate role of a state court in ordering punishment of a corporation whose actions have affected a national class of plaintiffs, and 5) the important and troubling questions of granting certain actors immunity, or alternatively placing caps on damages. Visiting scholars included - Professors Francis McGovern (Duke), Jeffrey O’Connell (Virginia), and Martha Chamallas (Ohio State) and were joined by University of Tennessee’s Founders Scholars Jerry Phillips and Joe King and torts scholars Dean Tom Galligan and Professor Paul Zwier addressed the various aspects of Damages in Tort Law.