It’s a Major Commitment’: Feedback Ensures Trial Training Programs Deliver Value
Continuing to build on a training tradition more than a decade old, two locally based firms put their fledgling attorneys’ skills to the test before introducing them to the realities of the courtroom, staging trials and coaching their novice litigators through the process.
Philadelphia-founded Blank Rome and Marshall Dennehey both offered a window into their mock trial training programs, a targeted investment in upper-level associates and, for Marshall Dennehey, newly appointed partners preparing to handle their own cases.
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Despite the costs associated with putting on the programs, their duration is a testament to their effectiveness: Blank Rome has been running its trial academy for just under 15 years, while Marshall Dennehey’s program was born nearly 20 years ago. Proponents of the programs cite specific elements, including robust feedback, as keys to their success.
“The thing I appreciated about this program was it was a safe place to make mistakes and really cut our teeth on the components of the trial,” said Blank Rome white-collar defense associate and program participant Alexandra Clark. “I really appreciated getting feedback throughout.”
Feedback was a cornerstone in both Blank Rome and Marshall Dennehey’s programs. Both firms solicited upper-level attorneys and assorted staff members to participate in the trials. Blank Rome even had four of its former federal judges from multiple districts redon their robes to oversee the mock proceedings, offering feedback throughout and at the end of the trial.
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Blank Rome participants, meanwhile, got to participate in sidebars with their judges during trial and, at the conclusion of the trial, got to hear feedback from the mock jury on what influenced their trial verdicts.
“We all sat down with the jury, and we talked to them about what worked and what didn’t work,” said Blank Rome Princeton office chair Stephen Orlofsky, a former New Jersey federal judge. “They had lots of great insights.”
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For Blank Rome, trial preparations get started a month before trial, with participants engaging in “weekly training sessions on video conference on the direct examinations, cross-examinations, expert witnesses, and impeachments,” according to business litigation associate Scott Kaplan.
Even with the in-depth training, however, mistakes offer further opportunities for learning.
“[The program] was designed to help guide [associates] and teach them from the mistakes they made,” Orlofsky said. “It’s really a teaching program. There are no penalties for making mistakes.”
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“‘It’s a Major Commitment’: Feedback Ensures Trial Training Programs Deliver Value,” by Amanda O’Brien, was published in The Legal Intelligencer on July 2, 2024.