CVN screenshot of attorney Michael Kelly delivering his opening statement in a bellwether hip implant trial that will be analyzed as part of this free webinar
Cases can be won or lost at the opening statement. No opening is the same, and strategies differ depending on the case and the jurisdiction. In this first-ever collaborative webcast between NITA and Courtroom View Network (CVN), retired federal judge Nancy Gertner, Missouri circuit court judge Michael Noble, and Miami trial lawyer Philip Freidin will join NITA faculty Reuben Guttman for a spirited analysis of what makes a commanding opening statement.
FREE registration available here: https://www.nita.org/webcasts/s71LEC126
In this 90-minute presentation on TUESDAY, AUGUST 18 at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific, the panel will show CVN video clips of actual opening statements from a variety of civil jury trials, then examine not only the lawyers’ performances but also the demonstratives that can play such a critical role in visually conveying the details in these extremely complex, high-stakes cases to jurors. Among the clips under analysis are a first-in-the-nation bellwether products liability trial involving metal hip implants that ended in an $8.3 million verdict, a landmark opening statement from trial attorney Mark Lanier that helped secure a $47.5 million Vioxx verdict, and the opening statements from a trial in Texas involving a large explosion at a BP refinery.
Judge Nancy Gertner (Ret.) served on the United States District Court in Boston from 1994 to 2011. She is currently in private practice, teaches at Harvard Law School, and regularly appears on MSNBC. She is the author of In Defense of Women: Memoirs of an Unrepentant Advocate and is co-author, along with Judith Mizner, of The Law of Juries, now in its tenth edition.
Judge Michael Nobel is a sitting circuit court judge in St. Louis. A graduate of the United States Military Academy (West Point), he has been a public defender and is a past president of the Missouri Association of Drug Court Professionals. He is a NITA faculty member.
Philip Freidin practices with Freidin Brown in Miami. He has tried over 300 cases including 200 jury trials. He has been board certified in civil trial law since 1989.
Moderator Reuben Guttman has been described by The International Business Times as one of the world’s most prominent whistleblower attorneys. He practices with the D.C. firm of Guttman, Buschner & Brooks, PLLC. Besides teaching for NITA, Reuben is co-author, with J.C. Lore, of Pretrial Advocacy, which NITA will publish in early 2021.
Trial video is provided by Courtroom View Network (CVN), the leading online video news service dedicated to gavel-to-gavel coverage of civil jury trials. CVN films trials (in full) of interest to the legal, educational, and business communities. CVN maintains the only online video archive anywhere in the world of civil jury trials, featuring a wide range of practice areas from complex bellwether product liability trials to slip-and-falls, and including some of the most elite trial attorneys practicing today. Webcast registrants will receive an exclusive coupon code for a 50% discount off a CVN subscription, providing unlimited access to the hundreds of civil jury trials available in the archive.
FREE registration available here: https://www.nita.org/webcasts/s71LEC126
