Litigation
Charles Briscoe
Director, Legal Aid Clinic and Trial Advocacy Instructor
Students at KU preparing for careers as civil or criminal trial lawyers have a rich range of options—curricular and extra curricular.
In their first year, students build a foundation with Civil Procedure and Criminal Procedure, substantive courses including Torts, Contracts, Criminal Law, and Property, and a two-semester skills and theory course Lawyering that includes legal research and writing and advocacy. First year students may participate in the University’s Traffic Court as prosecutors or defense lawyers handling appeals of parking citations by KU students, staff and faculty.
In their second and third years, students take Evidence, a required course taught by full-time faculty members who have had years of trial experience. Students learn the rules and principles of evidence from a practical perspective. Professional Responsibility, another required course, is taught by faculty members who are well-attuned to the ethical issues that arise in client representation.
Students then may take Trial Advocacy, Pretrial Advocacy or Advanced Litigation which emphasize practical skills. The Trial Advocacy teachers are experienced litigators. Outstanding judges and trial lawyers from the area serve as adjuncts for small sections of the course. A course in Alternative Dispute Resolution provides skills training as well as an overview of various dispute resolution processes including adjudication, arbitration, mediation and negotiation.
Students have a number of opportunities to work with live clients in clinics that give them litigation training in a real world setting. In the Legal Aid Clinic students represent indigent citizens of Douglas County. They serve as public defenders in municipal and juvenile courts and represent clients in domestic relations, landlord-tenant, and other civil actions. In the Paul E. Wilson Defender Project students represent state and federal prisoners in appellate and post-conviction litigation. In the Criminal Prosecution Clinic students serve as prosecutors in various Kansas state district attorneys offices. Under the supervision of a local prosecutor they participate in virtually all phases of the criminal process. In the Judicial Clerkship Clinic students see the court from the bench side as they serve as law clerks to federal and state trial judges. In the Elderlaw Externship students assist supervising attorneys with pre-trial work and with trial and hear preparations.
Second and third year students may choose courses that deepen their understanding of procedure (like Federal Courts, Complex Litigation, Conflict of Laws, and Advanced Criminal Procedure) as well as courses that emphasize the substantive law that is the focus of much litigation (like Employment Discrimination Law, Constitutional Litigation, Antitrust Law, Products Liability, Business Association I and II, Environmental Law, Family Law, Torts II, and others). Practice in Kansas includes both procedural and substantive Kansas law. It covers civil procedure and trial issues unique to Kansas courts and includes exercises on drafting pleadings and motions. Criminal Practice in Kansas also an upper level course, explores the Kansas Criminal Code, focusing on filing of pleadings and post-trial motions, plea negotiation, sentencing and appeals.
Students may participate in any of a number of moot court programs with competitions on campus, regionally and nationally including the National Moot Court Competition, the Jessup International Moot Court, the National Environmental Moot Court, and the National Native American Law Students Association Moot Court. They may test out their interviewing skills in the ABA Client Counseling Competition and their trial skills in the American Trial Lawyers Association Mock Trial Competition. KU law students have had much success in these competitions.
Not all law students are drawn to litigation practice, but those KU students who are will find a rich assortment of courses to give them the theoretical framework they need as well as rigorous skills training. They can and do excel as litigators.
For more information, contact Charles Briscoe, Director, Legal Aid Clinic and Trial Advocacy Instructor, (785) 864-5564, cbriscoe@ku.edu
