The Summer Trial Academy is an intensive, two-week trial advocacy course that runs this year from Monday August 14th through Friday August 25th. The class meets as a group in afternoon sessions over nine days, Monday through Friday the first week and Monday through Thursday the second week, from 1:30 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. The afternoon sessions involve lecture, discussion and demonstration on the various trial skills. The class also meets in small group evening sessions over seven days – Monday through Thursday the first week and Monday through Wednesday the second week from 5:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. Four students are assigned to each small group with at least two practicing trial lawyers on hand to coach, teach and mentor them. The idea is to get ready to try a full-day jury trial in front of a real judge in that judge’s courtroom at the Summit County Common Pleas Court on Friday August 25th beginning at 8:30 a.m. The entire entering first year class will serve as jurors and witnesses as part of their orientation to law school. This course is like no other in the country.
If you’d like to be part of this year’s Summer Trial Academy, there are currently 3 openings in the class. Evidence is the only prerequisite.