On March 25, the Litigation Committee hosted their Trial Advocacy Program (TAP) at Morrison & Foerster. The all-day program featured the Hon. Kiyo Matsumoto and a faculty of top trial lawyers teaching our members effective trial skills. 

The morning lecture on opening statements was given by Judge Matsumoto, Connie Montoya and Tristan Loanzon, followed by small group breakout sessions in which the students practiced giving opening statements and received critiques from our faculty. 

The afternoon lecture on direct and cross examination and closing statements was given by Manisha Sheth, Rodney Villazor and Yasu Saito. Following the lecture, students broke out into smaller groups to practice those skills, receiving feedback from the faculty. 

Litigation Committee Co-Chair Carolyn Cornell moderated the morning lecture and Co-Chair Dai Wai Chin Feman moderated the afternoon lecture. All students received 6 CLE credits in skills from this all-day program.

We thank all the faculty members who participated in TAP:

Hon. Kiyo Matsumoto, USDJ, EDNY, keynote speaker

Mark Berman, Ganfer & Shore LLP
Tristan Loanzon, Loanzon LLP
Steve  Madra, The Madra Law Firm
Concepcion Montoya, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
Kevin Murphy, Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP
Yasuhiro Saito, Saito Law Group PLLC
Manisha Sheth, New York State Attorney General’s Office
Vinoo  Varghese, Varghese & Associates, P.C.
Rodney Villazor, Smith & Villazor LLP
Samuel  Yee, New York City Police Department 

We also thank Morrison & Foerster for hosting and Veritext for sponsoring.

To see more photos, check out the Facebook album.