The Center for Practice offers a number of CLE workshops each year to enhance practicing lawyers’ professional skills and judgment for the highest level of legal practice. The following are events for the 2012-2013 academic year.

Upcoming CLE Workshops

No events are scheduled.  Please check back frequently for updated events.

Past CLE Workshops

Actor’s Directions for Award Winning Trial Performance 
Sept.  6, 13, 20, 27, 2012

Rocco Dal Vera, CCM Professor of Drama and acclaimed voice coach and author, presented a series on trial performance. Classes included Opening on a Trial Stage: First Moments, Monologues, Movements & Material Matters;  
Directing on Direct: Plotting Story, Character Development & Jury Judgment; On Cross Examination: Control, Command, and Convey; The Lawyer-As-Actor’s Ethical Limits; The Closing Drama: Final Plot, Presence, and Persuasion.

The Psyche at Work: Help for lawyers' worries about employee mental disorders, trauma, and violence
December 16, 2011 – 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

This one day CLE workshop focuses on what lawyers can learn from psychiatrists regarding mental health issues in the workplace.

Making Mediators Workshop
February 25-26, March 4-5, 2010

Writing Legally:  Judge Painter’s Rules for Plain Legal Writing
October 2, 2009

Dealing with the Difficult: On Emotion and Psychology for Client Counseling and Negotiation
This course will enable participants to apply insights from recent research on the impact of emotion and psychology on reasoning, decision-making and communication.

December 11, 2008 - 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Lawyers Present, So Present Well
This seminar is designed to enhance the effectiveness of professionals’ presentations to internal and external audiences.

December 11, 2008 -1:30 - 5:15 p.m.

Great on Your Feet and in the Moment: How to Listen, Think, and Speak to the Unexpected

Participants in this workshop will have the opportunity to practice strategies and skills within simulated legal practice contexts.

December 12, 2008 - 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Decision Analysis Workshops
Nov. 15-16, 2012

What is fair settlement value? How can I help my client understand the risks involved in this case? How can I persuade the other side or an insurer that our settlement offer is reasonable, even if their argument has some merit?  

Decision Analysis offers a way to map a lawyer's, client's, or neutral's judgments about what might happen, what the chances are, what results will flow from twists of fate along litigation or transactional paths, and thus, what might be reasonable negotiation proposals.

There will be Emotions: Build Emotional Intelligence for Practice with People

Wednesday EVENING, January 16, 2013, 5:30-7:30pm

Emotions are a fact of life for lawyers. Our clients have emotions. Our partners and counter-parts have emotions. And we have emotions. Research now confirms that ignoring emotions is often impossible and destructive, and that working with them effectively can lead to greater professional success and personal satisfaction. This program builds on the work of Daniel Goleman, and is designed to introduce participants to the basic concepts of emotional intelligence as well as skills training in the managing of emotions. In the first hour, we will discuss the nature of emotions and the challenges of managing them in the legal context. The second hour will address the connection between emotional intelligence and professionalism, focusing on the challenges of respect, candor, and dignity, fairness, and civility when clients or opposing counsel are difficult and emotionally entrenched. Brief topical presentation segments will be followed by legal practice problems and discussion.