updated: April 7, 2009
Boston Bar Association        
   

Now on DVD!

Excellence in the Courtroom
Craftmanship, Trial Techniques and Successful Advocacy

Prepared, presented and taught by Jerome P. Facher

Order now and receive $100 off during our Pre-Sale period!  Click here for a downloadable order form, or contact us at (617) 778-2020 or cle@bostonbar.org.

Being an excellent trial lawyer requires more than knowing the rules. In this landmark DVD set, Jerry Facher explains and demonstrates courtroom techniques
and advocacy strategies that will help you try cases effectively and effortlessly. The result - Excellence in the Courtroom.

Now is YOUR opportunity to see Jerry Facher at his best, teaching the trial techniques that made him one of the greatest trial lawyers in America. This professionally
produced DVD captures all of the lessons, tips and demonstrations from the CLE program that received rave reviews from the bar! Better yet, the DVD is divided
into topics so you can review specific subjects, techniques or demonstrations - such as opening statements, preparing witnesses, dealing with experts, making objections, laying foundations, listening in the courtroom, cross examinations and many other common and uncommon trial situations.

A nationally renowned trial lawyer and teacher, Jerry Facher is senior counsel at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP.  He taught trial practice at Harvard Law School for almost 30 years and successfully litigated the case chronicled in the best selling book and major motion picture, A Civil Action.

The 4 disc DVD set comes with the accompanying Course Book that will provide you additional information and advice. The course book also contains background on Eagleman v. Consolidated Broadcasters of America, Inc., the case that is used as a teaching example.  Each disc in the DVD set has separately identified topics that
can be easily reached at any time.

  1. Opening statement a few days away? Learn the ten things to avoid. Compare your own performance to demonstrations of good and bad opening statements.
  2. Need advice on preparing a witness? Review Jerry’s lecture and watch the demonstration and critique.
  3. Unsure of how to get a conversation or oral statement into evidence? Key questions and techniques to do it simply and effectively.
  4. Want to prepare a persuasive direct examination? Ask the right questions with guidance from Jerry’s lectures on the importance of the question; then watch demonstrations of good and bad direct examinations.
  5. Having trouble with leading questions? Learn how to avoid them, using simple principles.
  6. Faced with bad facts or calling an adverse witness? Jerry’s lectures give you answers, advice and pitfalls.
  7. Want your entire presentation to look effortless? Gain insights from Jerry’s lectures on witnesses, laying foundations, elegant variation, objections, and the form of the question.
  8. Have to examine or cross-examine an expert? Learn sound techniques and see them demonstrated.
  9. Faced with non-responsive answers? Jerry tells you what you should do and not do.
  10. Behavior in the Courtroom - How you should look, act, and listen. And what does a baseball manager have to do with it?
  11. Watch Your Language - Bad verbal habits you should avoid, familiar courtroom clichés, and troublesome language witnesses should not use.
  12. Can you recognize disguised hearsay? Jerry gives you the dangers and the key sounds to listen for.
  13. At a total loss for cross examination topics? Try Jerry’s formula for “Scratching the Paint.”
  14. Is the trial testimony inconsistent with the witness’s deposition? See and hear sound techniques for impeachment.

Your Teacher – Jerry Facher

Jerome (Jerry) Facher, senior counsel at WilmerHale LLP, has specialized in large-scale commercial litigation in the fields of securities, antitrust, contracts, intellectual property and products liability. He has represented diverse corporate and individual clients in a wide variety of litigation matters, including one of the longest antitrust trials in Massachusetts federal court.

Mr. Facher has served on the Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Commission, and in 1980 he was appointed by President Carter as chairman of the First Circuit Nominating Commission. He is the former chairman of the Supreme Judicial Court Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure. On two occasions, Mr. Facher has been appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court as special counsel to the Judicial Conduct Commission to investigate instances of judicial misconduct.

Mr. Facher is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He was a Lecturer at Harvard Law School for 29 years, teaching a course in trial practice, and is the author of a number of articles on Massachusetts practice and procedure. He regularly serves as a faculty member of the Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop.

Mr. Facher has also lectured at numerous law schools in the United States about the lawsuit and events portrayed in the book and movie A Civil Action, concerning
a case in which he was the successful counsel for one of the defendants.  Mr. Facher has been named as a Distinguished Alumni Speaker by the Harvard Law School, with the
citation: Leading Boston lawyer, litigation legend, law school lecturer extraordinaire, your remarkable success reflects your exceptional legal mastery and unparalleled advocacy on behalf of your clients.

Mr. Facher received a B.A. from Pennsylvania State University and a J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.

 


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