NITA

NITA Publications

NITA is one of the top non-profit publishers of legal publications in the world. NITA’s references, texts, case files, and audio-visual materials are used by thousands of attorneys and are incorporated into the curriculum at over 85% of the nation’s law schools.

Homestead Properties, Inc. v. Manhattan Fire & Casualty Co. Advocates Version

Termites destroyed the walls of many Homestead Properties homes during their construction phases. Homestead feels strongly enough about the damage done to its newly built homes that it demands its insurance company, Manhattan Fire and Casualty, pay for damages. Manhattan asserts that the policy does not cover this loss and denies the claim. This contract file is designed to teach students not only general advocacy skills but also effective use of focus groups and courtroom technology. There are three witnesses for both the plaintiff and the defendant.

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Donald H. Beskind
- Donald H. Beskind is Professor of the Practice of Law at Duke University School of Law where he directs and teaches in its Trial Practice program and teaches Evidence and Torts. After practicing law in Colorado for several years, Mr. Beskind was, in succession at Duke Law School, a John S. Bradway Fellow, an assistant professor, and an associate professor and the director of the Clinical Legal Studies Program. Mr. Beskind returned to full time private practice from 1980 to 2010 specializing in plaintiff's tort litigation, and was been listed among the "Best Lawyers in America" in various publications since 1993. He continues to practice on a limited basis. Mr. Beskind was a long time program director for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. He is co-author of BMI v. Minicom, Inc.; State v. Burns; Problems in Trial Advocacy; Effective Use of Courtroom Technology: A Lawyer's Guide to Pretrial and Trial; Developing Deposition Skills and North Carolina Evidentiary Foundations. He has published articles and spoken on evidentiary and trial skills topics and runs trial training programs in the U.S. and Great Britain.

Anthony J. Bocchino
- Professor Anthony Bocchino is an honors graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law after which he was a Bradway Fellow at the Duke University School of Law. He served as a full time faculty member at both the University of Connecticut School of Law and the Duke University Law School before joining the Temple University Beasley School of Law faculty in 1979. At the Beasley School of Law for the period 1979 -1989 he was Director of Temple's Trial Advocacy and Clinical Programs. He has designed the program, written materials and taught in the law school's Integrated Trial Advocacy Program which has been twice awarded the Gumpert Award for Excellence in Teaching Trial Advocacy from the American College of Trial Lawyers, in addition to receiving the Gambrell Award for Teaching Professionalism from the American Bar Association. In 1997 he was named by Temple University as the Jack E. Feinberg Professor of Litigation.
  
  Professor Bocchino has been honored with teaching awards from Duke University School of Law where he received the Mordecai Society Award and the Beasley School of Law where he was the first recipient of the George P. Williams II Memorial Award. In addition, he has received the Oliphant Award from the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and the Richard S. Jacobson Award from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America for excellence in teaching the art and science of trial advocacy.
  
  In addition to his law school duties Professor Bocchino has served as a faculty member for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) since 1974, served as NITA's Director for five years and served as the organization's Editor in Chief. Bocchino has written materials and designed programs for trial, deposition, fact investigation, motion practice and appellate advocacy programs for more than 30 law firms and numerous public agencies. He has also conducted needs analyses and designed litigation skill curricula for numerous law firms. His CLE materials and program designs are among the most frequently utilized by those organizations. In addition, he has and will customize materials to the specific needs of individual clients.
  
  Professor Bocchino is the author of over 60 books and articles, predominantly in the fields of Evidence, Trial Advocacy, Civil Litigation and Professional Responsibility. His trial advocacy and/or deposition practice materials are used in a majority of the law schools in America, as well as in CLE litigation skills training in the public and private sectors.
  
  Professor Bocchino has been elected as a member of the American Law Institute, and named a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, Litigation Counsel of America and the International Society of Barristers.

Paul Marcus
- Paul Marcus joined the faculty of the College of William and Mary Marshall-Wythe School of Law in 1992 and presently is the Haynes Professor of Law. He is very much admired by his students and fellow faculty members for his enthusiastic and infectious love of the law. Professor Marcus also is recognized for his expertise in the fields of criminal justice, copyright law, entertainment and sports law, comparative and foreign law, constitutional law (fourth, fifth, and sixth amendments), and law and literature. He is frequently interviewed by the media (Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, CBS, NPR, and ABC) as an expert in criminal law and procedure. Prior to coming to William and Mary, he served as dean of the University of Arizona School of Law, taught at the University of Illinois School of Law and was a visiting professor at the University of Geneva, University of Melbourne, University of Puerto Rico, University of San Diego and the University of Texas. Following his graduation from the UCLA School of Law in 1971, he clerked for the United States Court of Appeals and then practiced law in Los Angeles. Professor Marcus is the author of Criminal Procedure in Practice, The Entrapment Defense, The Prosecution and Defense of Criminal Conspiracy Cases, and articles in many scholarly law journals. He is the co-author of Criminal Law: Cases and Material, Criminal Procedure: Cases and Materials, and Copyright and Other Aspects of Law Pertaining to Literary, Musical and Artistic Works. Professor Marcus is founder of the Literature and the Law Program at the Central Virginia Regional Jail. He was named Distinguished Citizen of the Year, University of Arizona; Volunteer of the Year, Williamsburg Big Brothers Mentoring Program; and Williams Teacher of the Year. He also received the Sullivan Award given by the College of William and Mary for outstanding public service.

Frank D. Rothschild
- Frank D. Rothschild has taught and lectured on trial advocacy since the 1970s. During that time he has been a NITA team leader and faculty member in hundreds of basic and advanced trial, deposition and technology courses. He has designed and been faculty at innumerable in-house programs for firms, insurance companies, public defender and prosecution agencies. In 1996 he received the Hon. Prentice H. Marshall Faculty Award from NITA. Mr. Rothschild graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and then clerked at the U.S. Court of Claims in Washington, D.C. He then started a private general practice in Marin County, California, before becoming a public defender in Juneau, Alaska. He became a civil litigator for Perkins Coi in its Anchorage, Alaska office, followed by becoming a felony prosecutor for the Anchorage District Attorney's office. In 1985 he moved to Hawaii, where he has lived since. Besides the many trial training programs he teaches each year, Mr. Rothschild also serves as an arbitrator/mediator for the American Arbitration Association and Dispute Prevention and Resolution, based in Honolulu. He has also served as a per diem judge on Kauai since 1994, and is a member of the appellate mediation panel for the Hawaii Judiciary's Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution. Mr. Rothschild has authored or co-authored over twenty publications including PowerPoint 2003: 50 Great Tips for Better, Easier Slides (NITA 2005); PowerPoint 2002 for Litigators (NITA 2002) and a chapter titled "Top Ten Screwups in Direct and Cross Examination of Experts" in 2000 Wiley Expert Witness Update (Aspen Law and Business 1999).

Deanne C. Siemer
- Deanne C. Siemer has practiced law in both the public and private sectors in Washington. Presently managing director of Wilsie Co. LLC, a specialized legal services firm in Washington, she previously served as general counsel of the Department of Defense under President Jimmy Carter. During that time she was instrumental in supervising a team of lawyers and support personnel at the First Marianas Constitutional Convention in 1976 and later as counsel to the Third Marianas Constitutional Convention in 1995. Prior to becoming general counsel of the DOD, Ms. Siemer was an attorney with the Washington Law firm of Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering. Receiving a B.A. degree from George Washington University, Siemer then studied at the University of Hawaii, including field study in Thailand. She then took a position with the Office of Management and Budget as an examiner in the foreign affairs area. She studied at Harvard Law School and received an LL.B. degree cum laude, before joining the firm of Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering. Ms. Siemer is very involved in continuing legal education, working with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), as a faculty member, trustee and former chair of the organization. She has also taught at the University of Buffalo Law School and has been a lawyer adviser for the trial practice course at Harvard Law School.

Samuel H. Solomon
- Samuel H. Solomon is chairman and CEO of DOAR Litigation Consultants. DOAR was formed in 1989 as a provider of audio/video presentation technologies sold to corporations, schools, law firms and various government entities. Mr. Solomon is a nationally recognized expert and legal consultant in the area of trial strategy and evidence presentation. He has contributed to four books and numerous articles on trial advocacy and persuasion. Along with his duties as chairman and CEO of DOAR, Mr. Solomon is actively the CEO of other organizations, including the Nachal Novea Tsfat Fund, the Safed Foundation, Yeshiva College, and the American Friends of the Hebrew University, where he also is its chairman.

Edward R. Stein
- Edward R. Stein is the managing partner of the Ann Arbor office of Smith Haughey Rice and Roegge. He practices primarily in the areas of medical malpractice and other civil litigation. Mr. Stein is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he also attended law school. He joined Smith Haughey Rice and Roegge in 2002, leaving his longtime practice with Stein, Moran, Raimi and Goethel, P.C. In addition to his legal practice, Mr. Stein also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan Law School. He teaches trial practice and evidence. He is a former director of the Spring Break Trial Practice Program. He is a fellow of the American Board of Trial Advocacy and a recipient of its Distinguished Service Award and Prentice Marshall Faculty Award. Mr. Stein has been the I. Goodman Cohen Lecturer in Trial Advocacy at Wayne State University Law School. He is also a frequent faculty member for the Institute of Continuing Legal Education. He frequently lectures on various aspects of trial practice, including the use of electronic evidence.

Paul J. Zwier
- Paul J. Zwier is a professor at Emory University School of Law, where he directs the trial advocacy and litigation skills programs and teaches torts and advanced negotiation, mediation, and international dispute resolution seminars. He has taught courses in advocacy, litigation skills, and ADR at more than 250 law firms and legal organizations in the U.S., and internationally in Africa, Canada, China, Great Britain, Guam, and Saipan. He also consults on ADR strategies as well as case theory and presentation in trial cases. Professor Zwier directs the Appellate Court Advocacy program as well as the Advocacy Teacher Training/Lawyer without Borders program. Prior to joining the faculty at Emory, he was a professor of law and director of the Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution at the University of Tennessee Law School and a professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law. He has been a visiting professor of law at both William and Mary Law School and Temple University School of Law. He is the former director of Public Education for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA).