About the Trial Lawyers Section

Welcome!

The Trial Lawyers Section of the New York State Bar Association is pleased to welcome Section members and visitors. Among the resources available at this site is a comprehensive listing of links relevant to the Section, information concerning the National Trial Competition Region 2 for law students that is sponsored by the Trial Lawyers Section, information concerning scholarships made available by the TLS to new attorneys who demonstrate a commitment to diversity, and upcoming networking and CLE events. Members of the Section are invited to share ideas and seek opinions in the Trial Lawyers Section e-community listserve/forum.

Stay tuned to sign up for the community and take advantage of the opportunity to network and share with your colleagues in the Section. You must be a member to join.  Thank you.

We encourage you to get more involved with the section. There is an opportunity to assist in the writing of articles, in the planning and participation of networking and programming events, and assisting the Executive Committee in accomplishing the Trial Lawyers Section mission to bring together for furtherance of their mutual interests such members of the New York State Bar Association as are interested in the problems of the trial lawyer and other branches of the law relating to trial practice and procedure. To get involved contact any member of the Executive Committee or Patricia Johnson, Section Attorney Liaison at pjohnson@nysba.org

The Executive Committee of the Trial Lawyers is comprised of 4 Officers, Section Delegates to the NYSBA House of Delegates, former section chairs, and two representatives from each Judicial District in the State.

The Trial Lawyers Section engages in many activities, including a CLE program put together with the Torts, Insurance and Compensation Law section during the NYSBA Annual Meeting. The Section also has an annual summer meeting with additional CLE provided and an opportunity to enjoy a fun location and networking opportunities. See here for photos from the summer meeting with continuing legal education in Killarney, Ireland. 

To maintain our activities in the years ahead, we need you to become more involved in the Trial Lawyers  Section, to go beyond attending a few of our conferences. Please join our section.

The Trial Lawyers Section hosts events to provide new attorneys and diverse attorneys an opportunity to hear from a panel of judges and experienced attorneys regarding bar association membership and provide support to all trial attorneys and law students through involvement in the New York State Bar Association and the promotion of high professional standards and courtesy. See here for our most recent event. The section won the Section Diversity Champion Awards in the 2012 and the 2013 NYSBA Diversity Challenges for these efforts. For more information or to get involved see Section Diversity.

Meet the Section Chair

Executive Committee Roster

Trial Lawyers Section Bylaws

TRIAL LAWYERS SECTION NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION NATIONAL TRIAL COMPETITION REGION 2 SPONSORSHIP

Pace Law School will host the 2014 competition.  The dates for the competition will be Thursday February 6, 2014 (5 PM start) through Sunday February 9, 2014, at the Westchester Supreme Court in White Plains, NY.

Each year the NYSBA Trial Lawyers Section sponsors the National Trial Advocacy Competition as it has since 1974 to recognize law students, the future talent of our profession and Association, and to encourage the inclusion of trial advocacy and technique as part of the law school curricula. Monetary awards, plaques and a traveling cup are provided to some of the winning advocates, coaches and law schools.  Winning teams are invited to a NYSBA meeting to accept the awards with their coaches and the Section subsidizes the travel expense as well.

In 1978 it was formalized with the Trial Lawyers Cup Awards Program to encourage and support the teaching of Trial Advocacy by Law Schools of the State of New York. The Trial Lawyers Cup, the "Traveling Cup," is awarded on a rotating basis to the New York State Law School Team which participates in and places the highest in the annual National Trial Competition, sponsored by the Texas Young Lawyers Association.

In August 2010, the Travis H. D. Lewin award was established for the winning Coach of the competition. See the Trial Lawyers Section resolution establishing the Coach’s award here.

The awards were presented this year at the NYSBA House of Delegates meeting on June 22, 2013 at the Otesaga Hotel. See here for the Awards Presentation including a description of the National Trial Competition Section 2 Awards by the former Section Chair, Thomas Valet.

For previous award winners click here.

To get your law school involved, contact Pat Johnson at pjohnson@nysba.org, 518.487.5688

Photos of 2013 Winning Teams

First Place Team Hofstra

Second Place Team (Fordham)

Link to the National Trial Competition homepage

2013 National Trial Competition Award Region 2 Winners, Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University Trial Advocacy Team:  Kaitlyn Flynn, Jana McNulty, George Michel IV, Jared Rosenblatt, Coach, Gerard McCloskey, Coach

2013 National Trial Competition Award Region  2^nd Place Winners, Fordham University School of Law Trial Advocacy Team: Brittany Russell, Graham Amodeo;  Adam Shlahet, Coach, Jeff Briem

Coming Soon! Professional Online Private Communities

We are pleased to announce that the Trial Lawyers Section will soon offer a professional online private community—for Trial Lawyers Section members only.

NYSBA Communities offer a wide variety of options, ranging from traditional listserves to searchable directories, collaborative workspaces, member profiles and even mentoring tools.

Stay tuned for details!