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Thank You 2023 Trial Academy Participants!
Nearly 60 participants and volunteers gathered at Vermont Law and Graduate School on Friday, July 28, to participate in Trial Academy. The day was hot, but the mood was good, and participants came from all over the state for a day devoted to practicing trial skills.
Trial Academy started in 2017 under the leadership of former VBA Executive Director, now Court Administrator, Teri Corsones. It provides an opportunity for attorneys to present mock-trial segments of a civil, family, or criminal case in front of a judge and an experienced practitioner and to receive advice and support. There was also an option to observe only. A total of seven CLE credits were available for the day.
This year the judges were the Hon. Dickson Corbett, Samuel Hoar, Howard Kalfus, and Lisa Warren of the Vermont Superior Court and the Hon. Christina Reiss of the US District Court for the District of Vermont. They were paired with well known Vermont attorneys, 
Nicole Andreson, Ritchie Berger, both of Dinse, P.C. in Burlington, Dan Burchard of McCormick, Fitzpatrick, Kasper and Burchard PC of Burlington, Kate Gallagher, assistant attorney general and head of the civil division of the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, and Bill Leckerling, of Leckerling Law, PLLC in Stowe.
Attorney Andreson gave a talk on effective opening statements. Judge Hoar gave advice and tips on direct exams. Attorney Berger shared his tips and wisdom on cross-examination, and Judge Warren addressed closing arguments. After each lecture the participants went off to courtrooms (classrooms) to practice the respective trial segment.
As in prior years, members of the VBA Young Lawyers Division played the witnesses. Thanks to: Malachi Brennan, Jon Brigati, Kristen Connors, Angelina Debeaupuis, Harrison Dra
po, Elyse Kolacy, Megan LaChance, Kevin Lumpkin, Eliza Novick-Smith, Colin Owyang, Anne Rosenblum, Arthur Smith, Kathy Zhou, and pinch hitting in the family case, VBA administrative assistant Paul Velk.
The trial segments were limited to seven minutes, and VLGS students were deployed to each classroom to keep time. Thanks to: Kelly Johnson, Stephanie Maldonado Perdomo, Bella Pickett, Carlynne Toomey, and Ervin Yahr.
Thanks also to the excellent staff at VLGS who kept the coffee coming, fed the crowd, and kept all the technology on track.
