Welcome to the American College of Trial Lawyers’ website.  I am honored to have been installed as the 61st President of the College, and I look forward to continuing the work of the College.  The College is a professional society of Fellows who become members only by invitation, with admission limited to experienced, outstanding trial lawyers who are unquestionably and eminently qualified as actively engaged trial lawyers.  Fellows who have met our high standards are in all U.S. states, all provinces of Canada, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

From its inception in 1950 until the present, the mission of the College has been to maintain and improve the standards of trial practice, the administration of justice and the ethics of the profession.  The work of the College is accomplished by its 30 standing committees and 60 state and provincial committees.  Current College publications are available on this website.  I particularly invite you to review the Code of Pretrial and Trial Conduct, which sets aspirational high standards of conduct consistent with the standards of College Fellows. 

The American College of Trial Lawyers is the only professional organization in the world to count among its Fellows every member of the Supreme Court of the United States and every member of the Supreme Court of Canada.  The College is honored that every Justice on the Supreme Court of both countries has accepted Honorary Fellowship in the College and has addressed the Fellowship at one of our national meetings.  It is a tribute to the Fellows, the mission, and the work of the College that this statement is made. 

Recent Publications:  The College has approved publication of the Code of Conduct for Trial Lawyers and Judges Involved in Civil Cases with Self-Represented Parties, which serves as a guide for the many cases in which one or more parties are without legal representation.  Other recent publications are Jury Instructions Cautioning Against the Use of the Internet and Social Networking and a white paper discussing the Attorney-Client Privilege in Congressional Investigations.  These publications are all available on this website. 

Based on recent court decisions and resulting impact on judicial elections, the College has revised its position on judicial elections, with the revised position set forth in Judicial Independence: A Cornerstone of Democracy Which Must Be Defended.  The Fellows are staunch defenders of judicial independence.  This publication was drafted by the Judicial Committee, the Jury Committee and the Special Problems in the Administration of Justice (U.S.) Committee of the College and is available on this website.

Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2011.  Legislation has been introduced in Congress to reinstate, in a more aggressive form, the 1983 version of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11, under which sanctions were mandatory for lawyer misconduct.  The Rule was amended in 1993 to eliminate mandatory sanctions because mandatory sanctions were ineffective.  Sanctions proved costly to administer, wasted judges’ time and litigants’ money, and produced no discernible benefits.  The U.S. Judicial Conference asked the College to convey its view to Congress, and because the issue addressed a core mission of the College, i.e., elevating the standards of the administration of justice, the College submitted its opinion, expressed in the letter that may be accessed here.

Federal Rules of Evidence.  The College was invited to share its views, prior to publication for general comment, on proposed amendments to Federal Rules of Evidence 803(6) – (8), which address exceptions to the hearsay rule for records of regularly conducted activities, the absence of entries in records, and public records and reports.  The issue concerned the burden of proof for the final dependent clause of each rule, reading: …unless the source of information or the method or circumstances of preparation indicate lack of trustworthiness.  With split case law on the subject, the College endorsed the majority rule that the opponent bears the burden to prove lack of trustworthiness after the proponent has established all elements of admissibility.  The College’s letter to the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Evidence may be accessed here.

Teaching Projects.  To further its mission to improve the administration of justice and the ethics of the profession, the College has produced two teaching videos.  In cooperation with the Federal Judicial Center, the College has expanded its existing judicial training film, Judicial Demeanor and Courtroom Control Practice.  The College committees have produced CLE programs that are available to Fellows for local seminars: the Legal Ethics and Professionalism Committee offers instructional vignettes and an accompanying Teaching Syllabus to the Code of Pretrial and Trial Conduct to familiarize lawyers and students with the Code.  The Teaching of Trial and Appellate Advocacy Committee offers a hypothetical entire trial, including voir dire, designed for presentation with one or more panelists who can comment on the advocacy points demonstrated in the video.  

2011 Annual Meeting:  At our recently concluded annual meeting in La Quinta, California, the College was honored to receive Honorary Fellow and retired Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, who presented a Lewis F. Powell Jr. Lecture, named in memory of the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Lewis Powell, a former Fellow and President of the College.  Justice Stevens responded to questions about current legal issues presented by two former law clerks.  In addition, Justice Elena Kagan accepted an Honorary Fellowship and engaged in a “fireside chat” with Harvard Professor and former U.S. District Court Judge and Fellow, Nancy Gertner.  Other speakers were:  Travis Hathaway of Pixar Animation whose work is seen in Finding Nemo, The  Incredibles, Cars, and Up; Diana Henriques, author of The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust; Peter Neufeld, Co-Director of Innocence Project; General Peter Chiarelli, Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army; Judge Jed S.Rakoff and Stanford Law Professor Hank Greely, who discussed the fascinating intersection of law and neuroscience; E. Randol Schoenberg, who presented the story of the legal process in recovering Klimt paintings from Austria; Yale Law Professor Judith Resnik, who provided visual representations from her recent book, Representing Justice:  Invention, Controversy, and Rights in City-States and Democratic Courtrooms; and Sally Rider, Director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse, who described the origins and goals of the Institute.

2012 Spring Meeting:  The next College meeting will be in Scottsdale, Arizona March 8-11, 2012.  President-Elect Chilton Davis Varner promises another excellent program.

Fellows represent plaintiffs and defendants and are from all parts of the trial bar.  The College limits its published papers and awards to those non-political matters that come within its mission – to improve the standards of trial practice, the administration of justice and the ethics of the profession.