Total Credits: 36 CLE, 2 Ethics
The Arizona College of Trial Advocacy is an intensive, five-day workshop that provides practical hands-on training for trial lawyers. It culminates in a half-day mock trial with live jurors and judges in a Maricopa County Superior Court courtroom. The program is designed to significantly develop and refine the skills necessary for excellence in trial practice.
Students should be familiar with basic trial practice procedures. Each day students MUST be prepared to present the practice case. Each day students will make a presentation of a part of a trial and should have that part prepared in advance of the presentation. For example, on Tuesday morning students will make an opening statement and should prepare the opening statement before they arrive on Tuesday. The better prepared our students are in advance the more they will get out of this experience.
The most important feature of the College will be student-prepared and delivered opening statements, final arguments, direct and cross-examination of witnesses and expert witnesses, and the handling of evidentiary problems. Each of the students will be videotaped in each phase of the College, and critiqued by experienced faculty members
| 2023 Trial College Materials: Constantine v Prince (11.3 MB) | Available after Purchase | ||
has served in a number of capacities since being admitted to the State Bar of Arizona in 1976. He has held positions with the Pima and Maricopa County Attorney’s Offices, the Office of the Attorney General (first as an Assistant AG, and later as Solicitor General), and served as Clerk of the Court for the Arizona Supreme Court in the mid-1980s. He served on the Maricopa County Superior Court bench from 1989 to 2007, where he spent the majority of his time in the Criminal and Special Assignment Departments. He has taught numerous courses (including Evidence) at the Pepperdine University School of Law and the Arizona Summit Law School (formerly the Phoenix School of Law) and served as an adjunct professor at ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. He has served on a number of commissions and committees, including then-Attorney General Napolitano’s Capital Case Commission from 2000-2002.. He served as co-chair of the Arizona Supreme Court’s Victims’ Rights Implementation Committee in 1991. He is currently a member of the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission and has been a member of the Arizona Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on the Rules of Evidence since its inception in 2010. In March 2017, he returned to the Attorney General’s Office in the role of Deputy Solicitor General.
(04/2018)
is an attorney with the Maricopa County Office of Legal Advocate (OLA) Capital PCR Unit, handling State Post-Conviction litigation in death penalty cases. Tim has previously worked with the Arizona Justice Project and as a trial attorney at both OLA and the Maricopa County Public Defender’s Office. Tim was the Deputy Director of OLA from 2007 until 2017. Tim has substantial experience in forensic science issues, death penalty litigation and trial practice. Tim has been active in Continuing Legal Education having presented seminars for numerous organizations that include the National Institute of Justice, the Arizona Supreme Court, the Maricopa County Superior Court, the Arizona State Bar, The Arizona Public Defender’s Association, The Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice, the Arizona Prosecuting Attorney’s Advisory Council, the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office, the National Innocence Network and the National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology. Tim has also served as adjunct faculty at the Sandra Day O’Connor school of Law. He has also done numerous community presentations on legal and criminal justice issues for law school, college, high school and community groups. Tim has served on several Arizona Supreme Court commissions and committees, along with the Arizona Attorney General’s Forensic Advisory Commission and Forensic Science Academy Board. Tim is a 1985 graduate of the University of Iowa College of Law. Tim may be reached at tim.agan@maricopa.gov or at 602.506.1295.
is a shareholder, member of the Gallagher & Kennedy board of directors and co-leader of the firm's Plaintiff's Personal Injury & Wrongful Death practice group. For nearly two decades, Shannon has been a tireless advocate for victims of negligent and wrongful conduct throughout Arizona and around the United States. His passionate commitment to the rights of injured or wronged individuals has garnered in excess of $250,000,000 in jury verdicts, arbitration awards, mediation results and negotiated settlements for personal injury, wrongful death and legal and medical malpractice clients. Beyond helping his clients obtain compensation for devastating injuries and personal tragedy, Shannon also assists clients with many of the (often non-legal) details of putting their lives back together and moving forward. From the beginning of his career at Gallagher & Kennedy in 2000, Shannon has been drawn to legal matters that allowed him to advocate for individuals who have been harmed in some way through the fault of others. As a member the firm's highly skilled and successful Plaintiff's Personal Injury and Wrongful Death team, Shannon gained invaluable experience in high-profile cases at the state and national levels. Shannon is deeply committed to his clients, and his effort extends beyond the intricacies of any given lawsuit to champion consumer safety issues for greater social impact. While commanding the fortitude, experience, resources and overall "fire in the belly" needed to take on major manufacturers and institutional defendants, Shannon remains unfailingly sensitive to the human element of each case he handles. He approaches his clients as people first, which makes him broadly effective in understanding his clients' challenges and advocating their causes.
Georgia Staton has more than 47 years of experience representing governmental entities, including state, counties, and cities, as well as school districts and privately-held corporations. She is committed to defending clients on issues involving governmental liability, employment law, personal injury, and civil rights. Georgia has tried more than 75 cases to verdict in state and federal court in matters involving wrongful death and claims brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, Title VII discrimination, and sexual harassment claims and retaliation, as well as false arrest and excessive force allegations against law enforcement including pursuit cases and SWAT actions.
Georgia is a Certified Specialist in Personal Injury and Wrongful Death, an Advocate member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), and a Fellow and Past-Chair of the Arizona Chapter of the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL).
Away from the office, Georgia enjoys traveling the world, reading novels, and learning Russian.
represents plaintiffs and defendants in commercial disputes, personal injury matters, and general civil litigation.
An Associate of the American Board of Trial Advocates, Dan has practiced law since 1996. He has first-chair experience in more than 30 state and federal civil jury trials and more than 250 arbitration hearings. Areas of practice include civil conspiracy, contract disputes, insurance bad faith, insurance coverage, legal malpractice, medical malpractice, personal injury, and wrongful death. Dan has successfully argued before the Arizona Court of Appeals.
Dan is also routinely engaged as a private mediator and arbitrator.
For the State Bar of Arizona, Dan presently serves as the co-chair for the Arizona College of Trial Advocacy (an intensive five-day workshop teaching lawyers), as an arbitrator for the Fee Arbitration Program (adjudicating fee disputes between clients and attorneys), and on the Civil Jury Instructions Committee (updating the Revised Arizona Jury Instructions – Civil).
A Pennsylvania native who moved to Arizona in 1984, Dan graduated from Arizona State University in 1992 with a degree in political science and earned his law degree at the University of Nebraska College of Law in 1996.
Dan has earned the AV-Preeminent rating with Martindale-Hubbell®, and is a four-time Super Lawyers honoree.
