Total Credits: 36 CLE, 1.75 Ethics
The College 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 features 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
is a senior equity member of the Phoenix/New Mexico law firm of Jennings Haug Keleher McLeod, LLC where he has been a partner since 1996. Although originally from Philadelphia, PA he is a 1991 graduate of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Western Michigan University. He is also a graduate of the Arizona State Bar College of Trial Advocacy (’94) and the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (’95). Mr. Franco’s practice has been dedicated to representing both Plaintiff and Defense clients in complex civil litigation with a focus on governmental/municipal liability, child abuse, vulnerable adult, medical malpractice, product liability and all aspects of insurance related litigation. He has obtained notable trial verdicts and results as lead counsel that include the top Arizona civil tort verdict in 2004 and a Top 10 Arizona civil verdict in 2016. Mr. Franco serves as adjunct faculty at the Arizona State University, Sandra Day O’Connor Collete of Law where his courses include Professional Responsibility and Litigation/Trial Practice. He also serves as a Board Member and Faculty of the Arizona State Bar College of Trial Advocacy. He is a recurring faculty presenter of the Arizona State Bar Course on Professionalism and has served as a Maricopa County Judge Pro Tem. Mr. Franco holds an AV rating by Martindale Hubbell and has earned recognition by numerous rating outlets including: Best Lawyers in America by US News and World Report; Arizona’s Top 100 Trial Lawyers by National Trial Lawyers; Arizona’s Finest Lawyers (Sustaining Member); America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators for Arizona; America’s Top 100 Civil Defense Litigators for Arizona; and Top Lawyers of Arizona by the Arizona Republic. Mr. Franco is a life-long competitive tennis player, member of the United Stated Tennis Association and a member of the organizing Board of the Arizona Tennis Classic, a men’s professional level (ATP) tennis tournament held annually in Phoenix since its inception in 2019.
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.
