Message From The Executive Committee, DD, 6/08

Defense Digest

Message From The Executive Committee
By Peter S. Miller, Esquire, Chairman of the Board and COO

As I attend industry conferences, I hear a common concern expressed by the leaders of our industry: where is the next generation of trial lawyers going to come from? When I joined the firm over 30 years ago, gaining trial experience was really not an issue. Due to the relatively low mandatory arbitration limits, many more cases were eligible for trials. We also carried much larger case loads. Thus, the odds of trying a case increased measurably. I suspect the increased commitment to staff counsel by the carriers has also made it more difficult for firms such as ours to garner a volume of low exposure cases for our less experienced attorneys to try.

So what has our firm done to remedy this situation? Unfortunately, we cannot waive some magic wand to guaranty that each of our attorneys will try a certain number of cases in order to develop and refine their trial skills. We encourage our clients to enable our younger attorneys to second chair cases that are being tried by our more experienced attorneys. But even our more experienced attorneys are finding fewer opportunities to try cases for our clients are becoming more skilled at achieving early resolutions of matters in litigation. So we have taken the next best step: elevating the training of our attorneys.

I am pleased to report that we have created the position of Director of Professional Development and Training in order to ensure that all of our attorneys receive training in all facets of our profession as litigators and trial attorneys. We have hired Lawrence J. Schempp, Esquire, to fill this position. Larry graduated from Temple University in 1981 and Georgetown University Law Center in 1990. Larry then practiced law in the areas of civil defense and commercial litigation until he became a Clinical Supervisor and Lecturer on the University of Pennsylvania Law School faculty. He served in this capacity for five years before joining our firm. Among his many responsibilities at Penn was the supervision of their Civil Practice Clinic. Consequently, Larry brings with him both an outstanding academic background as well as a solid foundation in civil defense practice.

To date, Larry has designed an 18-segment, year-long program of training for our first-and second-year attorneys. The curriculum of this program ranges from client guideline compliance to pre-trial skills, such as responding to pleadings, drafting and responding to written discovery, taking depositions, etc. His program will include lectures from the firm's most talented attorneys as well as claims professionals. Larry has also designed a more advanced program for our third- and fourth-year attorneys. The topics range from the use of experts to trial activities, such as selecting a jury. It is also Larry's intention to develop a number of core courses in courtroom technology, electronic discovery, and an ethics component that will be required to be taken by all attorneys in the firm.

Larry is also tasked with the responsibility of continuing our trial academy for our most senior associates and younger shareholders. This program has been in place for approximately three years. It consists of two full days of a mock trial overseen by the best trial attorneys in our firm. To date, we have matriculated almost 50 of our attorneys. Additionally, Larry shall ensure that all our attorneys fulfill their required continuing legal education by directing them to courses that will specifically deal with litigation skills and/or topics in the fields of expertise in which they are working.

Abigail Adams once said, "Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence." Our firm is committed to diligence in its training of its attorneys so that you will not only get the highest quality of counsel and guidance, but also the most efficient and effective service possible. We do recognize that the opportunities to try cases are not as great as they once were. While we do not have control over the number of cases that are taken to trial, we do have the ability to make certain that our attorneys are as prepared as they can possibly be to try each case that goes to trial. We are committed to seeing that our firm does everything possible to ensure that the next generation of trial lawyers in this firm is equal to if not better than its senior trial attorneys.

If you believe that we can do more, I welcome your suggestions. Please drop me an email at psmiller@mdwcg.com. Thank you.