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Course 04 · 4 MCLE credits

Business Trial Academy

The transition from litigating a case to trying one. Voir dire, opening, direct and cross, experts, hearsay, and the close — taught as one continuous performance rather than five separate skills.

Five modules, self-paced, on demand. Taught by David Sugden, a trial lawyer at Call & Jensen in Newport Beach.

All four courses
$99a month
  • This course, and the other three
  • Sixteen MCLE credits in total
  • The member library, and everything added to it
See the membership
Just this course — $499, once. Yours to keep. Buy this course →

30-day money-back guarantee, either way.

5 modules
4 MCLE credits
On demand · self-paced
$499 once, or included in the membership
30 days money back
What it is

From the first juror to the verdict form.

Litigating a case and trying one are different jobs. The second one is a performance with a beginning, a middle and an end, and every part of it is decided by choices made before you stand up: what the case is about in one sentence, which facts you are going to lose and how you will say so first, and what the jury will be holding when they walk out.

This is the course that ties the other three together. Evidence, depositions and experts all show up here, but in the order a trial uses them, and with the case studies that make each one memorable.

Take it if

  • You have a trial date and the date is real
  • You have tried cases and want the parts you improvise to become deliberate
  • You want the arc — voir dire through closing — rather than four hours on one skill
  • You are second chair and intend not to be

What it is not

  • It is not a substitute for the evidence course; it assumes the rules
  • The evidentiary material is Californian, with federal practice noted where it differs
  • It is about business and commercial trials, not criminal practice
The curriculum

Five modules, in order.

Watch them in any order you like, but they are built to be taken in this one.

01

Jury selection and opening statements

  • Building credibility during voir dire
  • Permissible against impermissible argument in an opening
  • Presenting good facts and bad facts persuasively
CasesPeople v. Michael Jackson · People v. Martha Stewart · McNair v. NCAA
02

Direct and cross-examination

  • The purpose, preparation and outline of a direct examination
  • Advocacy without leading, on direct
  • Arguing through the witness on cross
  • Controlling a difficult witness
  • Impeaching with documents
CasesPeople v. O.J. Simpson
03

Expert opinion testimony

  • Deposition strategy
  • Challenging the bases of an opinion
  • The California and federal rules for expert testimony
  • Daubert and the fit test in federal court
CasesSargon v. USC · People v. Sanchez
04

Hearsay and exclusions

  • Recognizing hearsay, and its exceptions
  • The business records exception
  • Prior statements in state against federal court
  • Applying character evidence
  • Cross-examining a character witness
05

Closing argument

  • Preparing the close during the trial, not after it
  • Using the verdict form, and when not to
  • The prohibition on the golden rule argument
CasesErin Andrews v. Marriott International

Four hours of MCLE credit on completion. State Bar of California approved MCLE provider #19358. Self-paced, on any device, and yours to keep.

Or all four

Two courses cost more than all four.

If you are likely to want a second one, the membership is already cheaper than buying two, and it does not stop at four.

This course, and one more
$998

Two of the four, bought once each. Eight MCLE credits.

versus
A year of the membership
$990

All four courses, sixteen credits, the member library, and everything added while you are a member.

See the membership Just this course — $499
The other three

The rest of the craft.

California Evidence 101

The Evidence Code read in the order a trial actually uses it. Four modules.

See the course →

Deposition Skills Clinic

A deposition is not discovery. It is the record you will read to the jury. Six sessions.

See the course →

Expert Witness Academy

Designation, the deposition, Daubert and Sargon, and the cross that survives a redirect. Five sessions.

See the course →
Start

Four hours, and the trial has a shape before it starts.

Thirty days to decide it was worth it, whichever way you buy it.

All four — $99 a month This course — $499

Not ready? The three free resources cost nothing and take an afternoon.