Schedule/Sessions

Breakfast

Litigation Climate

• Speakers:

• JD Keister, McAngus Goudelock & Courie, LLC (MGC)

• Tracy Yaun, AXA XL

Break

Trials

• Speakers:

• Tracy Abatemarco, Wood Smith Henning & Berman LLP

• Rose Charles, Sompo International Insurance

This course seeks to provide a thorough understanding of trial practice and procedures for claims professional adjusting matters in litigation.  Course topics will include:

•              What impact decisions over whether to have a bench trial or jury trial will have on costs, outcomes, and predictability;
• How different forums apply different trial and evidentiary rules, including standards applicable to expert opinions;
• How lawyers make use of procedural tools such as motions in limine and motions for a directed verdict;
• How trial presentation occurs, from opening statement through jury selection, presentation of evidence, and closing arguments;
• How courts determine jury instructions and how lawyers use them for advocacy; and
• The differences between a verdict and a judgment, and various post-verdict tools available to contest the verdict.

Break

Understanding the Law Firm Process

• Speakers:

• Robert Ghelli, Crum & Forster

This course will explore the business decision making and other aspects of managing both a law firm and the assigned litigation. Core components of the course will focus the attendees on the various business considerations involved in law firm management as well as the critical aspects of how effectively managing litigation fits within that structure and aligns with the business considerations of insurance carrier clients.

Lunch

Litigation Management Strategies and Cost Containment

• Speakers:

• Robert Brunson, Freeman Mathis & Gary, LLP

• Kenneth Bunn, Builders Mutual Insurance Company

Spinning your wheels, it’s an old idiom still used often. The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as, “to waste time doing things that achieve nothing.” In the context of this coursework and discussion, we mean it as:
 
Spending unnecessary defense cost dollars, only to achieve the exact same or similar outcome if one had not spent those defense cost dollars. 

Break

Group Project II

• Speakers:

• JD Keister, McAngus Goudelock & Courie, LLC (MGC)

• Tracy Yaun, AXA XL

Break

Course Review, Questions, and Test Prep

• Speakers:

• JD Keister, McAngus Goudelock & Courie, LLC (MGC)

• Tracy Yaun, AXA XL