On August 29, 2007, Drs. Dennis Stolle and Christina Studebaker, in cooperation with the Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum (“ICLEF”), presented a continuing legal education program in Indianapolis titled “Developing Winning Trial Themes.” The program topics included:
- The Power of the Trial Theme: The conceptual foundation for what a trial theme is and why it is important to think about it
- Using Empirical Research to Develop and Test Trial Themes: Nuts & bolts regarding methodologies, what different methods are available, and when and why each might be used
- Building Themes through Discovery: Importance of starting the theme work early
- Illustrating Your Themes: Using of demonstratives and visuals to convey trial themes
- Trial Themes and Witness Preparation: Communicating the key themes to witnesses as part of the preparation process so that all the witness testimony from various witnesses will share a common thread
- Using Themes in Motion Practice: Building themes into presentations to the court, in addition to presentations to the jury
- Putting It All Together in the Thematic Trial Presentation: Making the selected trial themes pervade the entire trial presentation from voir dire to closing argument
The seminar remains available as a video-replay and as a web-based CLE program through ICLEF.