For state trial practitioners in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas only.

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), with the National Consortium for Capital Defense Training, announce a "Bring-Your-Own-Case" CAPITAL DEFENSE TRAINING for capital defense practitioners in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas on February 28-March 2, 2013, at the Belmont University College of Law in Nashville, Tennessee.

The costs of registration and materials, as well as food, travel and accommodations expenses, are covered by the grant, and so the training is free of charge to attendees. Attached are the application forms, which consist of a registration form and a confidential case information form. Applicants are strongly encouraged to provide as much information as possible about their case on the case information form to facilitate brainstorming sessions and follow-up consulting.

Confirmed faculty include Marc Bookman, Rebecca Cohen, Skip Gant, John Holdridge, Denny LeBoeuf, Susan Marcus, Sean O'Brien, Danalynn Recer, Odalys Rojas, and Raoul Schonemann, among others.

Attendance is limited to defense practitioners with a pending state capital trial case. At least two members of the trial case team (attorney and mitigation specialist; attorney and investigator; co-counsel, etc.) must attend together. Additional members of the team may also and are encouraged to attend. Without exception, all participants are expected to attend all sessions and to fill out post-training evaluation forms.

Participants will work closely with faculty in large group plenary sessions and small group workshops utilizing a client-centered approach. Using the ABA Guidelines for Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases and the Supplementary Guidelines for the Mitigation Function of Defense Teams in Death Penalty Cases, the primary focus will be on developing a theory for life.

Topics to be addressed in the training will include brainstorming the case, effective teamwork, investigation and presentation of mitigation evidence, integrating the guilt-innocence and penalty phases, mental health issues, race and culture on the team and in the case, plea negotiation and settlement, and obtaining adequate time and resources for effective representation. Because of time constraints, the curriculum will not include coverage of capital jury selection or extensive guilt-innocence phase issues.

Following the BYOC program, ongoing consulting, technical assistance, and webinar training presentations will be available to the training participants to assist capital defense teams in achieving a successful resolution of their cases.

We hope you are able to take advantage of this unique, intensive training opportunity. Register soon, as space is limited. Feel free to forward this announcement to other capital defense practitioners who might be interested in attending the program.

For more information and to register (preferably by email), contact:
Raoul Schonemann
Southern Center for Human Rights
83 Poplar St. NW, Atlanta, GA 30303
(404) 688-1202 phone
(404) 688-9440 fax
rschonemann@schr.org