Author: cdtalaw

Expectations of Legal Interns, Part Two

Expectations of Legal Interns, Part Two

The California Desert Trial Academy’s (CDTA) unique educational platform focuses on students learning the soft skills in addition to the core substantive law. It also includes seeking mentorships and internships to further enhance legal studies with practical real-world experience. Law students should have some advanced notice about an internship and the tasks to be undertaken but won’t know for certain until finally beginning the internship. Anything can, and will, happen. The purpose of an internship is to provide an insightful learning experience for young law students, in return for a little bit (a lot) of hard work. *Organize information If the amount...

Continue reading

Expectations of Legal Interns, Part One

Expectations of Legal Interns, Part One

It is an exciting event when law students become legal interns for the first time. The scope of the responsibilities associated with an internship may vary from one firm to the next based on the number of attorneys an intern serves. An intern’s specific tasks vary based on the area of law the firm practices. Whatever an intern’s duties and jobs, no matter how exciting or mundane, the attorneys, office manager, and staff, have expectations of an intern’s performance. But then, so does every intern have high expectations in an internship. *Observe, learn . . . do From the moment an intern...

Continue reading

The Emotional Side Of Practicing Law: Personal Injury Clients

The Emotional Side Of Practicing Law: Personal Injury Clients

It certainly is no secret that being a defendant in a lawsuit is extraordinarily stressful. However, it is not so clearly perceived that being a plaintiff, especially in a lawsuit involving a personal injury, is equally unnerving and emotionally taxing, even for those with the most justified claims. While it may not be every case, personal injury attorneys must be conscious that they will be representing clients who are the victims and suffer the consequences of tragic, unexpected events. Every person is wound a little different from the next. It is difficult to predict how someone physically and emotionally reacts to...

Continue reading

It’s Never Too Late For New Year’s Resolutions

It’s Never Too Late For New Year's Resolutions

The California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) provides students with a distinctive educational platform that focuses on students learning to become competent and effective attorney-advocates. While CDTA emphasizes those crucial skills that can positively affect an attorney’s legal practice after graduation, many traditional law schools fail to provide a similar focus. The result? Students at some traditional schools fail to receive adequate instruction in skills necessary to practice law and serve clients effectively from day one. It’s never too late for change. Although we’re well into 2020, there are still several months remaining in the spring semester and plenty of time for...

Continue reading

Learning Through Archived Classes: An Invaluable Tool

Learning Through Archived Classes: An Invaluable Tool

The California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) embraces modern technology that helps students learn and achieve academic and professional goals. In the past decades, there has been a significant increase in the use of various technologies in education generally and the instruction of law. Technology has allowed educational institutions at all levels to provide more techniques, options, and solutions for their students, including archived classes. The California Desert Trial Academy opened in September 2012, offering a unique approach to legal education in the 21st Century. Co-Founder and Dean John Patrick Dolan, a distinguished legal advocate in his own right, had the vision...

Continue reading

CDTA: Never Too Far Away For Any Student

CDTA: Never Too Far Away For Any Student

The California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) is located at 45-290 Fargo Street, Indio, California, in the Inland Empire. Just ten years ago, any resident of the Coachella Valley interested in becoming an attorney-advocate would have to travel quite a distance to attend class and receive a legal education. In 2020, this has changed because of the presence of the CDTA. However, anyone who lives a significant distance from the closest law school can take advantage of CDTA’s distance learning program, as well as those who live closer in Indio and its surrounding areas. The CDTA brings legal education to your home,...

Continue reading

Bar Exam Basics: The Week Before

The February Bar Exam The Week Before

Many law students and bar examinees wonder what to do the week before the bar exam. Do not try to review everything every day during this final week! Reviewing too many subjects will make you feel overwhelmed and not help with retention. Always keep the daily workload manageable. Also, do not try to save time by eliminating sleep, exercise, or a good diet. These things are more important than ever. Here are some other useful tips for the week before. FOCUS Determine the likely primary subtopic areas that will be on the test and focus on them rather than focusing on those rarely...

Continue reading

Managing Time & Completing Daily Tasks

The Soft Skills: Managing Time & Completing Daily Tasks

The importance of how attorneys manage their time is often overlooked. Some attorneys think this is an unnecessary task that they can easily manage “on-the-fly.” However, wise attorneys formulate and implement a time management system that prioritizes the completion of tasks into their law practices. This allows them to perform their job more efficiently so they may not only maximize their income but also have more time for other, i.e., leisure, activities. Many attorneys perform services pursuant to a retainer agreement where they bill hourly for their work. Poor time management will result in fewer hours expended performing services, which means less...

Continue reading

Time Management & Prioritizing Work

The Soft Skills: Time Management & Prioritizing Work

The California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) provides students with a distinctive educational platform that focuses on students learning soft skills, as well as the substantive law. Soft skills include people skills, management skills, technical skills, and analytical skills. While CDTA emphasizes these crucial skills that can make a positive difference in an attorney’s daily practice of law, many traditional law schools fail to properly ensure that students receive adequate instruction in the soft skills. One important soft skill is time management, which can make or break the profitability of an attorney’s practice. Today’s attorney has multiple phone lines, email addresses, and...

Continue reading

The Emotional Side Of Practicing Law: Managing Family Law Clients

The Emotional Side Of Practicing Law: Managing Family Law Clients

Managing clients is one of a family law lawyer’s most difficult, demanding, and challenging tasks. Family cases, or conflicts, pit two people who formerly had a close, loving, intimate relationship against each other. All at a time when the distance between them couldn’t be farther and their ability to reach a consensus couldn’t be less. A family law attorney must have the skill set to deal with clients on a psychological level and nurture them while they are in a highly emotional state. And all while trying to act in the best interests of any minor children. How and where does...

Continue reading
Font Resize