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14 April
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Tools Of Trial Advocacy – Preparing For Voir Dire

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, Training, Trial Advocacy
Tools Of Trial Advocacy – Preparing For Voir Dire

There are many tools of trial advocacy that are important for attorney-advocates to perfect in law school and their practice. One tool that is often overlooked is the voir dire process – choosing a jury. The process of selecting those individuals responsible for fact-finding and deciding a legal matter is not one to be taken lightly. Voir dire may help attorneys identify jurors who can be fair and impartial, rather than unfair and biased. Attorneys are seeking those members of the jury pool who need to be removed and the questions of attorneys should be structured to expose them. As a preliminary...

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13 April
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CDTA’s Courtroom Atmosphere

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, Curriculum, Law Practice, Training, Trial Advocacy
CDTA’s Courtroom Atmosphere

The California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) is a modern, 21st Century law school. We provide legal instruction with an emphasis on transforming law students into not just lawyers, but effective attorney-advocates. One way that the CDTA facilitates this unique focus on the training of attorney-advocates is how each class provides a courtroom, rather than a classroom, atmosphere because it is in a real courtroom setting. Every class in each subject is presented by one of CDTA’s experienced professors in CDTA’s modern courtroom facilities. In fact, class sessions at CDTA typically include more than one legal scholar. These professionals interact with students...

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30 March
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There are Many Paths To A Meaningful Legal Career – Civil Rights

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, Law Practice, Substantive Law, Training
There are Many Paths To A Meaningful Legal Career – Civil Rights

Law students develop many skills, abilities, and qualifications during law school which transfer to other areas outside of the law. There are rewarding careers in government, education, labor relations, nonprofits, regulatory affairs, management, policy analysis, human resources, and strategic planning for law school graduates. And of great interest to any law student soon to graduate, is that there are a vast number of resources that provide information related to alternative and non-traditional employment for anyone with a Juris doctorate. There are several jobs in the field of civil rights for which a law school graduate may qualify. Many civil rights jobs...

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19 March
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Transferable Skills Learned In Law School, Part 2

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, Soft Skills, Training
Transferable Skills Learned In Law School, Part 2

The skills learned by law students are obviously useful to them as attorneys but are also transferable to any type of business enterprise. This is the second part of an article on those skills learned in law school that are universally transferable. The following is based on the book, “The Road Not Taken,” by Kathy Grant and Wendy Werner, the authors outline the skills obtained from the typical tasks, such as studying and participating in Moot Court competitions, associated with law school. Strong motivational skills This may include the ability to work under pressure, the ability to complete projects, and the ability...

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18 March
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Transferable Skills Learned In Law School, Part 1

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, Soft Skills, Training
Transferable Skills Learned In Law School, Part 1

Lawyers learn many skills in law school including hard skills, which include the knowledge of the substantive law, and soft skills, which include analytical, managerial, and interpersonal skills. Not every law school graduate may find that he or she wants to use a law degree to practice law. Fortunately, as will be discussed in this blog in the coming year, law students learn many skills in law school that are transferable to almost any business. The following is based on the book, “The Road Not Taken,” by Kathy Grant and Wendy Werner, the authors outline the skills obtained from the daily...

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28 February
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Find Your Attorney Mentor

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, Internships & Mentors, Law Practice, Training
Find Your Attorney Mentor

It is an invaluable resource to find a mentor early in a young lawyer’s career. When CDTA Founder and Dean John Patrick Dolan started the California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA), he conceptualized an educational curriculum, not unlike that of a medical school residency program where doctors mentored residents and provided them with the opportunities to apply their new professional skills. As the CDTA approaches its tenth anniversary, the emphasis on each student finding his or her own attorney mentor is as strong as it was when the CDTA opened its doors in 2012. It’s a mantra in many blogs here on...

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21 February
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Expectations of Legal Interns, Part Two

Posted by cdtalaw
in Internships & Mentors, Law Practice, Training, Uncategorized
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...

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20 February
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Expectations of Legal Interns, Part One

Posted by cdtalaw
in Internships & Mentors, Law Practice, Training
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...

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05 February
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The Emotional Side Of Practicing Law: Managing Family Law Clients

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, High Pressure, Law Practice, Soft Skills, Training
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...

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04 February
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The Emotional Side Of Practicing Law: Family Law

Posted by cdtalaw
in CDTA, High Pressure, Law Practice, Soft Skills, Training
The Emotional Side Of Practicing Law: Family Law

The law is never free of emotion since it is the result of the emotional reactions of humans to a given situation. The practice of family law involves serving clients of all cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds at a time when they are coping with and reacting to the disintegration of their families. It requires attorneys to possess a skill set unlike that of no other area of law. Some in the legal field perceive the practice of family law as requiring a low level of technical expertise, which simply isn’t true. While there is, in fact, much expertise necessary to engage...

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CONTACT INFORMATION

California Desert Trial Academy College of Law
45-290 Fargo Street
Indio, CA 92201
(760) 342-0900

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Statement of Nondiscrimination

Consistent with sound educational policy, CDTA College of Law does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, ancestry, religious creed, national origin, disability, medical condition, age, marital status, political affiliation, gender identity, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

California State Bar Standard and Required Disclosure

The method of instruction at this law school for the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree program is principally in physical classroom facilities.

Students enrolled in the J.D. degree program at this law school who successfully complete the first year of law study must pass the First-Year Law Students Examination required by Business and Professions Code 6060(h) and Rule VIII of the Rules Regulating Admission to Practice Law in California as part of the requirements to qualify to take the California Bar Examination.

A student who passes the First-Year Law Students Examination within three (3) administrations of the examination after first becoming eligible to take it will receive credit for all legal studies completed to the time the examination is passed. A student who does not pass the examination within three (3) administrations of the examination after first becoming eligible to take it must be promptly disqualified from the law school’s J.D. degree program. If the dismissed student subsequently passes the examination, the student is eligible for re-enrollment in this law school’s J.D. degree program, but will receive credit for only one year of legal study.

Study at, or graduation from, this law school may not qualify a student to take the bar examination or to satisfy the requirements for admission to practice in jurisdictions other than California. A student intending to seek admission to practice law in a jurisdiction other than California should contact the admitting authority in that jurisdiction for information regarding the legal education requirements in that jurisdiction for admission to the practice of law.

Copyright CDTA California Desert Trial Academy College of Law. All rights reserved. The Desert’s first and only Law School. Proudly serving all of Southern California; accepting applications from Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties.

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