Civil Litigation Program Helps Students Develop Pre-Trial Skills

From discovery to trial, students in BU Law’s Employment Rights and Housing, Employment, Family, & Disability Clinics learn how to develop a case.

“Every case is a mystery,” says Mary Connaughton, clinical associate professor in Boston University School of Law’s Civil Litigation Program. “The students who participate in the civil clinics are questioners. They want to solve the case.” Her task is to help them develop the skills to question, and even better, to spot the weak points in a story.

Under Connaughton’s supervision, students in the Employment Rights Clinic (ERC) and the Housing, Employment, Family, & Disability (HEFD) Clinic represent indigent clients in all manner of employment cases: from unemployment compensation to employment discrimination, wage and hour, and Family Medical Leave Act cases. Students gain experience in every stage of the trial process, from pretrial discovery to appearances before judges at the Division of Unemployment Assistance, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, and the Superior Court of Massachusetts.

“The goal is for our students to be the lead lawyers on these cases,” Connaughton says. “I try to set up the context so they know how to respond, but they take the lead and practice the skills any lawyer would use.”

While some students have the opportunity to take their cases to trial, many more are involved in the critical stages before or outside of a courtroom, including client counseling, discovery, and mediation or alternative dispute resolution.

Matt Lawrence and Gary Spencer (both ’17) participated in the ERC in spring 2016, working on a wrongful termination case in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Together, they collaborated on each stage leading up to taking depositions. “We started the semester by meeting with the client,” Spencer says. “We went over the story and made sure we understood the facts and where the inconsistencies were or where the events were less clear.”

Beyond meeting with their client, Lawrence and Spencer responded to requests for production and interrogatories, generated questions for the client and defendant, wrote a confidentiality order, and negotiated a timeline with the opposing counsel. They also attended a status conference, appearing before the judge to determine the schedule of proceedings.

Along the way, they learned about the trial process and developed the fundamental lawyering skills necessary for practice once they graduate. One of the most challenging components can be keeping the facts straight among many statements from witnesses, some of which can be inconsistent. “You have to know everything inside and out,” Lawrence says, “and you have to know where in your notes to find it all when you’re questioning a witness, because the real person won’t answer your questions in the way you practiced. You can’t always stick to the script.”

Connaughton works closely with the students to make sure they are prepared to take on the challenges of each phase. “We do a lot of planning, and a lot teamwork, and a lot of role playing,” she says. ” It helps them get experience responding to shifts and surprises in any given situation. They learn the muscles to respond to these things so when they go into a deposition or a court appearance they are prepared for anything.”

Daniela Sorokko Harris (’13), an associate practicing employment law at Kurker Paget, recalls her experience as a student in the HEFD clinic: “Mary treated us like lawyers rather than students. And experienced lawyers at that. She created a very nurturing environment, in which we simultaneously felt ownership over the cases and weren’t afraid to make mistakes.”

Sorokko Harris says the research and in-class preparation for the depositions she did as a student lawyer helped her feel ready to deal with opposing counsel. “I think preparation is important at any stage of your legal career, but especially when you’re facing attorneys with decades of experience over you, you have to work extra hard to know all the facts and legal elements of your case.”

“When you’re in class, everything can seem theoretical,” Lawrence says. “It can be challenging to actually put it into practice. You realize it’s not a drill. The clinic is good at forcing you to break everything down into concrete steps. The more concrete you can make it the less daunting it seems.”

“Depositions were just one part of it,” Sorokko Harris says of her clinic experience. “Learning how to do written discovery, motion practice, and counsel clients, to name just a few of the skills we developed during the clinic, has allowed me to hit the ground running as a young attorney.”