James H.

Seckinger // Law School // University of Notre Dame

1/5/12 11:59 AM

University of Notre Dame

The Law School

Faculty & Administration

CV (PDF) "I left my life as a graduate student in nuclear physics to study law at Notre Dame. After an apprehensive and rigorous transition from science to law, I found a discipline in which I could grow and develop not only professionally but as a person. I learned that the law is a helping profession, and that in each and every case I handled, the law served the needs of an individual or group and had a positive effect on at least one persons life. I shared my trial-advocacy skills with young lawyers through the very first programs presented by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), and in return I found my lifes love as a lawyer teaching trial and litigation skills. I love being a lawyer, and I like being with lawyers (albeit not so fashionable or popular to do so these days); I love teaching, and I like working with law students and helping them to embark on their careers as lawyers in a service and helping profession."

James H. Seckinger
Professor of Law
Office Number: 2155 Eck Hall of Law Telephone: 574.631.4844 Fax: 574.631.4197 Email: seckinger.1@nd.edu Staff Assistant: Professor Seckinger, one of the nations outstanding trial-advocacy teachers, joined the faculty of the Notre Dame Law School in 1974 as an assistant professor of law becoming an associate professor in 1976 and a full professor in 1979. In 1973, he became a member of the faculty of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy () and served as its director from 1979 to 1994. He earned his B.S. from St. Johns University (Minnesota) in 1964, his M.S. from Vanderbilt University in 1968, and his J.D. from Notre Dame in 1968, where he served as articles editor of the Notre Dame Law Review. A member of the Colorado Bar since 1968 and the Indiana Bar
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James H. Seckinger // Law School // University of Notre Dame

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since 1976, Professor Seckinger clerked for the Honorable William E. Doyle on the U.S. District Court in Denver, Colorado (1968-69), served as director of litigation at Denver Legal Aid (196972) as a Reginald Heber Smith Fellow, served as chief deputy district attorney at the Denver District Attorneys office (1972-74), and held a visiting professorship at Cornell (1978-79). Professor Seckinger teaches and writes in the areas of deposition techniques, evidence, professional responsibility and trial advocacy. He co-authored Problems and Cases in Trial Advocacy, one of the leading books used to teach trial-advocacy techniques both in law schools and in continuing-legal-education programs for practitioners throughout the U.S. and Canada. He also has authored trial advocacy books used in New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, Ireland, England, France, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, El Salvador, Panama, and Brazil. Professor Seckinger frequently gives lectures and workshops on trial advocacy and deposition skills at many of the most prestigious law firms and legal organizations around the world. He organized and taught advocacy skills to the War Crimes Prosecutors for Rwanda in 1996, and for the War Crimes under the jurisdiction of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2004. Professor Seckinger has trained lawyers, civil and criminal, and judges in El Salvador and Panama as those countries move to an open court adversarial system of justice. Professor Seckinger has conducted advocacy skills programs throughout the U.S., and Canada, and in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Scotland, England, France, El Salvador, and Panama. In 1996, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of post-admission legal education, the - Committee on Continuing Professional Education bestowed on Professor Seckinger its prestigious Francis Rawle Award. The award cited his extraordinary contributions to the continuing education of the bar as director from 1979 to 1994 of [] and recognized him as an exceptional teacher, a great innovator and a proven administrator, as is reflected in his 15-year leadership of in its development years years not only of expansion but of consistently high standards of quality that have made it the quintessential world-wide model of [continuing legal education] in trial advocacy. Under Professor Seckingers leadership, grew from an institute that conducted six or seven programs annually for a few hundred students to an institute that now conducts over 100 programs annually for approximately 4,000 students. Professor Seckinger is also an academic fellow of the International Society of Barristers (since 1989) and a member of the New Zealand Law Society.

In the News
Feature Faculty Home Page August 11, 2008 Law professor a founding director of international arbitration organization ND Newswire October 22, 2007 Teaching order in the court ND Newswire May 01, 2005 Two faculty to give joint talk on reality and movies ND Newswire October 11, 2004 Seckinger to train war crimes prosecutors in Sierra Leone ND Newswire April 14, 2004
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James H. Seckinger // Law School // University of Notre Dame

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LAW75715, Deposition Skills LAW75710, Intensive Trial Advocacy Faculty Expertise Areas Arbitration Civil litigation Depositions and discovery Examination and witnesses Expert testimony International dispute resolution Pre-trial advocacy Trial practice War crimes tribunals Books Problems in Trial Advocacy, Notre Dame Law School Edition (National Institute for Trial Advocacy, 2d ed. 1996). Problems and Cases in Trial Advocacy, Law School Edition, 2 vols., with K.S. Broun ( 1977; 2d ed. 1981; 3d ed. 1987; 4th ed. 1990; 4th ed. revised 1993; 5th ed. 1995). Problems and Cases in Trial Advocacy, Edition, vol. 1 (problems), vol. 2 (cases), with A.J. Bocchino and D.H. Beskind (, 5th ed. revised 1992, 6th ed. 1995). Problems and Cases in Trial Advocacy, New Zealand Edition, et al. (New Zealand Law Society 1986). Materials for Trial Advocacy: Problems and Case Files Adapted for Canadian Use, English/French Bilingual Edition, with K.S. Broun and G.D. Watson (Osgoode Hall Law School of York University and Ecole de Droit de LUniversite de Moncton 1983, 1989, 1993, 1997). Teachers Manual for Problems and Cases in Trial Advocacy, Law School Edition, with K.S. Broun ( 1977; 2d ed. 1981; 3d ed. 1987; 4th ed. 1990; 4th ed. revised 1993). Teachers Manual for Problems and Cases in Trial Advocacy, New Zealand Edition, with others (New Zealand Law Society 1986). Articles Professor Seckinger has published numerous articles on the subject of trial advocacy and trial techniques, including: Closing Argument, 19 American Journal of Trial Advocacy 51 (1995). Other Items

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James H. Seckinger // Law School // University of Notre Dame

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Presenting Expert Testimony An American Perspective (Australian Legal Convention 1991). The Method and Effective Teaching Techniques (two videotapes) ( 1991).
Law School Admissions Information P: 574.631.6626 F: 574.631.5474 E: lawadmit@nd.edu Copyright 2012 University of Notre Dame Law School P.O. Box 780 Notre Dame, IN 46556 [ Map ] P: 574.631.6627 F: 574.631.3980 E: ndlaw@nd.edu

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