Arbitration Advocacy: The Full Course

Nearly 6 Hours of Instruction

This course is for both lawyers new to arbitration and those with significant arbitral experience. The course covers the arbitration from submission to award, including invoking a court’s jurisdiction to compel or enforce an award.  Providing the best practices and innovations, the course covers not only the arbitration process but also how to be an effective lawyer and advocate in arbitration. The four classes cover the pre-hearing process, the hearing, preparing the effective case and the post-hearing.


Class 1 The Pre-hearing

This class covers the myriad issues of instituting an arbitration, managing discovery, motions and an effective pre-hearing conference. From preparing your clients for arbitration, invoking a court’s jurisdiction to compel, to best practices and tips from an experienced arbitrator on how to manage your case for an optimal arbitration this class is an essential foundation for every lawyer.

Class 2 The Hearing

Persuading and presenting a case to a sophisticated audience requires specific skills. In this class, lawyers focus on best practices for the presentation of witnesses and evidence, including new ways to present expert witnesses. The class also covers reasoned or general awards, attorney fees and cost shifting. 

Class 3 Creating the Persuasive Case

This class is unique. It offers lawyers specific tools and processes to create a compelling case for arbitration. The course provides templates for elements of proof, narrative timelines, witness data sheets and tools to separate tiers of evidence. Useful for any proceeding, the specific focus is on persuading the sophisticated arbitrator or panel.

Class 4 The Post-hearing

In this class lawyers focus on the post-hearing process from briefing to enforcement of an award. Here lawyers see the full arc of managing their arbitration from the pre-hearing conference to the final award. The course provides valuable tips to avoid many of the pitfalls associated with enforcing an award among multiple jurisdictions and possibly internationally. A must class for every lawyer regardless of experience level.

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Instructor(s)

Tracy McCormack

Tracy Walters McCormack has been fortunate to be a full-time law professor since 2000. She is the Director of Advocacy for the University of Texas School of Law. She teaches courses in advocacy in all settings, including arbitration, evidence, civil procedure and advanced trial techniques. Tracy also serves as an arbitrator (panel and solo), special master, mediator and consultant. Before leaving private practice to teach full-time she had a full litigation and administrative practice handling complex commercial and healthcare arbitrations, trials and hearings. In the courses offered here, Tracy combines her unique perspective from representing clients and being an arbitrator with her academic knowledge to help lawyers become effective advocates in arbitration. She is a member of ABOTA, (American Board of Trial Advocates) on the boards of NBTA (National Board of Trial Advocacy) and NITA (National Institute of Trial Advocacy) and a former president of the Lochridge Inn of Court in Austin, Texas.

Karl Bayer

Karl Bayer was a trial lawyer representing private and public clients on a wide range of issues on both sides of the docket for over 35 years. He has been an arbitrator, court master and mediator for over 15 years and has arbitrated over 125 disputes, both as a panel member and sole arbitrator. He taught for 4 years as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law in both domestic and international arbitration and he has made numerous CLE presentations on arbitration. He has published a blog called Disputing since 2005 that covers arbitration, as well as mediation and issues related to court masters.