West Virginia University College of Law Professor Will Rhee and co-author L. Richard Walker recently published new scholarship in the Rutgers University Law Review . The article is titled "The Trial Preparation Procedures—Criminal" and offers a trial preparation tool for practitioners. It appears in volume 74 of the journal and follows the publication of a trial preparation tool designed specifically for civil litigation. "The Trial Preparation Procedures—Civil" was published in volume 73 of the journal in 2021.
From the abstract:
In an effort to provide scholarship immediately useful to the criminal trial advocate, this article proposes a detailed systems workflow to plan and coordinate preparing for federal criminal trials called the Trial Preparation Procedures–Criminal (or "TrialPrepPro–Criminal" for short). The TrialPrepPro–Criminal upon the Trial Preparation Procedures-Civil, expounded in an earlier article.
Although there is an abundance of anecdotal "learning from doing" trial preparation guidance, empirically testable "learning about doing" trial preparation guidance is rare. We present our TrialPrepPro to learn more about doing.
The TrialPrepPro are modeled after the battle-proven military decision-making process used, with modifications, by all U.S. military services, our NATO allies, and many other foreign militaries. Although there is ample anecdotal or episodic published trial preparation guidance, to the best of our knowledge, the TrialPrepPro are the first attempt to provide a comprehensive, ready-out-of-the-box trial preparation framework.
In light of the U.S. legal profession's established lack of management training, the TrialPrepPro help a busy prosecutor or defense office coordinate the arduous trial preparation process. Moreover, the TrialPrepPro establish a thoughtful minimum shared professional standard. The TrialPrepPro are meant to be shared, customized, and, above all, used in actual practice. Accordingly, we encourage practitioners to download a free editable copy of the TrialPrepPro from our website (http://wvcle.wvu.edu/TrialPrepPro). We only ask that downloaders complete a short survey and share any modifications.
Find more of Professor Rhee's scholarship on SSRN and his SelectedWorks scholarship profile.