Trial Training Counsel To Join Arnold & Porter LLP
Washington, D.C., February 16, 2006 — The international law firm of Arnold & Porter LLP announced today that Mary Kennedy will join the firm as Trial Training Counsel. Ms. Kennedy, who has extensive experience as a trial lawyer, litigation trial mentor, and faculty member of trial skills programs around the country, will be based in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office beginning March 6, 2006.
"One of our firm's goals is to enhance the trial advocacy skills of our attorneys through real-world courtroom experience,” said Arnold & Porter’s Managing Partner Richard Alexander. “Mary’s expertise will be instrumental in increasing trial opportunities for our attorneys. She will be responsible for expanding the number of criminal trials we handle and providing direct support and supervision to attorneys interested in enhancing their trial skills.”
Ms. Kennedy has 20 years of litigation and training experience, including handling over 50 jury trials and numerous bench trials. She will be coordinating with key members of Arnold & Porter’s litigation team, as well as the Professional Development Department, to provide trial training and increased trial opportunities in D.C. Superior Court. The program is being launched in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office and will be expanded to other offices throughout the firm.
Most recently, Ms. Kennedy served as the Litigation Trial Mentor for a Washington-based firm. Prior to that, she was the Director of the Federal Defender Training Group. She also spent 11 years at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS), where she represented both adults and juveniles at every stage of the criminal process. During her last four years at PDS, Mary was the Training Director responsible for training all new attorneys hired by the agency and providing monthly training to lawyers appointed to represent clients pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act.
In addition, she has taught full-time at the Georgetown University Law School Criminal Justice Clinic and has been an adjunct professor at George Washington Law School. A graduate of the L.L.M. program in trial advocacy at Georgetown University Law School, Ms. Kennedy now teaches trial skills to the Prettyman Fellows for the same program. Since 1990, she has been on the faculty of trial skills programs around the country, including the Trial Advocacy Workshop at Harvard Law School, the National Trial Advocacy College at the University of Virginia, the Western Trial Advocacy Institute in Laramie, Wyoming, and the Trial Skills Academy in San Diego, California.