2021.04.06


On 26-27 March, Mrs. Nicole Nemeth Esq. From San Diego CA was hosted by the Trial Advocacy course within the Common Law Legal Expert training, housed by the Institute of Comparative Law and Legal Theory. The course was organized via Zoom due to digital education brought about by the pandemic. 

The moderator of the talk, Marton Sulyok (from the Institute of Public Law), asked Mrs. Nemeth, of Hungarian origin, about every-day trial practices, tactics and problems in US courtrooms in general and also during the pandemic. The students also raised interesting questions of professional responsibility and ethics as well and the participants discussed TV trial myths vs. the actual reality of the courtroom. 

Jury selection and the jury trial, the different roles of trial advocates, interesting trial concepts (contempt of court, hearsay, discovery, motion practice), defendants’ rights in criminal trials, plea bargaining and the phenomenon of the "vanishing trial" and alternative dispute resolution were all issues that have been touched upon during the 4-hour talk. 

The next day of the block course was spent focusing on and discussing cases from the jurisprudence of the US Supreme Court that deal with constitutional issues regarding Trial Advocacy (habeas review, Miranda rights, pro se defense, ineffective assistance of counsel, etc.)