Registration
Registration is open to U.S. citizens and Permanent Residents (Green Card holders) who meet all of the following criteria: 1. The registrant is currently licensed to practice law in the United States; 2. The registrant is a member in good standing of a State Bar; and 3. The registrant does not currently represent insurance companies, large corporations or governmental entities other than legal services or public defenders. Note: Paralegals from qualifying law firms may attend the Trial Skills Foundation course (formerly titled ‘Psychodrama for Lawyers’) with a qualifying attorney from their firm and permission of the Executive Director.
ELIGIBILITY
For the college’s current course offerings, create an account or login to your profile. Every effort is made to ensure that course information is accurate; however, changes or corrections may occur, and an email will be sent by the Registrar with updates.
COURSE SCHEDULE AND PREREQUISITES
You can register online by visiting our Register for a Course page. Register as soon as possible to assure a place in the course(s) you want to attend. If you delay, the course may be full (or the application deadline for the Trial Lawyers College 3-Week Course may have passed). Registrants will receive a confirmation notice via e-mail at the address provided during registration. Registration is not considered final until payment arrangements have been made with the Bookkeeper.
REGISTRATION
All courses provided by the Trial Lawyers College are CLE accredited by the State in which the course is held. It is the student’s responsibility to apply for reciprocal CLE credit in the state (or states) in which the student practices law. Within 4-6 weeks after the student completes and submits the required online evaluation of the course attended, the Registrar will e-mail the paperwork needed by students to apply for their CLE credits. For more important information, visit the CLE Credits page.
CLE CREDIT
Given the high cost of providing courses at easily accessible venues nationwide and those venues’ strict cancellation policies, TLC is no longer able to grant tuition refunds. To lessen the impact of this change in policy on our tribe, we offer the following options: 1) in the case a student needs to cancel, they can contact the Registrar with the name of a replacement student who is prepared to take their place, especially important to cover the cost of the committed lodging. If no replacement is found for their reserved spot prior in the program, we will apply 50% of the paid tuition as a credit toward a future program and use the other 50% toward the un-used lodging expense.
PAYMENTS, CANCELLATIONS, AND REFUNDS
Applicants to the Trial Lawyers College 3-Week Seminar are offered admission on a competitive basis. Admission decisions are made by the TLC Board of Directors based on the strength of the application and the overall pool of applicants competing for admission for that program. Key factors include trial experience, the 850-word essay, and character references. The Board is interested in learning as much as possible about applicants’ personal qualities and background, as well as their professional experience and goals. We do not invite or consider letters/emails of recommendation or other supplemental materials such as court decisions. The Board will learn everything it needs to know from the online applications. All admissions decisions are made at the same time, not on a rolling basis. Decisions are made approximately two months prior to the course to afford invitees ample time to make arrangements to be away from home and office for 3 weeks. Applicants will be notified via e-mail of the board’s decision (accepted, declined or placed on a waitlist). Requests for financial aid are confidential and are not made known to the Board during the selection process. Requests will be considered if the applicant is accepted and chooses to attend the Seminar. All financial aid at TLC is need-based and can include interest-free payment plans as well as scholarships. Visit the ‘Courses’ page for application deadlines, notification dates and detailed course information. You can register or apply online by clicking on the 'Courses' tab, and then viewing the 'Course Catalogue'.
Important tip when filling out an application for the 3-week College: The application asks applicants to state any criminal convictions, list 3 (non-family) references, state any need for financial aid, and provide an essay. Please have all of this information at hand prior to beginning the application.
3-WEEK APPLICATIONS
You will be asked the following essay question on the application to the Trial Lawyers College 3-Week Seminar:
“In 850 words or less, please tell us about yourself and why you want to attend the Trial Lawyers College 3-Week Seminar. For example, what life experiences have most shaped you? What is your greatest accomplishment; and what is your greatest loss? Please tell us about your dreams and your failures. We are not interested in the name of your law school, the clubs you belong to, your golf handicap, or your financial or social successes. We are interested in learning something about you, as a person. We want to know about your life goals as a trial lawyer, as well as what you hope to obtain from attending the Trial Lawyers College.”
Application Tip #1: Prepare your answers offline, especially your essay. Here’s why: Technology happens. You may edit your application over multiple sessions until the deadline, but we are not responsible for unpredictable technology issues. When you copy your essay into the application, choose “paste as plain text” for optimal results. Once you click “Finish”, the application is submitted to our Registrar and cannot be edited or changed. If you do not receive a confirmation email shortly after you finish your application, please contact the Registrar (registrar@triallawyerscollege.org) to confirm its submission.
Application Tip #2: Respect the word limits and check your grammar and spelling. We receive many competitive applications for each class so please make certain your application is thorough, well written, and within the guidelines.
Application Tip #3: Apply early. To avoid technical or any other last-minute problems, we recommend submitting your application at least 5 days prior to the deadline.
