7-Step Certification Program

The 7-Step Program is an alternative way to graduate from the Trial Lawyers College other than attending the 3-week College. Students can graduate from the Trial Lawyers College by attending 7 seminars within 5 years:
  1. Trial Skills Foundation Seminar (formerly Psychodrama for Lawyers). Must be 1 of the first 3 seminars attended.
  2.  A combination of the following TLC seminars. Our Registrar will assist you with qualifying seminar attendance after you have been accepted to participate in the 7-Step Program.

What is the 7-Step Program?

No lengthy application is required. You begin the process by attending a TLC Seminar. Then you attend a 2nd TLC seminar which may or may not be 'Trial Skills Foundation', which must be one of the first 3 seminars you attend to qualify for consideration for the 7-Step Program.

After your third TLC seminar, if you are interested in graduating from TLC via the 7-Step Program, you will notify the Registrar who will ask you to submit an 850-word essay as you would if you were applying for the three-week College (for guidance on the essay, please see above.) Email your completed essay to the Registrar who will provide it for review by the Executive Director and select members of the TLC Board of Directors. The criteria for your acceptance to this program will be as stringent as for the 3-week program, it simply grants you more flexibility in time (5 years) to complete your training. You will be notified via e-mail of the board’s decision (accepted or declined).

For additional questions, please e-mail: Registrar@triallawyerscollege.org.

How do I enroll?

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REGISTRATION

7-Step Program

FINANCIAL AID

Staff Training

The 7-Step Certification Program was established in 2006 and since then, more than 55 lawyers have graduated from the program. By comparison, since the Trial Lawyers College was founded in 1994, over 2000 lawyers have graduated from the 3-week course.

How many lawyers have graduated from the 7-Step Certification Program?

One trial skill will be taught at a TLC weekend or 5-day seminar; 2 trial skills will be taught at a TLC 8-day seminar. It’s important to work with the Registrar to track the skills you have been taught at each Seminar you attend in order to obtain training in each of the necessary trial skills needed for graduation. Please click on the 'Course' tab and view the 'Course Catalog” page to see and register for upcoming seminars.

For the College’s current course offerings, create an account or login.

Which Trial Skills Will Be Taught At TLC Seminars In The Future?

  • 2-4 Trial-Skill specific seminars of your choice including: Discovering the Story, Voir Dire, Opening Statement, Direct Examination, Cross Examination and Closing Argument.
  • 1-4 eight-day seminars of your choice including: In Defense of the Damned Criminal Defense Seminar; How to Ask for the Money Plaintiff Seminar; Women Trial Lawyers Trial Skill Seminar; Indigent Representation Virtual Seminar; and Trial Skills at HBC Southern University Law Center.
  • 1 Graduate Seminar: Grad 1 or Grad 2, which are not sequential but rather based on curriculum focus -- Grad 1 being a focus on the theatre arts as they apply in the courtroom including body language, voice, movement, creativity and spontaneity, and having fun with your practice; and Grad 2 based on teaching how to structure the story of your client's cases.  

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