Haynes Boone’s Trial Academy is an intensive, in-house training program designed to equip the next generation of litigators with essential trial advocacy skills through immersive instruction, hands-on workshops and live mock trials. Haynes Boone Global Chair of the Trials Practice Group Victor Vital authored an article for The Texas Lawbook highlighting how the academy strengthens courtroom readiness and reinforces a firm-wide culture of excellence in litigation.
Read an excerpt below:
In a legal era dominated by discovery, summary judgments and settlements, trial experience has become increasingly rare yet increasingly valuable. Haynes Boone is betting on deep, deliberate, in-house trial training to bridge the readiness gap of a generation of lawyers more familiar with Zoom hearings than the well of a courtroom.
When I rejoined Haynes Boone as global chair of the trial practice group in August 2024, one of my principal visions was developing and spearheading an internal trial training program designed to hone trial advocacy skills in the next generation of Haynes Boone trial attorneys, while fostering team building and integration of litigators across offices. Less than a year after rejoining Haynes Boone, that vision became reality with the inaugural HB Trial Academy held May 28–30.
Launched in collaboration with noted trial consultant and author Shane Read, HB Trial Academy is more than a skills workshop, it’s a full immersion bootcamp in the art and science of trial advocacy. The inaugural HB Trial Academy brought together 16 lawyers from eight of the firm’s 19 offices for three high-impact days of instruction, hands-on workshops and live mock trials judged by seasoned Haynes Boone litigators Michael Mazzone, Thomas Williams and me, as well as one of the firm’s renowned appellate lawyers, Lynne Liberato. Our talented class of summer associates and patent agent interns served as jurors and bailiffs, getting a front-row view into the firm’s investment in training. One summer associate noted that while firms often pour significant resources into recruiting, it was refreshing to see Haynes Boone also pour its resources into training its attorneys.
As litigation becomes more complex and the stakes grow higher, firms must train lawyers who not only know the law and can write great motions, but who can also tell a compelling story under pressure. The HB Trial Academy was developed to lay a foundation upon which Haynes Boone litigators can build to eventually try disputes of consequence.
Read the full Texas Lawbook article here.
