Release date: Sept. 12, 2003
Contact: Elaine Justice, Associate Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0643 or ejustic@emory.edu

Trial Advocacy Expert Joins Emory Law School

Paul J. Zwier, one of the nation’s most distinguished professors of advocacy training, has joined Emory Law School as professor of law and director of the school's advocacy program, including its award-winning Kessler-Eidson Trial Techniques Program.

"Paul Zwier is recognized as one of the top trial advocacy instructors in the country," says Thomas Arthur, dean of Emory Law School. "He also has produced first-rate interdisciplinary scholarship that combines theory with doctrine. He was a natural choice."

Zwier’s mission at Emory is to build upon the nationally recognized Kessler-Eidson program and other advocacy skills programs at Emory. He also will work to create a comparable program in skills training in the transactional area.

"Emory's trial techniques program already has an excellent reputation upon which to build," says Zwier of his appointment. "The fact that Emory requires every second year student to take this course demonstrates the school's commitment to the 'advocate,' to creating the complete lawyer."

Zwier comes to Emory from the University of Tennessee Law School, where he was professor and director of the center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution. Prior to that, he spent 18 years at the University of Richmond’s T.C. Williams School of Law as professor and director of the Lawyering Skills Program.

He has been the associate director of in-house training for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) since 2000 and has served as director of NITA's motion practice program since 1989. In 1998, Zwier received NITA’s Prentice Marshall Award.

He has been retained as a consultant on negotiations and advocacy skills for many of the nation's leading law firms, including Jones Day; Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP; Shearman & Sterling LLP; Kirkland & Ellis LLP; and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, among many others.

The author of numerous books and articles, Zwier has taught advocacy to lawyers and judges in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, Hong Kong and Beijing. He also has led seminars in negotiation and dispute resolution for black South African lawyers as part of a U.S. Department of State program.

Zwier earned a bachelor’s degree from Calvin College in 1976, a J.D. from Pepperdine University in 1979, and an L.L.M. from Temple University in 1981.

Emory University is a highly selective, comprehensive research university known for its academically demanding undergraduate college, highly ranked professional schools and world-class research facilities. For more than a decade, Emory has been named one of the country's top 25 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, a comprehensive metropolitan health care system.

Back