Where: Seattle Central Community College, 1701 Broadway Seattle, WA 98122, RM 4106 (Capitol Hill)

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1 HOW TO BE A GREAT CAPITAL BRIEF (a trial defender skilled in written advocacy) RECOGNIZING ISSUES YOU NEED TO LITIGATE BEFORE TRIAL, WRITING EFFECTIVE MOTIONS AND SUPPORTING BRIEFS FOR THE TRIAL COURT, KNOWING WHEN, WHERE, AND HOW TO PURSUE MOTIONS FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW When: December 16 and 17, 2011, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Where: Seattle Central Community College, 1701 Broadway Seattle, WA 98122, RM 4106 (Capitol Hill) Registration Fee: $ (Payable to WDPAC. Mail to WDPAC, c/o Katie Ross, 810 Third Ave., Suite 800, Seattle, WA ). If you are currently a law student with demonstrated interest in the rights of the accused or civil liberties, you may attend for the reduced registration fee of $ MCLE Credits: 12 credits requested, at least 1 hour of ethics credit. Faculty: We are fortunate to have two of the most respected capital litigators and experienced United States Supreme Court advocates in the country as instructors in our program. Rob Owen briefed and argued four cases successfully at the United States Supreme Court (Tennard v. Dretke (2004), Abdul-Kabir v. Quarterman (2007), Brewer v. Quarterman (2007), and Skinner v. Switzer (2010)). Rob is currently a visiting professor of clinical law at Northwestern University s School of Law in Chicago and since 2006, he has been co-director of the Capital Punishment Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Tim Ford is chair of Washington's Supreme Court Capital Counsel Panel which is charged with recruiting and maintaining a list of attorneys qualified for appointment in death penalty trials, appeals and personal restraint petitions. Tim is nationally recognized as one of the lions of capital defense. He has been counsel of record on eight cases in the United States Supreme Court and personally argued three of them. Tim is equally recognized as a civil rights litigator and has successfully recovered damages for victims of police misconduct and in-prison rights violations. In addition, we are privileged to have Jeff Ellis, director of the Oregon Capital Resource Center, also a very experienced and successful capital defense attorney. Katie Ross, director of Washington s Death Penalty Assistance Center, and long time capital defense, is host of the training. Who May Attend: Registration is now opened up on a space available basis. You are welcome to attend if you are now defending capital cases at any level or have a serious interest in being part of a capital defense team in the future. Whether you are lead attorney on a capital case or a law student helping with defense research, this program will be of great help to your practice. You need not be capital case qualified now to attend. Federal defenders, CJA panelists and out of state defense attorneys are now welcome to register.

2 You are also welcome to attend if you are part of the pro bono program of a civil law firm working on criminal defense or civil rights cases (not criminal prosecution). Law students with a demonstrated interest in criminal defense or constitutional rights are welcome with a reduced tuition. How many may attend: Space is limited to 70 attendees. 30 spaces are still available. Our faculty will be on hand throughout both days of the program. We hope to be instructors and mentors in the full and best senses of those words. Our presentations and discussions will be integrated. We will not be a series of talking heads with no sense of the overarching purpose of the program. WRITTEN ADVOCACY: Most of us have not received much, if any, instruction on written advocacy since we left law school. In the hustle and bustle of high volume felony practices, whether private or within defense agencies, most of us have limited our writing to hurried motions on discovery and evidentiary issues. Time pressures have forced many of us to rely all too heavily on boiler plate language and cut and pasted memorandums whether we are challenging a search or submitting a trial memorandum. We sometimes rely on message boards more than our own research. Our research, writing, and analytical skills are likely to wither. All of this is understandable when we are in trial with a different client every week, regardless of the charges, but it is not acceptable when life is at stake. This program will focus like a laser on the research and writing skills a capital trial defense attorney needs to effectively advocate for his/her client. Be prepared to work and to learn. When we receive a capital case we find our case loads reduced and we are subject to professional and ethical demands to explore and support every colorable argument we can to save our client s life. How do we identify issues that are critical to our client receiving a fair trial and a life sentence? How do we suddenly reactivate our dormant written advocacy skills? How can we be more effective in written argument than we ever needed to be in our non-capital practice? FOUNDATION - CASES WE HAVE TO KNOW: We will open with Professor Rob Owen (see below) explaining the ten (or so) United States Supreme Court cases every capital trial lawyer must know inside and out (not the usual year in review offered at most capital trainings, but the most important cases of the last several decades). Familiarity with these bedrock SCOTUS cases is crucial to enable us to spot constitutional failings in our state statute as well as challenges based on how the process being applied in our specific cases. Jeff Ellis, director of the Oregon Capital Resource Center, will lead a discussion on the key Washington State capital cases and how we should be either applying them or distinguishing them in our own cases. Attendees from a different jurisdiction will benefit from the method of

3 analyzing state cases. ISSUES - HOW DO WE RECOGNIZE THEM: Tim Ford, a national leader of death penalty defense attorneys, highly regarded United States Supreme Court advocate, and architect of multiple successful attacks on Washington s death penalty statutes after Gregg, will talk about federal and state issues we should be looking for as we consider the facts of our cases, including the procedural facts evolving in our cases with the progression of the prosecution and defense, in the context of the United States and State constitutions. Rob Owen and Jeff Ellis will join Tim in a panel discussion. INTERLOCUTORY REVIEW - WHEN, WHY, HOW: Katie Ross will help us explore the mysteries of discretionary interlocutory review. When is it important to seek interlocutory review? How do you write the motion for discretionary review? What factors are likely to convince an appellate court to accept review? What record do you need from the trial court? What is the process in the appellate court? Are there times when seeking review might be unwise? How do we improve our trial court briefs for the appellate court? SATURDAY, December 17. BACK TO BASICS - THE TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF LEGAL WRITING: Eliza Doolittle was a good person before she met Henry Higgins but society s power structure wouldn t accept her until she spoke and dressed like a proper lady. Rob Owen will remind us how we need to structure our writing to make sure our substantially good arguments aren t turned away because they are poorly presented, poorly worded, or poorly supported. CREATING A NARRATIVE FOR YOUR ARGUMENT AND EXPLAINING HOW YOUR CLIENT WILL BE PREJUDICED IF RELIEF IS NOT GRANTED: Jeff Ellis and Rob Owen discuss how we tell the effectively tell the story behind our motion and convince the court that our client will be unacceptably prejudiced should relief be denied. BRIEFS - THE GOOD AND THE BAD: We (our panel of experienced experts and our audience) will then review and analyze some very well prepared briefs and see how the briefs shaped and supported oral arguments. We will have argument transcripts. We will also analyze some not so successful briefs and why they failed in their purpose. THE ETHICS OF BRIEF WRITING: What do we do about adverse authority? What control, if any, do our clients have over our written advocacy? Some faculty members and additional experienced colleagues will be available over breaks to talk with attendees individually.

4 OUR FACULTY Robert C. Owen Rob Owen is among the most effective capital defense advocates in the nation. He is also a renowned instructor. We have had the good fortune in the past to have Rob as a presenter at DPAC programs and he has received the highest ratings on evaluations and is the most requested as a return speaker. Because of his commitments in Texas and on several very high profile United States Supreme Court cases (see below) he has not been able to join us in recent years UNTIL NOW. There is no one better: Rob Owen is a Visiting Clinical Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago. Since 2006, he has been co-director of the Capital Punishment Center at the University of Texas at Austin, where law students in 2008 recognized him for having gone above and beyond on their behalf. He is a recipient of the Thurgood Marshall Award in recognition of his work in representing condemned prisoners. Since becoming a lawyer in 1989, he has defended people facing the death penalty at every level of the state and federal court system, including arguing four cases successfully at the United States Supreme Court (Tennard v. Dretke (2004), Abdul-Kabir v. Quarterman (2007), Brewer v. Quarterman (2007), and Skinner v. Switzer (2010)). He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Georgia in 1984, earning an A.B. in Comparative Literature with highest honors. After completing an M.A. in Speech Communication at the same institution in 1986, he received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in Mr. Owen began his career as a lawyer with the nonprofit Texas Resource Center in Austin, representing prisoners on Texas death row. After six years there, he served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in Seattle from before returning to Texas. He is regularly invited to appear as a faculty member at trainings around the nation for capital defense lawyers, and has testified before state legislatures in Washington and Texas concerning proposed changes in death penalty law. Tim Ford: Tim has been one of the most effective and dedicated advocates for the condemned for decades. Tim is chair of the Washington Supreme Court Capital Counsel Panel Committee which determines who will be admitted to the list of attorneys qualified for appointment to capital cases, and is himself one of a handful of Washington lawyers qualified to handle capital murder cases at all three levels: trial, appeal, and post conviction proceedings. He has argued several landmark criminal appeals in Washington and several other states, in the federal courts, and has been counsel of record on eight cases in the Supreme Court of the United States. He is a nationally recognized authority on capital punishment and habeas corpus law, and has been recognized by the federal courts as an expert on standards for effective assistance of counsel in criminal trials.

5 Jeff Ellis: Jeff is the current director of the Oregon Capital Resource Center. He is really a Washingtonian though and spent most of his career as a defense attorney with The Defender Association and then in private practice. He did a tour of duty in Texas learning death penalty defense the hard way. Jeff has represented capital defendants at trial, appeal, and state and federal post conviction petitions and clemency proceedings. He has successfully handled a number of capital cases in Washington, including running a most delicate, yet ultimately successful, negotiation for a life sentence in the remand of a capital sentencing proceeding in State v. Richard Clark in Snohomish County. He was an adjunct professor at Seattle University School of Law teaching a class on the death penalty, the University of Texas School of Law and is now teaching at Lewis and Clark University School of Law. Jeff also served for a number of years as chair of the Washington Coalition Against the Death Penalty and is now on the board of Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Katie Ross: Katie is the current director of Washington Death Penalty Assistance Center. She has been a defense attorney for thirty five years and has defended capital cases at all levels including trial, direct appeal, and both state and federal collateral reviews. PRACTICALITIES: Parking: There is inexpensive all day parking across the street at the Harvard Garage, 1609 Harvard Avenue Food and drink: As usual, WDPAC will provide a few sugary snacks guaranteed to have no nutritional value. In addition, there are many coffee and lunch places within easy walking distance of SCCC (a Dick s hamburger stand is a block away). Be sure to bring your vente triple shot with you in the morning because DPAC s usual BYOC policy stands. Lodging: The Silver Cloud Inn on Broadway in Seattle and The Sorrento Hotel are within easy walking distance of the SCCC. There are more options within the general area - I recommend checking expedia, priceline, etc. If you are coming from out of town and need lodging I strongly recommend you book ASAP because the weekend of December is the start of Christmas vacations and hotels will soon be filling with holiday visitors, office party revelers, shoppers, etc. The nightly rates will also likely go up.