Kimball R. and Karen Gatsis Anderson Center for Advocacy and Professionalism
University of Illinois College of Law
Spring 2025 Symposium
Teaching the Next Generation of Trial Lawyers: Difficult Cases and Difficult Clients
REGISTER TO ATTEND
*The College of Law will apply for 5.25 hours of Illinois MCLE credit for this symposium
This symposium brings together veteran trial lawyers, former military lawyers, and renowned academics speaking on their experiences with difficult cases and difficult clients. They offer their perspective on preserving the rule of law no matter and constitutional norms in today’s political climate. The symposium addresses the issues of professional responsibility that arise when handling difficult and unpopular clients. It also addresses related issues of managing publicity, ensuring decorum and respect for the rule of law in the courtroom, advising clients in difficult cases about settlement and plea deals, reconciling personal morality with client representation and zealous advocacy, advocating against the perceived public interest, and representing persons accused of heinous crimes.
Speakers include veteran Chicago trial lawyer Dan Herbert who represented the white police officer accused of killing Laquan McDonald, a 16-year-old African American. Herbert is the author of “Working the Heater Case,” 49 LITIGATION 22 (Fall 2022) and “Representing Clients in Difficult Cases,” ABA Litigation Magazine, 51 LITIGATION 19 (Fall 2024).
Distinguished speakers also include Texas family lawyer Lori Laird who successfully defended the parents of a teenage gunman who killed eight students and two teachers at a Santa Fe High School in 2018. Her story, a profile in courage, was recently featured in a New York Times article entitled “Behind a Mass Shooting Trial in Texas, a Lawyer’s Own Grief.”
Panel discussions will also include Alberto Mora, who is a former General Counsel of the Navy during the George W. Bush Administration. During his government service, he led an effort within the Department of Defense to oppose and end the use of torture of Guantanamo Bay.
Also featured are Eugene Fidell, Yale Law School, who represented Bowe Bergdahl, the Army soldier tried by general court-martial on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy after he was held captive from 2009 to 2014 by the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Additionally, Annie Morgan, defense counsel for Abdul Al-Rahim Al Nashiri, the alleged mastermind of the USS Cole bombing, will speak to her experiences representing Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Renowned trial lawyer Dan K. Webb will also present and share his experiences representing unpopular clients at the highest levels.
In summary, this symposium brings together a bevy of distinguished practitioners, judges and academics to address cutting edge issues that arise when representing difficult clients in difficult cases.
8:00 AM – 8:45 AM: Continental Breakfast
8:45 AM – 9:00 AM: Opening Remarks
Dean Jamelle Sharpe, University of Illinois College of Law
9:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Panel I – Representing Unpopular Clients – Strategies and Ethics
Moderator: Kimball Anderson, Winston & Strawn LLP
Panelists: Charles Blixt, former Executive Vice President and General Counsel of R.J. Reynalds Tobacco Company and Reynolds American, Inc.; Lynn H. Murray, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP; Prof. Patrick Keenan, University of Illinois College of Law; Dan K. Webb, Winston & Strawn LLP
Panel Description: Every attorney has an ethical obligation to zealously represent their clients. What responsibilities are attendant to such an obligation? What are the limits of zealous advocacy? Further, the acceptance of such responsibilities may be met with widespread public criticism, controversy, and personal moral conflicts. How do attorneys manage these potential conflicts, both outside the courtroom and inside the courtroom. Finally, how do attorneys manage their clients, who may have differing opinions of what constitutes zealous advocacy and the outer bounds of what is acceptable advocacy? This panel brings together academics and distinguished attorneys to address professional ethics in representing difficult clients and advocating difficult cases and the controversies inherent to such representation. This conversation focuses on both ethics and strategies when faced with difficult cases or difficult clients.
11:00 AM – 11:15 AM: Break
11:15 AM to 12:00 PM: Keynote Address I -- Dan Herbert –Representing Clients in Difficult Cases
12:00 PM to 12:15 PM: Break and Serving of Lunch (Lunch will be provided)
12:15 pm – 2:00 pm: Panel II – Representing Difficult and Unpopular Clients in the National Security Arena
Moderator: Prof. Tony Ghiotto, University of Illinois College of Law
Panelists: Eugene Fidell, Yale Law School (Counsel for Bowe Bergdahl); Alberto Mora, former Navy General Counsel; Annie Morgan, Defense Counsel (Counsel for Abdul Al-Rahim Al Nashiri, alleged mastermind of the USS Cole Bombing)
Panel Description: This panel explores the unique ethical responsibilities and challenges, as well as the moral and professional concerns, faced by attorneys representing difficult and unpopular clients in the national security arena. Speakers will share experiences and lessons learned from representing suspected terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay and from representing high-profile and controversial servicemembers before courts-martial. Further, speakers will discuss the challenges attendant with advising senior military and executive branch officials who intend to order actions that push against domestic and international law, in addition to societal and democratic norms.
2:00 pm to 2:15 pm -- Break
2:15 – 3:00 PM: Keynote Address II — Lori Laird – Behind a Mass Shooting Trial in Texas, a Lawyer’s Own Grief
3:00 pm – Closing Remarks – Professor Tony Ghiotto