Portland partner Nancy Erfle has been appointed as the International Association of Defense Counsel's (IADC) Trial Academy Director for 2019. Erfle served on the faculty for the Trial Academy in 2007, but will oversee the implementation of IADC's 47th Annual Trial Academy as Director.
The IADC Trial Academy – held at Stanford Law School in Palo Alto, California – is one of the oldest and most respected programs for developing defense trial advocacy skills. This seven-day intensive program blends faculty instruction and demonstration with individual student participation. The faculty consists of leading defense trial lawyers selected on a national basis from different regions of the country. Each faculty member is assigned to a group of five to seven students which allows for individualized attention and instruction.
The faculty utilizes proven methods of instruction for a full learning experience. Faculty demonstrations expose participants to different approaches and ideas in solving common trial problems and add dimension to the program. For the student exercises, this Academy makes extensive use of videotape as a teaching tool. Each student conducts opening statements, direct and cross examination of lay witnesses, direct and cross examination of medical doctors and economists, and closing statements. These exercises are videotaped and the faculty member critiques them with the student.
Nancy Erfle is a member of the Tort & Product Liability Litigation and Commercial Litigation practice groups. Erfle has received numerous awards and honors including recently being recognized in Who's Who Legal's 2017 list of preeminent lawyers around the world for Product Liability Defense and Life Science: Product Liability and listed in The Best Lawyers in America© 2018 for Product Liability Litigation - Defendants. Erfle has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2010 for her work in Product Liability Litigation and named an Oregon Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation. She is currently listed as one of the Top 250 Women in American Litigation by Benchmark Litigation. Since 2006, Ms. Erfle has been named an Oregon "Super Lawyer". In 2007, she was named one of the "100 Most Powerful Women" by Northwest Women's Journal.