Portland partner Nancy Erfle served as the Director of the 47th Annual International Association of Defense Counsel's (IADC) Trial Academy.
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.
Erfle served as Director-Elect for 2018 and was a member of the teaching faculty in 2007. Erfle was selected as a Law360 2017 Product Liability MVP, one of only five attorneys in the nation to receive that recognition. She was recognized among the leading practitioners in the county in the 2019 edition of Chambers USA for her defense of pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, automotive manufacturers, agricultural chemical manufacturers, aviation manufacturers, as well as companies involved in commercial disputes. In 2004, Erfle was selected as a recipient of The Portland Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40” Award, an honor which recognizes the 40 most accomplished, influential, and civic-minded young executives in Portland. Since 2006, Erfle has been named an Oregon “Super Lawyer” by Law & Politics magazine, a peer-elected distinction bestowed upon only the top five percent of all attorneys in the state of Oregon. In 2007, she was named one of the “100 Most Powerful Women” by Northwest Women’s Journal. 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. Since 2012 she has been consistently named in the Top 250 Women in American Litigation by Benchmark Litigation.