Training and Experience
I believe that it is my duty to continue my legal education throughout the course of my career as an Attorney. In California attorneys have mandatory "Continuing Legal Education." However, I believe that there is more to being a competent attorney than simply taking some classes from time to time. For example, I have been honored to have the opportunity to attend Gerry Spence's Trial Lawyer's College for seventeen days in June 2000. The College is located on Gerry's ranch in Dubois, Wyoming.
At the Trial Lawyer's College in June 2000, some of the top trial lawyers in America taught forty-eight lawyers, like myself. If you do not know who Gerry Spence is, you are missing the opportunity to observe one of the greatest legal minds this country has ever known. The faculty of the Trial Lawyer's College is comprised of nationally renowned trial lawyers from all over America, as well as professionals in psychodrama and the performing arts.
Below is a photograph (from right to left) of Gerry,
Abraham Kazanjian, and myself taken at the Palomar Mountain Trial Lawyer's
Voir Dire and Closing Argument Seminar in January 2000. The seminar was
four days of intense study by "hands on" involvement. 
Since attending the Trial Lawyer's College, I have attended six
additional regional seminars conducted by the faculty of TLC, as well as a
week long "graduate program" at the Ranch.
In addition, in June 2002, I attended a two week Trial Practice Institute at
the National Criminal Defense College (NCDC) in Macon, Georgia. A faculty of
top criminal defense lawyers from all over the country conducts the NCDC
program. There were 96 students, and we studied all phases of trial
preparation and trial work. It was an excellent program, with an opportunity
to spend time with other criminal defense lawyers from all over America.
In May 2006 I attended the CACJ/CPDA Death Penalty Seminar in Monterey,
California. The program covered presenting a death penalty defense, as well
as many topics related to the general practice of criminal defense.