Trial Advocacy Award offered in memory of Paul W. Holloway

A new Trial Advocacy Award – named for the late Paul W. Holloway, a noted trial attorney, and funded, in part, by his former firm – has been established by the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law.

The Paul W. Holloway Trial Advocacy Award will be given to a student in the College of Law’s Trial Advocacy Program whose academic achievement and advocacy skills are most reflective of the fulfillment of the program’s goals. The first award will be given this May.

Holloway (1942-2010), was a founding partner of the firm known until recently as Holloway Odegard Forrest & Kelly, P.C. During his long career, he tried more than 160 jury trials and was recognized by his peers for his dignity, professionalism, and courtroom skills. He was born in Glendale, Calif., and received his law degree from the University of Arizona in 1967.

“We can think of no greater honor to a student seeking recognition for trial advocacy than to be awarded a prize in the name of Paul Holloway,” said Douglas Sylvester, interim dean. “We are grateful to Holloway, Odegard, Forrest & Kelly for their generosity, and to the Holloway family for their willingness to allow us to honor students with a prize in Paul’s name.”

The Paul W. Holloway Trial Advocacy Award will be a cash award funded, in part, by a generous donation by the law firm of Holloway Odegard Forrest & Kelly, P.C.

The Trial Advocacy Program was established in 2011 and is designed to provide future trial attorneys with the classroom instruction and courtroom skills necessary for successful careers as trial attorneys. Among the unique elements of the program is a four-credit course, The Litigation Experience. This course is organized around a hypothetical civil case and progresses, in 13 weekly segments, through the various stages typically encountered in the life of a lawsuit – from fact-gathering through discovery, depositions, mediation, motion practice, trial and post-trial proceedings.

The first set of trials took place at the Maricopa County Superior Court on Nov. 19, 2011. Other unique elements of the Trial Advocacy Program include new courses on Persuasive Speech (co-taught by a theater professional) and Technology in the Courtroom (focusing on database management, graphics and other technology-based means of presenting evidence at trial).

“While there are a number of other Trial Advocacy programs at law schools across the country, we believe that the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law program offers a unique combination of full-time and adjunct faculty,” said Gary Birnbaum, associate dean at the College of Law and the Managing Director at Mariscal, Weeks, McIntyre & Friedlander, P.A. “Program faculty currently includes federal and state judges, active members of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and skilled litigators from various legal disciplines.”

For further information about the Trial Advocacy Program and/or the award, contact Gary L. Birnbaum, associate dean, at gary.birnbaum@mwmf.com or Deana S. Peck, program director, at deana.peck@asu.edu.