Defender Boot Camp

I'm spending a week away from the Sage campus and am up the hill at RPI, where I'm on faculty for the Basic Trial Skills Program with the New York State Defenders Association. The program pairs experienced trial attorneys with communications coaches to teach public defenders about both trial and client-centered practice.

This is my third summer with the lawyers and I learn as much about acting from them as I did from my best theatre professors. More than that, I learn why public defenders desperately need such a program. Most are in counties or practices that have them overtaxed with clients and under-resourced for the work they are expected to do. Under such circumstances, the idea that we are "humans defending humans" can go out the window and our state defense practice can turn into a machine. This week endeavours to teach active listening, empathy and trial advocacy to amazing young lawyers who take back new skills to the damaged system within which they practice.

This "lawyer boot camp" is the brainchild of Jonathan Gradess, Executive Director of NYSDA. Jonathan is a mastermind at pedagogy, team-building and the timetable. He is simply one of the best leaders I've ever known. The week is a continual process of fine-tuning, to get the program to the highest caliber it can be. Jonathan enlists amazing trial attorneys and communications coaches from the Capital Region, New York State and beyond. Cessie the mitigator is from Troy; Jamie the retired P.D. is from Chicago. Joy the acting teacher is from Los Angeles; Henderson the trial attorney is from North Carolina. And the list goes on, all professionals who give a lot of time and energy to training our next generation of public defenders.

By the end of the week, the students have picked mock juries, delivered opening and closing statements, practiced cross examination and direct, plus listened to lectures, practiced in communications labs and participated in group discussions. The twelve-hour days are exhausting, but the commitment is inspiring. They all go home tomorrow, hopefully energized and changed for the better. I'll be in my acting classroom this year, maybe staging horrific dramas like they see everyday in real life. Knowing their stories and their struggles deepens my understanding of the human condition when presenting it. In that way, an artist can be a public defender. Call it understanding at an arm's length.