Keenan Trial Institute Graduate Courses
Graduate courses allow you to be expand upon concepts, theories, and applications in a way you haven’t imagined! These courses delve deeper into the methods taught in our Undergraduate courses.
Cancellation/Refund policy: You can transfer your course payment to a new course date one time. You must notify us of this request two weeks before the course date. If you cannot attend the new course date selected, you forfeit the registration payment.
The Keenan Trial Institute was created to better prepare trial lawyers. The EDGE teaches how to streamline discovery, apply Black Letter Law, simplify and try a case to a jury efficiently. Neither the College or the EDGE was designed for CLE credits; we do offer CLE credits when we can, but that is not the goal of our program or system. Therefore, if you practice in a state that requires CLE credits, you must apply on your own to obtain your state’s credits. We do not register with individual states as a CLE provider
Please check the course details for Pre-requisites. Not all Graduate level courses require you to have Graduate status.
Your Payment is Due at the Time of Registration. If your payment is not made, your registration will not be processed.
There are no Faculty, RA, or Associate Discounts for Graduate Level courses.
Class Calendar Undergraduate coursesGRADUATE – Advanced Voir Dire
You’ve learned what to ask in the undergraduate Voir Dire class. Now learn the hows and whys behind the templates. Using the techniques learned in The Keenan Trial Institute’s Advanced Voir Dire class, you will KNOW who to strike from your panel and will be armed to make those strikes.
Cases ARE won and lost in voir dire. Learn how to start your trial out on the right foot
You must be a Graduate having completed 7 undergraduate courses to attend this course.
Tuition $1400.00.
Register NowGRADUATE – Advanced Mediation
In the KTI Advanced Mediation Graduate Course we delve deeper into the Keenan System of Mediation and using new tools to successfully get closure for your clients.
You will build on the approach to mediation taught at the KTI undergraduate level. You will learn to focus on the buttons which will make life difficult for the Blackhats and for the Taliban.
In short, you will learn how to design the resolution of your case using the numerous approaches and techniques taught in the Advanced Mediation Course. Get ready for some serious fun and excitement.
You must complete the Undergraduate Mediation course to attend this course. You do not have to have Graduate status.
Tuition $1400.00.
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GRADUATE – Cross Exam
To be a great Trial Lawyer we must first become a great cross examiner. The Keenan Trial Institute’s Cross-Examination course teaches Trial Lawyers to experience in Real Time the Root Cause of their cross-examination System Failures.
Through Don Keenan’s Expectation Focus Group, faculty instruction on Don Keenan’s 7 Rules For Cross Exam, and student role play, this course teaches the Right Way / Wrong Way, and will Focus every student on the most Relevant and Important aspect of Cross Examination – Bubba’s POV.
The Keenan Trial Institute’s promise is that through this course, students will learn how to give Bubba what he wants and needs out of every cross examination, and will be able to do so in a natural seamless manner. Bottom line, this course will enable all of us to effectively cross examine every witness, leaving the witness No Where To Hide.
You must be a Graduate having completed 7 undergraduate courses to attend this course.
Tuition $1400.00.
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GRADUATE – Closing Liability
Nearly every Trial Lawyer’s favorite part of the trial is closing argument. At the Keenan Trial Institute’s Closings course, Your Time will be spent learning how to win your case in your closing argument. Through Don Keenan’s Dirt Simple System, you will learn how to present your case in an organized, easy to understand Uber Efficient closing argument that will hit the defense like a Ton Of Bricks. You will learn that you no longer have to wait until the night before closing to begin working on your argument, because it will flow directly from Don Keenan’s System.
We will review the student’s openings, order of proof, and jury instructions to prepare a closing that will lay out your case in the Right Way and arm the jurors with what they need to render the Verdict your clients Deserve so they will finally get Closure.
The Most Important Thing is you will leave with a closing argument that you can reproduce for all your cases going forward.
You must be a Graduate having completed 7 undergraduate courses to attend this course.
This is a three day course.
Tuition $1900.00.
Register NowGRADUATE – Black Letter Law
This 3-day course teaches the Black Letter Law used for all Keenan Trial Methods.
How to Weaponize the Black Letter Law; How to Make proper arguments for all Keenan Trial Methods, and How to Write trial briefs to provide the judge with the relevant case law, motions in limine, and responses to motions in limine for all Keenan Trial Methods.
With templates, actual examples, and role-playing – plus several trade secrets which cannot be listed publicly.
You must be a Graduate having completed 7 undergraduate courses to attend this course.
This is a three day course.
Tuition $1900.00.
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GRADUATE – Advanced Witness Prep
Enrollment is not complete until payment is received. All tuition payments for courses are due within 72 hours of signing up for course or sign up will be cancelled.
You must complete the Undergraduate Witness Prep undergraduate course to attend this advanced course. You do not have to have Graduate status.
Tuition $1400.00.
Register NowGRADUATE – Trial Management
You must have Graduate status to attend this course.
Tuition $1400.00.
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GRADUATE – Advanced Focus Groups
The amount of material is challenging. But there is a right way and wrong way to do Focus Groups and the results are dependent on doing them the right way. The Edge FG System teaches you HOW TO do many more FG and HOW TO get the most from your FG.
Topics expected to be covered:
– 10 Alternatives to the Passion Question
– FG Medical Knowledge
– Adversarial FG
– FG Demonstrative Evidence
– FG Memos
– FG Tools & Techniques such as
– Quarantining Unruly Jurors
– Avoiding Common FG Failures
– FG Planning & Purpose
– Three Repeats and then what . . .
– Proper use of Open Ended vs Closed End Questions
– Effective Use Flip Charts
– Exploring Juror Attitudes and much much more
You do not have to have Graduate status to attend this cours. You must complete the Undergraduate Focus Group and Voir Dire before you can attend.
This a three day course.
TUITION $1900
GRADUATE – Advanced Depositions
The course focuses on developing the depo HIT LIST and role playing to achieve the hits. Most importantly the course teaches how to turn the results of the HIT LIST into use in editing video clips for mediation and ultimately cross exam at trial. Role play and practice is central to the course.
You do not have to have Graduate status to attend this course. You must complete the Undergraduate Rules, Focus Group and Depositions courses before you can attend.
TUITION $1400
GRADUATE – Advanced Opening
The Advanced Opening is a new cutting-edge course that builds, expands and gives us brand new elements to the opening statement. This course will teach you how Papa Don has been constructing his opening statements, that have now been tried and tested in hundreds of focus groups and trials. This course will give you the tools to build a bullet proof opening statement, that will take 12-minutes or less, and put you on your way to a successful verdict.
The cases with the most success in the Advanced Opening Course will be those far enough from trial to allow for time to work on the new techniques, tips and to further focus group your case.
Undergraduate Pre-requisites are:
1. Rules
2. Opening
3. Focus Groups
4. Voir Dire
You do not have to have Graduate status to attend this course. You must complete the Undergraduate prerequisites listed above.
TUITION $1400
Please let me share a little more info about how the pre-requisites were developed.
One big difference between the Keenan System and other sources of training is the Papa Don has carefully structured the information to be delivered in a way that, as far as is possible, keeps people from screwing it up. That means teaching folks a manageable amount of material in an environment that allows them to practice what they’ve learned and get feedback before they go out and use that material on their own. To make that happen in a 2-day course, each student has to have a baseline level of knowledge. Hence, you can’t take Rules until you watch the Welcome seminar; and you can’t take any other college until you take Rules.
Papa Don, realizing how powerful the New Opening Template is, wanted to make it available to as many people as possible. So, even though it’s a graduate course, it’s open to folks who have not graduated. However, to be fair to everyone who attends, we all felt that each student needed to have a certain level of Edge knowledge coming in. Otherwise, we’d have to spend a lot of time just getting everyone to the same starting point, and we couldn’t cover the new material. So, the Advanced Opening Faculty was asked to set the pre-requisites. Each Faculty member had taken the undergraduate Opening College. After getting trained on the Advanced Opening, we all agreed that folks need the background that the undergrad course provides. Hence, the pre-requisites are Rules, FG, Voir Dire, and Opening.
I hope this helps explain the process, and, rest assured, this was an effort to expand—not curtail—the availability of the New Opening Template. I hope you’ll take the undergrad course and the advanced course too. I think you’ll be glad you did it.
J. David Stradley
Keenan Trial Institute Faculty
Raleigh, NC
GRADUATE – Direct Exam
Direct Exam students will quickly remember what we all know to be true but oftentimes overlook: The lawyer must get out of the way and allow the client to tell their story. When we get out of the way, let our clients do the storytelling, our client becomes the most powerful witness at trial.
During the three-day Direct Exam College students will get to see and experience the transformation of their direct exam skills. Students will first learn the tools of direct exam including creation of both the Client Profile and Direct Exam Checklist.
Role playing exercises are woven throughout the college and will include the building of a direct exam through the Client Profile and the right way / wrong way to do a direct exam.
Finally, students will have the opportunity to build and perfect the direct exam for their own cases and role play the direct exam of their client the right way.
Tuition $1400.00.
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