Attorney General Peter Kilmartin welcomed a team of instructors from across the country to Rhode Island Monday morning to conduct trial advocacy training for 21 attorneys from the Attorney General's office and three Assistant United States Attorneys.
The training, being hosted by Roger Williams Law School, is provided by the National Attorneys General Training and Research Institute, at no cost to the State of Rhode Island. The Institute was formed by the National Association of Attorneys General to provide professional training to the staffs of state attorneys general, and is funded by proceeds from the settlement of multistate tobacco litigation in 1998.
Faculty for this class includes representatives from attorneys general offices in New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Maryland and Connecticut. Over four days, our attorneys will follow a criminal case from beginning to end, and will be videotaped and critiqued by instructors.
Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin stated, "I am thrilled to bring this trial advocacy training to Rhode Island, and to provide such critical and top quality training to our attorneys. Through this mobile training opportunity, we can train more of our attorneys in four days than we could in four years of sending our attorneys away for the same class."
The attendance in the class of three Assistant United States Attorneys is a testament to the close working relationship between the two offices.
United States Attorney Peter Neronha stated, "I am very grateful for this opportunity to provide training for our Assistant United States Attorneys, in particular because they will be teaming up with their counterparts from the Rhode Island Department of Attorney General. This is yet another example of the close partnership between our offices as we work to serve the people of Rhode Island."