In 1981, this College was co-founded by Professor Stephen A. Saltzburg, then of the University of Virginia School of Law, and now the Wallace and Beverley Woodbury University Professor, George Washington University Law School, and the Honorable Herbert J. Stern, then United States District Court, Newark, New Jersey.

Virginia Continuing Legal Education (Virginia CLE®) and the University of Virginia School of Law partnered with these individuals to create an “Annual Institute of Trial Advocacy.” This Institute has evolved into what today is the National Trial Advocacy College, a partnership between Virginia Continuing Legal Education and the University of Virginia School of Law, with Stephen Saltzburg as its Director.

The College has attracted a prominent faculty of trial attorneys, judges, professionals, and experts, many of whom have a long anddistinguished tenure with the College. With an enrollment of approximately 150 lawyers per year, the College has refined the skills of thousands of lawyers from across the world, from Australia to South Africa to Japan.

The format of the program has remained its cornerstone: lectures and demonstrations by prominent faculty, followed by extensive training in small groups by a faculty member. In these groups, the lawyers practice and perform every advocacy skill in a simulated setting. Critique from the faculty and peers then ensues, all video recorded for the benefit of the attendee. After this hands-on trial skills training, the lawyer teams with a member of the group to prepare and try a case against another pair of attendees—before an experienced trial judge and, whenever possible, live jurors.

The Brennan Award

In 1987 the College instituted the Brennan Award in honor of Justice William J. Brennan, Jr.  The honorees, many of whom also lecture at the College, include:

1987

Judah Best
The Honorable Robert R. Merhige, Jr.
The Honorable Herbert J. Stern

1988

The Honorable Charles L. Becton
James D. St. Clair
Stephen A. Saltzburg

1989

William J. Brennan III
Terence F. MacCarthy

1990

John J. Curtin
Bruce I. Goldstein

1991

The Honorable Frederic N. Smalkin
Gregory P. Joseph
Peter J. Kenny

1992

Thomas F. Campion
Stephen M. Duncan

1993

The Honorable James T. Turner
John C. Lowe

1994

James M. Brown
Barry I. Fredericks
Charles B. Gorham

1995

The Honorable Ralph Adam Fine
Colin J. S. Thomas

1996

Raymond M. Tierney
Mary Lynn Tate
Edward R. Slaughter, Jr.

1997

Stephen B. Farmer
The Honorable Norman K. Moon

1998

The Honorable Stephen H. Helvin
Gerald A. Messerman

1999

The Honorable Helen S. Balick
The Honorable Bernard Balick
Robert M. Taylor

2000

Michael R. Fontham
The Honorable B. Waugh Crigler

2001

Brian J. Donato, Arthur J. Schwab

2002

David Boies
Gerald F. Ivey

2003

James J. Brosnahan
The Honorable David G. Lowe
The Honorable Clifford R. Weckstein

2004

The Honorable Antonin Scalia

2005

The Honorable Peter Hill Beer
The Honorable Adrian G. DuPlantier

2006

Benjamin R. Civiletti
Peter J. Neufeld

2007

The Honorable Leonie M. Brinkema
Robert A. Clifford
Jo-Ellan Dimitrius

2008

The Honorable Barbara J. Rothstein
Theodore V. Wells, Jr.
Kenneth R. Feinberg

2009

The Honorable Mortimer M. Caplin
The Honorable Julian Abele Cook, Jr.

2010

Otto F. Feil III
Kathy L. Nusslock

2011

The Honorable Liam O'Grady

2012

The Honorable Russell E. Carparelli
The Honorable Ricardo M. Urbina

2013

The Honorable Gerald B. Lee

2014

The Honorable Bernice B. Donald

2015

The Honorable Robert J. Conrad, Jr.
Kenneth W. Curtis

2016

The Honorable Henry Coke Morgan
R. Craig Wood

2017

The Honorable Karen A. Henenberg
Brenda Rodriguez-Howdershell

2018

R. Hewitt Pate

2019

The Honorable Paul F. Sheridan
The Honorable Michael F. Urbanski
John T. Battaglia

2020

W. David Harless
Roscoe C. Howard, Jr.
J. Brian Jackson

2023

Hon. Anthony J. Trenga
Sally Q. Yates

2024

Hon. Barbara J. Gaden
John A. Schwab