Navigating Summary Judgment and Keeping Your Case on the Right Course Through Trial and Beyond

Winning at summary judgment—or successfully defeating it—requires more than mastering the governing legal standard. Effective summary-judgment advocacy begins well before the motion is filed and depends on developing a clear theory of the issue, building the evidentiary record to support it, and presenting that record in a way that makes the path to the desired ruling easy for the court to follow. This program presents five universal keys for approaching summary judgment as an integrated process extending from the pleadings and discovery through briefing and argument. Attendees will learn a practical, repeatable method for organizing the issues and evidence, demonstrating how the record satisfies or fails to satisfy the governing legal requirements, and keeping the strongest affirmative case at the center of the presentation rather than allowing an opponent’s arguments to dictate its structure.

Upon completion of this program, attendees will be able to develop a summary-judgment strategy early in the litigation by identifying the legal and factual propositions that ultimately must be established or contested; build an evidentiary record with summary judgment in mind, using pleadings, written discovery, depositions, and other record evidence strategically to support or defeat dispositive issues; organize and present a summary-judgment brief persuasively, giving the court a clear account of the relevant evidence and a readily understandable path from that evidence to the requested ruling; and integrate facts, evidence, and governing law into a cohesive argument that addresses the necessary components of the dispositive issue while effectively anticipating and responding to the opposing party’s position.