Fall 2024 Excelling in Evidence

A 15-Hour Course from the Temple LL.M. in Trial Advocacy Program

August 13 – 15, 20 & 21, 2024

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM EST

Temple University Beasley School of Law
1719 N. Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122
Klein Hall, Room 2A and Online

Course Readings

Excelling in Evidence is a five night, 15-hour course for litigators and judges offered through the LL.M. in Trial Advocacy Program at Temple University Beasley School of Law in August 2024. Taught by Professor Jules Epstein, Director of Advocacy Programs, Excelling in Evidence is an opportunity for seasoned attorneys to gain a master litigator’s grasp of complex principles and strategies.

Learn More About Temple’s LL.M. in Trial Advocacy

The fee for this standalone portion of the LL.M. program is $900. Tuition discounts are available for lawyers working in public interest. The credits for Excelling in Evidence are valid for two academic years for those who later enroll in the LL.M.

Jules Epstein

Edward D. Ohlbaum Professor of Law, Director of Advocacy Programs

Jules Epstein is the Edward D. Ohlbaum Professor of Law and Director of Advocacy Programs at Temple University Beasley School of Law. He is a former partner at the highly respected Philadelphia criminal defense and civil rights firm of Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg, & Lin LLP, where he remains of counsel. Professor Epstein teaches criminal law and evidence courses.

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A 1978 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, Professor Epstein began his legal career with the Defender Association of Philadelphia. He was an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania from 1988 through 2006, has taught in and prepared materials for countless continuing legal education programs, and has authored dozens of articles and book chapters on criminal law and evidence topics. He served as a Professor of Law and the Director of the Taishoff Advocacy, Technology, and Public Service Institute at Widener School of Law before joining the faculty at Temple.

Professor Epstein’s work has concentrated, in recent years, on capital case, eyewitness, and forensics issues. He has taught death penalty law nationally to judges and attorneys, and continues to handle capital cases at the appellate and post conviction stages. In the area of eyewitness evidence, he has lectured, authored both articles and book chapters, and served as an expert witness.

Nationally, Professor Epstein served as a member of the National Commission on Forensic Science from 2013 until the Commission’s demise in 2017. He was co-editor of SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE REVIEW: ADMISSIBILITY AND THE USE OF EXPERT EVIDENCE IN THE COURTROOM, MONOGRAPH NO. 9, (ABA Books, 2013) and THE FUTURE OF EVIDENCE (ABA Books, 2011). He is faculty for the National Judicial College, teaching courses to judges in advanced evidence and capital case law. In Pennsylvania, he is a member of a group of lawyers, judges and academics revising the Suggested Standard Jury Instruction, Criminal, and served on a commission addressing issues in cases of wrongful convictions.

Marian G. Braccia

Director of the LL.M. in Trial Advocacy Program Practice Professor of Law

Marian Braccia is the Director of the LL.M. in Trial Advocacy and a Practice Professor of Law at Temple University Beasley School of Law, where she brings particular expertise in courtroom technology, e-discovery issues, and trial skills. Prior to joining the full-time faculty, Professor Braccia taught Introduction to Trial Advocacy and an experiential course in criminal prosecution for several years as an adjunct in Temple’s trial advocacy program. She has also served as a coach for Temple’s National Trial Team.

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Professor Braccia is an accomplished litigator, having served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office from 2006 to 2018 under D.A.s Abraham, Williams, Hodge, and Krasner. In addition to serving as a trial attorney in Major Trials and the Family Violence and Sexual Assault Unit, in 2012 Professor Braccia was appointed to a supervisory position in the District Attorney’s Charging Unit, and in 2014 launched Philadelphia’s Domestic Violence Diversion Program, assuming a caseload in excess of 200 dockets, monitoring participants’ treatment progress, and reporting on program statistics to the DOJ’s Office of Violence Against Women. In August 2017, she took on added responsibilities as Director of Information Technology for the DA’s Office.

She presents frequently on gender bias in the courtroom, particularly as it impacts transgender and gender-diverse people and cisgender women. Braccia also teaches lawyers in Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, and Peru the fundamentals of American trial advocacy through Temple’s Chilean pre-LL.M. program. She also teaches Evidence Law to Chinese legal professionals as part of the Temple-Tsinghua LL.M. degree program.