Download the complete 2010 Life in the Balance Brochure (pdf, 2 Mb) and register today!

Conference Overview

With more than 75 separate sessions over three and a half days, Life in the Balance 2010 will provide an opportunity to learn from and work with the most successful and forward-thinking attorneys, mitigation specialists, investigators and experts from across the nation. The faculty will offer expert guidance and instruction on such topics as:

• Mental health, including Atkins, the MMPI and competence & execution


• Plea agreements and how to get them from your client, the prosecutor, the victim family and the courts


• Race and culture and their implications for the defense team, the jury and the courts


• Motion practice and preservation of error


• Defense team dynamics


• ABA standards, ethics and constitutionally effective assistance


• Science-real and fake-biological, crime scene and psychological


• Juries: how to pick them, talk to them and understand the way they work

This year’s program will also feature a screening of the award-winning documentary “The Life Penalty.” You may register to attend two, three or all four days of the conference and will have the opportunity to select from sessions offered by Life in the Balance and the National Alliance of Sentencing Advocates & Mitigation Specialists (NASAMS) Sentencing Advocacy Training. Each day of the conference will offer sessions in the topic areas of:

• Race, Class & Culture


• Investigation


• Mitigation


• Pretrial/Trial/Appeal/Post-Conviction


• Mental Health/Mental Retardation


• Crime Scene, Biological & Forensic Sciences


• Nuts & Bolts Of Capital Cases

Who Should Attend

Participants must be involved in the defense of persons accused in criminal cases and are typically defense attorneys, mitigation specialists and defense investigators. Participants come from a variety of practice settings and public defender offices; small, solo and large.

If You Are New to Capital Defense: Life in the Balance will offer training in all basic skills, including; developing a relationship with your client and client’s family, locating and interviewing witnesses, gathering and organizing documents and evidence.

If You Are a Seasoned Capital Defense Team Member: You can be assured of going home with new information and materials that will make a difference in your cases. Sessions will be presented on complex areas of death penalty representation, such as multiple defendant cases, cases crossing international boundaries and federal death penalty prosecutions. Life in the Balance will provide new insights and methods for even the well experienced.

Capital Appeals, Habeas Corpus, and Post-Conviction Practice: Most capital cases do not end at the trial level. Life in the Balance will include sessions that cover the process from the moment a verdict is returned through cert in the Supreme Court. Experienced practitioners and experts will help you navigate the complex terrain of capital appeals and habeas procedure and the painstaking methods of factual reinvestigation and presentation that postconviction proceedings require.

Federal Capital Cases: Since federal practice is different, special sessions will be offered to address the nuances of capital defense in the federal courts.

Need Help With Your Case? Bring your case with you. Opportunities will be available for you to meet one-on-one with experienced lawyers, mitigation specialists, and investigators to talk over the thorny issues you are currently facing.

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