Arizona Law Announces Noted Defense Attorney, Scholar Barbara Bergman as New Director of Advocacy Program

The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law has hired Barbara Bergman as director of the advocacy program and professor of law. Bergman joins Arizona Law from the University of New Mexico School of Law, where she served on the faculty for 28 years, including four years as associate dean for academic affairs and one year as interim dean.
 
Bergman is a noted defense attorney who previously served with the Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C. and who spent a year as associate counsel to President Jimmy Carter. She was also on the defense team in the State of Oklahoma v. Terry Nichols, a state death penalty case following the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City.
 
“Barbara's extensive experience, national reputation in advocacy, leadership in and deep connection with the bar, and enthusiasm for teaching will continue the evolution of our respected advocacy program,” said Arizona Law Dean Marc Miller.
 
Bergman has published extensively on criminal procedure, evidence, and trial advocacy. She is the co-author of “Wharton's Criminal Evidence” (15th edition), “Wharton’s Criminal Procedure” (14th edition), and “The EveryTrial Criminal Defense Resource Book.” She is also a frequent presenter and lecturer on trial advocacy and ethics and professionalism.
 
Bergman was a law clerk in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and was an associate at Bredhoff & Kaiser and Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, both in Washington, D.C.
 
Bergman is on the Board of Trustees of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. She is a past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
 
She takes over leadership of Arizona Law’s advocacy program from Thomas Mauet, the Milton O. Riepe Professor of Law who founded the program and is a national leader in the field. Mauet will continue teaching, working with trial advocacy students, and producing scholarship.
 
“I am delighted to have the opportunity to build on the wonderful advocacy program that Professor Mauet has created and nurtured over the years,” said Bergman. “I am also looking forward to expanding the advocacy curriculum to include more courses that teach the practical skills all lawyers need to be effective advocates.”
 
The advocacy program is the centerpiece of the college’s Civil Justice Initiative, which also includes research and policy engagement, and a series of events and guest speakers, centered on the annual Peter Chase Neumann Lecture on Civil Justice, which brings in leading civil justice advocates from around the country.
 
Bergman will work closely with Arizona Law students who participate in intercollegiate and intramural trial advocacy competitions, such as the team who this year was one of 29 around the country to qualify for the National Trial Competition.
 
“We are fortunate to have attracted someone of Barbara’s caliber,” said Mauet. “Her range of experiences as an academic, a practitioner, and administrator will benefit our students as well as the profession. I feel very confident in the program and continuing to teach and work with our talented students.”
 
In 2001, Bergman received the Robert C. Heeney Award, the highest honor given by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. In 1993 she received the Richard S. Jacobson Award for excellence in teaching of trial advocacy awarded by The Roscoe Pound Foundation.
 
Bergman earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School and graduated summa cum laude with a B.A from Bradley University.
 
“The value in training skilled advocates cannot be understated, because it is at the very core of a well-functioning civil justice system,” said trial lawyer and alumnus Ted Schmidt, who teaches in the advocacy program and mentors students. “Tom Mauet’s vision has always been to help law students become ethical and passionate advocates, and his outstanding work will be ably continued under Barbara Bergman.”
 
Bergman’s appointment begins July 1.

For more information, contact: Tracy Mueller, assistant dean for external communications, 520-621-1563.