Areas of Expertise
Advocacy, Trial Techniques, Torts, Evidence, International Dispute Resolution, Country Expert on Syria
Biography
Paul J. Zwier II is one of the nation's most distinguished professors of advocacy and skills training. As director of the advocacy skills program, director of Emory’s program for international advocacy and dispute resolution, and a professor of law, Zwier comes to Emory from the University of Tennessee Law School. At UT he was professor of law and director of the Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution.
Zwier is the former director of public education for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) and has taught and designed public and in-house skills programs in trial advocacy, appellate advocacy, advocacy in mediation, motion practice, negotiations, legal strategy, e-discovery, supervisory and leadership skills, and expert testimony at deposition and trial for more than 20 years.
Zwier has taught advocacy skills to international lawyers and judges in Arusha, Tanzania, (ITCR); Den Hague, Netherlands (ICC); YaKaterinburg, Russia, Mexico City, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; Monrovia, Liberia; Nairobi, Kenya; Tbilisi, Georgia; Northern Ireland; Scotland; England; Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing, China and led seminars in negotiation and dispute resolution for black South African lawyers as part of a State Department program. In 1998, Zwier received NITA's Prentice Marshall Award.
He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Principled Negotiation on an International Stage: Talking with Evil, Cambridge University Press (2013); History, Creative Imagination, and Forgiveness in Mediation on an International Stage: Practical Lessons from Paul Ricoeur’s Hermeneutics, Journal of Law and Religion, available on CJO2015. doi:10.1017/jlr.2015.4:Moving From an Inquisitorial to an Oral Adversarial System in Mexico: Jurisprudential, Criminal Procedure, Evidence Law and Trial Advocacy Implications, 26 Emory International Law Review 189 (2012) (with Alexander Barney); Torts: Cases, Problems, and Exercises 4th ed. (LexisNexis, 2013) (with Weaver, Bauman, Cross, Klein, Martin); Mastering Torts (North Carolina Press, 2009); Fact Investigation: A Practical Guide to Interviewing, Counseling, and Case Theory Development, (with Bocchino) (NITA, 2015);Supervisory and Leadership Skills in the Modern Law Practice (NITA 2006); Legal Strategy (NITA, 2006); Effective Expert Testimony, 3d. (NITA, 2013) (with Malone); Advanced Negotiation and Mediation Theory and Practice (2d.) (with Guernsey) (NITA, 2015); Looking to 'Ground Motive' for a Religious Foundation for Law, 54 Emory Law Journal 357 (2005); and The Utility of a Nonconsequentialist Rationale for Civil-Jury-Awarded Punitive Damages, 54 Kansas Law Review 403 (2006). He has made professional presentations and consulted with dozens of law firms and other organizations. In addition to torts, Zwier teaches evidence, advanced trial advocacy, and an advanced negotiation seminar.
Education: JD, Pepperdine University, 1979; LLM, Temple University, 1981; BA, Calvin College, 1976