|
The Children's Commission is pleased to announce that the application for the Fall 2025 Trial Skills Training (TST) Contested Hearing Practices Course is now open.
The TST Contested Hearing Practices Course is a unique, realistic, and effective interactive training designed to improve the litigation skills of attorneys practicing child welfare law across the state. The training is based on a fictional child welfare fact pattern with a complete mock case file. Attendees will participate in multiple plenary and breakout sessions including lectures, demonstrations, strategy sessions, and simulated contested hearings. The use of live witnesses is an integral part of the program, featuring DFPS Caseworkers, Pediatric Fellows and/or Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, and Parent Therapists.
The course includes two half-days of virtual instruction on the afternoons of September 4 and 10, 2025, and two-and-a-half days of in-person instruction on September 16-18, 2025, in Round Rock, Texas.
Participants will earn approximately 16 live MCLE hours (including ethics hours) during the course, 4 hours of MCLE in preparation for the training, and an opportunity for an additional 3 self-study MCLE hours, all of which are offered at no cost. Information about reimbursement for travel-related costs is provided on the Children’s Commission’s Trial Skills Training webpage.
Space for the 2025 TST Contested Hearing Practices Course is limited to 27 attorneys who wish to improve their litigation practice skills.
The application deadline is midnight on Friday, May 2, 2025. Attorneys will be notified by email no later than Friday, May 9, 2025, regarding their application status.
For more information about the course, application criteria, and to apply, please visit the Trial Skills Training webpage.
| 
