This month, Cardozo once again hosted its renowned January intensive courses, bootcamps for future lawyers that promote experiential learning and provide students with career connections to the real world.

These simulation courses are a cornerstone of our practical experience curriculum, including the Intensive Trial Advocacy Program (ITAP) and the Intensive Transactional Lawyering Program (ITRANS). These programs offer students the chance to gain real-world casework and courtroom experience under supervision from top legal practitioners, who then give them one-on-one feedback on their performances.

“They held our feet to the fire and pushed us out of our comfort zones in the best way possible,” said 3L Zoe Sheppard, who participated in the January intensive program for the first time this year. “Each day, I left feeling a little more confident and a little bit more like a future lawyer.” 

ITRANS focuses on transactional and business law, and helps students learn the essential transactional skills needed for effective client representation in a two-week bootcamp. It is now in its 11th year at Cardozo.

During ITRANS, students participate in a mock deal and are divided into teams to work on executing the deal. They learn skills such as contract drafting, negotiation, preparation of closing documents and more, all through an interactive workshop process that is guided and critiqued by experienced attorneys.

ITAP, one of the toughest trial advocacy programs in the country, is a cornerstone of Cardozo's practical skills curriculum. During ITAP, students learn cutting-edge strategies for courtroom litigation under the instruction of leading jurists and lawyers from across the country. They are able to practice direct and cross examinations, interviewing and preparing witnesses, selecting juries, dealing with evidentiary issues and preparing for and presenting bench and jury trials. At the end of the course, students participate in a mock trial, where their performances are then recorded and critiqued by real-life judges and lawyers on the individual level.

Zamir Ben-Dan, the current interim ITAP program director, said that the January intensives give students a unique advantage over their peers when they graduate and enter the workforce.

"Many students will be entering careers where they will be litigating cases,” Ben-Dan said. “ITAP has already made them more prepared and ready to try cases than their future first-year colleagues."

The intensive program is now in its 41st year at Cardozo. Many Cardozo alumni have participated in the program throughout the years, such as Jonathan Lenzner, the current Chief of Staff for the FBI, who called his ITAP experience “transformative.”

While ITAP has helped countless students in the past jumpstart their careers after Cardozo, it is also helping current students begin to develop the skills now that will help them later.

“I gained an incredible amount of knowledge, skills, and most importantly, confidence throughout my two weeks in ITAP,” Sheppard said. “I left those two weeks having gained a solid understanding of what makes an effective trial lawyer and how to tap into my personal style to bring those techniques to life. It was also a great opportunity to work with other students at Cardozo that I haven't had the opportunity to work with before; I was constantly so inspired and impressed by my peers.”