Ronald H. Clark
Professor Clark is a nationally known lecturer, author and Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at Seattle University Law School. Mr. Clark has lectured at over 40 national courses and for numerous bar associations and prosecutor associations across the country. At Seattle University Law School, he currently teaches Pretrial Advocacy, Trial Advocacy, Essential Lawyering Skills, and Advanced Trial Advocacy Institute (a week-long continuing legal education course founded in 2014).
He conducted international training for the Department of Justice in Bosnia and Kosovo and a train-the-trainers course (Proyecto Diamante) for Department of Justice lawyers who would in turn teach trial advocacy in Mexico.
The Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys awarded Clark the President’s Award of Merit. He has been awarded both the Distinguished Faculty Award and a Lecturer of Merit Award by the National College of District Attorneys as well as the Dean’s Award of Honor.
For 27 years, Mr. Clark was in the King County Prosecutor’s office in Seattle, Washington, where he served as a deputy prosecutor (including member of the special trial team prosecuting Seattle payoff and public corruption cases), senior deputy prosecutor, head of the juvenile court and filing units, Assistant Chief in charge of the trial teams and, for ten years, as Chief Deputy of the Criminal Division leading over 115 attorneys.
Next, he was the Senior Training Counsel at the then newly built National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina. Clark pioneered the first courses conducted at the NAC when it opened its doors to state and local prosecutors and for the following six years. He also directed other national courses around the country, including the Executive Prosecutor Course and Successful Trial Strategies.
Professor Clark has co-authored five publications, including three with Professors Mitchell and Berger including, Trial Advocacy, 4th edition; Pretrial Advocacy, 4th edition; Evidence Skills. ; and Cross-Examination Handbook, 2nd edition (Bill Bailey and Bob Dekle – The book’s website is www.crossexambook.com and the three authors write a Cross-Examination Blog found at http://wwwcrossx.blogspot.com) and Opening Statement and Closing Argument. He also wrote Making and Meeting Objections: Handbook for Washington Trial Attorneys, and he was the Chief Author for the Criminal Trial Practice and Techniques chapter of the Washington Practice Manual.
He has written and lectured frequently on professional responsibility. He was a member of the blue ribbon American Bar Association Task Force that formulated the Prosecution and Defense Function Standards. Also, he was on the Public Law and Ethics Committee for the Washington State Association of Municipal Attorneys that produced a Public Law Ethics Primer. He was also the editor of the professional responsibility book, Doing Justice, a Prosecutor’s Guide to Ethics and Civil Liability.