PETER TILLERS
ON
INVESTIGATION AND EVIDENCE
LEGAL CONSULTING IN INVESTIGATION STRATEGY, EVIDENCE PLANNING, AND THE LAW OF EVIDENCE
Peter Tillers has practiced law in two states, California (Los Angeles) and Texas (San Antonio). He worked mainly as a civil litigator; but occasionally he did other legal work such as contract drafting, antitrust compliance, and legislative drafting. He worked in a large firm and in a small firm. He worked on large cases and small cases. He remains licensed to practice in California (inactive member) and in the federal courts.
Tillers has served as a regular faculty member at various law schools, including Rutgers/Camden, Wisconsin, Seattle University (formerly University of Puget Sound), and Cardozo School of Law (Yeshiva University). He has been a visiting professor at various law schools, including Harvard, Boston College, and Colorado. See his resume for further details.
Peter Tillers has given talks, participated in and organized conferences, and given lectures at numerous law schools, universities, and other venues, including USC, Oxford, University of Edinburgh, British Academy, University College London, and Yale (forthcoming). See his resume for further details.
Tillers has published widely on the law of evidence. He is the author of a two-volume and widely-cited revision of the first volume of Wigmore's classic treatise on the law of evidence. He is working, under contract, on a wholly-original successor volume to this revision. He has written a variety of articles on evidence and the law of evidence. For further details about his publications, please see his resume.
Peter Tillers has devoted much attention to pretrial investigation and evidence marshaling strategies. See, e.g., P. Tillers & D. Schum, "A
Theory of Preliminary Fact Investigation," 24 University of California at
Davis Law Review 931 (1991), reprinted in The Philosophy of Legal Reasoning: Scientific
Models of Legal Reasoning (Scott Brewer & Robert Nozick, eds., Garland,
1998); Course in Fact Investigation; and P.
Tillers, "The
Death of a Youth and of a Drunkard: A Remarkable Story of Habit and Character
in New Jersey," in Richard Lempert, ed., Evidence Stories (Foundation
Press, 2006). Tillers has co-authored experimental software for evidence marshaling in and for litigation, including pretrial investigation and preparation; see MarshalPlan 2.2.
Tillers has another credential that has some relevance to law practice. He has been an important player in the burgeoning study of formal models of evidential inference and factual proof. This has brought him into touch with standard probability theory (and also less conventional approaches to uncertainty such as fuzzy logic). His interest in the forensic uses of probability theory has led him to grapple with statistical inference and with the problem of the use of "hard" and "soft" science in litigation.
My Services
Informal Investigation, Discovery Strategy, and Case Preparation
Are you a litigator or a trial lawyer? Do you manage litigation? Are you losing your way during your investigation of a possible lawsuit? Are you unsure about what you should do in a deposition? Do you have the feeling that you are losing control of pretrial discovery in your case -- that discovery is acquiring a life of its own and heading who knows where? Then perhaps I can help you. Although I offer no magic bullet, I can describe effective strategies for managing the many uncertainties that are almost always involved in prelitigation fact investigation, formal discovery, and pretrial preparation.
Or are you, instead, an experienced litigator who needs no advice on how to prepare a case productively and efficiently but you find that you are nevertheless unable to teach other people -- junior litigators, new associates, etc. -- how you do what you do so well? Do you give them largely useless advice such as, "I normally begin by taking the deposition of the plaintiff," or, "I usually start by serving interrogatories," or, "Try to develop a general theme," or "Don't lose sight of the substantive law," or -- do you just throw up your hands and say things such as, "Well, watch me work a case" or "You just have to try it for yourself; it's literally trial by fire, Jane [or Johnny]"? If this the pickle you are in, perhaps I can help you (and your associates): I can help to explain to your associates how to identify the factors that you consider and how you or other experienced lawyers weave those factors together and thereby produce a coherent and effective strategy for the preparation of a case and -- if it comes to that -- for trial.
I can do this -- give you or your associates useful advice about how to develop effective strategies for fact investigation, discovery, and pretrial preparation -- if you give me roughly eight hours of your time. If you want me to work on the details of a specific matter or case, I will need to use more of my time.
Law of Evidence, Complex Evidence Problems
I can also offer useful advice on many problems involving the law of evidence. Send me an e-mail message and we can discuss whether or not I can help you.