National Board of Trial Advocacy Standards for Family Law Trial Certification
General Principles for Certification of Family Law Trial Advocates

1. No standards shall in any way limit the right of a certified family law trial advocate to practice law in all fields.
2. No lawyer shall be required to obtain a certificate in family law trial advocacy before he or she can practice in this field.
3. Certification is individual and voluntary. Certification is open to all who qualify.
4. Certification shall be for five years, after which time the certificate cannot be used unless the lawyer is recertified.
5. Application will be made to the National Board of Trial Advocacy, on the forms supplied by the Board, and accompanied by the appropriate fee.
6. Applicant must complete all requirements, including the examination, within two years of application. If the certification process is not satisfactorily completed within the two year period, the applicant will need to reapply and re-submit all required fees. An application can be denied at any time within the two year application period for failure to successfully meet the requirements for certification.
7. A certificate will be issued upon a showing by the applicant, and by the Board’s own investigation, that the applicant complies with the standards and regulations for certification.
8. A lawyer may have more than one certification.
9. All applications and other information submitted to the National Board of Trial Advocacy shall be privileged and confidential, except as compelled by law and, except that the Board may reveal the fact of an application for the purpose of verifying information submitted by the applicant, and for the purpose of making such inquiries with respect to the character and professional reputation of the applicant as may be authorized by its rules.
10. The National Board of Trial Advocacy does not discriminate against any lawyer seeking certification on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or age, except as the natural consequence of reasonable experience requirements.
11. The National Board of Trial Advocacy is dedicated to the identification of lawyers who possess an enhanced level of skill and expertise in family law trial advocacy, thereby improving the professional competence of lawyers.

Standards for Certification

1. Good Standing and Period of Practice
   1. The applicant shall furnish evidence of his or her good standing in the state of his or her admission, or if admitted in more than one state, in the state of his or her principal practice.
   2. Immediately preceding application, the applicant must have spent five (5) years in the actual practice of family law.
2. Substantial Involvement
   1. The applicant must make a satisfactory showing of substantial involvement in family law practice, with at least thirty (30) percent of his or her time spent practicing family law litigation during the three (3) years preceding the filing of the application.
   2. The applicant must further demonstrate substantial involvement in specialized practice, by showing that he or she has appeared as lead counsel for a party or parties:

   (a) Within the applicant’s career:

   1. In family law trial advocacy, in not less than fifteen (15) trials of family law matters to verdict or judgment, including not less than 45 days of trial (a "day" of trial is not less than six hours).
   2. In family law trial advocacy, in forty (40) additional contested matters involving the taking of testimony. This may include trials (jury or non-jury); evidentiary hearings or depositions; and motions heard before or after trial.

   (b) Within the three years prior to application, the following must be met:

   1. ten days of trial or,
   2. participation in 36 performances which would include depositions or hearings at which either oral argument was made or testimony was taken. Of these 36 performance, 24 must be litigated matters, either directly handled to conclusion as lead counsel or in a supervisory capacity to lead counsel.

3. Educational Experience
   1. The applicant must demonstrate substantial participation in continuing legal education and the development of the law relevant to the specialty, in the three year period immediately preceding application either:
   (a) By attendance at not less than forty-five hours in programs of continuing legal education relevant to family law practice, approved by the Standards Committee
   (b) By equivalent participation through, but not limited to, the following means, approved by the Standards Committee:

   1. Teaching courses or seminars in family law;
   2. Participation as panelist, speaker, or workshop leader, at educational or professional conferences in family law;
   3. Authorship of books, or of articles published in professional journals, on family law;
   4. By combination of the three subsections above.

4. Peer Review
   1. The applicant shall submit, for each specialty area, the names of six references, not present partners, associates, or relatives of the applicant. Such references shall be substantially involved in the relevant field of family trial law, and should be familiar with the applicant’s practice in that field. Three shall be judges of a court of general jurisdiction, or a court of special jurisdiction, or an alternative as determined by the Standards Committee, before whom the applicant has appeared as an advocate in family trial law, not more than three years before application; and three shall be lawyers with whom, or against whom, the applicant has tried a matter in that field within three years of application.
   2. NBTA will solicit confidential statements from the six references named by the applicant and may obtain confidential statements of reference from other persons, familiar with the applicant’s practice, not specifically named by the applicant.

    

5. Examination
   1. The applicant must pass a written examination to test his or her proficiency, knowledge, and experience in family trial law, so that the applicant may justify his or her representation of specialization to the public.

    

6. Trial Court Memorandum
   1. The applicant shall submit a copy of a trial court memorandum which he or she has prepared and filed. This will be a substantial memorandum or brief, stating facts, arguing law, submitted to a trial court no more than three years before the date of application in the area of family law trial advocacy. The quality of the memoranda will be considered in determining whether applicants are qualified for certification.

    

7. Disclosure of Misconduct
   1. The applicant shall disclose to the National Board of Trial Advocacy:

      1. Any conviction of serious crime, regardless of whether the conviction was the result of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, or of a verdict after trial or otherwise, and whether such conviction resulted in imprisonment, probation, fine, suspension of sentence, or whether the applicant was subsequently pardoned; and the pendency of any proceeding in which the applicant has been charged with a serious crime. "Serious Crime" shall include any felony and any lesser offense,
      2. an element of which involved improper conduct of an attorney, or dishonesty.
      3. Any proceeding which resulted in the applicant being disbarred, suspended, reprimanded, or otherwise subjected to professional discipline by any court, grievance committee, or disciplinary board, or in the applicant’s resignation from the bar of any court; and the pendency of any disciplinary proceeding against the applicant before any such disciplinary body.
      4. Any finding of professional negligence or other professional liability, or any settlement of any such claim of professional negligence or other professional liability; and the pendency of any proceedings in which there is a claim against the applicant of professional negligence or other professional liability.

   2. The National Board of Trial Advocacy shall determine, in accordance with its standards and procedures regarding misconduct, whether the circumstance of any such conviction, liability, disciplinary action, the pendency of such proceedings, or resignation from a bar are such that the attorney should be granted certification, denied certification, have his or her certification suspended or revoked, or whether it will take any action or defer action pending the disposition of any such proceeding.
   3. The failure of an applicant to disclose such conviction, liability, disciplinary action or resignation from a bar, or the pendency of a proceeding that might result therein, is a material misrepresentation and may be cause for rejecting an application or refusing to grant certification, suspending or revoking a certificate. The applicant shall have a continuing duty to disclose to the Board.
   4. A certified attorney shall have a continuing duty to report such conviction, liability, discipline or resignation from a bar as described in part(1) above but, except as part of the annual reporting of misconduct and recertification application, shall not be required to disclose the pendency of such proceedings. Failure to report such conviction, liability, discipline or resignation may be cause for revocation of certification.

   Recertification Standards

   (A) Good Standing

   1. The applicant shall furnish satisfactory evidence of good standing in the state of his or her admission or, if admitted in more than one state, in the state of his or her principal practice.

   (B) Substantial Involvement

   1. The applicant must make a satisfactory showing of substantial involvement in the specialty with at least thirty percent of his or her time spent practicing family law trial litigation during the five years preceding recertification.
   2. The applicant must further demonstrate substantial involvement in family law trial practice during the five years preceding recertification by showing that he or she has appeared as lead counsel for a party or parties:
   1. in family law trial advocacy, not less than 15 trial days of family law matters
   2. As an alternative, in place of the trial day requirement, one of the following:
   1. Participation in 40 family law litigated matters, either directly handled to conclusion as lead counsel or in a supervisory capacity to lead counsel or,
   2. participation in 60 family law performances which would include depositions or hearings as which either oral argument was made or testimony was taken or,
   3. a combination of trial days, participation in litigated matters or performances which demonstrates substantial involvement in family law equivalent to one of the two subsections above as approved by the Standards Committee of the Board of Directors.

   (C) Educational Experience

   1. The applicant must show that he or she participated in and completed at least forty-five hours of educational activity, as set forth in Part C of the Certification Standards, during the five years preceding recertification.

   (D) Peer Review

   1. The applicant shall submit, for each specialty area, the names of three references, not present partners, associates, or relatives of the applicant. Such references shall be substantially involved in the relevant field of trial law, and should be familiar with the applicant’s practice in that field. One shall be a judge of a court of general jurisdiction, or a court of special jurisdiction or the equivalent as determined by the Standards Committee, before whom the applicant has appeared as an advocate in the relevant field, not more than three years before application; and two shall be lawyers with whom, or against whom, the applicant has tried a matter in that field within three years of application.
   2. NBTA will solicit confidential statements from the three references named by the applicant and may obtain confidential statements of reference from other persons, familiar with the applicant’s practice, not specifically named by the applicant.

   (E) Disclosure of Misconduct The applicant shall comply with Part G of the Certification Standards in the same manner as an applicant for certification.

   Annual Reporting

   Annually, members will be required to submit a disclosure of misconduct/liability and annual dues. The applicant’s annual dues and disclosure of misconduct (Part G of the Certification Standards) must be current before an application for recertification will be granted. Disclosures of misconduct/liability shall be submitted to the Standards Committee to determine if certification should be continued.

   Denial or Revocation of Certification

   (A) A certificate of specialization may be revoked by the Standards Committee if it is determined that:

   1. The certificate was issued contrary to the rules and regulations of NBTA, or,
   2. The certificate was issued to a lawyer not qualified to be a specialist under the rules and regulations of NBTA, or who made a false misrepresentation or misstatement of material fact to NBTA, or,
   3. The holder of the certificate failed to comply with the rules and regulations promulgated by NBTA, or,
   4. The certificate holder no longer meets the qualifications established by NBTA.

   (B) An attorney who is refused certification or recertification, or whose certification is revoked, may petition for reconsideration in accordance with such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Board. Exhaustion of this right shall be a condition precedent to judicial review.

   1. A lawyer who is refused certification or recertification, or whose certification is revoked, may not apply for certification until one year after the date of such refusal, denial or revocation.

   (C) Suspension of the license to practice law shall operate as an automatic revocation of certification.

   (D) A lawyer who publicizes a certification prior to its being granted, or continues to publish a certification after it has been revoked or suspended, may be barred from certification.