Faculty Profile: Tracy W McCormack
Main Profile Content
Featured Work
Remote Advocacy in a Nutshell
West Academic Publishing, Amazon
A comprehensive guide for lawyers and law students seeking to represent clients and be effective advocactes over remote platforms.
Biography
Tracy Walters McCormack is aSenoir Lecture at The University of Texas School of Law. She was the Director of Advocacy for the school until 2022.Professor McCormack practiced as a trial lawyer for 14 years in Austin before joining the faculty full time in 2000.
She spent most of her time in private practice with the firms of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld and Clark, Thomas, Winters and Newton. She has extensive experience in civil trial and appeals, mediation, arbitration and summary jury trials. Professor McCormack also served as an adjunct professor at UT since 1990 teaching courses in Texas Civil Procedure and trial skills while in private practice. She now teaches courses in Torts, Evidence, Trial Advocacy, ADR advocacy and related subjects.
Professor McCormack's most recent book is "Remote Advocacy in a Nutshell" by West Publications. She has also co-authored the book, “The First Trial: Where do I sit? What do I say?” Her most recent publications explore issues associated with the decline of the jury trial, the privatization of the justice system and the appropriate use of ADR in the legal system. She heads the the Kincaid and Horton Excellence Fund for Empirical Advocacy Research.
Professor McCormack received a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame in 1983 and a J.D. from the University of Texas in 1986.
Professor McCormack is a member of ABOTA an serves as a Co-Chair of its Professional Education Committee and is President of the National Board of Trial Advocacy. She does advocacy training both nationally and internationally and just completed an arbitration training course with Karl Bayer for Arbitration University.
Professional Activities
2021
April 9, 2021
Panelist Diversity Austin Bar
Austin Bar Equity Committee
April 8, 2021
Teaching ABOTA Virtual Trial Academy
ABOTA Trial Academy
Teaching lawyers to be effective advocates over virtual platforms
February 23, 2021
Teaching Advocacy in Kenya
NITA/Lawyers Without Borders
Training Prosecutors
2020
December 9, 2020
Teaching Advocacy in Nigeria
NITA/Lawyers Without Borders
Training prosecutors
2011
February 18, 2011
St. Mary's Journal on Legal Ethics & Malpractice Symposium
San Antonio, TX
Discussed her paper entitled, “Probing the Legitimacy of Mandatory Mediation: New Roles for Judges, Mediators and Lawyers”. Presented with Susan Schultz.
2010
December 9, 2010
Office of the Attorney General In-House CLE
Austin, TX
Speaker/Host - Texas Evidence Jeopardy: Privileges!
October 28, 2010
UT CLE 34th Annual Page Keeton Civil Litigation Conference
Austin, TX
Speaker - Arbitration: The New Litigation?
April 9, 2010
Texas Center for the Judiciary Evidence Summit
Austin, TX
Speaker - Privileges
2009
October 30, 2009
UT CLE 33rd Annual Page Keeton Civil Litigation Conference
Austin, TX
Speaker - Effective Advocacy in Arbitration
August 7, 2009
UT CLE The Car Crash Seminar: From Sign-Up to Settlement
Austin, TX
Speaker - What Happens if we are Honest About our Jury Trial Experience?
February 27, 2009
Texas Association of Mediators 2009 Conference
Dallas, TX
Speaker - Ignorance May Not Be Bliss: Empirical Data from the Colliding Worlds of Litigation and Mediation
2007
April 30, 2007
Speaking Engagement
Attorney General\'s Distinguished Lecture Series
Speaker at The Office of the Attorney General\'s Distinguished Lecture Series in May.
January 31, 2007
The Review of Litigation Spring 2007 Symposium
Austin, TX
Moderator - Products Liability: Duties & Defense Panel
2006
November 30, 2006
Speaking Engagement
State Bar of Texas Advanced Personal Injury Law Course
Gave the Procedure Update at the State Bar of Texas Advanced Personal Injury Law Course (CLE)this summer.
November 30, 2006
Debate Judge
University of Texas at Austin
Judged a debate competition for UT undergraduate students titled \"Targeting Diversity Issues.\"
November 30, 2006
Panel Moderator
The Review of Litigation\'s Spring Symposium
Participated in The Review of Litigation\'s Spring Symposium. She was a moderator for the Products Liability: Duties and Defenses panel at this symposium.