Trainers

Henry L. Hecht, a co-founder of The Hecht Training Group, is also on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

From 1973 until 1983, he had an active litigation practice, first with the Watergate Special Prosecution Force as an Assistant Special Prosecutor, and then with Heller Ehrman LLP of San Francisco, California.

Since 1983, in addition to teaching at the Law School, he has designed and conducted in-house training programs at more than 65 law firms, corporate law offices, government agencies, firms of consulting experts, and bar associations across the country.  Using the "learning by doing" method, he has presented workshops on deposition, negotiation, motion practice, and trial skills.  In 1991, he co-founded The Hecht Training Group, which brings together a group of attorneys as trainers who have each taught lawyering skills for more than 35 years.

He has lectured and written extensively for the American Bar Association (ABA), the American Law Institute-American Bar Association (ALI-ABA), the Practising Law Institute (PLI), California Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB), and the National Practice Institute (NPI).  In addition, he is a member of the Advisory Board of ALI-ABA In-House CLE and an elected member of the American Law Institute (ALI) and the American Bar Foundation (ABF).

His publications include a book, Effective Depositions 2nd ed. (ABA 2010); two case files, Scoops v. Business-Aide, Inc: A Liability and Damages Case File 5th ed. (2009) and Donna Taylor v. Shape-Up Stores, Inc.: A Damages Case File 2nd ed. (with V. O’Brien) (2009); and three multi-media CD-ROMs, Mastering Motions: Mechanics and Techniques (with T. Hallahan) (PLI 1999), Taking Effective Depositions: Mechanics and Techniques (PLI 1997), and Defending Depositions: Mechanics and Techniques (PLI 1997).

Mr. Hecht is a graduate of Harvard Law School (J.D. cum laude 1973) and Williams College (B.A. magna cum laude 1968).

Tim Hallahan, a co-founder of The Hecht Training Group, is also a Judicial Training Attorney with the Administrative Office of the Courts of the State of California. He is also the Director of Stanford Law School's Advocacy Skills Program. He is the former Training Director for the Alameda County Public Defender's Office as well as the former director of Skills Training for California's Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB). After graduation from law school, he was a civil and criminal defense trial attorney for ten years.

Mr. Hallahan founded and served as the director of both Harvard Law School's Interactive Video Project and Stanford Law School's Interactive Video Legal Instruction Program. He has conducted interactive courses on trial advocacy, evidence, client interviewing and counseling, motion skills, and professional responsibility for many state and national continuing legal education organizations including the American Law Institute - American Bar Association (ALI-ABA), the Practising Law Institute (PLI), California's Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB), and for numerous law firms and government legal departments. He has authored more than 35 interactive videodiscs, CD-ROMs and on-line lessons, 10 instructional videos, and numerous books and articles on lawyering and judicial skills. He is co-author of Imwinkelried and Hallahan's California Evidence Code Annotated(1994-2012) and California Trial Objections (2012).

He is a graduate of Harvard Law School (J.D. 1976) and the University of California, Berkeley (1969).

Peter Gruenberger is a Senior Counsel to Greenberg Traurig, LLP, and a retired Partner of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, headquartered in New York, and a consultant to the firm. He was the long-time head of both the Firm’s National Litigation Training and Ethics Committees. From 1969 to date, his trial practice has involved securities, antitrust, bankruptcy, and other complex litigation matters.

Mr. Gruenberger is also a principal of The Hecht Training Group, has designed and conducted in-house training programs for law firms, in-house legal departments, firms of consulting experts, and bar associations on ethics and professional responsibility, evidence, trial skills, and depositions.

He has written and lectured for the Federal Judicial Center, New York City, New York County, and American Bar Associations as well as the Columbia University Law Review, ALI-ABA, Law Journal Press, and the University of Texas Review of Litigation. He was a founding member and officer of the ABA’s Section of Litigation.

After graduating from Columbia College and Columbia University School of Law, he served as a Judge Advocate General Officer in the United States Army.

Jessica Notini is a Senior Consultant to The Hecht Training Group.  She is also a full-time mediator, trainer, negotiation coach, and facilitator practicing in California and internationally in many Latin countries. As a trainer, she has developed and led many workshops for both private entities and public institutions in the areas of negotiation, mediation, and conflict resolution, leadership and influencing, teambuilding, and communication skills.

Ms. Notini is also an Adjunct Professor at Stanford Law School, University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), Hastings College of the Law, University of San Francisco Law School, SFSU Executive Business Management Program, and Mills College MBA Program. She also serves as a Senior Consultant with Accordence, Integrated Management Associates, and Lax & Sebenius. 

Ms. Notini is a leader in the field of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), having served as past Chair of the California State Bar Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, as President of the Association for Dispute Resolution of Northern California (formerly NCMA), and as a member of the Board of Directors for The Mediation Society of San Francisco.

David A. Sonenshein is the Jack E. Feinberg Professor of Litigation (Emeritus) at the Temple University School of Law, and a Senior Consultant to The Hecht Training Group. He is the author of more than 25 books and articles on the subjects of Civil Procedure and Evidence, including the casebook, "Principles of Evidence," which he co-authored with the late Irving Younger; and he is the co-author of two widely-used advocacy casefiles for NITA. He has also taught Comparative Civil Procedure as a Visiting Professor at five European universities.

Professor Sonenshein has taught Evidence, Trial Advocacy, Deposition Practice and Motion Practice at more than 50 law firms and federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice. In addition, he has taught Evidence to newly-confirmed U.S District Judges for the Federal Judicial Center for more than 25 years. He also served as the Director of In-house Training for the American Law Institute-American Bar Association (ALI-ABA).