Motions That Persuade: Crafting Arguments That Win

Veronica J. Finkelstein | Wilmington University School of Law

Veronica J. Finkelstein combines the best of practice and teaching, devoting herself to developing the next generation of top advocates. She is both an experienced litigator and a skilled educator with diverse scholarly interests. Finkelstein spent a majority of her career as an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice in Philadelphia before transitioning to a full-time teaching role at the Wilmington University School of Law.

At the U.S. Attorney’s Office, she served as the civil division training officer and paralegal supervisor before being selected as senior litigation counsel. Finkelstein handled various civil affirmative and defensive matters and criminal child exploitation cases. She tried numerous civil defensive cases to winning verdicts, including tort, employment law, and medical malpractice cases. She also successfully litigated cases on appeal.

In addition to this defensive work, Finkelstein investigated and prosecuted affirmative fraud claims, including qui tam actions. In 2014 she was awarded the Executive Office of United States Attorneys Director’s Award for Superior Performance as a Civil Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Before joining the Department of Justice, Finkelstein clerked for the Honorable Jane Cutler Greenspan on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. She also previously worked as a construction litigator at Duane Morris, LLP and Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman, PC.

A gifted teacher who regularly works with both lawyers and law students, Finkelstein has taught at the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center on ethics, appellate advocacy, legal writing, and trial practice. She frequently serves as a program director for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, where she teaches depositions, motion practice, trial advocacy, and legal writing programs. In 2024 she was awarded NITA’s Jo Ann Harris Public Service Award.

Prior to entering academia full time, Finkelstein served as adjunct faculty of law at Drexel Law, Emory Law, and Rutgers Law. She was awarded the Carl “Tobey” Oxholm III Outstanding Contribution to the Thomas R. Kline School of Law Community Award in 2021 and was named Rutgers Law School Adjunct Professor of the Year every year she taught at Rutgers Law.

Finkelstein’s scholarship is as diverse as her litigation and teaching experience. Her scholarship has addressed various topics, from evidence, to civil procedure, to constitutional law. Her essay “The Quest to Normalize Questments” was selected as the 2024 winner of Temple Law Review’s Edward D. Ohlbaum Paper in Advocacy.

She is also the co-author of the Professional Responsibility textbook “Ethical Lawyering: A Guide for the Well-Intentioned,” which contextualizes the rules of professional conduct in realistic litigation settings. The textbook is now in its second edition.

Finkelstein graduated, with honors, from the Emory University School of Law. She was a highly competitive member of Emory Law’s moot court society and was selected for the Order of the Barristers. She received her undergraduate degrees, with honors, from the Pennsylvania State University.

Kimberly Richardson, J.D. | Wilmington University School of Law

Kimberly Richardson is mathematician turned attorney with over 18 years of experience in health, safety, security, labor, and employment laws, and her career has been focused on helping large complex organizations reduce legal, ethical, and operational risks around the world, as well as prepare for and respond to crises.

In addition to teaching at Wilmington University School of Law, Richardson currently serves as Of Counsel at Conn Maciel Carey, a leading national boutique firm focused on health, safety, labor and employment law, and on the corporate board of National Water Main Cleaning Company, a national leader in environmental infrastructure inspection, cleaning, and repair services. She also serves on the Board of the Delaware Chapter of the National Audubon Society.

Richardson previously served as Senior Corporate Counsel at Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Seattle, WA, Senior Counsel at DuPont de Nemours in Wilmington, DE, Labor and Employment Attorney at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, DC, OSHA Counsel and Labor Attorney in the United States Postal Service in Washington, DC, and Associate Attorney in the Labor and Employment Practice of Varnum Law, a law firm in Grand Rapids, MI. Richardson also previously taught at Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington, IN, and Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law in Philadelphia, PA.

Richardson has been nationally recognized for her legal work and community service. The Network Journal named Richardson her one of its 40 Under Forty African American achievers in 2008. In 2012, the U.S. Postal Service honored her with the United States Postmaster General’s D.R.I.V.E Award (Delivering Results, Innovation, Value, and Efficiency), and in 2023, Indiana University School of Law awarded her with the Distinguished Service Award.

Kimberly Richardson is graduate of the University of Michigan (B.A. Mathematics) and earned her Juris Doctorate from Indiana University Maurer School of Law, where she received the Order of the Barristers and won the 2005 Sherman Minton Moot Court competition. Richardson’s bar admissions include Michigan, the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. District Court (W.D. Mich.) and the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

I. Identify the real issues that matter to the judge and your case strategy | 2:00pm – 2:20pm

II. Organize your research efficiently to build a strong, well supported argument | 2:20pm – 2:40pm

III. Tell a persuasive story that makes your motion more than just a legal document | 2:40pm – 3:00pm

Break | 3:00pm – 3:10pm

IV. Frame the issue strategically to control the narrative from the outset | 3:10pm – 3:25pm

V. Decide what facts to emphasize—and what to leave out—to maintain focus and credibility | 3:25pm – 3:40pm

VI. Use legal authority effectively to bolster your argument and anticipate counterpoints | 3:40pm – 3:55pm

VII. Convert your motion into a winning oral argument | 3:55pm – 4:10pm