Upcoming HAT Seminars
The Twenty-Third National Seminar on the Development and Integration of Mitigating Evidence in Capital Cases
May 28-31, 2026
The American Hotel Atlanta, Downtown, Tapestry Collection by Hilton, 160 Ted Turner Drive, NW, Atlanta, GA
30303.
Program Description
This seminar has been held annually since the Supreme Court decision in Wiggins v. Smith, 539 U.S. 510 (2003), which recognized the need for thorough mitigation investigation and acknowledged the importance of the non-lawyer who had compiled the mitigation in the successful post-conviction presentation. Twenty-three years after Wiggins, this year's seminar will focus on developmental disabilities, including Intellectual Disability, FASD, and Autism. The sessions that explore this area will cover a range of topics practitioners routinely confront when investigating this evidence and presenting it as the basis for an Atkins claim, a guilt phase defense, and/or as mitigation. The conference will also cover psychosis and neuroimaging as well as advancements in understanding social determinants of mental health. In addition, the program offers presentations that focus on the practical aspects of investigating and developing mitigation, including establishing rapport with witnesses, drafting declarations, integrating DIVO into the work, abiding by ethical guidelines, and debunking harmful psychiatric labels. As always, the faculty will include university-based researchers as well as litigators, mitigation specialists, and mental health experts. Breakout sessions will include a beginners' track on mitigation basics as well as advanced workshops on specialized problems.
CIN NUMBER FOR FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER REGISTRANTS
If you are an employee of a federal public defender office, please provide the following Conference Identification Number (CIN) to the individual in your office who is responsible for processing the paperwork associated with authorizing your travel to this event: CONF260025. This code is needed to track the total funding spent on this event.
CLE (Please read before registering):
We have applied for CLE accreditation in states that have mandatory requirements. We regret that we cannot respond to telephone inquiries regarding the status of CLE approval prior to the workshop. All information related to CLE will be emailed to attendees within 15-30 days following the program.
• To minimize reporting fees per attorney/program, if you are barred in more than one of the following states NM, TN, PA, NE, attendance will be reported to one state only.
• The attorney is responsible for making sure the appropriate state and bar number is on file with the DSO Training Division.
• For applicable states, attendance will be reported using the bar number and state(s) listed on the registration form submitted for this program.
• Failure to provide the state and bar number may result in the Training Division not being able to report your attendance.
For us to report your attendance for CLE purposes, during online registration, you must provide the following information: Bar numbers, including their respective states. Only include those states where you are seeking credit.
Attorneys seeking CLE credit must ensure that they stop by the program registration desk for daily check-in and check-out. Failure to follow these steps will result in us being unable to process your CLE credits.
SEMINAR REGISTRATION
While registration is free to attendees, DSO-TD covers the necessary funding to present this program. As a result, please register only if you can attend and if you are unable to attend, please notify us immediately. We kindly ask that you use your work email address for registration purposes and to help eliminate duplication. For registration, please CLICK HERE. A confirmation email will be sent to you after registering. If you do not receive a confirmation email, please check your spam folder. If you opted out of our emails, you would not receive a confirmation email.
SCHEDULE
We expect that on-site registration and materials pick-up will commence at 3:30 p.m. and the program will begin at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 28th, and the seminar will conclude by 12:00 noon on Sunday, May 31, 2026.
Thank you for your interest in this very important program. If you have any logistical questions or require additional information, please contact Chastain Smith via email at Chastain_Smith@ao.uscourts.gov. All registration and/or CLE inquiries should go to Shiloh Puello at Shiloh_Puello@ao.uscourts.gov.
The Persuasion Institute: A Workshop in Legal Storytelling and Narrative Construction for Capital Post-Conviction Counsel
June 29 – July 1, 2026 (Monday-Wednesday)
Cornell Law School
Ithaca, NY
The Habeas Assistance and Training Counsel (HAT) Project and the Defender Services Office Training Division of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) are pleased to announce that the Tenth Habeas Persuasion Institute will be held at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, New York from June 29-July 1, 2026. The program will begin at noon on Monday, June 29, 2026, and will conclude on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, at 12:30 p.m.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
This unique and innovative program was initially designed by NYU Professors Anthony G. Amsterdam and Jerry Bruner and has been refined over the years by the original designers and others, including HAT counsel. The premise of the program is that post-conviction and habeas written and oral advocacy can be improved by providing participants with an awareness of how to use aspects of narrative theory and “elements” of story such as plot, character development, theme, setting, perspective, and sequence. This will be accomplished in a non-traditional manner by bringing together capital post-conviction attorneys, professional non-fiction and fiction writers, and legal and literary academics working together to develop and convey persuasive advocacy techniques in a combined lecture, group brainstorming session and small group discussion formats.
The conference is open to Federal Defenders in Federal Defender Organizations with CHUs, and Assistant Federal Defenders and Research and Writing Specialists working in those CHUs, CJA Panel Attorneys, as well as a limited number of attorneys in state capital direct appeal and post-conviction offices. Because of the nature of the program and its necessarily more “hands on” approach, attendance has been limited to 36 participants who will work in six small groups. Priority will be given to attorneys and those who have not attended this program before.
CLE (Please read before registering):
We have applied for CLE accreditation in states that have mandatory requirements. We regret that we cannot respond to telephone inquiries regarding the status of CLE approval prior to the workshop. All information related to CLE will be emailed to attendees within 15-30 days following the program.
• To minimize reporting fees per attorney/program, if you are barred in more than one of the following states NM, TN, PA, NE, attendance will be reported to one state only.
• The attorney is responsible for making sure the appropriate state and bar number is on file with the DSO Training Division.
• For applicable states, attendance will be reported using the bar number and state(s) listed on the registration form submitted for this program.
• Failure to provide the state and bar number may result in the Training Division not being able to report your attendance.
For us to report your attendance for CLE purposes, during online registration, you must provide the following information: Bar numbers, including their respective states. Only include those states where you are seeking credit. Attorneys seeking CLE credit must ensure that they stop by the program registration desk for daily check-in and check-out. Failure to follow these steps will result in us being unable to process your CLE credits.
FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER REGISTRANTS
If admitted into the program, there is no Conference Identification Number (CIN) for this event. However, if you reserve your lodging under the room block by the cut-off date, your lodging will be placed on our master account. The name used during registration must match the name used when reserving your hotel reservation, if the names do not exactly match, we will not be able to cover your lodging cost. Don’t forget, you MUST also register using your fd.org email.
REGISTER TODAY!
When registering, we ask that you use your work email address to help eliminate duplication. Please use this link to REGISTER. You will be placed in “pending” status until we have an opportunity to confirm your eligibility for the program, and we will notify you within one week about whether you have been accepted for the program. If you are accepted, you will receive a confirmation email of your enrollment in the program, and you will be provided with information on how to make your hotel reservation.
If assistance is needed with registration, please email Shiloh Puello at shiloh_puello@ao.uscourts.gov.
HOTEL
A block of rooms has been reserved at the Canopy by Hilton Ithaca Downtown. Once your registration has been confirmed, you will receive details on how to make lodging arrangements in our group block. Thank you for your interest in this very important program.
If you have any questions regarding registration, please contact Shiloh Puello at shiloh_puello@ao.uscourts.gov or if require additional logistical information, please contact Chastain Smith via email at Chastain_Smith@ao.uscourts.gov.