Congratulations to our Austin-based litigation partner, Mishell Kneeland, on being named to the National Institute for Trial Advocacy’s Class of 2020 NextGen Faculty!
Below is the official announcement from NITA.
NITA Welcomes Class of 2020 Next Generation Faculty
By Susan Hoyt Jan 27, 2020
Each year, NITA program directors nominate individuals they believe will help continue NITA’s legacy of passionate, dedicated program faculty. Nominees must have taught at a NITA public program, be under the age of 45, or have been identified in a teacher training program as having the potential to become a dedicated NITA faculty member. Three outstanding young faculty leaders have been selected to become the annual Next Generation (NextGen) faculty. These NextGen faculty agree to teach at programs across the country for the next year in order to hone their teaching skills in NITA’s learning-by-doing methodology. We are proud to announce NITA’s Class of 2020 NextGen faculty: Lee Langston, Sara Williams, and Mishell Kneeland.
Lee Langston is a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., where he works in the criminal tax division and has won two outstanding attorney awards. Prior to his work with the Department of Justice, he was an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office, where, in addition to prosecuting several hundred defendants, he trained other assistants in First Amendment and protest law, trial advocacy practice, and Grand Jury procedure. Lee is committed to teaching trial advocacy skills to attorneys, including coaching mock trials, teaching at the New York County DA trial training, and teaching at NITA’s Deposition Training in 2018.
Sara Williams is the managing partner at Alexander Shunnarah Injury Lawyers, PC, in Birmingham, Alabama, where she has tried cases involving premises liability, motor vehicle negligence, trucking, and wrongful death. Sara has received several awards in her legal career, including the Birmingham Business Journal’s Rising Star Lawyer designation, the 2019 Yellowhammer News Woman of Impact Award, the 2018 Stetson University College of Law Edward D. Ohlbaum Professionalism Award, the 2017 “Top 40 Under 40” award, and was peer-selected as a Top Attorney for several years.
Mishell Kneeland is a trial lawyer at Culhane Meadows, PLLC, who specializes in employment litigation, commercial and business litigation, and defense of state and local governments, including universities. Mishell started her litigation focus while still in law school at Georgetown, and clerked for Hon. Gladys Kessler of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before moving to private practice in New York and, later, Austin, Texas. Mishell received the NITA Advocate designation in 2012, and has been faculty at several NITA programs since then. Mishell is dedicated to giving back to her community, both through teaching at NITA programs and within her local community.
Congratulations to Lee, Sara, and Mishell. We look forward to watching your advocacy teaching skills blossom as you continue as NITA faculty. In the wise words of NITA Executive Director Wendy McCormack, “NITA depends on the next generation of faculty who bring fresh ideas and new ways of teaching, and who are committed to carrying the torch of NITA advocacy training that has been built over the last 50 years. These individuals are our future. We are so excited for them to experience more teaching opportunities with NITA as the Next Generation Class of 2020.”
