Page 17 - Minnesota Vol 8 No 3

HN C. CONARD
The Trial Artist
LWRITTEN BY H.K. WILSON PHOTOGRAPHED BY JEN KELLY
ike anyone who has achieved mas- tery in his or her eld, attorney John Conard makes trial advocacy look like poetry in motion. His art is trial story, and like all good sto-
rytellers, Conard believes that a well-cra ed narrative matters. It is the essence of trial practice, the substance from which persua- sion and victory are born.
“What I do is a cra , and I spend a ton of my time working on it,” he said. “It’s not about manipulation; it’s about cra ing clear, persuasive communication that works in the limited time frame and limited environment of a trial.”
A preeminent trial lawyer in white col- lar and criminal defense practice, Conard is a board certi ed criminal trial specialist and a nationally recognized authority on the use and examination of forensic evidence in trial and cross examination of expert witnesses. He holds a 10.0 Superb AVVO rating, and has achieved favorable results for clients in a number of high-stakes matters, including conspiracy, drug crimes, felony assault, sex crimes, wire fraud, and even murder.
Conard honed the art of trial advocacy at the feet of the master — Gerry Spence. Since 2015, Conard has worked as one of the elite instructors at the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyer’s College. He is among the few faculty members selected by Jude Basile and Spence person- ally. He described Spence as a someone who can “be real in a way few can. I had a tough
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loss once. He sat with me just to be kind, and talked me through it. With the ecosystem of prominent lawyers around him and all the people who want a piece of his time, he spent hours with me, a nobody, because I was emo- tionally devastated by the loss of a trial. at’s who he is.”
For Conard, the law was a second career, although not an a erthought. He explained, “ ere were two things I wanted to do in life: race cars and become a lawyer. You have to race while you’re young, so I did that. I also had a good job selling large tech contracts to C-suite clients. I met some cool people and saw some cool things — all good stories to tell when I retire.”
In seventh grade, Conard participated in a mock trial program under the direction of his rst mentor, the Honorable Mike Moon. His interest in law and order was no doubt a relief to his parents, as he was a restless youth. He went on to receive a scholarship to Central College in Iowa, where Dr. Donald Racheter had founded the American Mock Trial As- sociation, and where Conard became the rst student from the institution to win the Na- tional Attorney Award. Finally, at 30, Conard set about earning his law degree at William Mitchell College of Law, where he graduated summa cum laude, third in his class.
Conard spent time as a public defender, county prosecutor and partner in a prominent law rm, but nally decided that he was born to y solo.
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