Author: Marian Braccia

One Juror, No Verdict: What the Lindsay Clancy Mistrial Tells Us About Jury Unanimity

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After more than five weeks of testimony and seven days of deliberations, the Massachusetts murder trial of Lindsay Clancy ended Friday without a verdict. Clancy was charged with three counts of first-degree murder for the January 2023 deaths of her children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months. There was no dispute at trial that Clancy killed the children. The central question was instead one of criminal responsibility: Was Clancy legally responsible for her actions, or was she so profoundly mentally ill that Massachusetts law did not permit the jury to hold her criminally accountable? Twelve jurors could not unanimously answer that question. On September 4, Superior Court Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial. A mistrial is neither an acquittal nor a conviction. In Clancy’s case, the unusual circumstances surrounding the jury’s deadlock raise important questions about jury unanimity, juror independence, and what happens next. When a Jury Cannot Agree Criminal jury verdicts must be unanimous. But disagreement does not automatically produce a mistrial.  When jurors report that they have reached an impasse, judges …

A Roman Holiday for Trial Lawyers: Launching the LL.M. Capstone in Temple Rome

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It began with a simple idea: what if we ended the Temple LL.M. in Trial Advocacy program not in a classroom, but in the Eternal City? What if we could connect the dots between Ancient Roman law and modern American litigation? What if the conclusion to a year of study in evidence, advocacy, and professional identity was not an exam, but an immersive global experience?  In May 2025, that vision became a reality. For the first time ever, the LL.M. in Trial Advocacy program launched a Capstone trip to Temple’s Rome campus, welcoming eleven graduates from the Class of 2025 to four unforgettable days of legal education, professional connection, and cultural exploration.  The group included seven trial lawyers sponsored by Temple University Health System (TUHS), who handle medical malpractice litigation at some of Philadelphia’s most prominent firms: Cozen O’Connor, Blank Rome, Buchanan Ingersoll, and the Tucker Law Group. Through the generosity and vision of John C. Ryan—Executive Vice President, Chief Counsel, and Corporate Secretary for TUHS, and Chair of the Board of Visitors at Temple …

Transgender Pride Flag of blue, pink, and white stripes

How Cisgender Advocates Can Honor Transgender Day of Visibility (Everyday)

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Last year, at the start of (our awareness of) the coronacrisis, I read the story of anthropologist Margaret Mead being asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about hunting tools, the wheel, grinding stones, or clay pots. Instead, the anthropologist answered that the first evidence of civilization was a 15,000-year-old fractured femur found in an archaeological site. The bone, which links hip to knee, had been broken and healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink, or hunt for food. You become easy prey for prowling beasts. A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone helped a fellow human and took time to stay with the one who fell, rather than abandoning them to save their own life. The message was that we feel more human when we help others, and that generosity and altruism are (or should be) …