Professor Laura Anne Rose is an Associate Professor of Law and the Heidepriem Trial Advocacy Fellow at the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law. Her responsibilities include teaching her beloved courses of Evidence and Trial Techniques, serving as the faculty advisor for the Alternative Dispute Resolution Board, and working as the Head Coach of the National Trial Team. She is also on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Legal Advocacy Educators as the Region 12 representative. In this role she represents the interests and concerns of advocacy professors in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.

Professor Rose is highly engaged and involved in the national trial advocacy community. This summer, she and the trial team were featured on the national documentary podcast “Class Action.” The podcast follows the team through the 2021-2022 competition year, and displays Rose’s dedication to building the best advocacy program possible for the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law. She frequently presents at many annual conferences, such as Stetson University College of Law’s Educating Advocates: Teaching Advocacy Skills Conference, Temple University’s Online Advocacy Forums, and the Training Advocates Conferences hosted by the Trial Advocacy Consultant and Training Group and, most recently, the Samford Cumberland School of Law. She serves as an instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, having done a total of fourteen pro bono trainings—both in person and virtually!— since 2019. She is an instructor for the Trial Advocacy Consulting and Training Group, appearing in each For Women By Women Advocacy Trainings the group has offered. In that role she speaks on the appropriate admission and use of demonstrative evidence at trial.

She is a co-author with her father, Charles Harris Rose III, on Mastering Trial Advocacy and the accompanying Mastering Trial Advocacy Cases Problems and Exercises texts. The books are written with the express intent to work as both an initial modality for learning advocacy, as well as a valuable reference tool during practice. She has written on two of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy’s White Papers, one concerning a lesson on cross examination and one concerning the “one lesson” she gives to each advocate. Her article "Advocacy in Action: Teaching Evidence to Interleave the Doctrinal and Practical” was selected as the inaugural winner of Stetson University College of Law’s Advocacy Writing competition. This article focuses on Rose's evidence course, and how she is using lessons learned from educational psychology to enhance the learning of evidence for bar passage and practice ready attorney work. She presented on the article at the 2021 Virtual EATs conference. It remains in edits, but she cannot wait to share it with the Legal Education Community!

Professor Rose continues to grow the USD Knudson School of Law Trial Team. She is especially grateful to those South Dakota Judges who have already given of their time, talents, and expertise in guest judging rounds for teams preparing for competition. This fall, the team is slated to compete in Florida, New York, and Georgia. In the spring, the trial team will host the Regional Competition for the Texas Young Lawyer’s Association’s National Trial Competition. She also serves as the Faculty Advisor for the Alternative Dispute Resolution Board, Delta Tau Phi, and Women in Law.

Trial Advocacy, Evidence

Professor Rose's research interests include: Educational Psychology and Legal Education, Millennial and Generation Z Students in Legal Education, The Right to Confrontation and Zoom Jury Trials