There are CLEs on discovery and CLEs on trial advocacy. The phase between them, from expert disclosures to the final pretrial conference, is where most civil cases are decided: which claims survive, which experts testify, and what evidence the jury sees, all settled months before the jury is sworn in. This program focuses on one skill from that phase: reading the defendant’s summary judgment motion as an outline of their trial strategy. Taught on a constructed products liability case, it shows attendees what an MSJ reveals about the case the defendant plans to try, and how to use it to populate your pretrial filings. Attendees will be able to: •Explain why the pretrial phase, from expert disclosures to the final pretrial conference, decides which claims, experts, and evidence reach the jury. •Read an opposing summary judgment motion for what it reveals about the defendant’s trial strategy: the arguments they rank highest, the facts they need you not to have, the record they rely on, and what they leave out. •Pair each opposing argument with exhibits, testimony and sponsoring witnesses to preempt the defendant’s trial argument in pretrial.