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Our Faculty
The instructors from
Speaking Legally are acutely aware that the last thing a jury may hear before
making a decision in a multi-million dollar lawsuit may be your closing
statement. It is our job to enhance your performance, streamline your message
and help you win your case.
Our faculty has extensive
experience in television, film and stage work as well as legal experience and
trial work at the state and federal levels. We are the perfect choice to help
bring out the best advocate in you and the members of your firm.
Kevin Theis
 Mr. Theis has worked in the Chicago area as a
director, actor, producer, writer and legal professional for twenty years. He
has appeared in movies, television shows, radio and TV commercials and on the
stages of the Goodman, Lifeline and Next Theatres, among others. He has
received three Joseph Jefferson nominations for his directing work. On the
legal side, Mr. Theis has extensive experience as a legal assistant,
paralegal and courtroom adjutant in both civil and federal cases, and has
coached and prepared countless trial advocates in the art of powerful
presentation. Mr. Theis holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Acting and
Directing from the State University of New York.
Peter Katsaros
 Mr. Katsaros has been a Chicago trial lawyer for
twenty-eight years. His international civil litigation practice included
plaintiff and defense work in multi-million dollar commercial, tort and
employment litigation for major corporations, unions, pension funds and
individuals. He has been lead trial counsel in thirty-three trials, lead
appellate counsel in fourteen appeals and has handled complex civil litigation
in federal and state courts in twenty states and in England. Mr. Katsaros has been a
member of the faculty of NITA since 1984 and an Adjunct Professor of trial
advocacy at Northwestern
University Law
School since 1990. He
holds a B.A. in Economics from Indiana
University, where he
was a Rhodes Scholar finalist. He received his law degree from the University
of Illinois College of Law.
Richard Shavzin
 Mr. Shavzin is an award-winning Chicago area director,
actor, producer and litigation consultant and has been training litigators
since 1985. His career includes acting in movies, television shows,
commercials and on stages across the U.S.
and Canada.
He spent five years as the Artistic Director of Strawdog Theater and has
received two Joseph Jefferson Awards. As a litigation consultant, Mr. Shavzin
has coached litigators on performance technique, provided actors to law firms
and law schools for training purposes, taught seminars on physical and vocal
skills for litigators, read depositions in court and has been retained as a
jury consultant. He holds a B.A. degree in Theatre and Psychology from the University of Wisconsin.
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