At the tender age of 31, Dallas lawyer Kendrea Tannis already has an impressive resume that most of her fellow civil litigators would envy, including stops at two of Texas’ largest civil firms and a stint as a college administrator.

But what the young commercial litigator doesn’t have is trial experience. And in order to get it, she’s departed her nice white shoe law office at Akin Gump Strauss & Feld for a desk in a cramped workroom inside Dallas County’s Frank Crowley Criminal Courthouse for what’s known as the “Lawyer on Loan” program.