Legal Profession Blog

Loyola Law Prof Starts New Website and Twitter Feed on Louisiana Ethics and Bar Discipline

Posted by Alan Childress

This new site, Louisiana Legal Ethics, will be iPhone optimized and includes a homepage blog on Louisiana rules, issues, and decisions.  It is the product of Loyola professor (and Tulane alum) Dane Ciolino with contributions and updates from Loyola students.  One of its many nice features will occur when it "will offer free continuing legal education ('CLE') videos which will qualify for Louisiana MCLE ethics and professionalism credit."  It also has a free eBook to the annotated ethics rules in Louisiana (a very useful text that now will be updated in real time).  For those taking the upcoming MPRE, consider these incredibly useful flowcharts or "mindmaps."

Congrats, Dane, and I know all your hard work and linked resources will be appreciated.

ALI-ABA Offers Legal Ethics CLE via Web or Phone on August 27

"Hot Topics in Legal Ethics 2009."  Date:  Thurs., Aug. 27, 2009, at 1:00-2:00 p.m. eastern time, for 1.0 or 1.2 hours of ethics credit.

Topics include: recent decisions on conflicts of interest, screening, and disqualification (including Caperton v. Massey by the U.S. Supreme Court); how courts are using the rules of professional conduct in malpractice cases; and trends in disciplinary filings. 

[Alan Childress]

ALI-ABA Offers Two Ethics CLEs March 24 and March 31, 2009

Posted by Alan Childress

By telephone or audio webcast, ALI-ABA has two upcoming CLE programs of interest to those following legal ethics or needing ethics hours:

• Lawyer Ethics and Risk Management in an Economic Downturn, Tues., March 24, at 1:00 pm eastern.

• Confidentiality and Attorney-Client Communications, Tues.,  March 31, 2009, also 1:00 eastern.

The latter programs asks, provocatively:

You mention to someone you just met at a cocktail party that you are an attorney.  Without warning, she tells you the details of her son's DUI case and asks you for your advice   .  .  .  .   Someone uses the "Contact Us" link on your firm's website to send you a message filled with confidential facts about his pending case  .  .  .  .  Do these encounters create attorney-client relationships and are these communications privileged?

Ethics of Email CLE: Tomorrow in D.C.

Posted by Alan Childress

Sounds good, and is certainly affordable for 2 hours of ethics CLE credit. Provided by the D.C. Bar.  To be held, pending weather, Wednesday, January 28, 2009, from 6:00-8:15 pm:

This interactive program uses hypothetical scenarios to explore unique issues involving the use of electronic communications and documents by lawyers. This practical class will help you to learn about the ethical limits on using new technologies when communicating with clients and others; the ethics implications of working with service providers and discarding electronic files; the rules governing communications with adversaries (including ex parte contacts, metadata, and sending "unscrubbed" documents, inadvertent transmittal of communications from adversaries, and limits on deceptive conduct); outsourcing of legal work; duty to retain electronic documents when anticipating litigation; and preparing privilege logs for electronic communications.

Location:  D.C. Bar Conference Center, at 1250 H Street, NW, near New York and 13th.

ALI-ABA Ethics Hour on Negotiations Jan. 15, 2009 By Webcast or Telephone

ALI-ABA programs are usually considered quite good.  Here is one, The Ethics of Negotiation, available nationwide Thurs., 1/15/09 at 1:00 eas.; accredited or potentially so in 41 listed states.  Live via audio web or phone. Speakers are here, tuition is $149, and 1 or 1.2 CLE ethics hrs. accrue.  [Alan Childress]

ABA Ethics Teleconference 12:00 Today and "Value Billing"

Great post by David Giacalone at f/k/a about "value billing" and linking today's ABA teleconference (noon est, 90 min.) on fees, billing and related legal ethics issues.  [Alan Childress]

Colorado Bar's Legal Ethics CLE (on Dec. 4 or Jan. 8) Emphasizes Leadership Skills

"Tired of the same old lectures on the ethics rules?  Looking for a fresh approach to exploring key Rules of Professional Conduct from the perspective of leadership principles and the varying dimensions of individual contribution?  ...You can earn [three hours of] CLE Ethics credits while acquiring the tools to further your leadership skills from a most distinguished team of inspirational and proven professionals."  The program is called Legal Ethics: From Bedrock to Beacon, and it is live 12/4/08 in Denver, with video replays in various CO cities on 1/8/09.  [Alan Childress]

Legal Ethics CLE in Denver Dec. 8 at the Ritz-Carlton and Near Skiing

The 13th annual Ethics CLE, called Ethics:  Because It's More Than Just the Rules, is sponsored by CLE International. Up to 7 ethics hours are available.  It is at the Ritz-Carlton in Denver 12/8/08.  Home study is also available, but then you'd miss the snow.  Or is it too early for that?  Brochure pdf here. [Alan Childress]

ABA Section on Family Law Holds Conference Early October in Arizona

Posted by Alan Childress

2008 Fall CLE Conference
October 2-5, 2008, Camelback Inn—Scottsdale, AZ            

"Come for the CLE, stay for the sun, spa, and golf! Your whole family will enjoy the Southwest and all the amenities the Camelback Inn resort offers! Create great memories on the green, the hiking trails, the tennis and basketball courts, or just relaxing by the pool(s)."  Link is here.  The CLE component, Oct. 3-4, includes ethics hours, ADR, reproductive technologies, pensions, and trial tips. Ethics topics include conflicts of interest and related issues, and this intriguing session:

Lawyers in LaLa Land: Images of Legal Ethics & Professionalism in the Movies
Program Producers: Lori Nelson, Salt Lake City, UT, and Jonathan Wolfe, Livingston, NJ

"This fast-paced program will discuss legal ethics, professionalism and trial practice techniques using examples from your favorite legal movies. The information is current, relevant, practical and fun. This is a presentation that can’t be missed."
Moderator: Lori Nelson, and Speaker: Andrew Schultz, Albuquerque, NM

Conference Announcement: Using Empirical Data in Jury Trials

Posted by Jeff Lipshaw

My colleague and suite-mate, Mike Rustad, is co-chairing "Successful Strategies for Jury Trials," a day-long conference to be held at the Suffolk University Law School here in the heart of downtown Boston on Friday, October 24, 2008.  The panels will include state and federal judges, distinguished trial lawyers, and two of the leading academics in jury research, Professor Valerie Hans (left) of the Cornell Law School, and Neil Vidmar (right) of the Duke Law School.  Take a look at the brochure:  the topics will include how to conduct pretrial jury management in light of empirical research, the best trial strategies, insights into how juries make decisions, how juries perceive experts, and the role of jury consultants.

Highly recommended.  Enroll while it's hot!

Notre Dame Combines Legal Ethics CLE With Football Tickets on Home Saturdays, Except Michigan Game

The program and schedule are here.  Nice idea.    "In addition to the two-hour CLE, a limited supply of football tickets is available to CLE participants. A participant may purchase up to two football tickets, while limited supplies last, and those tickets will be available for pick-up during the CLE."  Nice enforcement.

The 2-hour CLE programs are on a variety of subjects, some including ethics hours.  The Michigan game is sold out but the CLE program itself seems available.  Participants need not be Notre Dame alumni.  Indeed, far from it, Jeff could go.

"What it was, was football."  [Alan Childress]

Idaho Bar Using Musical Parodies and a Humorist to Teach Legal Ethics CLE in Sun Valley October 9

Posted by Alan Childress

Using the "Ethics Rock!" program developed by Jack Marshall and his ProEthics seminars, the Idaho bar offers two ethics credits as part of its larger conference in Sun Valley October 8-10, 2008.  The conference's program brochure is here.  Another ethics/professionalism credit is earned watching “Sue Onto Others As You Would Have Them Sue Onto You,” featuring lawyer-humorist and 1992 Harvard Law graduate Sean Carter, who says: “Under Rule 8.4, it is professional misconduct to commit a criminal act  that reflects adversely on your honest, trustworthiness or fitness to practice law. Needless to say, stabbing opposing counsel in the parking lot creates such an adverse reflection.” 

Carter, shown right, also offers to state bars and law firms other humorous programs that seriously deal with ethics, advertising and marketing, substance abuse, writing and presentation, and diversity awareness including elimination of bias.  And Marshall has two new musical programs, on more rock and also the blues.

In the Idaho program, also, Neil Siegel -- a Duke law prof and fellow alum of Berkeley's Jurisprudence and Social Policy doctoral program -- will give a U.S. Supreme Court update for 2.5 credits.

Upcoming Minnesota Ethics CLEs (Including Today) Are Also Available for Out-of-Staters

Posted by Alan Childress
The late-June fare out of Minnesota looks interesting and the remote programs are pretty affordable.  An archived one available to non-Minnesota participants, and earning 2 hours credit, is "Chemical Dependency and Mental Health in the Legal Profession." (I don't know if that earns an 'ethics' credit, but all the following seem to, and seem to be credited throughout the U.S.)  "The Family Law Series: Ethics," is webcast live today (6/19) at 9:00 am cst.  And tomorrow offers a 3-hour ethics programs for in-house counsel (but video only, in state), and also one webcast live on a topic that I rarely see but sounds very useful to some:  Winding Down a Law Practice.  On June 25, see the live webcast of Ethics - Best Practices in Business Development, for 3 MCLE credits.  Then Monday, June 30 means two 1-hr. programs on "conflicts checks" and on "lessons from recent discipline cases."

Chicago CLE June 13 on Ethics for Government Lawyers

Celebrate Friday the 13th, June 2008, in Chicago with nearly 4 hours of MCLE ethics credit taught in skit-and-discussion format, by the Illinois State Bar.  It is Ethical Considerations for Government Lawyers:  "The program will consist of various scenarios, portrayed by the panelists, and depicting complex ethical dilemmas confronted by public sector attorneys.  Each skit will be followed by a discussion of the ethical issues posed...."  The entire program costs only $65.

Downstate, in Springfield the same day, try Corporate Legal Ethics.  But there will be no mention of the city's "Fissionator 1952 Slow-Fission Reactor, [which] is poor and badly maintained, largely due to owner Montgomery Burns' miserliness," and raises critical ethics issues for corporate deciders like Waylon Smithers, Jr., shown right all happy before the backdating scandal and his investing some of Mr. Burns' fortune into subprime paper.  Other than that lapse, the program seems fine, offers 4 hours, and is very  affordable.

Neither Illinois program covers the ethics of leaving a kid alone at home while doing a Winona Ryder at the local Kohl's, but Mike thinks that's problematic nonetheless.

[Alan Childress]

ABA Offers Web/Phone CLE on June 4: "Ethical Issues in E-Discovery"

Counting as 1.5 ethics hours or more, and accessible remotely, the ABA course in Ethical Issues in E-Discovery (including Rule 26(f) conferences and using third-party vendors) is set for Wed., June 4, 2008, starting noon eastern time.  [Alan Childress]

'Ethics of Email' CLE Offered by D.C. Bar on June 11

Speaking of metadata disasters, the District of Columbia Bar will hold a 2-hour ethics program about emails on Wed. evening, June 11, 2008 (scroll down to 6/11). Topics include  confidentiality, metadata scrubbing, document retention, and  outsourcing.  [Alan Childress]

Legal Ethics in Financial Services: CLE in New York City June 3

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, SIFMA, offers a 2-hour CLE Legal Ethics Workshop on Tues., June 3, 2008, in New York City.  It focuses on ethical considerations for in-house counsel.  Program and speakers here. [Alan Childress]

ALI-ABA To Hold "Legal Ethics & Lawyer Websites" CLE By Phone Or Web On June 4

It's a one-hour remote CLE program on lawyer websites and blogging, and their ethical implications.  It earns 1 to 1.2 ethics MCLE credits.  It will be held live on Wed., June 4, 2008, 1:00 eastern.  Topics include domain names, solicitation issues with third-party sites and chatrooms, and multijurisdictional practice issues.  [Alan Childress]

California Bar Holds Ethics Symposium May 3 in San Francisco

The State Bar of California, as announced by this webpage, will hold its 12th annual ethics seminar at University of San Francisco Law School on Sat., May 3, 2008.  Its theme is NOTORIETY – When the Spotlight Is on Ethics, and it includes a keynote speech by UC-Irvine's Dean Erwin Chemerinsky (previously at Duke while Nifong was D.A.--that should be interesting); the panel on prosecutorial misconduct includes Mark Garegos.  Other panels are on inadvertent disclosure, public lawyers, and rules revisions.

"This program offers up to 6.25 hours of MCLE credit in legal ethics."  The price is extremely affordable, ranging from free to $125 including lunch. 

[Alan Childress]

Discuss Ethics, Values, Literature, and a Life in Law: But Do So Under The Tuscan Sun

Posted by Alan Childress
The Justice Institute for the Legal Profession in Ohio uses studies of the humanities to reconnect lawyers, judges, and teachers to the ideals of law and justice.  The group offers a "CLE" in July 2008 that is way more than that, and takes place in Tuscany, Italy -- mainly the "Val d'Orcia valley, arguably the most beautiful region of Tuscany, famous for its hill towns and breathtaking landscapes."  Two week-long seminars "explore the relationship between law, justice and culture" and encompass the 'great readings' such as Sophocles' Antigone, Augustine's City of God, and Virgil's The Aeneid, all linked to great modern films. 

If you can't go to Italy, consider their 10th Annual Legal Profession Seminar, Oct. 15-18, 2008, in the villas of . . . Newark, Ohio.  OK, I know, but this too is not your father's ethics CLE:  "Bringing together experienced members of the Ohio bench, bar and academy, we will meet again this fall for an intensive discussion designed to deepen the understanding of legal ethics and professionalism. As we have done in the past, the discussions will center around classic and contemporary 'Great Readings' from literature, history and philosophy."

No word on whether Diane Lane will show at either site.