Many family law cases are extremely emotionally draining for the client and attorney alike. Knowing what to expect and having a good understanding of how these cases proceed through the court system can help you manage your client’s expectations and emotions.

Sandra Fava will provide you with a broad overview of family law practice – from adoptions to domestic violence. Sandra will mainly discuss how a family law case starts, the non-dissolution docket, the dissolution docket, practical points for family law practice and pitfalls for the new practitioner. She will provide you practical points on the following: domestic violence actions, adoption proceedings, juveniles, settlement, motion practice, use of experts, mediation & arbitration, dealing with unpaid support obligations, guardianships, the worthy client, zealous advocacy vs. becoming emotionally intertwined, good client management, managing deadlines, communicating with clients and practical advice for clients. This course is designed for attorneys new to family law practice or experienced attorneys from other practices that need to understand the family court system and how a case proceeds.

Sandra C. Fava has dedicated her legal career to the thoughtful and diligent representation of clients in divorce and family law matters. She provides representation at every level, including complex and sophisticated family law matters, often representing high net worth individuals, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, professionals and business owners or their spouses.

You get a frantic call from an attorney you’ve known since law school. Apparently, a person that she declined to represent left scathing, false reviews with one stars on a number of review websites like Yelp and RipoffReport.com. She is extremely distraught since she relies in the Internet for new clients and she wants your advice on what to do.

Paul Sternberg handles these exact issues on a daily basis and he provides you with a blueprint of how to handle online defamation cases. Paul will mainly talk about the First Amendment & protected speech, determining the defaming party, understanding liability under the CDA & the DMCA, legal strategies to consider in the defamation case, building a defamation case or defense and removing a website. He will also cover: libel vs. slander, weighing the decision to sue, deploying a cease & desist letter, SLAPP & ANTI-SLAPP laws, the Streisand Effect, elements to prove, statutes of limitation, public vs. private figures, malice vs. negligence, proof of damages, drafting a court order, utilizing Terms of Service, restoring your client’s reputation and the keys to success in a defamation case.

Paul M. Sternberg has been in private practice at his Texas law firm since 2001. A seasoned entrepreneur, Paul is the author of The Attorney’s Guide to Internet Defamation and Website Removal. He concentrates his practice in the areas of Internet defamation law and business law.

Conflicts of interest continue to ethically ensnare attorneys and firms – especially with increasingly more lawyers changing firms these days. Conflicts can cost you and your firm millions and lead to embarrassing publicity if you happen to get disqualified from a case due to this all too common ethical trap.

Unfortunately, there is no magical formula for avoiding conflicts because they can take many forms and can be tricky to identify - even for experienced attorneys and well-established firms. In this CLE course, malpractice attorney William McCaffery lays out the ethical framework, analyzes instructive case examples and provides practical tips for avoiding ethical violations & disqualification. These topics are also covered in this fast paced course: erroring on the side of caution, conflicts & current clients, duties to former clients, imputed disqualification, conflicts rules for government officers & employees, dealing with organizations, duties to potential clients, maintaining routine conflict procedures, using conflict waivers and what to include in the engagement letter.

William T. McCaffery concentrates in the areas of legal malpractice defense, professional liability, commercial litigation, and general liability defense. He represents attorneys and law firms that have been sued for legal malpractice in cases ranging from real estate and personal injury matters to complex business transactions and commercial litigation.

From clients that lie to you to directing your clients to delete damaging Facebook posts, family law attorneys must deal with highly emotional clients and navigate ethical pitfalls on a daily basis. In this CLE course, Angela Scafuri identifies the most frequent challenges that arise and provides practical guidance so you can steer clear of sanctions, suspension and malpractice lawsuits.

Angela’s insights will help both new and seasoned family law practitioners to understand the contours of the attorney-client relationship, the problems that arise with difficult clients, client communications & confidentiality and issues involving experts. As many of our client’s now live their lives on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram, a substantial amount of time is spent covering the ethical implications of eDiscovery and social media. Angela also provides tips and best practices for dealing with unrepresented parties, avoiding frivolous claims, reminding clients of your ethical duties, the affirmative obligation to disclose certain facts, the expert’s retaining agreement, dealing with ESI, ethically obtaining evidence from social media websites like Facebook. Angela concludes by providing you a detailed checklist for discovery issues related to social media evidence.

A shareholder at Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, Angela Scafuri routinely works with clients whose needs lie in all areas of matrimonial and family law. She focuses on divorce litigation, mediation & arbitration, alimony & child support, custody & parenting time issues, same-sex divorce & dissolution, high asset divorces and domestic violence matters.

Have you ever had a client that you just cannot make happy no matter the results you get for her? Do you sometimes dread going to court because you know the combative opposing counsel will fly into histrionics over every perceived slight? Did you drive home that night wondering what you could have possibly done that sent them into such a fit of rage?

Well, maybe it’s not you that was the problem - more than likely it was probably the client or the opposing counsel’s high conflict personality (HCP) that was the issue. In this eye-opening CLE course, attorney and mediator John Edwards introduces you to the concept of the high conflict personality and provides you with strategies and tips to deal with HCP opposing counsel and clients. John will mainly cover the core issues of personality disorders in high conflict attorneys, the neuroscience of high conflict personalities and using empathy, attention and respect to calm high conflict attorneys. He will also discuss “difficult” clients, lack of self-awareness, lack of adaption, blaming others, five high conflict personalities, the prevalence of personality disorders, the corpus callosum, using EAR statements, fears & EARs, cautions about EAR and setting limits.

John Edwards has been practicing law for over 40 years. A former litigator, he began his mediation practice in 2002 and since then has successfully mediated hundreds of cases including commercial & residential real estate matters, professional malpractice, personal injury, employment disputes and business disputes.

Social media has changed the world around us - including how attorneys select juries. Today, with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the myriad of social networking websites that pervade the Internet, there is a wealth of information about most jurors in the venire that is readily available at the touch of your fingertips.

If you want to know how to identify and use social media information when selecting your next jury, join trial consultant Dr. David Cannon for an enlightening hour on how Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms can help you learn more about potential jurors. Dr. Cannon will mainly address the challenges of selecting a jury in a Facebook world, what social media platforms to search and how to rate your potential jurors. He will also touch on the following topics: jurors & implicit biases, how jurors formulate decisions, juror candor, the “minimization effect,” building rapport & using a conversational tone to get potential jurors to open up, developing effective & ethical research skills, the influence quotient and avoiding the set-aside question. Dr. Cannon will conclude by presenting tactics for using supplemental juror questionnaires (SJQs) and discussing some items you may consider for your next juror questionnaire.

Dr. David Cannon is co-founder of Trial Innovations and is based in the Los Angeles area. Dr. Cannon has been the lead trial consultant in cases across the country, ranging from insurance defense and corporate litigation, to capital cases and white collar crime.

At the Tehran Conference in 1943, Stalin proposed “liquidating” 50,000 German military officers. Eventually, through skilled negation the rule of law won out. The resulting Nuremberg Trials from 1945-46 brought high ranking Nazi officials and civilian leaders to justice.

But is it the greatest trial in history – or just a show trial that stretched jurisdiction & legal principles to achieve the victor’s justice? Professor Thaddeus Hoffmeister, who had deep discussions with key Nuremberg interpreter John Dolibois, breaks down the Nuremberg trials and asks you to decide for yourself. He mainly discusses, trial practice & criminal law, the prosecution of WWII crimes, the legal framework of the IMT, indictments & defenses, verdicts and legacy of the trials. These key topics are also addressed: international law & sovereignty, show trials, differing views of “justice,” the London Agreement & Charter, the framework of the International Military Tribunal (IMT), the Allied prosecutors, the Nazi defendants, defense attorneys, conspiracy counts, aggressive war, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Professor of Law Thaddeus Hoffmeister teaches courses related to criminal law, technology, and the jury. Hoffmeister has published a number of law review articles, essays & lengthier writings exploring the criminal justice system, litigation, and social media. His most recent book is entitled Social Media in the Courtroom.

How does discrimination hiring occur? What is the best way to write a legally compliant job description? Can I only hire fans of the New York Yankees? When it comes to hiring a new employee, there are certain things that an employer legally can and can’t do under federal and state laws.

Nicole Croddick provides you with in-depth legal guidance when counseling your business clients on screening, interviewing and hiring new employees - from posting the job ad to steps to take once hired. Further topics discussed include: the cost of a mis-hire, goals when hiring, the bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ), job titles & descriptions, “Have, Do, Be,” permissive pre-employment questions, accommodations & criminal background notes, permitted inquiries at all stages, using a systemic process for interviewing, the “5 musts of interviewing” and problematic inquiries in the application & interview. Nicole highlights the common pitfalls that cause employers to end up in lawsuits over hiring and she provides highly practical information to help your clients avoid these common issues.

Nicole Sorokolit Croddick is Counsel at Davison, Eastman, Muñoz, Lederman & Paone, P.A., where she focuses her practice on employment and labor matters. She consults companies on human resources issues and has conducted internal investigations on ethical and legal violations.

You represent a client in a wrongful death lawsuit whose wife was tragically killed in a freak car accident. After you get a discovery request for the contents of his Facebook account, you discover a post with your client wearing an “I Heart Hot Moms” shirt. To mitigate any damage at trial, you counsel your client to “clean up” his Facebook page. Good idea?? This attorney was forced to pay over $500,000 and agreed to a 5 year suspension.

To learn more about how you can remain ethical on our new social media world, join Jeff Bennion for an entertaining look at some of the unethical electronic conduct that gets attorneys into trouble with the state bar. Jeff will mainly cover the why you need to use social media, the main social media platforms, the ethical rules regarding social media use and non-obvious ethics traps & tips. Jeff will also address why social media is unique, social media & discovery, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, advertising & solicitation, unethical posts & tweets, creating an ethical digital footprint, spoliation of social media evidence, following/friending parties & witnesses, following & friending parties & witnesses and LinkedIn endorsements.

Jeff Bennion is a solo practitioner at the Law Office of Jeff Bennion. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of San Diego’s plaintiffs’ trial lawyers association, Consumer Attorneys of San Diego. He is also the Education Chair and Executive Committee member of the State Bar of California’s Law Practice Management and Technology section.

When it comes to estate planning, it always good to keep the end goals in mind. What are the client’s true intentions - and what documents are needed to implement the provisions. How do you draft a plan that will be clear, enduring, easily implemented and avoid ambiguity and litigation?

Let the dynamic duo of Marguerite Lorenz and Lori Bolander show you how to plan for the actual implementation of the estate plan to ensure that your client’s intentions are fulfilled. The main topics discussed include key documents & their roles in the estate planning process, appointing a fiduciary or trustee and difficult issues & provisions with the estate plan. Additional subjects covered: the Advanced Health Care Directive, the Power of Attorney (POA), quality of life decisions, triggering events, incapacity determination provisions, using a licensed fiduciary, language to include, dealing with personal property, life estates/occupancy rights, funding the trusts, trust schedules and working with clients. The overall goal of this CLE program is to help you improve your drafting and outcomes in administration for your clients and their families.

A partner at Gallagher, Bolander, Smedley, Lori Bolander is an estate planning attorney & trust litigator. Marguerite Lorenz is an experienced professional trustee & executor and a frequent speaker on a variety of Estate Planning topics.