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.

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.

Almost every law firm and legal association states that it is firmly committed to combatting gender bias inside their organization and the legal profession. However, most gender diversity initiatives and programs have accomplished very little change and the profession remains significantly male dominated, especially amongst managing and equity partners.

To learn about the steps firms and legal organizations can take to create a more level playing field, join Andi Kramer and Al Harris for a thoughtful discussion about overcoming gender bias to create a more successful and profitable law firm. Andi and Al will mainly address the gender achievement gap, how diversity & inclusion benefits firms, why greater gender diversity & inclusion has not been achieved and what legal organizations can do to reduce gender bias. Further topics covered in this CLE course: what the ABA has done to address gender bias, the moral & business rationale for diversity & inclusion, affinity & unconscious bias, men & #MeToo, communal & agentic stereotypes, the Goldilocks dilemma, the spectrum of bias, incivility & harassment, how to encourage organizational change, thinking slow and active steps men can take.

Andrea S. Kramer is an attorney and a partner in the international law firm of McDermott Will & Emery, LLP. The managing partner in the Chicago office of Nixon Peabody, Al is a frequent writer and lecturer on the financial markets, financial regulation, corporate governance and diversity in the legal profession.

An FBI agent’s child is kidnapped. You are called in to negotiate for the safe return of the child. How do you approach such a high stakes negotiation - especially considering the person you are negotiating with is deranged or stupid enough to kidnap a federal agent’s child.

This CLE program provides a targeted approach to conducting a negotiation where the stakes are high and high millions of dollars - or even lives - are at stake. Immigration attorney & negotiator Steven Riznyk will mainly cover what it takes to be a successful negotiator, ADR vs. negotiation, doing your due diligence before the negotiation, emotions & cognitive dissonance and knowing the human. Additional points discussed include: face-to-face communication, the importance of patience, the non-negotiable, assumptions & generalizations, bias & exceptions, why BANTA doesn’t work, context & culture, how to analyze the layer of your opponent, narcissism & selfishness, voice inflection, spotting the liar, positioning and crafting a three way solution.

Steven Riznyk has over thirty years of legal experience as an immigration attorney and negotiator. An author and public speaker in the areas of negotiations and relationships, he has lectured to thousands of people around the globe. His understanding of immigration and its many complex issues extends far beyond the law and his clients have come from 50 countries.

The cost of a college education has skyrocketed over the last few decades. Along with the increased tuition costs, the amount of money borrowed for college has also ballooned with student loan debt now approaching $2 TRILLION dollars. Many former students have found themselves in default being unable to pay their massive undergraduate and graduate school debt back.

To learn more about what you can do to help your clients with defaulted student loans, join Natalie Jean-Baptiste as she discusses potential options for your clients. Natalie will mainly cover default student loan resolution, repayment options, loan forgiveness, administrative discharges and discharging student loan debt in bankruptcy. Natalie will also address the following topics: student debt facts & figures, federal vs. private student loans, the main types of federal student loans, eligibility for deferment & forbearance, delinquency & default, the consequences of default, tax refund offsets, wage garnishment, settlement, loan rehabilitation, reasonable & affordable payments, consolidation, repayment programs such as REPAYE and PAYE, Chapter 7 & 13 bankruptcy, undue hardship and additional resources.

Natalie Jean-Baptiste is a financial empowerment coach and consumer rights advocate who works with student loan borrowers to manage and eliminate debt. Prior to becoming a consumer rights advocate, Natalie worked for many years as a music industry attorney.

When married couples divorce, retirement plans are usually among their largest assets. Valuing and dividing these assets can be tricky - especially when one spouse began participating in the retirement plan before marriage.

However, with a little practical guidance you can confidently navigate dividing retirement benefits for your clients during divorce. A QDRO specialist, Joshua D. Ferraro helps you understand the different types of retirement assets & how they work, provides a primer on laws & framework regulating retirement benefits and shows you the language you need to use to adequately divide them. Josh also covers the following topics in detail: the story of Studebaker plant closing, divorce cases & QDROs, pensions, the nuts & bolts of the ERISA statute, defined benefit & defined contribution plans, separate vs. shared interest plans, survivorship benefits, clauses that must be included in the agreement, determining valuation dates & formulas and how to handle government & military plans.

Joshua D. Ferraro assists attorneys and individuals with Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs). Josh initially joined Lesser, Lesser, Landy & Smith in 2004, immediately after graduating from law school and passing the Florida Bar.

When businesses are starting out, there is usually very little attention and money paid to legal issues. Entrepreneurs and business owners are more worried about launching the company and making their first million. Money is usually poured into marketing - and things like employment agreements, choice of entity and contracts are basically ignored.

And that’s where you step in as their trusted business counselor and advisor. Even though they may not have a huge legal budget initially, there are small things you can do to help build trust and help them with more legal planning as the business grows. Melody Kramer will provide insight on how you can provide value to your business clients by helping to draft collaboration agreements for small business and startup companies. Melody will mainly address preparing the client, due diligence before drafting, discussing the legal framework with clients and key considerations when drafting the collaboration agreement. Melody will also touch on core business contracts, oral contracts, using collaboration worksheets, the balance of power in the business, employees & independent contractors, key points for working with independent contractors, entity docs and avoiding legalese when drafting.

Melody A. Kramer is a veteran trial lawyer, legal strategist, speaker, blogger and author. For the past decade, Melody has handled complex federal litigation, served as lead counsel in dozens of cases and negotiated IP licensing agreements with well-known companies. She has been able to take on diverse litigation projects through strategic partnerships with other law firms.

Cultural Resources are tangible remains of past human activity that provide unique information about past societies and environments. These may include traditional cultural properties & landscapes, structures and prehistoric sites to name a few. Although many cultural resources have been discovered and protected, there are still numerous forgotten, undiscovered or unprotected Native American sites and structures around the country.

If you would like to learn more about these federal protections, Michele Fahley details how statutes are deployed to protect these important pieces of history. Michele will help you to understand the federal legal framework, detail what each law regulates & how these laws work together and how you can use these laws to represent client interests. She will cover the following topics: the Environmental Assessment, Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), the scoping process, the Record of Decision (ROD), the National Register of Historic Places, National Register criteria, consulting parties under Section 106, Section 106 procedural steps, the ARPA application process, notice under ARPA and inadvertent discoveries. The following statutes will be discussed in this CLE program: the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) & the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

Michele Fahley serves as Deputy General Counsel for the Pechanga Band of Mission Indians. As Deputy General Counsel, Mrs. Fahley provides general representation to the tribal government in all matters and serves as Chair of the Conference Planning Committee.

How many questions do you ask before you make important decisions? Do you assume you know what is best for this case and for this client - simply based on all your previous cases? Are there subconscious forces that impact how you think and how you feel? And how do these hidden forces impact your decision making?

This course will examine the developing research of implicit biases and how these unconscious biases shape the decisions you make in your legal practice and with your clients. Veteran trial attorney and mediator Richard Huver will cover the following subjects: how we are all biased, how implicit biases shape your decisions, how to identify bias and how to change your decision making. Richard also talks about the neuroscience of decision making, Harvard & Project Implicit, bias as a survival mechanism, the two brain systems, categories of bias, the power of the pause and thinking slow & thinking fast. The following biases are addressed in-depth: representative bias, availability bias, confirmation bias and anchoring bias.

Richard A. Huver has over three-decades of litigation experience that have proven invaluable in his burgeoning mediation practice. Richard received an Outstanding Trial Lawyer award in 2000 and the President's Award in 2001 from the Consumer Attorneys of San Diego. He is the former President of the San Diego County Bar Association.

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.

In today’s legal environment, it is not sufficient to present unsubstantiated evidence. And unfortunately many subject matter experts do not properly substantiate their findings. When hiring a subject matter expert, careful screening is crucial in order to select an expert with superior skills and credibility.

In this CLE course, forensic document examiner Mike Wakshull provides practical methods when choosing forensic examiners and experts for your cases. The main topics covered include using SKEET to review the examiner’s background & training, examining how the expert will perform in court and checking for bias in your examiner’s results and conclusions. Mike will also discuss the validity of the prospective or opposing forensic examiner, using the Internet & social media to conduct research, checking the expert’s CV, certifications, presentation skills, using a science-based approach, metrics, the document examination report, the scope of the report, stating the results of the examination, juror heuristics, contextual & confirmation bias and the key questions to ask your examiner.

A court-qualified forensic document examiner, Michael N. Wakshull has been involved in the Forensic Document Examination arena since 1983 and belongs to a number of Document Examination Associations. A licensed attorney in California, Jason Castillo actively participated in this course.

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.

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.

In the hit television show Bull, Dr. Jason Bull and his team of experts employ psychology, human intuition and high-tech data to help attorneys better understand jurors, witnesses and defendants. Dr. Bull’s overall goal is to help attorneys construct effective narratives to connect with and persuade the jurors at trial.

What effect, if any, will the popular CBS TV drama have on your jurors? Trial consultants Jeremy Ostler and Leticia Ostler detail their experiences with the “Bull” effect at trial and show you how to better connect with the jury so you can get the best result for your clients. Jeremey and Leticia will mainly discuss how trial consultants assist attorneys with voir dire & trials, how to understand the psychology & decision making of the jurors, justice vs. emotion in the courtroom and overcoming the myths of legal TV shows. The following subjects are also covered: how the brain processes information, the prefrontal cortex & the limbic brain, our adversarial system & emotions, the concept of justice in the courtroom, how to make the limbic system happy, inattentional blindness, telling stories to connect with emotional brain & the jury, the Reptile Brain Strategy, using a shadow jury and feedback from judges.

After working in the intelligence community primarily as an interrogator for over a decade, Jeremy Ostler now leverages his expertise to help trial lawyers and litigators prevail at trial. Trained in the effective use of neuroscience research in the courtroom, Leticia Oslter has over 20 years of experience as a litigation consultant.

With the cost of litigation and the current backlog in the courts, mediation has become a path for redress for many aggrieved parties. But should you approach a mediation like you were headed to court? What are the steps you can take to get the most successful outcome for your client?

After trying more than 100 cases, Monty A. McIntyre is a now a mediator, arbitrator & discovery referee. In this CLE course he shares his insights into preparing for a successful mediation. He mainly discusses important points to consider prior to the mediation, pitfalls to avoid, techniques & key points to employ during the mediation and final considerations before concluding. Monty also talks about the essence of your case, the cost & stress of litigation, sitting down with clients, brevity in the brief, avoiding initial high numbers, apologies, flexibility, joint meetings, bracketing, settlement offers, terms to consider at the conclusion, payment plans and stipulations for settlement.

An award winning trial attorney, mediator, arbitrator & discovery referee, Monty A. McIntyre has nearly four decades of legal experience. As a mediator his mission is to bring peace into the lives of people by excellently helping them resolve disputes.

Like most attorneys, you probably feel like there is no way you could ever be sued - until that process server shows up at your office.< br>
In this fast paced seminar, Bill McCaffery will discuss what leads trusts and estates practitioners into legal malpractice and provides 60 practical tips to help you avoid getting sued by your clients. Topics to be discussed include: inadequate investigation, communication errors, errors of law, clerical errors, time management issues, conflicts of interest and insurance considerations. Bill will also discuss malpractice statistics based on practice area & firm size, using questionnaires, investigating assets, using plain English, documenting the file, keeping detailed notes, conflicts checks, remembering who your client is, and undue influence.

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.

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.

What do The Naked Cowboy, Marilyn Monroe and Tiger Woods all have in common? They have all been involved in right of publicity lawsuits.

Rick Kurnit has represented celebrities and companies alike in some of the most high-profile right of publicity cases involving Vanna White, Woody Allen and Jackie Onassis. In this CLE course, Rick shares his knowledge and experience as he mainly discusses brands, content & advertising in our digital world, how the right of publicity clashes with the First Amendment, advertising vs. editorial content, commercial use and the transformative standard. Rick also covers product placement, native advertising, use of celebrities’ name/likeness/image, persona & likeness, influencer contracts, media advertising, parody and the Lanham Act. With the expansion of social media and digital advertising - and increasingly more brands turning to novel means to promote their products - the right of publicity has taken on even greater importance.

Rick Kurnit is a noted expert in Advertising & Media Law, IP and First Amendment cases. He has handled many of the leading cases defining the application of intellectual property law to advertising and marketing communications, including representing the defendants in the Vanna White, Woody Allen, and Jackie Onassis look-alike cases.