Course List

This CLE will offer in-depth legal analysis and practical suggestions on how ethical duties can empower policy holders when a liability insurer agree to defend under a reservation of rights but then appoints defense counsel and directs the defense.

In this CLE, Stephen L. Thomas examines the language of the ethical rules, liability insurance law, and provides non-litigation solutions for panel counsel to comply with ethical obligations, for reserving insurers to fulfill contractual & regulatory obligations, for policyholders to enforce their rights and for counsel for injured victims to facilitate prompt settlements. The main issues discussed: how a reservation of rights triggers counsel?s duty of undivided loyalty and creates a possible conflict of interest, well established (disparate) case law and practice pointers for how policy holders can win. Also covered: the 3 Types of Jurisdictions, the California Restatement Rule, Per Se Rule states, the Enhanced Duties Rule, Rule 1.7: Undivided Loyalty, Rule 1.4: Communication, Rule 1.6: Confidentiality, Rule 1.8: Compensation (Cal. 1.8.6), the 6 Prongs to success, developing admissible evidence, Insurance Industry Defenses, case law. Model emails & letters, questionnaires and a detailed memorandum of law are also provided in the written materials.

An attorney with over 40 years of experience in Insurance Law, Stephen L. Thomas focuses on defending policyholders in a wide variety of liability suits.

The ERC is a complex claim with precise requirements that requires legal analysis to help businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, the IRS has received over 4 million of these claims over the course of the program. However, amid a surge of questionable claims the IRS ordered an immediate stop to new Employee Retention Credit (ERC) processing to protect taxpayers from scams.

Essentially, aggressive marketing to ineligible applicants created unacceptable risks to businesses and the tax system, possibly costing the IRS north of $500 billion in fraudulent claims. Tax attorney Sam Brotman has diligently advised business owners on their options and has helped claim over $100 million in ERC tax credits for his clients. He will explain in common sense terms what you need to know about the ERC tax credit to advise your business clients. Sam will mainly cover: recent ERC developments, the magnitude of the ERC for the IRS & businesses, ERC Mills, the two tests: Financial Impact & Operational Impact, IRS enforcement. Additional topics of discussion: how conservative CPAs processed ERC claims, how different business were affected in different ways, urban vs. rural, differences in state orders, the 9/14/2023 IRS Moratorium, the IRS Voluntary Disclosure Program (ERC-VDP), being proactive, seeking tax advice in an opinion letter and helping your client to understand all their options.

Samuel D. Brotman is the founder of Brotman Law. His practice primarily centers on all aspects of tax litigation and criminal & civil tax controversies. Although a strong proponent of early stage tax resolution, Sam's practice is uniquely tailored to assist clients in all phases of their tax controversy from administrative resolution of the lawsuit.

In today’s outrage culture, things can go sideways very quickly for your clients in the court of public opinion. And “Bad Press” now includes blogs, social media, influencers and every Joey Bag O'Donuts with an iPhone.

This negative publicity — and sometimes downright outrage — can detrimentally affect your client’s case and the results you can achieve for your client. A Crisis PR Expert, Dave Oates knows the risks of public interest firsthand and will show you how to handle media interest in your case when it hits the blogs, YouTube, Twitter and the nightly news. Main topics in this CLE: The Risks of Public Interest on Your Client’s Legal Case, Preparing for Trial Publicity, Social Media & Influencer Interest, Litigation: Expanding Your Client’s PR Presence, How to Handle Adjudication & Settlement and Preparing for Questions: How to Proceed Post Event. Further points of discussion: resetting the narrative, the public’s view is perception, government entities, the wrongful termination case of Dr. Hasan Gokal, protecting the client, preparing for potential outcomes, creating a decision tree to proactively communicate and preparing for Q&As.

Starting as a U.S. Navy Public Affairs Officer and later as a Corporate CMO & Non-Profit President, Dave Oates has 30 years of experience dealing with Crisis PR. His experiences include employee & executive misconduct, cybersecurity attacks, product recalls, mass layoffs, large-scale accidents, criminal investigations, and civil litigation matters.

"Those who tell the stories rule society." - Plato. And those lawyers who tell the best legal story rule their cases.

In this CLE, Jennifer Gardner shows you how lawyers can tell powerful legal stories and how to be a powerful legal storyteller. The main topics presented include: whoever tells the best story wins the trial or case, telling your client's persuasive legal story, what makes a good legal story great and what makes a good legal storyteller great. Additional topics: key concepts of engaging stories, humans learn through story, telling persuasive stories in your legal case, the neuroscience of storytelling, the right brain & emotions, the left brain as gatekeeper, triggering the right brain, universal story themes, struggle & conflict, Joseph Campbell & The Hero's Journey, archetypes, superheroes + antiheros, outlaws + tricksters, the emotional reality of your clients, credibility & authority, building trust & rapport, being human, how to listen actively and repetition & mirroring.

Jennifer B. Gardner has served clients in criminal and civil legal disputes since 1987 as a trial lawyer in Los Angeles since 1992. A proud graduate of the Trial Lawyers College, Jennifer is also a writer, a speaker and magnetic courtroom presence.

More people buying dogs during the pandemic, more delivery drivers, more people working & staying around the house… and there’s always plenty of tasty mail carriers. More dogs mean one thing — more dog bites.

And when man’s best friend isn’t so friendly, the consequences can unfortunately be deadly. A former prosecutor turned personal injury trial attorney, Claudine Wilkins will discuss practical tips for winning dog bite cases for your clients — from plaintiff’s strategies & theories of law to restitution and damages. Additional topics of discussion: state law, reactionary & predatory dog bites, dog attacks, adoption centers & shelters, intentional mislabeling, toolkits, the prosecutor’s checklist, legislation, restitution, liability, negligence, Dog at Large ordinances, injuries, initial intake, investigations, case law & examples, causes of dog bites, contributing factors, bad enclosures and bad laws. Claudine will also cover case intake, negligence & investigations and share numerous practical tips & strategies you can deploy at trial to get the best result for your client.

Claudine Wilkins is an Animal Law Expert & Attorney. A former prosecutor, she has trained thousands of professionals in animal-related fields.

People develop chronic pain and sustain concussion from a wide array of trauma — from car crashes to crane accidents. Unfortunately, while concussions, chronic pain and CRPS can be debilitating, the hidden nature of these injuries can make it difficult to prove to skeptical jurors.

In this CLE brimming with practical information & insight, trial attorney Brett Schreiber will walk you through working up and trying these invisible injury cases — from client intake to the fine points of communicating your client’s story to the jury. Brett will mainly cover client intake, discovery, voir dire and trial prep. He will conclude by analyzing a recent case example where a woman was injured when her foot fell through a second story walkway at an office building. Additional CLE topics: Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), mTBI, lien MDs, insurance, disabilities, stalking social media, show & tell, spoon feeding the jury, KenHub.com, Presentation Zen, the TBI Survival Guide, CDC, VA, NIH, Exposing Deceptive Defense Doctors, Budapest Diagnostic Criteria 2003, the Glasgow Coma Score, declarations of witnesses, establishing the medical timeline of treatment and treating vs. expert doctors.

Brett Schreiber’s practice includes mass torts, personal injury, medical malpractice and condemnation law. Whether lecturing student groups or handling pro bono claims for wrongfully convicted, he is guided by the Hebrew principle of tikkun olam meaning “to heal the world.”

Surviving prison as an innocent person is a surreal nightmare no one wants to think about. But it can happen to you - and those you love.

Justin Brooks has spent his career freeing innocent people from prison. Putting you at the defense table, this CLE forces us to consider how any one of us might be swept up in the legal system. From bad IDs to people telling lies, Justin provides the main reasons that people are wrongfully convicted and he offers detailed accounts of the cases he has worked on. Main topics: bad lawyering, differences in police work in the city vs. the country, you come home & find your partner dead, false confessions, junk science, Shaken Baby Syndrome, you have or care for a sick child, the jury is blinded by junk science, bad information from informants, and you are poor and/or a person of color. Additional topics: bite mark evidence, bad crime scene preservation, Relative Opinion Process, Cross-Racial Identifications, problems with Police line-ups, DNA testing & database, the Reid Technique, the CSI Effect, the McMartin Pre-School case and the Brian Banks case.

Professor Justin Brooks directs the LLM Program in Comparative Law in Spanish at the USD School of Law. As the program director, he administers a national moot court program in Mexico, and coordinates the work of 35 innocence organizations in Latin America.