2025 Fall New Attorney Program

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc.

Friday, September 26, 2025
8:00 am to 12:30 pm (MT)

Boise Centre East

195 S. Capitol Blvd., Boise

*In-Person Attendance Only* 

4.0 CLE credits of which 1.0 is Ethics – NAC Approved

Registration Fee: 

Standard Registration   $120.00

Day of Registration        $150.00

The New Attorney Program consists of an introduction on Idaho practice, procedure, and ethics. This course meets the CLE requirements of Idaho State Bar Commission Rule 402(f)(3).  Participants must be admitted and sworn into the Idaho State Bar for this course to count toward the New Admittee CLE requirement. If a participant will not be sworn in on or by September 26, 2025, they will have to wait until May 2026 to take this course. * 

Agenda

8:00 am      Lawyering Skills        

9:30 am      Break

9:45 am      Federal & State Judiciary Panel 

11:15 am    Break

11:30 am    Idaho Lawyer Assistance Program

12:00 pm    Idaho State Bar & Idaho Law Foundation Potpourri

12:30 pm    Program Concludes

2025 Spring New Attorney Program

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc.

Friday, May 2, 2025
8:00 am to 12:30 pm (MDT)

Hyatt Place Boise/Downtown

1024 W. Bannock St. – Boise

*In-Person Attendance Only* 

4.0 CLE credits of which 1.0 is Ethics – NAC Approved

Registration Fee: 

Standard Registration   $120.00

Day of Registration         $150.00

The New Attorney Program consists of an introduction on Idaho practice, procedure, and ethics. This course meets the CLE requirements of Idaho State Bar Commission Rule 402(f)(3).  Participants must be admitted and sworn into the Idaho State Bar for this course to count toward the New Admittee CLE requirement. If the participant will not be sworn in on or by May 2, 2025, they will have to wait until September 29, 2025 to take this course. * 

Agenda

8:00 am      Lawyering Skills                    

9:30 am      Break

9:45 am      Federal & State Judiciary Panel 

11:15 am    Break

11:30 am    Idaho Lawyer Assistance Program

12:00 pm    Idaho State Bar & Idaho Law Foundation Potpourri

12:30 pm    Program Concludes

*The next course will be held on Friday, September 29, 2025, in person in Boise.

Co-Counsel Ethics in Civil Litigation

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

August 1, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Course Description: TBD

Communicating to Opposing Counsel & the Courts: Professionalism and Ethics

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc.

April 29, 2025

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Course Description: TBD

Drafting Waivers of Conflicts of Interests

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

July 22, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

A bedrock principle of lawyer ethics is that lawyers owe their clients loyalty, free of conflicts of interest – unless those conflicts are explicitly waived by a client in writing.  Clients are entitled to zealous representation without the lawyer being conflicted by other representations.  When a conflict arises, the lawyer is required to decline the representation causing the conflict or withdraw from an ongoing matter – unless the conflict is explicitly waived by the client.  But waivers are not always easily accomplished.  They must be carefully drafted – particularly when it purports to be of an anticipated conflict. This program will provide you with a real-world guide to the rules governing conflict waivers, types of waivers, and how to draft them to avoid future dispute and ethical sanction.

• Drafting effective waivers of conflicts of interest
• Key provisions of waivers and ensuring there is “informed” consent
• Advance waivers – drafting waivers for anticipated conflicts
• Types of advance waivers – stating subject area, adverse parties, neither or both
• Sources of rules and practical guidance on drafting waivers
• Common mistakes made in drafting waivers
• Consequences of ineffective waivers

Ethics and Changing Law Firm Affiliation 

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc.

March 28, 2025

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

When a lawyer moves from one firm to another, it can be a fairly dramatic event.  The ethical issues for the lawyer and for his or her prior firm and new firm are substantial.  There are issues of when and how to communicate to clients and whether it’s done by the lawyer or the firm. There are issues of ongoing matters and what to do with client files.  In ongoing litigation or transactional matters, do lawyers withdraw pending a client decision about whether to move the matter to the lawyer’s next firm?  Is withdrawal even permitted?  There are also issues of conflicts of interest and how they are managed – for the lawyer who is changing law firm affiliation and for the firms involved. This program will provide you with a practical guide to ethical issues when lawyers change law firm affiliation.

• Ethical issues when lawyers change law firm affiliation
• Propriety and timing of communications with the departing lawyer’s clients – by the lawyer or the firm?
• Ownership and transfer of client files among law firms
• Ongoing litigation or transactional matters – is withdrawal permissible?
• Diligence for the new firm– conflicts, confidentiality, and screening
• Issues when a solo practitioner joins a multi-lawyer firm

Ethics of Beginning and Ending Client Relationships

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

February 28, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Substantial ethics issues flow from the moment an attorney-client relationship is formed, whether it is formed intentionally or through inadvertence.  Determining when a relationship commences and the scope of the representation has dramatic implications for issues related to confidentiality, conflicts of interest, the attorney-client privilege and more. Ending an engagement is nearly as complicated. When are you allowed to end an engagement?  And how must you go about it without prejudicing a client’s interest in a transaction or in litigation? This program will you provide a real-world guide the ethical issues of beginning and ending an attorney client relationship.

• Determining when and how a relationship starts – including through inadvertence
• Email and technology issues – how unsolicited communications may trigger ethical obligations
• Joint representation issues – unsorting the confidentiality and privilege issues
• End a relationship – when are you allowed to end an engagement?  How do you do it ethically?
• Circumstances when you might be required to end a relationship

How Ethics Rules Apply to Lawyers Outside of Law Practice

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

October 15, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Ethics rules are intended primarily to regulate lawyer acts when practicing law. But the rules do not always stop there. Lawyers can be held responsible and disciplined under ethics rules for things they do when acting outside of their practices. Lawyers may be disciplined under ethics rules for criminal conduct, including misdemeanors, entirely unrelated to their lawyerly conduct. They may be also be disciplined for any acts that involve dishonesty, misrepresentation, or any actions prejudicial to the judicial system. This program will provide you with a guide to circumstances in which ethics rules apply to lawyers when they act outside of law practice.

• Dishonesty and misrepresentation when a lawyer is acting as a non-lawyer
• Lawyers as business people – how counter-parties can allege ethical misconduct
• Self-representation – when lawyers represent themselves in litigation, who can they communicate with?
• Violations of law, including misdemeanors, as ethics violations
• Restrictions on lawyers’ ability to market themselves in non-lawyer roles

Internet Ethics: Navigating Lawyer Responsibilities Online

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

September 4, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

The Internet is the uniform information appliance for communications, research, and marketing, for consumers and for lawyers.  You can easily research witnesses, parties, judges, and jurors with a simple Google search.  Add in social media searches – blogs, Facebook, Twitter and many other platforms – and you can develop a rich demographic profile of all of these individuals.  With a few keystrokes, you can pull down more information than ever before. You can also communicate freely, unmediated and unrestricted, with virtually anyone. All of these functions are valuable in litigation and transactional practice but also give rise to substantial ethics issues – not everything that the Web enables is proper. This program will provide you with a real world guide to ethics issues when lawyer engage in research and communication using the Internet. 

• Communicating with parties, opposing attorneys, and witnesses via email, social media, and texting
• Researching jurors, parties, witnesses and judges via social media
• Blogging or sending newsletters/law updates to clients
• Trends in texting, confidentiality, and discoverability
• Law firm marketing via the web

Lawyer Ethics When Clients Won't Pay Your Fees

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc.

April 3, 2025

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Attorneys and clients are in a confidential relationship, one that demands the lawyer’s absolute loyalty and zealous representation of client interests.  But what if the client refuses to pay his or her lawyer?  At that point, the broad and categorical demands of the ethics rules run up against the practical business of running a law practice. This clash of interests raises a range of substantial ethical issues.  How can the lawyer compel payment yet continuing representing a client?  Must he or she withdraw from the representation?  Can the lawyer sue the client or place a lien on client property?  Is the lawyer allowed to breach certain confidences in obtaining payment? This program will provide you with a guide to the ethical issues that arise when a client refuses to pay for a lawyer’s legal services, practical methods to ethically obtain payment, and best practices to avoid these disputes.

• Ethics when clients refuse to pay their lawyers’ fees
• How to manage the direct conflict with a client without breaching confidences
• Determining whether continuing a representation is permissible or required
• When and how a withdrawal from a representation is permitted in the cases of non-payment of fees
• Ethical issues when a lawyer places a lien on client property or sues the client
• Issues when no-payment relates to one of multiple representations of a client
• Understanding related attorney-client privilege issues
• Best practices in engagement letters and billing practices to protect lawyers

Lawyers Supervising Lawyers: Navigating Ethical Responsibilities

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

July 31, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Lawyers are not only responsible for their own ethical conduct and decision making but also for the ethical practice of lawyers they supervise.  Whether it’s a partner supervising the work of an associate or the lead lawyer on a case supervising a group of partners and associates, the supervising lawyer has responsibilities to ensure that the lawyers he or she is supervising are ethically compliant. When subordinate lawyers violate ethics rules, supervising lawyers are potentially liable for that misconduct. This program will provide you with a guide to ethical issues when lawyers supervise other lawyers and non-lawyer support staff.

• Standards for ensuring compliance by subordinate attorneys and potential liability when they act improperly
• Lawyer supervision of paralegals and other non-lawyer staff
• Responsibilities of subordinate lawyers who rely on judgment of supervising lawyers
• Special issues involved in billing the work of subordinate and co-counsel attorneys, and paralegals
• In-house counsel of outside counsel

Professional and Ethical Considerations of Using AI in Your Law Practice – Version 2.0

Sponsored by the Idaho State Bar Professionalism and Ethics Section

Tuesday, March 4, 2025

9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. (MT)

2.5 Ethics credits

The Law Center

525 W. Jefferson – Boise

*Live Webcast Available

Cost:

$100.00 – General Registration

$50.00 – Members of the Professionalism and Ethics Section

No Cost – Law Students

Take Advantage of Membership Benefits Now: Join the Professionalism and Ethics Section for only $40.

Membership benefits include free CLEs and members-only pricing for our annual CLEs and our popular Ethical Happy Hours.

Join the Idaho State Bar Professionalism and Ethics Section for their second and more in-depth  course on generative AI and its ethical implications for attorneys when considering the use of artificial intelligence or AI in their practice.  The CLE will feature two panel discussions with academics and practitioners who are on the cutting edge of this exciting, yet challenging update in technology. 

Agenda

8:30 a.m.    Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00 a.m.    Welcome and Introductions

9:15 a.m.    Ethical and Regulatory Considerations of AI in Legal Practice 

                    Panelists:

                    Bradlee R.  Frazer, Hawley Troxell Ennis & Hawley, LLP
                    Bryan A. Nickels, Idaho Office of Administrative Hearings
                    Jessica R. Gunder, University of Idaho College of Law
 

                    Moderator:

                    Jane C. Gordon, Jane Gordon Law

10:30 a.m.  Break

10:45 a.m.  Practical Applications and Risk Management of AI in Legal Practice

                    Panelists:

                    Cheyenne M. House, J.R. Simplot Company
                    Lindsay Lockwood, J.R. Simplot Company

                    Jackie A. Presnell, Lululemon USA Inc
                    Kirsten L. Hahn, Elam & Burke

                    Moderator:

                    Stephen S. Herring, J.R. Simplot Company

12:00 p.m.  CLE concludes

12:00 p.m.  Hosted Lunch

Shared Spaces: Ethics of Remote and Virtual Offices

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc.

May 30, 2025

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Technology allows lawyers far more flexibility to practice law than ever before.  Lawyers can work in shared offices, splitting expenses with other small firms or solo practitioners. They can work remotely, from home or virtually anywhere, with basic computer and networking technology. But all these innovations come with ethics traps. These include issues of communications and confidentiality, supervising outsourced worked, multijurisdictional practice, and managing all the technology used to practice law from home.  This program will provide you with a practical guide to ethical issues when working from home or anywhere but a traditional office.

• Disclosure to clients of virtual nature of law office
• Duty of competence as a duty to understand technology
• Electronic communications, confidentiality, and ethical risks in virtual law offices
• How Web sites and a “virtual” presence implicate multijurisdictional practice issues
• Outsourcing work to paralegal services, including fee sharing issues

Texting While Practicing Law: Ethical Risk

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

June 27, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Text messaging has become a mainstream form of communication.  Clients now routinely text their lawyers about pending matters.  They may ask about the status of a case, provide facts about a case, communicate decisions to a lawyer, or message other sensitive information.  These messages are often to a lawyer’s mobile phone that is used extensively for personal purposes, unsecured in their transmissions, and easily accessible by third parties. This new wave of lawyer-client communication raises many difficult ethical questions, including preservation of the attorney-client privilege.   This program will provide you with a guide to the major ethics issues when lawyers and their clients text message about pending matters.

• Confidentiality issues involving unsecured transmission of texts involving sensitive case issues
• How to handle mobile phones used for both personal purposes and law practice
• Potential loss of the attorney-client privilege when text messages are accessible by third parties
• Tension among the duties of competence, prudence and to communicate with clients
• Understanding the ethical risks and counseling clients about the risks to their case when texting

The Privilege: Exactly What Communications Between Attorney and Client are Protected?

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

November 19, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Course Description: TBD

The Unauthorized Practice of Law: New Frontiers

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc.

March 18, 2025

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Course Description: TBD

When Lawyers Make Mistakes: Ethical & Disciplinary Issues

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc.

May 20, 2025

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Course Description: TBD

When the Law or Facts Are Against You: Ethical Considerations for Lawyers

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

February 26, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Every lawyer wrestles with how to handle facts or law that is unfavorable to a client. There is a natural tension between a lawyer’s duty to be honest, on the one hand, and the lawyer’s duty to provide zealous representation of a client.  In some instances, bad facts or bad law must be disclosed.  In other instances, disclosure is not required. How this tension is resolved involves substantial ethical issues.  This program will discuss the ethics issues involved and how they may be resolved in a practical setting. Ethical issues surrounding the representation of adverse facts to tribunals and adversaries

• Disclosure of adverse legal precedents
• Required discloses of bad facts or law
• Timing issues – when must the disclosure occur?
• Related issues of confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege
• Ex parte communications with the courts – what’s ethically permissible, what’s not?

2025 Civil Litigation Ethics: Navigating New Challenges, Part 1

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

October 8, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

*Please Note: If you received credit for this course for June 10, 2025 you will not be able to receive credit for attending this replay.  This replay will count as live CLE credit.

This annual ethics update will cover a wide range of ethical developments important to your civil litigation practice.  The program will provide detailed coverage of developments in conflicts of interest in litigation, confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege, and drafting and negotiating settlement agreements.  The program will feature its annual tour of the waterfront of technology issues in litigation practice.  Please join for this annual program which will provide you with a lively discussion of ethical developments important to civil litigation practice. 

Day 1:

• Ethics and technology in law practice review
• Ethics and settlement agreements
• Recent developments in conflicts of interest, part 1

Day 2:

• Ethics, evidence and witnesses
• Developments in confidentiality and preserving the attorney-client privilege
• Recent developments in conflicts of interest, part 2

2025 Civil Litigation Ethics: Navigating New Challenges, Part 2

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

October 9, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

*Please Note: If you received credit for this course for June 11, 2025 you will not be able to receive credit for attending this replay.  This replay will count as live CLE credit.

2025 Civil Litigation Ethics: Navigating New Challenges, Part 1

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

October 8, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

*Please Note: If you received credit for this course for June 10, 2025 you will not be able to receive credit for attending this replay.  This replay will count as live CLE credit.

This annual ethics update will cover a wide range of ethical developments important to your civil litigation practice.  The program will provide detailed coverage of developments in conflicts of interest in litigation, confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege, and drafting and negotiating settlement agreements.  The program will feature its annual tour of the waterfront of technology issues in litigation practice.  Please join for this annual program which will provide you with a lively discussion of ethical developments important to civil litigation practice. 

Day 1:

• Ethics and technology in law practice review
• Ethics and settlement agreements
• Recent developments in conflicts of interest, part 1

Day 2:

• Ethics, evidence and witnesses
• Developments in confidentiality and preserving the attorney-client privilege
• Recent developments in conflicts of interest, part 2

2025 Ethics Update: Navigating New Challenges, Part 1

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

June 19, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

*Please Note: If you received credit for this course for February 11, 2025 you will not be able to receive credit for attending this replay.  This replay will count as live CLE credit.

This annual ethics program will provide you with a round-table discussion of practical ethical issues important to your practice. The program will provide you with an engaging discussion of ethics developments involving technology and law practice, conflicts of interest, and attorney-client communications in a digital world where no one is truly unplugged. The panel will also discuss the ethics of withdrawing from a matter and firing a client and the ethics of developing new business.  This program will provide you with a wide-ranging discussion of practical ethics developments important to your practice.

Day 1:

• Ethics and artificial intelligence
• Ethics and witness prep
• Emerging issues in conflicts of interest, part 1

Day 2:

• Office sharing and imputed dq issues
• Protection for data
• Emerging issues in conflicts of interest, part 2

2025 Ethics Update: Navigating New Challenges, Part 2

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

June 20, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

*Please Note: If you received credit for this course for February 12, 2025 you will not be able to receive credit for attending this replay.  This replay will count as live CLE credit.

This annual ethics program will provide you with a round-table discussion of practical ethical issues important to your practice. The program will provide you with an engaging discussion of ethics developments involving technology and law practice, conflicts of interest, and attorney-client communications in a digital world where no one is truly unplugged. The panel will also discuss the ethics of withdrawing from a matter and firing a client and the ethics of developing new business.  This program will provide you with a wide-ranging discussion of practical ethics developments important to your practice.

Day 1:

• Ethics and artificial intelligence
• Ethics and witness prep
• Emerging issues in conflicts of interest, part 1

Day 2:

• Office sharing and imputed dq issues
• Protection for data
• Emerging issues in conflicts of interest, part 2

Ethics for Business Lawyers

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

February 25, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

*Please Note: If you received credit for this course for September 12, 2024 you will not be able to receive credit for attending this replay.  This replay will count as live CLE credit.

Lawyers advising businesses on transactions or negotiating on their behalf often confront a range of important ethical questions.  The biggest is, who is your client?  Often a company’s owners or managers will not understand the distinction between representing them and representing the company? There are also issues of identifying and clearing conflicts among clients when they are negotiating transaction.  And what can a lawyer say or do when negotiating for a client? Also, lawyers are sometimes confronted with issues about what to do when clients are dishonest.  This program will provide you with a real world guide to ethical issues when representing clients in business transactions. 

• Ethical issues in business and corporate practice
• Identifying your client in a variety of transactional contexts – the company v. its managers?
• Conflicts of interest in representing both sides of a transaction
• Ethical issues in transactional negotiations and communications with represented parties
• Representing clients you know to be dishonest and reporting wrong-doing “up and out”

Ethics in Discovery Practice

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc.

April 7, 2025

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

*Please Note: If you received credit for this course for November 1, 2024 you will not be able to receive credit for attending this replay.  This replay will count as live CLE credit.

Discovery can be the most important phase of litigation, directing the course and outcome of the case.  How evidence is discovered, how it is used, and how mistakes in its handling are disclosed and remedied all raise very significant ethical issues. These issues – the risk of mishandling – are increased by the vast growth of ESI, electronically stored information. Litigators have certain obligations that their vendors comply with ethics rules. There are also issues surrounding the use of paralegals in discovery practice.  Failure to ensure ethics compliance during discovery can have a material adverse impact on the underlying litigation and draw an ethics complaint.  This program will provide you with a real-world guide to substantial issues ethical issues that arise in discovery practice and how to avoid ethics complaints. 

• Duty of candor to the tribunal during discovery
• Ethical issues when you learn that a client is dishonest
• Inadvertent disclosure privileged documents and their handling
• Ethics in depositions – conferring with witnesses, using video depositions and more
• Ethical issues in widespread data mining of discovery documents
• Issues involving metadata in electronic files – documents, email, text messages
• Attorney-client privilege and security issues of working with outside e-discovery vendors
• Ethics and social media discovery

Ethics of Beginning and Ending Client Relationships

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc.

May 28, 2025

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

*Please Note: If you received credit for this course for February 28, 2025 you will not be able to receive credit for attending this replay.  This replay will count as live CLE credit.

Substantial ethics issues flow from the moment an attorney-client relationship is formed, whether it is formed intentionally or through inadvertence.  Determining when a relationship commences and the scope of the representation has dramatic implications for issues related to confidentiality, conflicts of interest, the attorney-client privilege and more. Ending an engagement is nearly as complicated. When are you allowed to end an engagement?  And how must you go about it without prejudicing a client’s interest in a transaction or in litigation? This program will you provide a real-world guide the ethical issues of beginning and ending an attorney client relationship.

• Determining when and how a relationship starts – including through inadvertence
• Email and technology issues – how unsolicited communications may trigger ethical obligations
• Joint representation issues – unsorting the confidentiality and privilege issues
• End a relationship – when are you allowed to end an engagement?  How do you do it ethically?
• Circumstances when you might be required to end a relationship

Evidentiary Issues with Text and "Chat" Messages

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc.

April 28, 2025

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 CLE credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

*Please Note: If you received credit for this course for May 9, 2024 you will not be able to receive credit for attending this replay.  This replay will count as live CLE credit.

Text messaging is mainstream. Clients generate virtual reams of data when they message with business partners, vendors, employees, and even public. This is a rich vein of electronically stored information that is potentially discoverable in formal litigation or pre-litigation.  Because texting is so convenient, casual and almost reflexive, the caution clients exercise in other forms of communication are often disregarded when texting, including when they text with their lawyers. This program will provide you with a practical guide to obtaining text messages, the risks of discovery in litigation, and related issues.

• Obtaining text messages – working with mobile carriers
• Timing – how long are texts kept and in what form?
• Discovery issues – obtaining texts from parties or other sources
• Issues related to encrypted messaging services
• How strategies differ for plaintiffs and defendants

Lawyer Ethics and Email

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc.

May 9, 2025

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

*Please Note: If you received credit for this course for May 22, 2024, December 31, 2024, or February 26, 2025 you will not be able to receive credit for attending this replay.  This replay will count as live CLE credit.

Email has become essential to law practice.  Communications with clients and colleagues is practically impossible – and absolutely inefficient – without email.  But the ubiquity of email may obscure many important ethical issues that arise when it is used in law practice, including issues related to confidentiality, metadata, and the attorney-client privilege. These and other substantial ethical questions will be discussed in this practical guide to the ethical issues when lawyers use email in their practices.

• Beginning an attorney relationship via email – intentionally and inadvertently
• Security and confidentiality when email is exchanged in the Cloud
• Inadvertently sent email and metadata embedded in email
• Discarding/deleting email and working with outside vendors
• Ex parte communications with represented adversaries
• Attorney-client privilege issues

Lawyer Ethics and Email

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

February 27, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

*Please Note: If you received credit for this course for May 22, 2024 or December 31, 2024 you will not be able to receive credit for attending this replay.  This replay will count as live CLE credit.

Email has become essential to law practice.  Communications with clients and colleagues is practically impossible – and absolutely inefficient – without email.  But the ubiquity of email may obscure many important ethical issues that arise when it is used in law practice, including issues related to confidentiality, metadata, and the attorney-client privilege. These and other substantial ethical questions will be discussed in this practical guide to the ethical issues when lawyers use email in their practices.

• Beginning an attorney relationship via email – intentionally and inadvertently
• Security and confidentiality when email is exchanged in the Cloud
• Inadvertently sent email and metadata embedded in email
• Discarding/deleting email and working with outside vendors
• Ex parte communications with represented adversaries
• Attorney-client privilege issues

Lawyers Supervising Lawyers: Navigating Ethical Responsibilities

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

November 12, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

*Please Note: If you received credit for this course for July 31, 2025 you will not be able to receive credit for attending this replay.  This replay will count as live CLE credit.

Lawyers are not only responsible for their own ethical conduct and decision making but also for the ethical practice of lawyers they supervise.  Whether it’s a partner supervising the work of an associate or the lead lawyer on a case supervising a group of partners and associates, the supervising lawyer has responsibilities to ensure that the lawyers he or she is supervising are ethically compliant. When subordinate lawyers violate ethics rules, supervising lawyers are potentially liable for that misconduct. This program will provide you with a guide to ethical issues when lawyers supervise other lawyers and non-lawyer support staff.

• Standards for ensuring compliance by subordinate attorneys and potential liability when they act improperly
• Lawyer supervision of paralegals and other non-lawyer staff
• Responsibilities of subordinate lawyers who rely on judgment of supervising lawyers
• Special issues involved in billing the work of subordinate and co-counsel attorneys, and paralegals
• In-house counsel of outside counsel

Shared Spaces: Ethics of Remote and Virtual Law Offices

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

October 2, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

*Please Note: If you received credit for this course for May 30, 2025 you will not be able to receive credit for attending this replay.  This replay will count as live CLE credit.

Technology allows lawyers far more flexibility to practice law than ever before.  Lawyers can work in shared offices, splitting expenses with other small firms or solo practitioners. They can work remotely, from home or virtually anywhere, with basic computer and networking technology. But all these innovations come with ethics traps. These include issues of communications and confidentiality, supervising outsourced worked, multijurisdictional practice, and managing all the technology used to practice law from home.  This program will provide you with a practical guide to ethical issues when working from home or anywhere but a traditional office.

• Disclosure to clients of virtual nature of law office
• Duty of competence as a duty to understand technology
• Electronic communications, confidentiality, and ethical risks in virtual law offices
• How Web sites and a “virtual” presence implicate multijurisdictional practice issues
• Outsourcing work to paralegal services, including fee sharing issues

Small Firm Ethics: Tech, Paralegals, and Remote Practice Challenges

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Freestone and WebCredenza, Inc. 

August 7, 2025

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Stream Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

*Please Note: If you received credit for this course for June 30, 2025 you will not be able to receive credit for attending this replay.  This replay will count as live CLE credit.

Solo and small firm practitioners wear many hats. They practice law but also run the office and manage all of its information technology – file storage, email, and Web sites.  They may supervise paralegals or contract attorneys. They also need to be attentive to developing new clients. Each of these and other roles comes with ethical issues and traps.  Email, file storage, and law firm web sites implicate issues of competence, confidentiality, and potentially the attorney-client privilege.  Supervising paralegals or junior attorneys implicates supervisory ethics and conflicts of interest.  Client development also implicates a range of ethics issues.  It’s a lot to manage for a firm of any size, but particularly for smaller firms.This program will provide you with a practical guide to major ethics issues for solo and small firm practitioners.

• Ethical issues for small law firms and solo practitioners
• Technology – storing client files in “the Cloud,” email traps, and remote networks
• Pooled Resources – shared office/meeting space, shared support staff, shared technology
• Client Development – web sites and lawyer biographies, email/newsletters, social media, advertising and more
• Paralegals – training and billing, confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege
• Co-Counsel – ethical responsibilities when practicing with other lawyers