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

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

When Lawyers Make Mistakes: Ethical & Disciplinary Issues

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

June 3, 2025

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Even the most diligent attorneys are not immune to mistakes—but how you respond can make all the difference. This engaging and practical program explores the ethical and disciplinary challenges lawyers face when mistakes happen and provides actionable strategies to navigate them effectively. Gain valuable insights into your professional responsibilities, mitigate risks, and protect your reputation. Don't miss this opportunity to strengthen your understanding of legal ethics and safeguard your practice.

Program Highlights

• Explore real-world examples of common lawyer errors and their ethical implications.
• Learn how to address mistakes in compliance with professional responsibility rules.
• Understand the disciplinary process and how to proactively mitigate sanctions.
• Gain practical tools to manage client relationships and maintain trust in challenging situations.

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

A March Through Idaho’s Most Famous Appeals

Idaho Legal History CLE Series
Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

2:45 – 3:45 pm (MT)

1.0 CLE Credits - NAC approved

Live Webcast and In-Person Registration Available

Registration Fee:  $75

Law Students: $15

With every sensational trial, there is usually an appeal.  Learn about some of Idaho’s most well-known appeals with judicial and political significance from Idaho’s appeals courts as well as the federal courts.

These cases will be presented by the Hon. Jessica M. Lorello of the Idaho Court of Appeals and Kolby K. Reddish of the Idaho Division of Occupational & Professional Licenses. Both are interested in legal history, civics education, and the legacy of the judiciary.

If you are not a member of the Idaho State Bar, please use “0000” when asked for your Idaho State Bar number. To register for both CLE's for $100, use the Idaho Legals History CLE bundle.

**In-Person Attendance - If you would like to attend this CLE in-person, please use the Anniversary Events and Gala - July 16, 2025 Form. Please also use this form to register for in-person attendance for any of the receptions or luncheons, as these events will not be available via webcast.

Crimes of the Last Century: Idaho’s Most Famous Trials

Idaho Legal History CLE Series
Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

1:30 – 2:30 pm (MT)

1.0 CLE Credits - NAC approved

Live Webcast and In-Person Registration Available

Registration Fee:  $75

Law Students: $15

Idaho was in the forefront of some of the most sensational trials in the 1900s.  Perhaps the most famous was known nationally as the “Trial of the Century” when the leaders of the powerful Western Federation of Miners labor union, William “Big Bill” Haywood, George Pettibone, and Charles Moyer stood accused of hiring Harry Orchard to assassinate former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg outside his Caldwell home by detonating a bomb attached to his gate.

Also of notoriety is the trial of Diamondfield Jack Davis a famed gunman for cattlemen, who was convicted of murdering two sheepherders and was sentenced to be hanged, even after others confessed to the murders.

These cases and others will be presented by the Chair of the Idaho Legal History Section, Christopher P. Graham of Brassey Crawford.

If you are not a member of the Idaho State Bar, please use “0000” when asked for your Idaho State Bar number. To register for both CLE's for $100, use the Idaho Legals History CLE bundle.

**In-Person Attendance - If you would like to attend this CLE in-person, please use the Anniversary Events and Gala - July 16, 2025 Form . Please also use this form to register for in-person attendance for any of the receptions or luncheons, as these events will not be available via webcast.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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