2023 Headline News – Boise

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc.

Friday, December 15, 2023

9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. (MT)

The Riverside Hotel

2900 W. Chinden Blvd. – Garden City

6.0 CLE credits of which 1.0 is Ethics – NAC Approved

*Live Webcast Available

Registration:
Standard: $195
Day of Event: $210

Join the Idaho Law Foundation for 2023 Headline News!  Brush up on a vast array of areas of law from some of Idaho’s best and brightest attorneys.

Program Agenda

9:00 a.m.                Civil Law Update

                             Kevin A. Griffiths, Scanlan Griffiths & Aldridge

10:00 a.m.              Family Law Update

                             Jennifer M. Schindele, Idaho Volunteer Lawyers Program

11:00 a.m.              Morning Break

11:15 a.m.               Criminal Law Update

                             Jacob L. Westerfield, Idaho State Appellate Public Defender’s Office

12:15 p.m.               Hosted Lunch

1:00 p.m.                Conservator/Guardianship and Medical Directives Update

                             Robert L. Aldridge, Robert L. Aldridge, Chtd.

2:00 p.m.                Employment Law Update

                             Benjamin T. Cramer, Idaho Employment Lawyers

3:00 p.m.                Ethics Update

                             James K. Dickinson, Ada County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office

4:00 p.m.                Program Adjourn

2023 Headline News – Coeur d’Alene

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc.

Friday, December 1, 2023

8:00 a.m. –  2:15 p.m. (PT)

Hampton Inn & Suites

1500 W. Riverstone Dr. – Coeur d’Alene

5.0 CLE credits of which 1.0 is Ethics – NAC Approved

In Person Only

Registration:
Standard: $165
Day of Event: $195

Join the Idaho Law Foundation for 2023 Headline News!  Brush up on a vast array of areas of law from some of Idaho’s best and brightest attorneys.

Program Agenda

8:00 a.m.      Criminal Law Update

                     Jenny C. Swinford, Idaho State Appellate Public Defender’s Office

9:00 a.m.      Ethics Update

                     Michael T. Howard, Winston & Cashatt Lawyers, PS       

10:00 a.m.    Morning Break

10:15 a.m.    Civil Law Update

                     April M. Linscott, Owens, McCrea & Linscott, PLLC

11:15 a.m.    Hosted Lunch

12:15 p.m.    Family Law Update

                     Matthew A. Rakes, Rakes Mediation & Family Law, PLLC

1:15 p.m.      Health Law Update

                     Caitlin E. O’Brien, Smith + Malek, PLLC                    

2:15 p.m.       Program Adjourns

2023 Headline News – Pocatello

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation, Inc.

Friday, December 8, 2023

8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. (MT)

Idaho State University Rendezvous Building

1065 Cesar Chavez - Pocatello

6.0 CLE credits of which 1.0 is Ethics – NAC Approved

In Person Only

Registration:
Standard: $195
Day of Event: $210

Join the Idaho Law Foundation for 2023 Headline News!  Brush up on a vast array of areas of law from some of Idaho’s best and brightest attorneys.

Program Agenda

8:00 a.m.                Criminal Law Update

                             Jacob L. Westerfield, Idaho State Appellate Public Defender’s Office

9:00 a.m.                Tax Law and Estate Planning Update

                             Dave Bagley II, Racine Olson, PLLP

10:00 a.m.              Morning Break

10:15 a.m.               Commercial Law Update

                             James A. Spinner, Spinner, Wood & Smith

11:15 a.m.               Ethics Update

                             Gary L. Cooper, Cooper & Larsen

12:15 p.m.              Hosted Lunch

1:00 p.m.                Civil Law Update

                             J.D. Oborn, Cooper & Larsen

2:00 p.m.                Family Law Update 

                             Jake Workman, Idaho Legal Aid Services

3:00 p.m.                Program Adjourns

Ethical Issues for Small Law Firms: Technology, Paralegals, Remote Practice & More

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

*Please note if you took this course on March 20, 2023, you cannot receive credit for taking this course*

December 28, 2023

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

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

Speakers:

Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

H. Michael Drumm is the founder and member of Drumm Law, LLC in Denver, Colorado, where he has an extensive franchise, trademark and business transactional practice.  He works with franchisors across industries nationwide helping them draft, file and renew their franchise Disclosure Documents and franchise agreements.  He has a specialty representing craft breweries to help them trademark their brands and protect their intellectual property. He has been repeatedly honored by Franchise Times magazine as a “Legal Eagle” and has been designated by the International Franchise Association as a “Certified Franchise Executive.”  Mr. Drumm received his BSBA from the University of Missouri-Columbia and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.

Ethics and Conflicts with Clients, Part 1

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

December 21, 2023

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Despite best efforts, lawyers may develop ethical conflicts with their clients.  Sometimes these conflicts may initially seem like positive developments. The lawyer may seek to buy into a client’s business enterprise or participate in a transaction, be offered a gift by a client, or even develop a romantic relationship with a client.  But these and many others come with substantial ethical issues.  Sometimes these conflicts may be more immediately problematic, as when a lawyer leaves a law firm and wants to take his or her clients to the new firm, or when a client refuses to pay legal fees, or worse, as when the lawyer has a duty to disclose certain acts of his or her own malpractice.  This program will provide you with a real world guide to lawyer conflicts with their clients and how to avoid or resolve them.

Day 1:

• Gifts – can lawyers accept from clients?
• Business – can lawyers go into business with a client?
• Departure – can lawyers take their clients to a firm?
• Former clients – what duties does a lawyer have?

Day 2:

• Dishonest clients – what must you do?
• Lawyers as witnesses – how do you handle the conflict and privilege issues?
• Clients with diminished capacity – from whom do you take instructions?  What are the other issues?
• Settlements – what if a client’s tactics are improper?
• Malpractice – do you have a duty to disclose?

Ethics and Conflicts with Clients, Part 2

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

December 22, 2023

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Despite best efforts, lawyers may develop ethical conflicts with their clients.  Sometimes these conflicts may initially seem like positive developments. The lawyer may seek to buy into a client’s business enterprise or participate in a transaction, be offered a gift by a client, or even develop a romantic relationship with a client.  But these and many others come with substantial ethical issues.  Sometimes these conflicts may be more immediately problematic, as when a lawyer leaves a law firm and wants to take his or her clients to the new firm, or when a client refuses to pay legal fees, or worse, as when the lawyer has a duty to disclose certain acts of his or her own malpractice.  This program will provide you with a real world guide to lawyer conflicts with their clients and how to avoid or resolve them.

Day 1:

• Gifts – can lawyers accept from clients?
• Business – can lawyers go into business with a client?
• Departure – can lawyers take their clients to a firm?
• Former clients – what duties does a lawyer have?

Day 2:

• Dishonest clients – what must you do?
• Lawyers as witnesses – how do you handle the conflict and privilege issues?
• Clients with diminished capacity – from whom do you take instructions?  What are the other issues?
• Settlements – what if a client’s tactics are improper?
• Malpractice – do you have a duty to disclose?

Ethics of Joint Representations: Keeping Secrets & Telling Tales

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

November 30, 2023

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Representing two or more clients in a business or commercial transaction is full of potential ethical traps.  It’s essential that clients understand the potential for conflicts of interest, how confidential information is shared among the joint clients, how negotiating strategies may be altered because of the joint representation, and the real risk to the transaction if clients eventually develop unresolvable disputes among themselves. Counseling clients about information flows and obtaining a written waiver of conflicts from all clients are essential first steps but not the end of the process. This program will provide you with a real-world guide to representing two or more clients in a business or commercial transaction.

• Understanding information flows and potential conflicts of interest
• Counseling clients about sharing of confidential information – and its implications
• Negotiation ethics when representing multiple clients
• Drafting conflict of interest waivers
• Attorney-client privilege issues involved in joint representations
• What to do when jointly represented clients disagree

Handling Your First or Next Adoption Case

Sponsored by the Idaho Law Foundation

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. (MT)

The Law Center
525 W. Jefferson St. – Boise

*Live Webcast Available

 2.0 CLE credits - NAC (pending) 

Registration Cost: 

Standard Registration:              $75.00

Day of Registration:                   $85.00

Law Student/General Public:    $20.00

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.

Please join Bart D. Browning of Johnson May, as he discusses the different types of adoption. This seminar will focus on such topics as: The Process of Adoption; Termination of Parental Rights; Filing the Adoption Petition; Working with Birth Parents; Financial Resources and Insurance Coverages; Interstate Compact on Placement on Children; and Indian Child Welfare Act and Adoptions.

 2023 Ethics in Civil Litigation Update, Part 1

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

December 13, 2023

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Course Description: TBD

 2023 Ethics in Civil Litigation Update, Part 2

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

December 14, 2023

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Course Description: TBD

2023 Ethics Update, Part 1

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

*Please note if you took this course on February 8, 2023, you cannot receive credit for taking this course*

December 26, 2023

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

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 technology: A Potpourri
• Ethics, competence, and AI: What are competence and the unauthorized practice of law in a specialized world?
• Emerging issues in conflicts of interest, part 1

Day 2:

• Ethics of firing a client
• Ethics and client development
• Emerging issues in conflicts of interest, part 2

Speakers:

Lucian T. Pera is a partner in the Memphis office of Adams & Reese, LLP.  His practice includes professional malpractice litigation as well as counseling lawyers and law firms in the area of ethics and professional responsibility.  He was a member of the ABA’s Ethics 2000 Commission and is co-author of "Ethics and Lawyering Today," a national e-mail newsletter on lawyer ethics, which is accessible at: www.ethicsandlawyering.com.  Before entering private practice, he served as a judicial clerk to Judge Harry W. Wellford of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  Mr. Pera received his A.B. with honors from Princeton University and his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law.

William Freivogel is the principal of Freivogel Ethics Consulting and is an independent consultant to law firms on ethics and risk management.  He was a trial lawyer for 22 years and has practiced in the areas of legal ethics and lawyer malpractice for 20 years.  He is chair of the Editorial Board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct. and past chair of the ABA Business Law Section Committee on Professional Responsibility.  He maintains the Web site “Freivogel on Conflicts” at www.freivogelonconflicts.com.  Mr. Freivogel is a graduate of the University of Illinois (Champaign), where he received his B.S. and LL.B.

Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a broad complex commercial, business and securities litigation practice. He also has a substantial practice advising businesses on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 20 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

2023 Ethics Update, Part 2

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

*Please note if you took this course on February 9, 2023, you cannot receive credit for taking this course*

December 27, 2023

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

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 technology: A Potpourri
• Ethics, competence, and AI: What are competence and the unauthorized practice of law in a specialized world?
• Emerging issues in conflicts of interest, part 1

Day 2:

• Ethics of firing a client
• Ethics and client development
• Emerging issues in conflicts of interest, part 2

Speakers:

Lucian T. Pera is a partner in the Memphis office of Adams & Reese, LLP.  His practice includes professional malpractice litigation as well as counseling lawyers and law firms in the area of ethics and professional responsibility.  He was a member of the ABA’s Ethics 2000 Commission and is co-author of "Ethics and Lawyering Today," a national e-mail newsletter on lawyer ethics, which is accessible at: www.ethicsandlawyering.com.  Before entering private practice, he served as a judicial clerk to Judge Harry W. Wellford of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  Mr. Pera received his A.B. with honors from Princeton University and his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law.

William Freivogel is the principal of Freivogel Ethics Consulting and is an independent consultant to law firms on ethics and risk management.  He was a trial lawyer for 22 years and has practiced in the areas of legal ethics and lawyer malpractice for 20 years.  He is chair of the Editorial Board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct. and past chair of the ABA Business Law Section Committee on Professional Responsibility.  He maintains the Web site “Freivogel on Conflicts” at www.freivogelonconflicts.com.  Mr. Freivogel is a graduate of the University of Illinois (Champaign), where he received his B.S. and LL.B.

Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a broad complex commercial, business and securities litigation practice. He also has a substantial practice advising businesses on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 20 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

Ethical Issues in Contract Drafting

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

*Please note if you took this course on March 7, 2023, you cannot receive credit for taking this course*

December 29, 2023

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (MT)

*Live Audio Streaming Only

1.0 Ethics credit

Registration Fee:  $55.00

Negotiating, drafting and reviewing contracts are processes fraught with ethical issues.  Negotiations sometimes require zealous advocacy, taking maximal positions; other times, they require delicacy and balance. Reviewing and drafting complex contracts is a similar ethical minefield. If you discover that the draft of a contract contains materially incorrect assumptions about the law but which will benefit your client, do you have the duty to disclose or correct the error?  In the same way, if the contract contains faulty assumptions about material facts, must you disclose those faulty assumptions?  And how do these rules apply when drafting a contract?  This program will provide you with a real world guide to the ethics of negotiating, drafting and reviewing contracts.

• The law – when you know a counterparty has made faulty assumptions benefiting your client, must you say?
• The facts – when a counterparty makes faulty factual assumptions, must you correct?
• Ethics and rescission – are you ever ethically obligated to rescind or restate a contract?
• Ethics in negotiations – what’s the line between zealous representation and deception?