California CLE Course Catalog

Join this session as our experts outline the most prominent cases dominating 2023, how they will impact the law going forward and big cases that are likely to hit the docket soon.

Attorneys must wrangle endless amounts of resources during fact-specific litigation research, forcing them to piece together data across multiple websites and products. From finding the proper terminology to combing through a myriad of resources in disparate systems, the process can be time-consuming and inefficient. Using the correct technologies can help users minimize where they search for data and find the specific materials that address their case's topics, facts, and issues more quickly and precisely. This session will focus on empowering litigation professionals to feel confident in their research strategies and best practices for getting fast, intuitive, and actionable insights.

At every conference someone asks, “what is AI?” and “how does it apply in eDiscovery”? Our panelists have the answers, and they’ll share them with you – not by trotting out some dry academic definition but via example. By the time this session is done, you too will be able to answer those questions with confidence.

From the data of Elon Musk to the texts of Alex Jones, e-discovery has become a big story in the news. With perspectives from the worlds of law and journalism, join us as we examine the e-discovery law issues and the cases that have become major media stories, including topics such as waiver of the attorney-client privilege, preservation of potential evidence, and the varied data sources making e-discovery challenging and, at times, newsworthy. In addition, we’ll examine how e-discovery matters can end up in the news and the potential pitfalls.

Join this session as our cyber insurance experts consider the current status of cyber insurance, delve into the process and the due diligence required before adopting a policy, and offer insights into the challenges you can face with your policy downstream.

In the latest installment of this popular series, Zach McGee presents Part One of “The Dirty Dozen” – the 12 most unethical lawyers in the history of lawyering in the United States. The stories of the illegal and unethical conduct of these lawyers are cautionary tales for any lawyer who values his or her law license. Rules covered include: ABA Model Rules 4.1 & 8.4; California Business & Professions Code ? 6102.

In the latest installment of this popular series, Zach McGee discusses the legal ethics issues that arise when someone other than the plaintiff is funding a lawsuit, which often goes by the name “alternative litigation finance” or ALF. Zach examines these issues in the context of the two most famous ALF lawsuits that have been prosecuted to date: E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit against former President Donald Trump alleging that he sexually assaulted and defamed her, and Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against the gossip website Gawker alleging that the site invaded his privacy when it published a sex tape in which Hogan appeared. Rules covered include: ABA Model Rules 1.2, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 5.4 & 7.2; California Rules of Professional Conduct 1.2.1 & 2.1; New York Rules of Professional Conduct 1.2 & 1.8; California Business & Professions Code ? 6129.

In the latest installment of this popular series, Zach McGee examines an important question: what are your legal and ethical obligations when your client turns out to be the devil incarnate, or at the very least, a very bad and unethical person? Using the criminal fraud and conspiracy convictions of “PharmaBro” Martin Shkreli and his lawyer, Evan Greebel, as the backdrop for the discussion, Zach provides practical guidance to lawyers should they ever find themselves representing a smart, arrogant, manipulative fraudster. Rules covered include: ABA Model Rules 1.2, 1.6, 1.13, 1.16, 4.1 & 8.4

In the latest installment in the popular “Negotiation Ethics for Lawyers” series, Zach McGee examines the use of “paltering” in negotiations – the active use of truthful statements to create a false impression – to explore whether such behavior by lawyers is ethical. Paltering is a way of deceiving the other side that differs both from lying by commission – where you misstate facts – and lying by omission – where you fail to provide information. In this program, you’ll not only learn to spot when the other side in a negotiation is paltering but also to understand why paltering works so well and why people have such different views on whether it is ethical. Using a hypothetical negotiation between lawyers, Zach will review the ethics rules that apply to lawyers in negotiations and discuss whether paltering in this context is permitted by the rules. You’ll also learn some negotiation techniques that you can use when your opponent is paltering to protect yourself and your client from being deceived. Rules covered include: ABA Model Rules 4.1 & 8.4; Cal. Business & Professions Code Sec. 6068.