Pennsylvania CLE Course Catalog

Can a state secede? It is unconstitutional? The answer is not as crystal clear as you may think. In this program, Peter Afrasiabi takes you on a fun, interesting journey asking these questions: What does the Constitution say about secession? What does it implicitly say? How do the tenth and fourteenth amendments impact the analysis? What is the scope of the Supreme Court’s post-Civil War opinion on this question? By looking at these questions and some of the data about growing secession movements form California to Texas, as well as some famed legal scholars works on the question, this program gives you all the legal arguments for and against the question of the constitutionality of secession.

Implicit bias is assessed here by looking at our three major areas of IP law—copyright, patent and trademark—and discussing the required issues of implicit bias through the lens of a survey of our IP laws. In this program, intellectual property lawyer Peter Afrasiabi takes you on a fun, interesting journey asking these questions: Does copyright law and fair use as it collides with modern AI technologies require us to assess, where implicit bias in the stock of material that AI is learning on, whether fair use and copyright law need to take that into account in deciding the AI fair use questions being litigated? Do the large differentials in male to female inventor patent grant rates, and the differential in male to female patent examiners, create implicit bias in the patent system, especially where we have elastic patentability concepts on abstract ideas? Do our trademark laws’ central focus on the archetypal “consumer” create their own bias issues by not seeing the “consumer” as an actual person? These and other interesting implicit bias issues, with strategies to combat implicit bias, are addressed.

When Facebook’s parent company changed its name to “Meta,” was that the first time you heard the term “Metaverse”? What is “The Metaverse” and what legal issues does it raise as people begin to socialize, work and share experiences in this new virtual/augmented reality space? In the latest installment of this popular series, Peter Afrasiabi answers these important questions that already are creating issues of first impression in copyright, trademark, right of publicity, criminal and sex law.

We all know that CLE programs are boring and a chore to watch. But we’re breaking the rules – a CLE program that’s intentionally funny and (gasp) entertaining, yet somehow still informative. In the latest installment of this popular series, Mark Wooster, presents a humorous take on the unethical conduct of lawyers from some classic 1960's TV series. Reserve your seat today and we’ll waive the two-drink minimum! Rules covered include: ABA Model Rules 1.1, 1.9, 3.3 & 4.1.

We all know that CLE programs are boring and a chore to watch. But we’re breaking the rules – a CLE program that’s intentionally funny and (gasp) entertaining, yet somehow still informative. In the latest installment of this popular series, Mark Wooster takes on more outrageous conduct by fictional lawyers in television series, in addition to sharing his sympathies for the real-life lawyer who unwittingly starred in the infamous “I am not a cat” clip that recently went viral. Rules covered include: ABA Model Rules 1.6, 3.3, 7.1 & 8.4; Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct 1.6 & 7.1.

Experienced intellectual property litigator Peter Afrasiabi provides an overview of the key copyright, patent, trademark and trade secret questions that transactional lawyers should be asking when they perform due diligence reviews on behalf of their clients. Intellectual property assets are different from traditional assets in many critical respects, and failure to ask the right questions could lead to unpleasant surprises – and litigation – after a transaction is consummated. The course includes a checklist every transactional lawyer should be using when performing due diligence of valuable copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret assets to ensure that all the bases are covered.

Fighting lawyers, fighting witnesses (literally), threats, put downs and other improper behavior – these are just a few of the deposition disasters that have been caught on camera, including infamous celebrity deponents Justin Bieber and Lil Wayne. In this entertaining program, veteran litigator Peter Afrasiabi chronicles some of the worst deposition disasters and the lessons that can be gleaned from the improper behavior of the lawyers and witnesses involved. This program will be useful for litigators of all levels and highly entertaining for lawyers of every stripe.

In the next installment in this popular series, Zach McGee takes it to the “next level” with an analysis of the sorts of negotiation tricks and bad faith tactics that sophisticated parties often use to try to obtain an advantage in negotiations. Using a hypothetical negotiation between lawyers, the speakers will describe and analyze some of these “next level” negotiation tricks and bad faith tactics, including: Lying about company policy; Lying about other deals; Anchoring; Co-opting the other side’s negotiator; and Nibbling. Along the way, this program will teach you some powerful negotiation techniques and strategies that you can use to ethically respond when the other side is using these sorts of negotiation tricks and bad faith tactics against you. The program will include a review of the key ethics rules that apply when lawyers act as negotiators as well as some useful negotiation techniques and strategies. Rules covered include: ABA Model Rules 1.1, 4.1 & 8.4; ABA Formal Ethics Opinion No. 06-439

The Flag, National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance are all symbols of our nation but did you know these symbols are governed by a detailed set of federal laws? These laws define the flag’s appearance, how it must be flown, and how it must be treated and respected, as well as how we stand during the Pledge and for the National Anthem. In the latest installment of this popular series, Peter Afrasiabi takes you on a fun, interesting journey through the federal laws related to our national symbols, with a look at cases involving flag desecration and flag burning and the First Amendment. We also explore the First Amendment and the challenges to the Pledge of Allegiance’s phrase “one Nation under God,” and we look at a series of cases involving the flying and display of the Confederate flag and its constitutionality.