Washington CLE Course Catalog

In this program, you'll learn the lessons of some data breach cases that can help you protect your company when facing a data breach. This program also provides timely, actionable advice that includes the 5 things you can start doing today to help prevent data breaches and better prepare your company to respond to them if they do occur, focusing on the healthcare space where data breaches can include disclosure of personal health information regulated by state and federal laws including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

In this installment of our Double Play series, our two, thirty-minute programs cover five ethical traps in defending class actions and ethical issues in multijurisdictional practice. Can your company offer customers a discount on future purchases in exchange for a waiver of claims after a class has been certified? Can you ethically obtain declarations from putative class members to help oppose class certification? This program considers these and other important ethical issues that often arise in class actions. How well do you know the rules that govern your ability to perform legal services in a state where you are not licensed or the sanctions for violating them? This program gives you the guidance you need to avoid engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.

What would your company do if it ran out of water? For many reasons -- including climate change and population growth -- this is not merely a hypothetical but a real risk that your company needs to assess and manage. This program provides the guidance you need to evaluate and address the water risks your company faces while suggesting ways your company may be able to transform water risks into business opportunities. In the United States, cannabis is growing faster than any other industry and is expected to generate over $20 billion by 2020. But investing in cannabis, or doing business with companies involved in cannabis production or distribution, comes with substantial legal and other risks. This program offers practical advice to avoid the most common pitfalls when companies choose to invest in cannabis or do business with companies in that industry.

In the next installment of this popular series, Peter Afrasiabi asks a simple question: Are you ready for some football? For more than 150 years, the game of football has occupied a unique position in the United States in terms of the legal regime that governs teams and the leagues in which they play. Peter discusses the antitrust decisions and other key developments that have allowed American football to become the global powerhouse it is today.

What is storytelling and why is it so important for all lawyers – litigators, transactional and in-house lawyers – to do it well in service of their clients? Experienced appellate lawyer and advocacy teacher at the UC Irvine School of Law Peter Afrasiabi shares the secrets of storytelling that you can help make you an even more compelling and credible advocate for your clients in any fora and when it matters most.

They say that love is blind, but it is also unethical? Recently, many states have enacted legal ethics rules that expressly prohibit dating a client, while in others, lawyers remain free to date a client unless the romantic relationship adversely affects the lawyer’s representation of the client. In this topical and engaging program, Andrew Struve examines the legal, ethical and practical implications when lawyers choose to date clients and other lawyers.

Did the TV series “Battlestar Galactica” infringe on the copyrights owned by Lucasfilm in the movie “Star Wars”? Experienced intellectual property litigator Peter Afrasiabi reviews this famous case and several others where the copyright, trademark and right of publicity interests in “Star Wars” were litigated. Along the way, Peter provides an expert overview of copyright, trademark and right of publicity law that will be useful for all practitioners.

In this installment of our Double Play series, our two, thirty-minute programs cover winning on appeal and how to know if your litigator is failing you. Whether you’ve won or lost in the trial court, pivoting successfully from trial court to appellate litigator can make the difference between losing and winning your appeal.

This program guides you through the strategic decisions you need to make and the practical steps you need to follow to brief, argue and win your next appeal. Just because very few cases end up going to trial doesn't mean you don't need to prepare for trial in every case. Successfully defending claims in litigation requires your company to tell a compelling story to the judge and jury, and trial lawyers are highly skilled at developing and telling those stories. This program provides valuable insights and advice for in-house counsel selecting outside litigators and managing litigation from commencement through to settlement or trial.

This program explores how implicit bias works and how it affects day-to-day decisions and the exercise of discretion, including its impact on the legal profession. This presentation includes a discussion of scenarios based on typical interactions, including the fact that initial impressions matter and concludes with some advice on how to overcome implicit biases.