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Environmental Law Roundup - November 30, 2007: Recent months have seen significant court decisions concerning the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), including its authority to act in the face of increasing evidence of global warming. This program will discuss the implications of these recent decisions and other developments, including cases surrounding the Clean Air Act such as Massachusetts v. EPA and Environmental Defense v. Duke Energy, New Jersey v. EPA, involving the “Clean Air Mercury” rule and a review of current asbestos litigation and legislation...(Environmental Roundup Information)
Amanda Kumar's Case: An Interactive Discussion of the Ethical Issues that Attorneys Face in their Day-to-Day Practice - November 16, 2007: Conducted by Professors John Strait and David Boerner, this program explores a dispute between a consumer and a drug company, represented respectively by small and large law firms. Ethical challenges (and failures) confront both firms. Using a videotape to facilitate the audience’s ability to identify ethical issues and to work through possible solutions, Professors Strait and Boerner discuss the legal ethics and attorney regulation issues that arose during the dispute...(Ethics Information)
Current Issues in Retirement & Succession Planning - November 9, 2007: This program will address a range of estate planning and other property disposition issues encountered by clients entering their retirement phase. General estate and retirement benefits issues will be considered, along with ethical concerns faced by advisors and clients. Other topics will include planning for care of beneficiaries with special needs and intergenerational transfer of business interests and charitable gifts...(Retirement Planning Information)
Dimensions of Sustainability: The Emerging Context for the Practice of Law - November 8, 2007: This seminar distills essential knowledge for lawyers on the fundamentals driving the sustainability movement: societal/economic goals, alternative metaphors for sustainability, broadly accepted ecological principles, three factors driving human impact on natural systems, the interface with the global economy, and strategies being pursued to achieve a sustainable future. The program offers lawyers an important foundation for understanding concepts of sustainability that can inform the many ways in which they can serve to promote social and environmental justice in their work...(Sustainability Information)
Transitions: Merging Your Legal Practice with Case Management Software - November 2, 2007: Choosing case management software (CMS) and transitioning your legal practice from paper to an electronic organizational structure can be time-consuming and confusing. This half-day seminar will introduce you to a variety of CMS programs and the tasks they perform; and allow you to hear from and talk to attorneys who use CMS programs to run their offices, as well as expert consultants who will outline attributes of case management software and the most effective and efficient means of moving your practice into an electronic age...(CMS Information)
Current Issues Concerning Predatory Lending in the Home Mortgage Industry - October 26, 2007: This program will examine mortgage lending tactics and practices. Speakers will address the interplay between state and federal mortgage lending statutes and the consumer protection act; examine developing litigation issues in prosecuting and defending cases that stem from the origination of a mortgage; and address litigating mortgage related cases in state and federal court and both individually and as class actions...(Predatory Lending Information)
No Seat at the Table: Women in the Corporate Boardroom - October 19, 2007: In this breakfast seminar, Professor Douglas Branson of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law will explain and discuss his hypothesis that, much more so than with men, paradigm shifts occur as women move up the corporate ladder. Tactics that initially advance women are precisely the ones that undermine their advancement. His conclusion: women have to follow pathways different than men to reach the boardroom or the CEO suites. Professor Branson’s presentation will then be discussed by a panel of leading corporate directors and officers, moderated by Seattle University School of Law Dean Kellye Testy...(No Seat at the Table Information)
Department of Homeland Security Conference on Immigration - September 21, 2007: This day-long program presented by the Seattle Field Office of the U. S. Department of Homeland Security will explain the roles of the offices of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Customs and Border Protection and Chief Counsel in interpreting and applying immigration law. It will provide a unique opportunity to understand how our immigration system currently functions and ask questions of those who are responsible for its administration...(Homeland Security Information)
What You Might Not Know About Representing Spanish-Speaking Clients: Spanish for Lawyers and Legal Professionals - September 7, 2007: Perceptions and understandings of the U.S. justice, economic and social systems held by Spanish-speaking immigrants from Central and South America can strongly impact representation by a U.S. attorney in any type of criminal or civil proceeding, particularly given the strictures concerning Communication of Rule 1.4 of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and of the Washington Rules of Professional Conduct. This program will identify and briefly review the implications of representing clients who come from a Hispanic background across a wide variety of forums. In addition to identifying and explaining possibly different expectations, it will use mock settings and dialogues to illustrate how full and effective communication between attorney and client can be improved. Some basic introduction to Spanish will be provided. The program is specifically designed to address the language needs of attorneys, paralegals, and staff...(Spanish for Lawyers Information)
The 5th National Directors Training Academy on June 15, 2007: The annual Directors Training Academy, hosted by the Center on Corporations, Law & Society at Seattle University School of Law and the Albers School of Business and Economics, provides corporate board members, senior executives and their counsel with the finest academic and real world advice about important issues in corporate governance. This year’s Academy examines what are the most effective ways to build a Board that works as a team, with a clear mission, a set of goals, and defined expectations for its performance as a group as well as for each of the individual members? It will examine the techniques used by successful boards to evaluate, structure and improve themselves, to establish clear expectations from and communication with management, and to govern for the long-term best interests of the company’s shareholders and stakeholders...(Directors Training Academy)
The 6th National Academy for IDEA Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers on May 15-18, 2007: The National Academy serves as a resource and focus for interaction among ALJs and HOs from around the country by offering annual training sessions, maintaining a Web site and operating an e-mail listserv exclusively for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act decision-makers. This year’s program offers a one-day “Overview of Basics” for decision-makers with previous experience but new to special education, as well as the usual three-day “Regular Academy” program. Attendance is limited to persons currently serving as special education ALJs or hearing officers, or state-level support personnel who do not have policy-making authority. The Academy has become the most respected and widely attended program of its kind, having provided training to more than 200 IDEA decision-makers from 20 states...(ALJ/HO Academy)
Public Policy Forum - United States Attorneys: Roles and Responsibilities on May 9, 2007: The controversy surrounding the Administration’s recent dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys has revealed many misconceptions and disagreements concerning both the President’s authority concerning these public officials and their obligations to adhere to Administration policy and objectives. This program will examine these and other questions from the viewpoints of former U.S. attorneys, political scientists and constitutional law scholars, including former U.S. Attorneys Paul K. Charlton (District of Arizona); David Iglesias (District of New Mexico); and John McKay (Western District of Washington, now Visiting Faculty, Seattle University School of Law); James Eisenstein, Professor Emeritus, Pennsylvania State University; and Christian Halliburton, Associate Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law; Laurie L. Levenson, Professor of Law; and William M. Rains Fellow and Director of the Center for Ethical Advocacy, Loyola Law School. Seattle University School of Law Dean Kellye Testy will welcome the distinguished speakers and audience...(U.S. Attorneys Video*, U.S. Attorneys Materials - 4,080kB PDF)
The Business of Lawyering: Managing Your Solo or Small Practice on February 9, 2007 (Seattle) and May 4, 2007 (Tacoma): “Hanging out a shingle” and practicing law alone or with a colleague may appeal to many new lawyers. But how much of “the business of lawyering” is practice and how much is business? And how well can you practice law and serve your clients without having a firm business base? This program is designed to give you a realistic picture, and help you decide whether this is a career path you have assessed realistically. It will identify the business skills and operations required to establish a solo or small practice. And if you’re already in practice, it will help you to manage it better.
Mediation Advocacy on April 27, 2007: Mediation is increasingly utilized in all types of civil matters. Proper preparation and negotiation strategies greatly increases the likelihood of a successful session. Sponsored by the Dispute Resolution Board of the School of Law, this program will present an experienced mediator addressing the following areas: pre-mediation issues to consider, planning and preparation; what to do at the mediation to maximize the possibilities of negotiation; and post-mediation efforts. A hosted networking reception will follow.
How Lawyers Can Use the Internet More Effectively on April 27, 2007: Comprehensive and accurate research often is the difference between winning and losing a case. These days, however, research requires (and offers) more than wading through books or even Westlaw and Lexis. The computer savy and Internet literate practitioner can quickly access vast amounts of pertinent information quickly, and often inexpensively. This program, developed and presented by Seattle University School of Law research librarians, will show you what information is available and how to find it, including government information sources – federal, state and local; “public” information; free legal research – shortcuts, caselaw, Casemaker© and “shepardizing”; practice aids, such as forms, contracts, complaints, motions, briefs; and how to locate agencies, corporations and people.
An Introduction to Public Benefits Law on April 19-20, 2007: This one-and-one-half day program will provide a basic overview of public benefits programs, focusing primarily on Social Security related benefits (SSI/SSDI). The program will include identification of applicable statutes, program regulations and primary case law; identification of how the law, regulations and public policy affect eligibility and availability of public benefits, with specific reference to persons with disabilities; and an examination of public benefit reporting requirements, annual benefit reviews and public benefits appeals. The programs to be reviewed will include Supplemental Security Income (SSI); Social Security Disability Income (SSDI); Medicare (Parts A, B, C and D); Medicaid; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); Housing (HUD); food stamps; Special Education; Developmental Disability (DD); vocational rehabilitation (VR); and state and local programs. This program should be of interest and assistance to attorneys, paralegals, certified financial planners, case managers, Life Care Plan consultants, Special Needs Trust Trustees and disability advocates.
Trust and the Law: Honesty as Advocacy (Ethics in the Practice of Law) on March 30, 2007: This CLE program is the capstone of an annual focus on law and ethics at Seattle University School of Law initiated at the suggestion and with the support of distinguished alumnus James L. Holman. Each spring a series of informal discussions and formal presentations with students and faculty examine the ethical tensions arising in various aspects of the practice of law and the role of legal education in preparing attorneys to deal with those tensions. The CLE program offers a day-long discussion between experienced area practitioners, legal ethicists and faculty of ethics and the practice of law.
Civil Rights Issues in the Islamic Community on March 23, 2007: Muslim communities throughout the United States are alleging that their members experience frequent violations of civil rights. The purpose of this half-day CLE is to expose lawyers to the differing cultural and legal perspectives of the Muslim community and educate them about how those differences affect some basic social expectations. This CLE will examine the issues of women’s rights – such as domestic violence, child custody, divorce and marriage; the right to practice religion in the workplace, schools, and other public areas; and the enforcement of national security, including the arrest and detention of suspects.
Medicaid and the Basics of Elderlaw on March 9, 2007: As America ages, more and more people are facing questions on the costs of long term health care. Frequent changes to the Medicaid laws makes this area of practice a challenge for most practitioners who do not regularly deal with these issues. This program is designed to introduce a practicing attorney to the issues that our rapidly aging population faces: how Medicare and Medicaid affect those concerned with the high cost of long term care and the role an attorney can play in restructuring existing estate planning documents to address both long term care issues and quality of life concerns.
How Video Games Intersect with IP: Intellectual Property in “Gamer” Technology on March 2, 2007: Children are no longer the primary markets for video and computer games, and “gamer” technology is generating legal issues that demanding new and innovative legal analysis. Attorneys involved in gamer technology are faced with many intellectual property issues, including copyright and trademark issues, litigation concerning an intellectual property right, complex licensing, and patenting of the technology. Beyond the intellectual property issues, lawyers may be faced with financing and business development, client counseling and maintaining a client’s confidential technology. This CLE will feature leading industry professionals and practitioners discussing some of the above topics while providing the attendees an understanding of the skills and analysis needed to address these issues.