Virginia Live CLE Bundle 2021

The Rules of Professional Conduct in the various jurisdictions are notoriously full of black holes and missing guidance: ethics rules lag behind the reality of legal practice, and there are stubborn problems in the ethical practice of law that the profession still wrestles with. Ethics is always evolving, and one of the ways this evolution can be seen is in legal ethics opinions, the periodic holdings of ethics committees in the nation’s bar associations attempting to settle perplexing ethics conflicts and dilemmas.

Unfortunately, most lawyers don’t keep up with these often important new analyses in their jurisdictions, never mind others. Attendees will be guided by legal ethicist Jack Marshall who follows these important analyses and will explain them so participants in this program can be forewarned and forearmed. 

The Legal Ethics Grand Tour identifies and explores critical legal ethics issues that each state, the District of Columbia, and the American Bar Association have recently clarified. Attendees will learn about the many legal ethics traps and landmines of emerging technologies and the proper usage of social media. Attorneys as whistleblowers, conflicts of interest, and when they cannot be waived will be discussed. Marshall will also supply attendees with useful tools, references, and information on emerging developments in this comprehensive exploration of recent legal ethics issues. 

This course is ideal for all attorneys interested in recent legal ethics developments.

Learning Objectives:

• Emphasize the importance of state, D.C., and American Bar Association legal ethics opinions (LEOs) as essential resources for lawyers to keep up-to-date on the constant evolution of legal ethics standards
• Analyze how jurisdictions influence each other
• Define the perils of practicing outside one’s home jurisdiction without checking the current jurisdiction’s recent LEOs
• Distinguish between legal ethics opinions and the Rules they interpret
• Focus on the major legal ethics opinions from many sources to protect a lawyer from serious ethical missteps and malpractice
• Apply invaluable legal ethics analysis tools and techniques to professional dilemmas and conflicts when they arise

Course Time Schedule:

Eastern Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Central Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Mountain Time: 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Pacific Time: 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Alaska Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Hawaii-Aleutian Time: 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

This course is also being presented on the following dates:

Sunday, March 30, 2025
Sunday, April 27, 2025
Sunday, May 25, 2025
Sunday, June 15, 2025
Sunday, June 22, 2025

Artificial Intelligence is currently impacting every facet of society. This course offers an update on this ever-evolving AI landscape, from developments within the United States  Copyright Office to the status of lawsuits in the United States. 

Attendees will gain insight into the issues arising at the intersection of AI, art, and the law. They will learn about the current approaches to AI by the US Copyright Office and the United States Judiciary, the legal issues involved and rulings handed down in AI-related cases in the U.S., and AI-related ethical issues and judicial positions to be aware of. 

This course is designed for attorneys at the basic or introductory level of legal practice who work in or are interested in art law. Exploring AI's Influence on Art and Law is specifically designed for attorneys who want an introduction to AI issues in art and law.

Learning Objectives:

• Review artificial intelligence & the United States Copyright Office
• Explore artificial intelligence and fair use policy
• Investigate artificial intelligence and suits involving visual art and music
• Identify the intersection of artificial intelligence and lawsuits involving authorship 
• Explore artificial intelligence and lawsuits involving journalism
• Discuss artificial intelligence and ethics

Course Time Schedule:

Eastern Time: 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Central Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Mountain Time: 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Pacific Time: 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Alaska Time: 7:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Hawaii-Aleutian Time: 6:00 AM - 8:00 AM

This course is also being presented on the following dates:

Sunday, March 30, 2025
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Sunday, May 25, 2025
Sunday, June 15, 2025
Sunday, June 22, 2025

Attorneys who encounter legal ethics problems can use this course to learn a methodology for solving them. Although no methodology is perfect, there is a methodology known by the acronym "MORALS" for solving legal-ethics problems or dilemmas. This seminar focuses on such methodology. 

The format of this course is a blend of the lecture method with the Socratic method, extensively involving a high degree of interactive participation and critical analyses of a wide range of issues relevant to the subject of the seminar in a manner not limited to mere chronological description of particular topics and sub-topics. Depending on the number of participants in a particular seminar, the format usually results in most, if not all, participants verbally engaging in conversational-styled interactive discussion and/or analysis of particular topics in the seminar and also permits interruptions, questions, challenges, etc. throughout the seminar. Think of collegially enjoyable and enlightening round-table discussions. It's a form of learning by thinking in the course of interactively participating rather than learning solely by listening (the latter of which is the lecture method).

Any attorney desiring to learn how to analyze legal ethics problems or dilemmas to maximize the likelihood of an ethically proper solution is encouraged to attend this program.

Learning Objectives: 

• Refresh what should be every lawyer's common knowledge of unique aspects of the legal profession in contrast to all other professions, occupations, etc.: It's the effect of the Constitution's (and each state constitution's) vesting of "the judicial power" of the sovereign in its "Supreme Court" and its thereby incorporation of the evolutionary nature of the judiciary's common law inherent judicial power (i.e., sui generis power) to define, prescribe, and enforce educational, moral, ethical and civil standards for the practice of law and the status of lawyers as officers of the courts
• Analyze how exercising such common law inherent judicial power (sui generis power) in an adversarial system created under common law, the supreme court of the sovereign (i.e., the U.S. Supreme Court and each state supreme court) creates structural and functional tools for the administration of justice -- i.e., rules of evidence, burdens of proof, procedural rules, and regulatory control over the conduct of attorneys
• Participate actively in regulatory control over the legal profession generally and the conduct of lawyers individually, as is generally encouraged by the judiciary. Therefore, each attorney has a duty to keep abreast of such disciplinary and regulatory activities and, as much as possible, actively participate (pro bono, of course) in and support such activities
• Maximize one's objectivity by seeking a thorough analysis of all relevant and material facts, issues, and laws when determining how to solve an ethics problem or dilemma
• Recognize intrinsic conflicts between "justice" (or what's "morally right") on the one hand and legal, ethical duties on the other and then analyze them to determine when attorneys must, or sometimes must not, implement an ethically correct solution that is a polar opposite of "justice."
• Assess the best way to prevent a legal professional’s self-interests in desiring to avoid damage to the legal professional’s standing in solving an ethical problem and the professional responsibility to derive an ethically proper solution

Course Time Schedule:

Eastern Time: 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Central Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Mountain Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Pacific Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Alaska Time: 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Hawaii-Aleutian Time: 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

This course is also being presented on the following dates:

Monday, March 3, 2025
Monday, March 10, 2025
Monday, March 17, 2025
Monday, March 24, 2025
Monday, March 31, 2025

Once a niche practice area, antitrust has been making headlines seemingly nonstop for the last few years. In a rapidly changing political environment, what do attorneys need to know to stay current in this dynamic area? This CLE provides a foundation in selected emerging issues.

First, we will start with a sleeper hit. Once a mainstay of antitrust enforcement asserted in hundreds of cases per year, the Robinson Patman Act (RPA) has been largely abandoned by federal enforcers since the 1980s. Now several high-profile cases– including a plaintiff-side jury verdict– have brought this price discrimination law back into the spotlight. We will cover the core elements and defenses relating to RPA claims, as well as recent case law trends. 

Second, we will review the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) resurrection of Section 8 of the Clayton Act, which seeks to promote competition by preventing “interlocking directorates.” A rare “per se” rule in a sea of judge-made “rule of reason” antitrust jurisprudence, Section 8 categorically prohibits directors and officers from simultaneously serving on a competitor’s board. Exceptions are limited– but are there nonetheless gray areas relating to this bright line rule? 

Finally, we will turn to efforts to revive a long-lost remedy: structural separations. Legendary breakups of Standard Oil and AT&T, and even the attempted breakup of Microsoft can seem like fables from distant eras dominated by completely different technological paradigms. Have the Big Tech cases brought us any closer to revitalizing one of the most powerful tools in antitrust law in a lasting way? What about a divestiture order targeting an obscure door and window manufacturer? We will cover recent outcomes as well as doctrinal developments.

This CLE provides a foundation that equips attorneys of all experience levels with a background on core legal frameworks and an understanding of emerging issues. 

Learning Objectives: 

• Identify core elements of selected federal antitrust laws
• Analyze trends in federal and private claims
• Spot issues that arise when adapting lesser used authorities to modern contexts
   

Course Time Schedule:

Eastern Time: 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM 
Central Time: 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Mountain Time: 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Pacific Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Alaska Time: 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Hawaii-Aleutian Time: 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

This course is also being presented on the following dates:

Monday, March 24, 2025
Monday, April 28, 2025
Monday, May 26, 2025
Monday, June 23, 2025
Monday, July 28, 2025