CLEs You Actually Want to Hear

California’s SB 37 did not just change attorney advertising rules. It reset how responsibility and accountability work in modern legal marketing. This CLE program brings together Yosi Yahoudai , Co-Founder and Managing Partner of J&Y Law, Monica Washington Rothbaum , COO and Senior Attorney of J&Y Law, and Jonathan Sanchez , Marketing Director of J&Y Law, to explain what SB 37 means fo...

Join Ed Oster of Judicate West as he explores how cognitive biases like confirmation bias, anchoring, and reactive devaluation subconsciously influence decision-making in mediation. Oster draws on decades of trial experience and recent psychological research to demonstrate practical techniques for recognizing these mental shortcuts in both your opponent and yourself, and provides tested strategies...

As the federal government moves toward rescheduling cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, tax practitioners face a shifting landscape with major implications for § 280E. This session will outline what rescheduling changes—and what it leaves unresolved—while addressing key transition issues, IRS enforcement trends, and the practical tax considerations operators and advisors should prepare for....

In today’s high-pressure legal environment, competence requires more than legal knowledge and technical skill. Sustained adversarial exposure, digital acceleration, client demands, and increasing complexity place unprecedented cognitive and emotional strain on attorneys. When chronic stress goes unrecognized or unmanaged, it can impair judgment, communication, decision-making, and ethical performa...

Join Martin I. Aarons of Aarons | Ward, APC as he breaks down California’s recently enacted peremptory challenge reform, applicable to criminal jury trials since 2022 and now applies to civil jury selection starting January 1, 2026. This program will explain how Code of Civil Procedure § 231.7 replaces traditional Batson/Wheeler procedures and imposes stricter standards for objecting to discrimina...

Step into the spotlight and master the choreography of high-stakes negotiations where medical records are the lead performers. This session will reveal what works best in the other room to move the needle and arrive at a mediated settlement. The Personal Injury Law Section is chaired by Phillip Vondra .

This program provides a practical overview of international child abduction cases under the Hague Convention, focusing on the legal framework governing wrongful removal and retention of children across international borders, and walks through the mechanics of Hague return proceedings, including jurisdiction, defenses, evidentiary standards, and the roles of central authorities and courts. The prog...

An in-depth review of the evidentiary issues presented by perfect fakes, presented against the background of emerging A.I.-driven technologies. The program will discuss authentication and related rules of admissibility, and offer practical methods to evaluate potential fraudulent evidence. The AI and the Law Section is chaired by Marc Hoag .

Familiarizing yourself with the law concerning evidence preservation will help you update your preservation demands, advise your clients of their own preservation obligations, and increase your access to critical evidence that can make or break your case. This session will help breakdown the current state of the law on evidence preservation and provide practical tips on drafting evidence preservat...

Brigitta S. Cymerint and Jonathan H. Davidi of Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP break down the key moments in personal injury litigation where settlement leverage naturally increases. The program highlights strategic opportunities at pre-litigation, immediately after filing, following crucial depositions, after IMEs, during expert discovery, and in the final lead-up to trial. Attendees will learn how to r...

Jurisdictional selection remains a critical—and often misunderstood—component of advanced estate planning. This presentation analyzes the “Nevada Advantage” in comparison with other top domestic trust jurisdictions, with a focus on dynasty trusts, asset protection trusts, directed trust regimes, taxation, and administration considerations. The discussion is tailored for a deeper understanding of h...

In this presentation, David Mann provides a review of the brain chemistry of addiction and alcoholism, as well as a discussion of the behavioral and health consequences of the disease. Insights are offered into the personality traits of attorneys and the qualities of the legal profession that combine to make lawyers significantly more susceptible to addiction, and more difficult to treat, than the...

Christine Rosskopf of Rosing Pott & Strohbehn breaks down ten critical facts every California attorney should understand about client trust accounting, focusing on the issues most likely to trigger State Bar scrutiny. The program covers IOLTA requirements, commingling and overdraft risks, handling of settlement funds, and the recordkeeping and reconciliation practices required for compliance....

Taxpayers often overlook attorney’s fees when challenging tax assessments. Greenberg Traurig Shareholders Cris O’Neall and Ruben Sislyan will explain how attorney’s fees may be recovered in state and local tax proceedings. The session will cover the statutes, regulations and cases under which attorney’s fees have been awarded, and what showing is needed in order to recover fees. Their presentation...

On January 30th, Anthropic released a legal workflow plugin that sent shockwaves through the industry, wiping billions in market value from Thomson Reuters, LexisNexis, and LegalZoom in a single day. For the first time, a foundation model company is competing directly with the legal tech tools built on top of it. Join Steve Smith , CEO of Intelligence by Intent and AI strategy consultant who has t...

A presentation giving an overview of, discussing the process for, and examining the mechanics of the legal due diligence process in mergers and acquisition transactions. The presentation will cover the scope of due diligence, key issues to look out for, and key topics that come up in due diligence.

Robert Glassman and Joe O’Hanlon of Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP examine the practical impact of California Evidence Code § 801.1, which now requires defense experts to support alternative medical causation opinions to a reasonable medical probability. The program explores how this change reshapes expert strategy from deposition through trial, including how to lock in opinions early and limit last...

Master the basics of mediation and how to use it effectively in legal practice. Tracey B. Frisch (Division Vice President, AAA-ICDR) and Marcus Quintanilla (Principal, Global Dispute Resolution, Mediator & Arbitrator, AAA-ICDR) provide guidance on when to propose mediation, how to prepare clients, and what role the mediator plays. The session also showcases AAA’s mediation offerings, including...

ERISA governs most employer-provided disability benefits, yet its rules and remedies are often misunderstood by non-specialists. This presentation breaks down the essentials of ERISA disability claims, including plan identification, claims procedures, appeals, and common pitfalls. Designed for attorneys who do not regularly litigate ERISA cases, the program offers clear guidance and real-world ins...

In this program, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Paul Gutrecht will examine how specific behavioral and language-based skills can be used to reduce stress—an essential first step in accessing more effective communication. He will then illustrate several converging approaches to de-escalating language, allowing participants to identify and apply the methods best suited to their individual ci...

Marshall Cole of Nemecek & Cole provides a practical, straightforward guide to drafting fee agreements that truly protect the attorney. The program covers the essential clauses, ethical requirements, and risk-management strategies that keep lawyers out of fee disputes and disciplinary trouble, while highlighting the recurring pitfalls that undermine enforceability. Attorneys will learn how to...

Join Oren Bitan , Efrat Cogan , and Elaine Cheng of Buchalter as they break down the serious risks and strategic pitfalls of suing opposing counsel in California litigation. Using the Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Ramirez v. McCormack as a springboard, this program explains how California’s anti-SLAPP statute and litigation privilege broadly protect attorneys for conduct arising out of repr...

The Construction Arbitration session in the Nuts and Bolts of Arbitration series offers a focused, practical look at resolving disputes unique to the construction industry. Join speakers Michael R. Powell (Regional Vice President, American Arbitration Association) and Jason M. Adams (Partner, Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP) as they explore the entire arbitration process, from filing a claim to th...

California’s new Private Works Change Order Fair Payment Act (SB 440) will significantly alter how payment, change order, and delay disputes are handled on private construction projects beginning January 1, 2026. In this program, Brenda K. Radmacher and Jay R. Houghton of Seyfarth Shaw break down the statute’s non-waivable dispute resolution framework, including mandatory timelines, meet-and-confe...

The appellate ocean is full of sea creatures, sirens, torpedoes, tsunamis, and other conditions that can capsize your civil appeal before you get it out of the harbor. For example, it is often hard to spot icebergs such as appealable orders, related deadlines and the need for a court reporter, just as it can be difficult to navigate through squalls such as statements of decision, options for desig...