This presentation is not about how to comply with state law in order to organize and operate a business as an LLC. Instead, ideas and suggestions are offered on how to effectively counsel people who come to your office who want to create and operate their business as an LLC. Do they really know each other well enough? Do they really share the same goals? Do they really agree on how to handle finances and decision making? The content of this course is intended to help you help them make sure they are ready to successfully operate their business as an LLC.

Electronic evidence necessarily touches every case. Even a simple rear end car accident case is going to have potentially relevant electronic evidence on the drivers’ cell phones. Not only is a basic understanding of electronic discovery (eDiscovery) critical for effectively requesting and finding key evidence, but it is also mandated under an attorney’s duty of competence. The nuances of eDiscovery rules may very from state to state, but best practices for dealing with electronically stored information (ESI) are universal. The truth is, the key evidence in most cases is electronic. Finding that piece of evidence requires knowing what to ask for and the right tools to find the needle in the haystack. In this CLE course, attorney and eDiscovery specialist Aaron Cronan will help answer the common questions he encounters while advising litigators who finally decide to go after electronic evidence. He will demystify the seeming incomprehensible process of requesting, compelling, receiving and searching electronic evidence. He will discuss eDiscovery techniques to increase negotiating leverage early in the discovery process, and how to spot and defeat common dilatory tactics. This session will include examples from actual cases and real experiences to illustrate real-world application and raise the level of familiarity and comfort with eDiscovery.

The federal Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (“McKinney-Vento”) guarantees homeless children and youth access to free, appropriate public education and the right to educational continuity and stability. With a global pandemic that has put many students at risk of housing instability and displacement, lawyers can play an important role in addressing their legal needs through McKinney-Vento. States and school districts are required under this federal law to review and revise laws, policies, regulations, and practices that may act as a barrier to the education of homeless children and youth. This course provides an overview of the educational rights of homeless children and youth and how lawyers can help them navigate and enforce these legal rights and ensure compliance of the law. Participants will learn the legal considerations when working with the educational rights of homeless students.

Effective legal writing is a necessary skill in the practice of law and lawyers do tend to write well. However, regardless of how effective a lawyer’s writing skills are, there is always something useful to be gained from a review of effective writing guidelines and advice. This presentation describes the basics of legal writing. All other types of legal writing are built on these basics. Several specific types of legal writing are then addressed with guidelines and ideas to help your writing remain effective.

Electronic communications and e-signatures have amplified the speed and number of contracts entered into everyday. The rapid changes in technology have also imposed rapid changes on a legal system that is traditionally slow to adapt - the Uniform Electronic Transaction Act has been implemented in almost every state for close to 20 years, yet many attorneys still insist on printing, signing and scanning signature pages. In this CLE course, attorney and eDiscovery specialist Aaron Cronan will cover some of the most important implications for contract formation and enforcement in the digital age. He will focus on a legislation overview, electronic signatures, Statute of Frauds, UCC, assent of the parties, Browser/Clickwrap, and best practices. This session will include examples and case law from across the county to identity trends and traps.

In this program, Gary Reing, former Chair of the Lawyers Assistance Committee of the NYS Bar Association and NYC Bar Association, talks about his own addiction struggles and path to recovery, including his reinstatement to the practice of law. Additionally, he will address issues of substance use and addiction within the legal profession and discuss ways to identify attorneys in trouble and explore resources where attorneys can get help.

When it comes to remote lawyering, with great power comes great responsibility. With the great flexibility and independence, comes the great demands of securing confidential client information and maintaining practice standards. In this survey of the challenges and opportunities of remote work, we explore some of the major considerations for practicing law remotely, from leveraging technology, to managing clients and staff, to staying sane when your pug is your paralegal. We begin by exploring what’s to learn from COVID-19 and remote legal operations.

National attention has addressed the pay gap for women. Beyond that, there is an information gap, a power and understanding gap, and common perceptions of femininity that have resulted in institutional disadvantages for female attorneys, especially litigators. This program exposes nationwide statistics regarding the wage gap between female and male attorneys and pays special focus to recent academic and bar association studies addressing gender differences in the profession. The course also addresses practical ways to overcome this gender gap, including negotiation strategies and skills to foster leadership and opportunities for professional development. The goal of this program is not just to raise awareness of the issue but to also offer its participants the opportunity to solve the problem.

Do you friend, tweet, connect, or blog with colleagues, friends, clients, and others? If so, have you installed an automatic mental pause button before posting on social media? Are you now wondering about where and why to find said pause button? Well, you have come to the right course because we will explore the answers to these questions and more as we journey to uncover the impact of social media upon the practice of law. After a bit of historical context, the course will reveal why today’s lawyer must be imbued with social media savvy in order to effectively represent clients, market a law practice, and avoid ethical landmines that endanger a lawyer’s license to practice law.

In this class Monty McIntyre, a seasoned Mediator, Arbitrator, and Referee at ADR Services explains how to effectively prepare for a mediation, how to conduct yourself during the mediation session, and what steps should be taken after the mediation. Your goal as a lawyer should be to give your client the very best opportunity to successfully settle the case during or after the mediation.

Non-compete agreements shape the American employment landscape, affecting both employees and employers. Because these agreements prevent an employee from working within a particular industry for a defined time period, courts tend to closely examine these provisions. In recent years, many states have passed legislation to modify non-compete provisions in both employment agreements and business purchase agreements. Some states uphold non-compete agreements only when a legitimate business interest is at stake, while others have banned non-competes altogether. Certain states require employers to provide additional consideration or benefits to an employee to bind them by a non-compete. If employers are to adequately draft non-compete provisions, and if employees are to successfully negotiate such provisions, they must understand how the law is evolving in this area. Kristen Prinz, the Founder and Managing Partner of the Prinz Law Firm, P.C., will discuss best practices for drafting non-compete clauses from an employer’s perspective, and best practices to negotiate and handle non-compete clauses from an employee’s perspective.

This course will cover the various ways COVID-19 has impacted employment law. We will also discuss changes in employment law that are likely to develop as the world continues to adjust to COVID-19 and the “new normal.” While COVID-19 has affected almost every part of day to day living in the United States and abroad, the workplace will undoubtedly be a different place due to COVID-19. It is important for attorneys assisting clients with issues related to COVID-19 to understand how the employment law landscape has changed due to COVID-19.

It is not always clear how a deposition or written discovery responses can be used by a party during an evidentiary hearing or trial. The applicable discovery rules provide guidance, but frequently the judge is unsure of what is and is not permissible, and whether the response even needs to be shown to the witness or whether the witness or opposing party is allowed to explain or rebut a discovery response. This presentation will discuss the permissible use of discovery responses and depositions under the applicable rules of civil procedure. Additionally, there will be a discussion of practical considerations for use of the discovery. Finally, this presentation will provide suggestions on methods to make the discovery responses more effective or useful at a hearing or trial.

This course is designed to address the various evidentiary issues that arise with electronic evidence. For example, the presentation will cover the use of social media as evidence and how it is obtained and introduced into evidence. There will be a discussion of some of the preliminary evidence rules that are sometimes overlooked that can apply to social media and other electronic evidence. Issues with juries using social media during trial will also be covered. There will be a general discussion of the application of the hearsay rule to electronic evidence, and how to lay the proper foundation. Rules regarding spoliation of electronic evidence and the effect will be examined. The presentation will also deal with statutory provisions regarding discovery electronic information from third party providers. With the increased use of e-signatures, there will be coverage of issues that arise when introducing a document that has been electronically signed.

Attorneys in firms of all sizes – from solo practitioners to lawyers are multinational Big Law firms - face a number of ethical issues relating to cybersecurity, and preserving the confidentiality and security of their clients’ data. Contrary to what some lawyers may believe, law firms are often a valuable target for hackers because they can hold vast collections of sensitive and highly valuable client-related data. These cybersecurity threats come from individual hackers, international cybercriminals, and even a firm’s own attorneys and other employees. This program provides a basic primer on attorneys’ ethical obligations to understand and address the cybersecurity risks they face, and provides practical advice for attorneys in addressing issues that arise will undoubtedly arise in their legal practice.