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Defamation Law has its origins in church doctrine and has undergone various significant changes over the last nearly 1,000 years. Because the action in the United States is based on state law, the elements one will need to prove may differ depending on the jurisdiction. In this Overview of Defamation Law, attorneys he presentation discusses both recent articles and cases addressing various aspects of a Defamation claim, including jurisdiction, venue, the requisite elements, and what is need to have success at summary judgment.

Business mergers and acquisitions are complicated transactions for any attorney representing a buyer or seller, but there are special challenges when representing a client who wishes to buy or sell a Web-based business. Unlike their “brick and mortar” counterparts, the assets of a Web-based business are primarily intangible and can easily lose value – or disappear entirely -- when the business changes hands. Making sure that all of the seller’s web domain names (URLs), e-mail and e-commerce accounts, social media pages, and web traffic transfer smoothly to the buyer without interruption requires an in-depth familiarity with Web-based businesses and how they operate. In this fast-paced presentation, hosted by a leading small business attorney, author of “Advising eBusinesses” and nationally syndicated legal columnist who has helped dozens of clients buy and sell Web-based businesses over the past 10 to 15 years, you will learn how to handle the special issues involved in selling and buying such businesses so that your M&A transactions close smoothly, on time, every time.

This module provides an overview of the skills needed to conduct thorough, effective, and actionable workplace investigations. Participants will learn how to sift through a variety of material using best practices and clearly present results that businesses rely on when making important decisions. The basic questions an investigator might have will be addressed: what constitutes a complaint, when to investigate, who should investigate, and how to investigate. It also addresses issues of confidentiality, provides tools to better determine witness credibility, and underscores the necessity of unpacking one’s own biases prior to undertaking an investigation. This CLE will benefit in-house and general counsel, third-party attorneys who regularly conduct investigations, HR personnel, and anyone else involved in determining who did what at work.

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 Rules of Professional Conduct contain special rules regarding the duties, obligations, and restrictions applicable to attorneys engaged in litigation, which also includes administrative proceedings. The course will provide an overview of the fundamental ethical rules, and their relationship to substantive rules and law, that litigators encounter. The course will include discussion of the rules that ever litigator needs to fully know and understand in order that they can properly represent their clients in dispute proceedings. Since a violation of the rules can result in significant harm to the client’s case, attorneys should stay fully informed about the pertinent rules. Although the course is basically an ethics course, ideas on how to better represent a client in litigation and comply with the rules will be discussed.

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.

Mental health issues and substance use disorders can impact any law student, attorney or judge regardless of ethnicity, gender, age, orientation of socioeconomic status. But no matter the background, the legal profession seems to suffer in silence. Why? Stigma – the cultural prejudice and discrimination that labels an individual as defective or weak has the power to create a reluctance to speak about the issues and be a barrier to seeking treatment. This program will define the stigma, explain the reasons why stigma is so pervasive in the legal profession, and why it is critical to overcome these beliefs and identify effective means to ameliorate stigma and identify affirming aHtudes for recovery. Throughout the presentation, the speaker will focus on several different “life stages” of an attorney and how stigma affects each group and identify best practices to conquer stigma in the legal community.

This class will explain the evolution of computer forensics into what is now known as digital forensics. As a part of this class, attorneys will learn about the foundations of digital forensics, including how digital evidence should be collected, forensically acquired (copied), preserved, examined, and analyzed. The class then uses numerous case examples to explain different forensic artifacts and how they can be used in cases. Evidence types include metadata, internet history, communication artifacts, searches, multimedia, location evidence, and much more. Actual case examples are utilized to illustrate the usefulness of these forensic artifacts in litigation. Attorneys will also learn the difference between an information technology expert and a digital forensics expert, with case examples illustrating the problematic outcomes of having information technology experts attempting to testify about digital forensics.

Lawyers generate tons of paper. Receiving, reviewing, producing, sharing, filing, and retrieving paper documents has a huge cost to a practice, whether it is a solo or small firm, a large firm, a corporate legal department, or a government or public interest office. Fortunately, lawyers can save time and money by transitioning to a paperless office. In fact, during the pandemic, lawyers quickly realized that if their offices were not digitized – that is, every document scanned and available for viewing online – they were not able to function. This course will take users through the basics of becoming paperless and highlight the benefits of a digitized workflow. You’ve put it off for years. It’s time to learn how reducing the amount of paper in your practice will increase your productivity.

Mental health issues and substance use disorders can affect any attorney, in any setting, and at any time. Left untreated, they can destroy careers and lives. This program will discuss where the legal profession currently stands in relation to the substantial challenges presented by untreated mental health issues and substance use disorders and examine the nexus between ethical competence, under the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and attorney well-being. This program will educate attendees on how to recognize the signs of an impaired attorney, how to approach the colleague and begin a conversation, and discuss the possible disciplinary and professional liability implications of an impaired attorney’s conduct. In addition, the speaker will present best practices/effective risk management strategies, preventative measures, and proposed policy and well-being initiatives, that attorneys in any practice setting may implement to protect clients, themselves and other firm members as well as save careers.

Discover from corporate insider and attorney Douglas Gordon, in a nationally recognized program, the best corporate governance practices for the board of directors of any size corporation, large or small, public or private. Learn why the board of directors is the most powerful force in the corporation and why it should act accordingly. Get the tools the board and individual directors need to do their job such as Mr. Gordon’s exclusive “Ten Commandments for the Board” (as a group) and the “Director Bill of Rights” (for individual directors). If you’ve ever served on a board, would like to serve on a board, or you're an attorney with corporate clients or director clients, or you’re an attorney who would like to have those types of clients, this course is for you.

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.