Missouri bundle (2024)

This one-hour course will provide attendees with a solid foundation for producing compelling written argument for oral argument that is backed by solid research. The course will also provide tips and tricks for producing clear and concise briefs and avoiding common pitfalls that often lead to losing a motion before setting foot in the courtroom.

When you try a case in front of a jury, it’s critical that you convey information in a way that best permits you to persuade those jurors. Learn how jurors understand evidence so you can create effective direct examinations that convince those jurors to find in your client’s favor. Learn the basic direct examination skills, including proper form and style of questioning, as well as advanced techniques to take your direct examinations to the next level.

Depositions are an aspect of litigation that is fraught with ethical peril. There is little ability by the opposing party to regulate the preparation of the deponent, because the opposing party is not present. Unless the parties invite court intervention, no judge is present during the deposition itself to police the way the deposition is defended and taken. The format of online depositions present additional challenges. In this course we’ll discuss ethical traps for the unwary in the context of a realistic hypothetical employment discrimination case where online depositions are occurring

The Fourth Amendment’s vague directive, which prohibits the government from conducting unreasonable searches and seizures, has been subject to perpetual (re)interpretation since the Founding Era. This is in part, by design. The amendment’s key terms are undefined, and thus their meanings have remained unfixed. Adding to the morass is assessing how courts should best enforce Fourth Amendment safeguards in this constantly evolving legal landscape. In this course, we will analyze how the U.S. Supreme Court (and other courts) has applied Fourth Amendment protections in resolving novel legal questions. We will also explore unresolved legal issues that courts are facing or will likely face soon. Participants in this course will gain an understanding of how Fourth Amendment law has recently changed and how the amendment’s protections might apply to individuals today.

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.

Many (if not most) people, including lawyers and law students, find reading and working with Federal statutes intimidating. In this course, you will learn from a person responsible for drafting many of the bills that became Federal law, what legislative drafting is, how Federal laws tend to be structured, how to parse through often confusing amendatory language, and how to craft a simple bill. This course will include a guided exercise using a hypothetical request for a bill involving none other than Little Red Riding Hood.

Very few, if any, areas of law possess the high levels of complexity and consequences as the analysis of, and response to, the collateral immigration consequences of criminal activity. When counseling non-citizens who have interacted with law enforcement, attorneys must consider a wide range of potential effects. What pleadings or sentences put their client on the radar of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”)? What will be the likelihood of ICE detention? Will the client become inadmissible to or deportable from the U.S? How will the potential immigration claims be affected—both affirmative and/or defensive? What about the ability to safely travel? Similarly, attorneys must know how to apply the appropriate analysis to outline all of the potential scenarios before the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or the Immigration Courts, and the risks and benefits attendant to each. This course will provide an overview of the main immigration consequences of criminal activity, including what you should look for and how to proceed from the initial consultation.

Cannabis businesses continue to require capital, but face many additional hurdles that most companies in other industries don’t have to address. This course will address these hurdles and other considerations that investors (and their counsel) must consider when evaluating a cannabis investment opportunity.

This course examines criminal mitigation in the instance of white-collar and middle-class defendants. Here, attorneys who may represent white collar criminal defendants gain an understanding of both the purpose and challenges of mitigation. Because the white collar criminal defendant is often demonized as a result of bias or prejudice from the community and prosecutor's office the psychosocial background issues must be understood in detail given particular challenges for this kind of criminal defendant in an effort to more fully advocate for them.

In this overview of trademark and trade dress law, we use famous and fun automobile cases to explore how trademark laws work in the realm of cars. We address the fundamentals of trademark law, including functionality, inherently distinctive trademarks, secondary meaning, and likelihood of confusion. We use fun car cases to explore the trademark limits of copying. And we see jurists sometimes disagreeing with each other on the role of trademark laws for automobiles. Along the way, we offer useful tips to protect and advise clients and prepare cases.

This course will provide an overview of copyright law following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Google v. Oracle. This course will discuss what happened in Google v. Oracle, address several cases that have been or may be implicated following Google v. Oracle, and then cover issues that remain to be resolved following Google v. Oracle.

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.

Representing clients in immigration court requires skill, innovation, and perseverance. In this program, immigration attorney Ruby L. Powers will lay the groundwork for understanding the elements of the removal hearing process, considerations during each stage, and best practices for success as an effective litigator in immigration court. Powers will share from her 14 years in practice, having represented clients in more than eight states in this Federal area of practice, in the detained and non-detained setting.

In this ethics program, we explore how to deal with biased and bad judges within the governing ethics standards. We address the fundamental ethics issues involved in challenging a judge for disqualification, as well as the ethics traps for lawyers who make the charge too easily. We use as a case example an explosive, interesting historical case from the Cold War — the serial deportation trials of Harry Bridges. We also use famous current cases to explore the bias issues, as well as improper race-based conduct by judges and lawyers. Along the way, we offer useful tips to protect and advise clients so you tread carefully and safely.

Social media is an ever-growing area that affects the practice of law, through attorney advertising, social networking, evidence collection, and monitoring. According to the Rules of Professional Conduct, attorneys must stay knowledgeable about anything that affects the practice of law, including social media. This course will touch on some of the basics of social media through various platforms. This course will also discuss the applicable rules of professional conduct that can be violated if attorneys are not careful regarding activity online. This course will address real-life case scenarios and examples of “what not to do”.

This course will address the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on civil rights and civil liberties in the United States. AI issues constitute a fast-changing legal landscape in which courts and regulators are attempting to keep pace with rapid technological changes. Automated decision systems now affect the housing, employment, education, and credit opportunities people are given. They also affect liberty and due process rights when used by government agencies. This course will provide an overview of key legal issues that are emerging in civil rights and liberties contexts because of the use of artificial intelligence.

In this beginning to intermediate course, learn from an expert with more than 14 years of asylum experience on the best practices and tips on how to prepare the asylum application and additional supplemental materials to put your client’s best case forward. Whether it's your first time, or you have experience, compare notes and learn suggestions from a diversified successful asylum practice by immigration attorney Ruby L. Powers. Learn asylum office specific advice on preferences for filing deadlines and specific details of various asylum offices. In addition to the application and supplemental materials, learn how to prepare your client for the best asylum interview or immigration court hearing experience. This course will cover the three sections of the affirmative asylum interview and best practices to prepare your client for a smooth experience in an already stressful process. Assimilate the best practices on how to prepare your client for the immigration court hearing and being cross examined by the trial attorney and the immigration judge. Study how to formulate and anticipate questions so your client will be prepared for the interview or hearing.

This course will provide an overview of the insurance coverage provided by Commercial General Liability (CGL) policies. This overview will include a summary of an insurer’s duties to defend and indemnify its policyholder for losses covered by the policy. The presentation will then provide an in-depth analysis of the 2013 Target data breach and ensuing insurance-coverage decision. Finally, the course will conclude with a discussion of the impact the Target decision will have on other policyholders with CGL policies.

In this course, Reid will share his lived experience coping with mental health issues as a lawyer, including the decision to publicly disclose his bipolar II diagnosis in 2017. You will learn how to identify signs of burnout and poor mental health in lawyers, as well as self-care techniques, coping skills, and mental fitness exercises to improve well-being and work performance. You will also learn about Reid’s volunteer and advocacy work to help others, including serving as a facilitator for peer support calls for the Lawyers Depression Project.

This program will provide a detailed overview of kinship proceedings in the New York Surrogate's Court from commencement to conclusion. When a person dies without a will, and the closest living relatives are distant (like cousins) a kinship proceeding is often necessary to determine who is entitled to inherit from the decedent's estate. This course will define what a kinship proceeding is, the various parties to a kinship proceeding, the substantive and procedural laws that govern kinship proceedings, and the tools and strategies necessary for success. Kinship proceedings are governed by an amalgamation of laws and regulations. This course provides an easy-to-use, organized guide to kinship proceedings.