Puerto Rico CLE requirements

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 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.

In 2006, social activist and author Tarana Burke introduced the world to the hashtag and phrase “metoo,” which provided a platform for thousands of employees to speak more candidly about sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior in the workplace. Many forms of sexual misconduct that were once tolerated by employees and employers, is no longer acceptable. Sexual harassment involving anyone from C-suite executives to hourly wage earners can expose an organization to great financial and reputational harm. In this program, counsel tasked with investigating sexual harassment allegations will learn how to implement preventative training and conduct comprehensive investigations. The program will review key steps needed to conduct a balanced investigation and help lawyers and investigators avoid the appearance of bias when dealing with an inherently sensitive subject. This course will also provide an overview of the “Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act,” the federal legislature passed by the U.S. Senate in February 2022.

This program provides a basic overview of business bankruptcy, from both the troubled business’s perspective and the creditors’ perspective. We will discuss common reasons why businesses file bankruptcy, and the objectives that businesses seek to achieve through bankruptcy. We will also discuss the basic “nuts and bolts” of bankruptcy, including the automatic stay, the treatment of executory contracts and unexpired leases, Chapter 11 plan confirmation requirements, and preference and fraudulent transfer actions.

This program will review the process of settling a final account and discharging a guardian in a Mental Hygiene Law Article 81 proceeding in New York– i.e., ending the guardianship completely or facilitating the appointment of a successor guardian. The course will give a practical overview of how to prepare a motion to settle a final account a/k/a discharge application, governing law, step-by-step procedure, procedural intricacies, how the process differs from county to county (and sometimes from judge to judge), and other court customs. The course will review the many reasons a guardian (or their ward) may seek discharge of the guardian, including regaining mental capacity, death of the incapacitated person, the transfer of a ward to a nursing home when the guardian is a community guardian program, discharge for wrongdoing, and other purposes.

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.

The two greatest sources of professional risk to attorneys come from overlapping sources – ethical obligations and legal duties to clients. Using real world examples, this course explores a national survey of claims against lawyers based on attorney malpractice and professional misconduct. Common ethical considerations and the relationship between professional responsibility and malpractice exposure will be explored along with growing cyber risks to attorneys. Related causes of action, common defenses and jurisdictional considerations will be reviewed as well as risk management techniques and best practices to mitigate such claims.

In-house lawyers are subject to the same ethics rules that govern all attorneys, but some attorneys become in-house counsel with the mistaken belief that legal ethics rules will be less problematic for them. This may be because they only represent one company and thus have few clients, or they act in a capacity other than a lawyer, for example, as vice president of a company. This program will introduce important ethics principles and rules that in-house counsel should be aware of. It will cover the Rule 1 series of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

Working well with others is one key to a successful business. Drafting strategically prepared collaboration agreements can be one of the most valuable services you can provide to your small business and startup clients. This course explains how to prepare for, and then draft agreements, collaboration agreements that will keep your clients’ businesses running effectively and keep them out of court.

In this one hour course, bankruptcy attorney Daniel Gershburg provides an in-depth review into the meeting of the creditors. The meeting of the creditors, better known as a 341 hearing, is required by the bankruptcy code and an essential aspect of any bankruptcy case. This meeting allows the bankruptcy trustee and creditors the chance to ask questions of the debtor, assess the completeness of bankruptcy documents, and verify claims. This course will discuss the questions that might be asked of your client, how your client should respond, and how to avoid traps that could get your client into trouble.

The Corporate Transparency Act will cause one of the greatest changes in corporate governance in our lifetimes. If you are already familiar with the basic provisions of the CTA, this class will prepare you to lead your company or law firm through the transition. We will explore (1) the key exemptions for companies that will be relieved from a duty to file, (2) the corporate governance mechanisms companies should adopt now to prepare for the CTA, and (3) the record-keeping and data management tools that companies and law firms will need to implement before this new law takes effect.

In a legal system where not everybody speaks English, court interpreters are crucial to overcome language barriers. This one-hour presentation is designed to provide attorneys with valuable information that will benefit their work with court interpreters during legal proceedings.

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.

No visa attracts more interest, frustration, and questions than the H-1B, which is subject to a strict numerical cap and much scrutiny. Immigration attorneys must be able to present clients with alternative options, while addressing a range of questions. Which nonimmigrant (temporary) visas most closely resemble the H-1B in terms of eligibility requirements, as well as benefits and restrictions? What other options might facilitate obtaining an immigrant visa (green card)? This course will provide a survey of nonimmigrant visa categories that typically apply to these circumstances, while considering issues such as timeframes, eligibility requirements, and how different categories might fit or conflict with each other––with the goal of providing the view with as much information as they need to help a client feel informed about and comfortable with the options presented.

Recently, there have been questions regarding income inequality that have fueled trends in questioning the wisdom and fairness of today’s executive compensation practice. In this course, we will dive into the latest ESG updates and review significant litigation highlights and case law, as well as examine recent compliance obligations and best practices.

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.

This presentation will cover what you need to know about outsourcing, how to use it, and how to avoid malpractice traps.We also cover other services regularly outsourced by firms, as well as the financial benefits of outsourcing, so that attorneys can stay focused on their cases. By attending this presentation, you'll learn how the ABAand State Bar Associations have applied ethical rules in the context of outsourcing legal services and support.

From Jones to Riley to Carpenter, the Supreme Court has changed the landscape of 4th and 5th Amendment law in the digital realm. This CLE will explore the effects of these landmark cases and identify areas of further challenges for the defense. Attendees will learn about how courts are applying the 4th and 5th Amendments to new forms of digital evidence and will learn to spot potential Constitutional Issues involving digital devices. Section one will take a look at the three seminal cases from the US Supreme Court dealing with digital evidence: Jones, Riley, and Carpenter. Section two will review cases based on Carpenter, and its impacts on various platforms such as Google and Facebook. Section three covers current case law regarding compelling suspects to turn over passwords or fingerprints to unlock cellphones.

This course will teach you the fundamentals of using federal Civil Rule 35 to take mental examinations, a discovery technique commonly used in employment cases by management to have a mental health practitioner intrusively question the plaintiff. We will discuss who can attend such an examination, the uses and misuse of “garden variety” emotional distress, the role of the treater and the treater as a “hybrid” witness, the reports required of a forensic expert and treater, as well as psychological testing and the controversy over malingering and the Fake Bad Scale, and tax treatment of emotional distress damages. By the end of this course you should be able to answer the following questions: Must the plaintiff endeavor to mitigate emotional distress damages? Can the defense conduct an ex parte interview of plaintiff's treater? And can the defense require the plaintiff to be interviewed by a vocational rehabilitation professional?

How is the United States going to meet its carbon emissions and renewable energy goals? The answer, friends, is blowin’ in the wind – offshore wind. In this introduction to offshore wind permitting and development, we will review the global and national history of offshore wind and describe the immense potential for offshore wind to contribute to the United States’ clean energy transition. We then will provide an overview of the players and layers of approvals required for an offshore wind project, and describe how state and federal momentum has aligned under the Biden-Harris Administration to advance the development of the offshore wind industry in the U.S. Finally, we will talk about what we expect to see as the U.S. offshore wind industry develops over the next few years.