Wisconsin CLE requirements

The Corporate Transparency Act is going to change dramatically the way that founders and investors in privately-held companies interact with each other. The CTA, once implemented, will require roughly 25 million U.S. companies to file a beneficial ownership report with FinCEN, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Treasury. Each beneficial ownership report will contained personally-identifiable information (PII) about each of the company’s “company applicants” and “beneficial owners.” FinCEN will maintain a database of beneficial ownership information that will be confidential, but accessible by specific law enforcement agencies pursuant to regulations that FinCEN will adopt. Understanding how the CTA will change the interactions between founders and investors will allow attorneys to modify the contractual relations between those parties in anticipation of the CTA coming into effect.

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.

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.

In this course you will learn some of the most common ethical issues faced by lawyers today. We will address changing ethical obligations related to technology advancements as well as overseeing the actions of third-party vendors and non-lawyers within a law firm. We will also discuss the importance of attorney-client retainer agreements and ongoing duties owed to clients including communication and avoidance of conflicts.

In the COVID-19 pandemic environment and perhaps its aftermath, lawyers must operate in a virtual world that requires extensive use of technology. The pillars of professionalism – competence, civility, public and community service, and pro bono work to ensure access to justice – are always relevant. This era’s needs and concerns accentuate the tenets of professionalism, as the legal profession adopts and adapts to virtual practice and communicating professionally.

Intellectual Property Law is different than most areas of the law. In particular, attorneys that prosecute patents and file applications for trademarks practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”). As such, those attorneys—who are required to be licensed by a state and, thus, subject to its Model Rules of Professional Conduct—are also subject to and must follow the USPTO’s Rules of Professional Conduct. In this Overview on Ethics and the IP Attorney, attorneys learn some of the similarities and differences between the two sets of ethical rules, as well as analyze cases addressing some IP-specific ethical issues.

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.

Service dogs, assistance animals, emotional support animals, guide dogs, therapy animals, and ordinary pets—what’s the difference? Rules pertaining to assistance animals are complex, often puzzling, and ever shifting. In this introduction to the law of assistance animals, we unleash three foundational disability laws: the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Fair Housing Act, and explore the making of an assistance animal under each of these acts.

In this course, attorney and forensic expert Mark Silver delves into criminal mitigation strategies for the client suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder. Borderline Personality Disorder is among the least understood, and yet perhaps the most important mental health issues for criminal defense lawyers. As many as 6% of the population carry the diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder and the criteria for this mental health issue provide profound understanding regarding the criminal defendant's decision-making, behaviors and conduct, emotional instability, erratic conduct, impulsivity, depression and low self-esteem, and related matters. It is crucial for the criminal defense lawyer to be able to recognize borderline personality disorder in clients and know when to refer the case for an evaluation and/or how to use aspects of this disorder for mitigation purposes.Borderline Personality Disorder: Pre-plea and Pre-sentence Criminal Mitigation Strategies

Long-term disability claims are complex mixtures of insurance policy interpretation, medical, vocational, and financial issues, often injected with a dose of federal statutory and regulatory interpretation under ERISA. The process can be amplified in pressure by the difficult circumstances of a client who is sick or injured and simultaneously losing their job or occupation. The purpose of this program is to assist lawyers and those otherwise interested in identifying basic issues involved in preparing and filing a long-term disability claim and managing the claims process with the insurance company.

The purpose of this class is to educate legal professionals on how cell phone forensic evidence is extracted from cell phones, tablets, and other mobile devices. Explanations will be given on what is in accordance with forensic best practices, and how this evidence is properly preserved. In addition, attendees will learn about the fragile nature of digital evidence, and the extent to which this information can be changed if not handled correctly. Attendees will learn the types of evidence that can be recovered from cell phones, including location-based information, messaging application data, voicemails, multimedia such as photos and videos, meta-data, and more. The different forensic artifacts will be explained in detail. Given the rising instances of fake text messages and call spoofing, a section of this class will explain how this is commonly done, even by people with little technical knowledge, and how an investigation is performed todetermine the authenticity of such evidence. Upon completion of this class, attendees will have a working knowledge of how cell phone forensic data collections are performed, the types of forensic artifacts that are recoverable, how data is authenticated, and how such evidence can be used for their purposes when working a case.

This program is designed to provide a basic understanding of how to interview children, specifically children who have experienced trauma and may also be refugees. Attendees will gain a comprehension of the different developmental ages of children and learn techniques to effectively interview children to gather information for legal proceedings. The training will include sample questions and hypotheticals to practice these techniques.

This course is designed to give the participant an insight into how the sports world has changed because of COVID-19. We will discuss the renewed focus on some legal terms involved in contracts and ways the practice of sports law and the sports business will change moving forward.

Legal writing is perhaps the most important tool of the legal profession. Nonetheless, attorneys regularly violate ethical duties in their writing, and those violations go undetected. Systemic unethical legal writing impacts the entire legal profession, as well as those we serve and the community in which we practice. In this presentation, we examine seven common ethical issues in legal research, writing, and advocacy in the context of litigation. We examine the ethical duties of competence, diligence, and candor as embodied in the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. And how do tacos factor in? Well, you’ll just have to see—it just might guac your world!

This 60 minute course discusses a variety of Mediation Strategies from selection to preparing for and conducting the mediation. This course will provide an in-depth discussion of the mediation process in order to provide a better understanding for the effective use of mediation as a tool.

In 2012, the American Bar Association implemented “technical amendments” to a number of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct in order to address the evolution of technology in legal practice and the obligation to secure client data. We will discuss the amendments, subsequent ABA Formal Opinions clarifying the Rules’ application in practice, and basic steps needed to comply with the Rules. We will cover measures to secure the confidential client data on your firm network, individual computers, and mobile devices.

Solo and small firm attorneys often face the familiar challenge of handling work demands during peak times. How can a small firm continue to offer excellent client service when there are only so many hours in the day? Small firms often look outside to contract attorneys, co-counsel, or refer work out in order to ensure client needs are met. This program will discuss the ethical considerations involved when working with contract attorneys, co-counsel relationships, and referral relationships.

Opening your own law firm? Congratulations! You are officially an entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur you will face many challenges and you must operate your practice ethically and professionally. The law is a profession, but it is also a business and to maximize your chances of success you must have a plan. In the conclusion of this exciting two part presentation, hosted by a leading legal author, columnist and media personality who has operated a solo law practice out of his home for the past 25 years, you will learn best practices for dealing with clients and making sure your operations are profitable at all times.

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.

Networking and client outreach are key at many points in a legal career, from strengthening current client relationships to getting jobs to building your professional community. Yet many lawyers shy away from networking or worry about running afoul of ethical rules when talking to prospective clients. This CLE addresses key professional rules lawyers should follow when engaging in practice management activities and walks participants through the creation of a personalized plan designed to help them communicate with current and prospective clients in an effective and ethical way.