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In this installment of our Double Play series, our two, thirty-minute programs cover what #Metoo means for you and crisis management in a post-#MeToo environment. Recent public campaigns against sexual harassment and assault (e.g., #MeToo, Time’s Up) reflect a sea change in how individuals make allegations, how the media covers them, and how the general public views the remedy or response. This program provides practical and actionable advice for companies on how to construct a workplace environment that rejects sexual harassment. The #MeToo movement has dramatically raised the stakes for companies facing allegations of workplace sexual harassment, which can quickly turn into a public relations crisis that needs to be managed. This program provides timely, valuable and practical advice for counsel facing the many challenges associated with investigating, defending and managing crises arising from workplace sexual harassment claims.
For better or worse, celebrity lookalikes and soundalikes are here to stay now that generative artificial intelligence (AI) platforms pioneered by companies like Open AI are widely available. Experienced intellectual property lawyer Peter Afrasiabi discusses the current controversy involving Scarlett Johansson and Open AI plus the “miracle” technology that allowed Val Kilmer to regain his speaking voice, while reviewing the key right of publicity and copyright laws and court decisions that govern the creation of lookalikes and soundalikes. Peter also takes you through the pros and cons of the Deepfakes Accountability Act, a proposed federal law that would create criminal and civil liability for creators of unauthorized deepfakes.
If you thought the rise of the Internet and services like Napster pushed the boundaries of the law, you ain’t seen nothing yet until you’ve seen artificial intelligence (“AI”). Experienced intellectual property lawyer Peter Afrasiabi provides an overview of AI – what is AI, how does it work and how is it impacting lawyering already? – and then reviews in detail some of the copyright, patent and right of publicity issues AI raises. Peter also previews some cases that are already working their way through the courts that seem likely to shape the future of AI for years to come.
While being a zealous advocate for your clients is of course an ethical obligation, it’s dangerous and unwise for lawyers to be overly-aggressive without considering the downsides. Experienced litigator and teacher of advocacy in law schools Peter Afrasiabi discusses the need to be balanced in your advocacy so you can avoid the downsides of over-aggressive lawyering, including lost opportunities, damaged credibility and lost objectivity. Peter also illustrates with vivid examples how following four key tenets of advocacy – integrity, competency, goodwill and dynamism – can make you the best possible advocate for your clients.
How did European rock star and liberal activist Bono persuade conservative North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms to withdraw his opposition to an AIDS Relief Bill when the two met face-to-face in September 2000? Bono achieved this unexpected result – that likely saved millions of lives around the world – through his mastery of the two cardinal principles of persuasion: storytelling and credibility. Drawing upon the timeless insights of Aristotle, Cicero and modern practitioners like Bono, Peter Afrasiabi reveals the secrets of persuasion that you can start using today in your practice (and your life) to make you a compelling advocate for the people and the causes you champion.
Not since the 1980’s has the Supreme Court taken up so many “fair use” copyright cases, reflecting the need to adjudicate often novel disputes between copyright holders and parties seeking to use copyrighted works in the context of new technologies. Experienced intellectual property and appellate litigator, Peter Afrasiabi sets the stage by tracing the history of the “fair use” doctrine over the past forty years and offers his predictions for how the Court’s decisions could substantially change how the “commercial” and “transformative” elements of the “fair use” test will apply going forward.
Fighting lawyers, fighting witnesses (literally), threats, put downs and other improper behavior – these are just a few of the deposition disasters that have been caught on camera, including infamous celebrity deponents Justin Bieber and Lil Wayne. In this entertaining program, veteran litigator Peter Afrasiabi chronicles some of the worst deposition disasters and the lessons that can be gleaned from the improper behavior of the lawyers and witnesses involved. This program will be useful for litigators of all levels and highly entertaining for lawyers of every stripe.
In this installment of our Double Play series, our two, thirty-minute programs cover avoiding class actions and limiting exposure with effective waivers. More than 5,000 class action lawsuits are filed each year in the state and federal courts in the United States, which means that thousands of lawyers just like you will face the unhappy task of dealing with a class action. Thankfully, there are steps we can take as lawyers to make sure our companies are not easy targets, and to deal effectively and efficiently with a class action lawsuit if and when one is filed. Is arbitration right for your company in agreements with its customers and employees? If it is, how do you craft an enforceable arbitration clause that includes a waiver of the right to assert claims on behalf of a class? This program tells you what you need to know -- and factors you must consider -- when thinking about including arbitration and class action waivers in your contracts.
In this installment of our Double Play series, our two, thirty-minute programs cover lessons from data breach war stories and responding to healthcare data breaches. Data breaches are so common and affect nearly every industry, is there anything your company can do to prepare for what are always chaotic and highly fact-specific crises? In this program, you'll learn the lessons of some data breach cases that can help you protect your company when facing a data breach. This program also provides timely, actionable advice that includes the 5 things you can start doing today to help prevent data breaches and better prepare your company to respond to them if they do occur, focusing on the healthcare space where data breaches can include disclosure of personal health information regulated by state and federal laws including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
The right of every person to control the commercial use of his or her identity – also known as the right of publicity – is of paramount concern for celebrities whose names, images, likenesses and voices can generate millions of dollars in revenue. This program reviews the statutory and common law foundations of the right of publicity while discussing the legal issues that have arisen in famous cases involving celebrities (living and dead) including Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Bob Dylan, Bette Midler, Nancy Sinatra, Vanna White and Jimi Hendrix.
Having spent more than twenty-five years as a law firm and in-house litigator and now as a client, Zach McGee provides critical advice for litigators of all levels who are preparing their clients to testify in depositions in civil cases, with a special focus on the unique issues you tend to face when preparing CEOs, directors and other senior executives. This program also reviews the many benefits of using a deposition prep video program with your clients to help prepare them to testify.
Experienced First Amendment litigator Peter Afrasiabi uses the facts of the notorious Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial to provide an expert overview of the tort of defamation, including the elements, defenses and damages. This program includes several critical pieces of advice for practitioners who may be considering filing a defamation claim on behalf of a client to avoid the many traps for the unwary that lie in wait in cases where allegedly defamatory statements are placed in issue.
What is the difference between a design patent and a utility patent and which receives more protection under federal law? Peter Afrasiabi answers this question while explaining the key aspects of patent law, common defenses to patent claims including functionality, obviousness, invalidity/prior art and potential damages in the context of famous patent cases involving Apple, LA Gear, Crocs, Nike and Columbia Sportswear. Peter also shares valuable practice pointers for lawyers grappling with patent issues and claims.
How well do you know the requirements for use of a work to qualify as “fair use” under copyright law? Experienced intellectual property litigator Peter Afrasiabi explains the rules in clear terms – for copyright aficionados and novices alike – while engaging in a lively discussion of key cases where famous works by Dr. Seuss, J.D. Salinger, Raymond Carver, Elvis, Prince, U2, Green Day, Gene Roddenberry (the creator of Star Trek) and many more were at issue.
When is a trademark famous enough to receive heightened protection under federal law, including protection from being diluted by other similar marks? Peter Afrasiabi discusses the key contours of trademark law and trademark dilution claims in the context of litigation over famous marks including Jack Daniels, Porsche, Victoria’s Secret, Sony, Spotify and Pinterest.
Everyone knows that the First Amendment safeguards freedom of speech from government intervention, but does that protection extend to speech that is hateful, offensive or incites violence? Peter Afrasiabi reviews the history of free speech protections in the United States — from famous cases involving flag burning, Nazi marches and anti-war protests — and carries it through to present day controversies including cyberstalkers who send messages threating violence and former President Donald Trump who made statements targeting protesters at a campaign rally.
Veteran litigator Andrew Struve provides an overview of common forms of insurance coverage and discusses the key legal issues raised by various policies, including occurrence versus claims-made policies, notice of claims, and the duties to defend and indemnify, as well as many issues unique to Comprehensive General Liability (“CGL”), Employment Practices Liability Insurance (“EPLI”), and Directors & Officers Liability (“D&O”) policies. In the course of the program, Mr. Struve also provides invaluable guidance and practice pointers of which every lawyer should be aware when dealing with issues that implicate insurance policies.
Veteran litigator Andrew Struve shares his list of things lawyers should take care not to do if they want to avoid pissing off the judges hearing their matters. The insights range from the obvious (if you stop to think about them) to the very subtle (including some that only the most experienced litigators know) and his guidance will be highly beneficial for all litigators – whether you’ve been practicing for 20 minutes or 20 years. The program includes a handy checklist of 30 things you should never do in court that you’ll find yourself consulting again and again as you prepare for each new court appearance.
You’ve landed a coveted job as an associate at a BigLaw firm – now what? Veteran law firm lawyer Andrew Struve shares his sage advice gleaned from decades of service on BigLaw firm management, associate review, assignment and promotion committees on what you should do – and definitely should not do – if you want to succeed in this environment. Paying careful attention to Andrew’s insights might help you become a rockstar associate, and also might save you from needlessly wrecking your legal career. This program will benefit associates of all levels working in all manner of law firms whether large or small.
Experienced intellectual property litigator Peter Afrasiabi provides an overview of the key copyright, patent, trademark and trade secret questions that transactional lawyers should be asking when they perform due diligence reviews on behalf of their clients. Intellectual property assets are different from traditional assets in many critical respects, and failure to ask the right questions could lead to unpleasant surprises – and litigation – after a transaction is consummated. The course includes a checklist every transactional lawyer should be using when performing due diligence of valuable copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret assets to ensure that all the bases are covered.
Advising a client in connection with the acquisition of a business or real estate? Did you know that counterintuitive intellectual property laws can limit your client’s ownership interest in the subject of the acquisition or expose your client to millions in hidden liabilities? Experienced intellectual property lawyer Peter Afrasiabi reveals these traps for the unwary, including moral rights in certain art works, statutory damages for copyright infringement, lack of copyright ownership for works created by independent contractors and trademark counterfeiting mistakes, and what steps you can take to protect your clients from these risks.
For transactional lawyers and litigators in California, and importantly, for those outside the state who may have clients that send goods into commerce that may touch California, this program provides an important overview of California’s famed – and feared – unfair competition law: Business and Professions Code Section 17200. Experienced litigator Peter Afrasiabi provides an overview of Section 17200, including a discussion of recent California Supreme Court decisions interpreting the law, as well as several key practice pointers to help you avoid the pitfalls and liability traps Section 17200 creates for the unwary.
Did the TV series “Battlestar Galactica” infringe on the copyrights owned by Lucasfilm in the movie “Star Wars”? Experienced intellectual property litigator Peter Afrasiabi reviews this famous case and several others where the copyright, trademark and right of publicity interests in “Star Wars” were litigated. Along the way, Peter provides an expert overview of copyright, trademark and right of publicity law that will be useful for all practitioners.
Did you know that authors have “moral rights” that allow them to exercise some measure of control over their works even after those works are sold? In the United States, moral rights are codified in the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (“VARA”) and subsequent case law. Experienced intellectual property litigator Peter Afrasiabi provides an introduction to moral rights while discussing key cases interpreting VARA in the context of various works of art including murals, sculptures, street graffiti, “living art” such as gardens, and other interesting examples.
In this installment of our Double Play series, our two, thirty-minute programs cover five lessons from white-collar investigations and conducting defensible internal investigations. There are few things senior executives fear more than criminal prosecution, and that's with good reason because being prosecuted can ruin lives, reputations, finances -- both corporate and personal -- marriages, and families. This program provides practical advice for counsel on how their companies can seek to avoid triggering a criminal investigation and what to do if you're faced with one. With whistleblower complaints skyrocketing, how can companies conduct internal investigations that will be defensible to the SEC and other regulators? This program shares five key lessons for in-house lawyers as they are considering launching, managing and reporting the results of internal investigations.
In this installment of our Triple Play series, our three, thirty-minute programs cover what separates the best in-house lawyers from the rest, mitigating risks and managing costs in complex litigation and Negotiation 101. Most in-house lawyers meet the basic requirements of their jobs, responding to internal clients and keeping up to date on the relevant law. But what makes an in-house lawyer stand out as a great lawyer? There are six key areas where in-house lawyers should focus their efforts. As a lawyer who manages litigation, mitigating risks may seem at odds with managing costs. In this business of law program, you will learn how companies are using their own data to manage both litigation risk and cost. For years, law and business schools throughout the world have been teaching proven strategies and techniques that can make you a better negotiator. This program distills those teachings into the most important concepts and techniques that the best negotiators use to achieve great results.
Legal writing is something you do every day, but not all lawyers do it as well as they should. Legal writing often goes wrong because we started writing before we took sufficient time to consider the audience and the goal we are trying to achieve. In this program, veteran litigator Andrew Struve provides sage advice and practical tips for effective and persuasive legal writing including how to: Tailor your writing to appeal to the reader and to achieve your underlying purpose; Focus your writing to achieve the key objectives of clarity, organization, conciseness, persuasiveness and credibility; and Avoid common errors that distract the reader and detract from the persuasiveness of your writing. The program includes an outline of tips and tricks that you can refer to the next time you are drafting an important legal document.
In this installment of our Double Play series, our two, thirty-minute programs cover winning on appeal and how to know if your litigator is failing you. Whether you’ve won or lost in the trial court, pivoting successfully from trial court to appellate litigator can make the difference between losing and winning your appeal. This program guides you through the strategic decisions you need to make and the practical steps you need to follow to brief, argue and win your next appeal. Just because very few cases end up going to trial doesn't mean you don't need to prepare for trial in every case. Successfully defending claims in litigation requires your company to tell a compelling story to the judge and jury, and trial lawyers are highly skilled at developing and telling those stories. This program provides valuable insights and advice for in-house counsel selecting outside litigators and managing litigation from commencement through to settlement or trial.
Much legal talk these days is about the weaponization of the legal system to push political persecutions. This program looks at an actual case of a weaponized legal system, what the Supreme Court called a “crusade,” by exploring the Cold War trials of Harry Bridges. Experienced intellectual property lawyer Peter Afrasiabi, who authored the definitive book on the Harry Bridges trials from National Archive and FBI FOIA records, takes one of the four trials Bridges was subjected to, and looks at how the legal system was contorted to produce what was persecution by prosecution, identifying along the way some of the issues that led the Supreme Court to so conclude. It looks at the law relating to bills of attainder, the use of infirm hearsay evidence for substantive purposes instead of impeachment, the nature of how federal courts review trial court decisions, and agency deference. At the same time, there are some lessons learned from that case in terms of advocacy for lawyers litigating in the trenches of these cases so as to maintain balance and not overstep their bounds in making counter charges. It gives a roadmap to identify a true example of an as-found weaponized legal system. Part 1 will leave you wanting to see Part 2 and the subsequent trials that again returned Bridges to the Supreme Court.
Much legal talk these days is about the weaponization of the legal system to push political persecutions. This program looks at an actual case of a weaponized legal system, what the Supreme Court called a “crusade,” by exploring the Cold War trials of Harry Bridges. In part two of this program, experienced intellectual property lawyer Peter Afrasiabi, who authored the definitive book on the Harry Bridges trials from National Archive and FBI FOIA records, finishes the story by discussing the perjury trial of Bridges that stands as yet another example of how the legal system was contorted to produce what was persecution by prosecution.
In this installment of our Double Play series, our two, thirty-minute programs cover The Drying of the World and the Cannabis Industry Gold Rush. What would your company do if it ran out of water? For many reasons -- including climate change and population growth -- this is not merely a hypothetical but a real risk that your company needs to assess and manage. This program provides the guidance you need to evaluate and address the water risks your company faces while suggesting ways your company may be able to transform water risks into business opportunities. In the United States, cannabis is growing faster than any other industry and is expected to generate over $20 billion by 2020. But investing in cannabis, or doing business with companies involved in cannabis production or distribution, comes with substantial legal and other risks. This program offers practical advice to avoid the most common pitfalls when companies choose to invest in cannabis or do business with companies in that industry.
Arguing appeals is its own art, and arguing immigration appeals adds a level of complexity. Peter Afrasiabi has litigated well over 100 immigration appeals, and uses that experience and his advocacy teaching experience, to give you a nuts-and-bolts program here on how to prepare to argue your immigration appeal. With real world examples and a specific multi-step process to employ, this program will arm you to be present the best appellate argument possible in the context of the highly politicized immigration arena.
This course provides a fascinating overview of basic IP law with a focus on the specific rules that get triggered by clients who are in industries that push the edges of social norms, such as medical marijuana, adult content and the rock n roll music industry. It also addresses the fascinating morality standards that apply and are used sometimes in the trademarking and patenting process to limit the scope of trademarks and patents in matter that is deemed scandalous by the government.
In this installment of our Triple Play series, our three, thirty-minute programs cover false advertising litigation, companies discovering social media and copyright takedowns, shakedowns and the DMCA safe harbor. These days, manufacturers of nearly every consumer product under the sun are catching false advertising claims. If you make a consumer-facing product, the odds are, litigation like this is not a matter of if but when, which means, false advertising litigation is just another business risk to be managed, mitigated, and optimized. This program takes a closer look at the landscape, and offers some practical advice and key considerations for how a business might implement some systems to manage this risk. Social media can be a powerful tool for companies to help build relationships with their customers and employees. However, with the benefits of this tool come corresponding risks. If your company distributes content on-line, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act can be your best friend -- and your worst enemy -- often at the same time. This program gives you the advice you need to prosecute or defend on-line copyright infringement claims.
What is storytelling and why is it so important for all lawyers – litigators, transactional and in-house lawyers – to do it well in service of their clients? Experienced appellate lawyer and advocacy teacher at the UC Irvine School of Law Peter Afrasiabi shares the secrets of storytelling that you can help make you an even more compelling and credible advocate for your clients in any fora and when it matters most.
The COVID-19 pandemic made taking and defending depositions remotely a necessity, but the many benefits of this procedure, including time, efficiency, cost, and avoidance of unnecessary travel, ensure that remote depositions are here to stay. Experienced litigator Andrew Struve guides you through what we have learned about remote depositions so far and provides you with the key advice that you need to ensure that your next experience taking or defending a deposition remotely achieves the best possible results for you and your clients.
Technological advances such as generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) (e.g., ChatGPT) and remote communication platforms (e.g., Zoom, Teams, etc.) are driving rapid changes in the practice of law for both transactional lawyers and litigators alike. Experienced intellectual property lawyer Peter Afrasiabi explains how these new technologies work and offers sage advice on how best to integrate them into your practice. Peter also reviews the benefits and risks that can arise under the law and the legal ethics rules that you need to consider carefully before diving headfirst into this brave new world.
What are “deepfakes”? What legal remedies are available to someone who has had their name, image, likeness and/or voice used in a deepfake without their authorization? In the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi answers these and other key questions that surround the use of generative artificial intelligence tools to create deepfakes.
With anti-war protests raging on college campuses throughout the country, the time is right to revisit some of the epic legal battles that were fought over the First Amendment’s guarantees of freedom of speech, press and religion during the Vietnam War era. In the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi reviews landmark Supreme Court decisions in cases involving draft card and flag burning and other anti-war messaging, publication of the Pentagon Papers, conscientious objectors to the draft and claims that the war itself was illegal.
Ever look at a legal ruling or law and muse, “You Just Can’t Make it Up?” This episode of The Curious Lawyer series takes you on an odyssey through a variety of laws and legal rulings that are hard to square the circle on. Strip searched by police for not putting your dog on a leash? A private right to adult consensual sex without government interference, yet state liability regimes that can lead to civil liability for adultery? State prohibitions on possession of too many sex toys, but federal grants of patents for sex toys because they are useful devices? Liability for men who question a woman’s chastity? No marijuana trademarks, but a plethora of marijuana patents, even to the US government no less? From fortune tellers to loud muscle cars to cross dressing, and everything in between, this program will leave you laughing and crying as you look at constitutional, criminal, tort and IP law through a lens that leaves you scratching your head.
Would it surprise you to learn that multi-million dollar legal battles have been fought over shoes? In the latest installment of this popular series, Peter Afrasiabi provides expert analysis of the “shoe wars,” including how courts apply the law of trademark, patent and trade dress to footwear designs in cases involving famous brands such as Adidas, Sketchers, Christian Louboutin, Yves Saint Laurent, Nike, Steve Madden, Converse and Crocs.
In the next installment of this popular series, grab a beer and a box of Cracker Jack as Peter Afrasiabi walks you through the unique legal position that America’s pastime occupies in the United States. From the first pitch -- when the Supreme Court initially conferred regulatory immunity upon the sport – through to what may be the final out – more recent decisions such as NCAA v. Alston that have opened the door for amateur athletes to profit from their names and likenesses, Peter will make you a legal expert on baseball in nine innings or less.
Did you know that the Eighth Amendment – which prohibits excessive bail, excessive fines and cruel and unusual punishments – has been used to challenge not only the death penalty, but also the imposition of solitary confinement and the even requirement of cash bail? In the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi takes a deep dive into each of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights, reminding us what each amendment protects and illustrating its impact on the other constitutional protections we enjoy. Whether you are a budding constitutional scholar or simply looking for interesting facts to share at a cocktail party, the Bill of Rights series is for you.
The breadth and depth of the Fifth Amendment’s protections are unparalleled: it guarantees each of us the fundamental rights of indictment by grand jury, no double jeopardy, no self-incrimination, fair trials and just compensation for taken property. In the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi takes a deep dive into each of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights, reminding us what each amendment protects and illustrating its impact on the other constitutional protections we enjoy. Whether you are a budding constitutional scholar or simply looking for interesting facts to share at a cocktail party, the Bill of Rights series is for you.
From polygamy and abolitionism in the 1800’s, to socialist and anti-war movements in the 1900’s to same-sex marriage in the 2000’s, the First Amendment is the vehicle through which social issues of the day become test cases. While content and viewpoint limits generally fail to pass constitutional muster, other types of speech such as obscenity, fighting words and defamation receive less protection and may be restricted by the government under certain conditions. In the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi takes a deep dive into each of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights, reminding us what each amendment protects and illustrating its impact on the other constitutional protections we enjoy. Whether you are a budding constitutional scholar or simply looking for interesting facts to share at a cocktail party, the Bill of Rights series is for you.
Does the Fourth Amendment – which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures – bar law enforcement agencies from using on-line search histories, text messages, thermal tracking, GPS data or cellular phone pings to find and prosecute individuals? In the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi takes a deep dive into each of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights, reminding us what each amendment protects and illustrating its impact on the other constitutional protections we enjoy. Whether you are a budding constitutional scholar or simply looking for interesting facts to share at a cocktail party, the Bill of Rights series is for you.
Did you know that the Ninth Amendment – which provides that rights enumerated in the U.S. Constitution shall not be construed to deny other rights held by the people – is part of the reason you have a constitutionally-protected right to use contraceptives? In the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi takes a deep dive into each of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights, reminding us what each amendment protects and illustrating its impact on the other constitutional protections we enjoy. Whether you are a budding constitutional scholar or simply looking for interesting facts to share at a cocktail party, the Bill of Rights series is for you.
Did you know that the U.S. Supreme Court had decided only two cases interpreting the Second Amendment prior to 2008? Since then, and starting with the Supreme Court’s Heller decision, the Second Amendment has become a hotbed of activity at the High Court and in the lower federal with important decisions coming down nearly every year. In the latest installment of this popular series, Peter Afrasiabitakes a deep dive into each of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights, reminding us what each amendment protects and illustrating its impact on the other constitutional protections we enjoy.
Did you know that the Seventh Amendment – which guarantees the right to a trial by jury in certain cases – does not require jury trials in civil cases in state courts? In the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi takes a deep dive into each of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights, reminding us what each amendment protects and illustrating its impact on the other constitutional protections we enjoy. Whether you are a budding constitutional scholar or simply looking for interesting facts to share at a cocktail party, the Bill of Rights series is for you.
How well do you know the scope of the Sixth Amendment’s fundamental guarantees of the rights to trial, counsel, an impartial jury and ability to confront the witnesses against you? In the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi takes a deep dive into each of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights, reminding us what each amendment protects and illustrating its impact on the other constitutional protections we enjoy. Whether you are a budding constitutional scholar or simply looking for interesting facts to share at a cocktail party, the Bill of Rights series is for you.
Could a President of the United States order a nationwide lockdown in response to a future pandemic? The answer lies in part on the meaning of the Tenth Amendment’s reservation of non-delegated powers to the states. In the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi takes a deep dive into each of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights, reminding us what each amendment protects and illustrating its impact on the other constitutional protections we enjoy. Whether you are a budding constitutional scholar or simply looking for interesting facts to share at a cocktail party, the Bill of Rights series is for you.
Did you know that the Third Amendment – which prohibits quartering soldiers in private homes – is part of the reason you have a constitutionally-protected right to use contraceptives? In the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi takes a deep dive into each of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights, reminding us what each amendment protects and illustrating its impact on the other constitutional protections we enjoy. Whether you are a budding constitutional scholar or simply looking for interesting facts to share at a cocktail party, the Bill of Rights series is for you.
The Flag, National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance are all symbols of our nation but did you know these symbols are governed by a detailed set of federal laws? These laws define the flag’s appearance, how it must be flown, and how it must be treated and respected, as well as how we stand during the Pledge and for the National Anthem. In the latest installment of this popular series, Peter Afrasiabi takes you on a fun, interesting journey through the federal laws related to our national symbols, with a look at cases involving flag desecration and flag burning and the First Amendment. We also explore the First Amendment and the challenges to the Pledge of Allegiance’s phrase “one Nation under God,” and we look at a series of cases involving the flying and display of the Confederate flag and its constitutionality.
In the next installment of this popular series, Peter Afrasiabi asks a simple question: Are you ready for some football? For more than 150 years, the game of football has occupied a unique position in the United States in terms of the legal regime that governs teams and the leagues in which they play. Peter discusses the antitrust decisions and other key developments that have allowed American football to become the global powerhouse it is today.
How is it possible to get a DUI while parked in your own garage? Can the police search your home after you call 911 for a medical emergency? In the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi answers these and other interesting questions while reviewing some of craziest, funniest and most bizarre cases that test the bounds of the Fourth Amendment’s protections against warrantless searches and seizures.
We all love going to concerts, but have you ever pondered the copyright and contract issues that permeate your experience? Experienced intellectual property lawyer Peter Afrasiabi takes you on a fun, interesting journey through the fascinating copyright issues that dramatize our concert experiences. For litigators or transactional lawyers, no IP background is required, as you explore issues from the public performance right to singers and bands doing covers to Green Day’s famous fair use case involving concert artwork. This program will give you a great overview of copyright law fundamentals, the exclusive rights, infringement, and fair use, all while allowing you to better understand what copyright law is doing in the background of our live music events from the moment we arrive to the performance to our post-show uploading of our phone footage. And we get a couple of fun sidebars, one on some contract law relating to the parking structures and limitation of liability disclaimers on parking tickets and one sidebar on artists seeking to delimit political candidates playing their songs at concert venues.
Who killed JFK? While he doesn’t answer that question, in the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi discusses several legal issues arising from the assassination of President Kennedy including copyright, freedom of speech and the press, government takings, prosecutorial overreach, access to government records, and antitrust.
This episode of the Curious Lawyer takes you on an odyssey through the country’s history with jail-for-speech in criminal libel prosecutions. In this fascinating latest installment of the Curious Lawyer series, host Peter Afrasiabi you on an intriguing look at pre-Republic, post-Republic Sedition Act prosecutions and modern 20th century and even 21st century decisions on criminal libel. At various moments we listen in on various Supreme Court oral arguments over the decades on criminal libel and answer key questions: Can you be punished criminally for libeling someone in the 21st century? What is the exact standard today? And if the seminal New York Times v. Sullivan “actual malice” decision is reversed as Justice Thomas has long argued, what will that mean for criminal libel standards? With stops along the way on state laws that criminalize questioning a woman’s chastity to imprisoning labor leader Harry Bridges during the Korean War for speaking against the nation’s war effort to even famed JFK conspiracy theory prosecutor Jim Garrison’s criminal conviction for his libelous speech about judges in his community, this will be a fun, entertaining and educational look at criminal libel law.
Can a state secede? It is unconstitutional? The answer is not as crystal clear as you may think. In this program, Peter Afrasiabi takes you on a fun, interesting journey asking these questions: What does the Constitution say about secession? What does it implicitly say? How do the tenth and fourteenth amendments impact the analysis? What is the scope of the Supreme Court’s post-Civil War opinion on this question? By looking at these questions and some of the data about growing secession movements form California to Texas, as well as some famed legal scholars works on the question, this program gives you all the legal arguments for and against the question of the constitutionality of secession.
Would it surprise you to learn that multi-million dollar legal battles have been fought over shoes? In the latest installment of this popular series, Peter Afrasiabi provides expert analysis of the “shoe wars,” including how courts apply the law of trademark, patent and trade dress to footwear designs in cases involving famous brands such as Adidas, Sketchers, Christian Louboutin, Yves Saint Laurent, Nike, Steve Madden, Converse and Crocs.
Social media is now ubiquitous as a series of platforms by which people communicate and transmit information. In this fun and interesting program, explore social media and how the law regulates the social media sites. This program explores the two major pillars of immunity form the 1990’s that facilitated social media growth, the immunity from state tort liability for defamation and state torts, and the copyright immunity for infringement on their sites. Surveying state and federal cases, experienced intellectual property lawyer Peter Afrasiabi takes you on a fun, interesting journey through the case law of myriad social media and ubiquitous platforms like Twitter, LiveJournal, Yelp, YouTube, Yahoo, and Facebook, looking at cases where immunity has protected them and a few instances where immunity has not saved them. And we also explore the expansive rights you give up at the moment you upload content, from the broad grant of copyright licenses and even grants of licenses to your personal right of publicity. You may be shocked when you are done at just how much social media sites depend upon both user individual gifts of content and congressional grants of immunity to do what they do.
You’ve probably heard of the Supreme Court’s “shadow docket,” but do you know how it can be used to affect the Court’s rulings? In the next installment of this popular series, Peter Afrasiabi reviews the origins and current usage of the “shadow docket,” including some proposed reforms to the practice. Peter also discusses the broader topic of transparency at the Court in light of the unprecedented leak of a draft opinion, the use of live audio feeds of oral arguments during COVID and other recent developments.
It’s all over the news in recent months, so we ask can President Trump use this 1798 law that relates to protecting against invasions to arrest and deport large numbers of people? What is the scope of the law? How limited is judicial review of Presidential proclamations under the law? In this fascinating latest installment of the Curious Lawyer series, host Peter Afrasiabi takes you through the 1798 Act and the three major times that presidents have used it. From Supreme Court cases in World War 2 to other federal cases in World War 1 to cases after the War of 1812, this program examines the statute, case law, judicial review limits, and the political question doctrine, all of which intersect to give you a full overview of the state of the law as it relates to this Act. This program then looks at the arguments on each side of whether the law’s provisions for presidential power to quell invasions can be used to arrest and deport certain immigrant groups.
Is democracy dying? Do we need a new constitutional convention? Can a state secede? Is Rome burning?!! The questions everyone talks about are explored by looking at the electoral college system, and other legal aspects of our Constitution, to assess how it works, why we have it, and if it is actually driving a breakdown in constitutional functioning today. With an interview with Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of UC Berkeley School of Law on his 2024 hit book, No Democracy Lasts Forever, this episode of the Curious Lawyer takes you on a quest to learn about the electoral college, how the Supreme Court has confronted it over the last two centuries, and the breakdown in the 21st century between popular vote and electoral victories. With stops along the way on the 2025 brewing battles between the Executive and Judiciary, a look at the arguments related to the constitutionality or lack thereof of secession, this fun, dynamic program will you challenge your ideas about the fragility of our Constitution.
In 48 hours in Dallas in November 1963, JFK was assassinated, Oswald was arrested for his murder, and Oswald was then murdered in the prison lobby by Jack Ruby. The Jack Ruby trial sits often in the shadows of the larger JFK assassination issue. In this fascinating latest installment of the Curious Lawyer series, host Peter Afrasiabi takes you on an intriguing look at a variety of legal issues, from murder to premeditated murder standards. And we explore the insanity defense, as Ruby claimed he was overcome by grief at the murder of the President and just killed Oswald in a moment of insanity. At the same time, the case raises issues of venue and fair venues for high profile trials, an issue that affects us to this day. We won’t answer who killed JFK, but we will look at Ruby’s murder of Oswald and whether there was evidence that Ruby himself was part of a conspiracy to kill Oswald.
When Facebook’s parent company changed its name to “Meta,” was that the first time you heard the term “Metaverse”? What is “The Metaverse” and what legal issues does it raise as people begin to socialize, work and share experiences in this new virtual/augmented reality space? In the latest installment of this popular series, Peter Afrasiabi answers these important questions that already are creating issues of first impression in copyright, trademark, right of publicity, criminal and sex law.
Is there a part of Yellowstone National Park where no one may be charged with any crime? Peter Afrasiabi traces the history of Yellowstone and examines relevant provisions of the U.S. Constitution and federal law to provide an answer to this fascinating legal question.
As a lawyer who doesn’t practice constitutional law, how much do you really know about the right to privacy – the right Justice Brandeis famously called “the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men”? In the latest installment of this popular series, Peter Afrasiabi traces the origins of the constitutional right to privacy and explains how this right also protects us today under state statutes, common and tort law. The discussion includes famous cases involving Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis, Barbra Steisand, Bette Midler and Vanna White who sued to block paparazzi and others from using their names, images, likenesses or voices for commercial gain.
What is “slavery,” what is “involuntary servitude” and where do courts draw the lines between forced labor, physical coercion and civic duties that sometimes require free labor? The answers lie in part on the meaning of the Thirteenth Amendment. In the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi takes a deep dive into this amendment, reminding us what it protects and illustrating its impact on the other constitutional protections we enjoy. Whether you are a budding constitutional scholar or simply looking for interesting facts to share at a cocktail party, this constitutional law series is for you.
In the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi considers some fundamental questions about travel such as: Do you have a constitutional right to travel and can that right be suspended in emergencies? Why does the TSA have the right to search you and your luggage when you board a flight without a warrant or even reasonable suspicion? In this entertaining and informative program, Peter takes you on a world tour of the law as it relates to travel.
Are we alone in the universe? While he doesn’t answer this question, in the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi reviews the scope of FOIA and FOIA litigation over government documents relating to UFO sightings as well as the law that governs fascinating issues such as ownership of the moon, comets and other extraterrestrial objects.
Can habeas corpus be used to challenge the detention of Happy the Elephant? Can Naruto the Monkey claim copyright authorship of a selfie he took while playing with a photographer’s camera? In the latest installment of “The Curious Lawyer” series, Peter Afrasiabi answers these and other interesting questions that surround the captivity, transportation, use and care of all manner of wild, domesticated and livestock animals under federal and state law.
Drawing upon decades of practical experience and research, Ted Russell shines a bright light on the dirty tricks that other parties are probably already playing on you in negotiations. These tactics are not just explained in concise terms, but they are demonstrated
using professional actors who engage in these dirty tricks right before your eyes.
Law schools, law firms and other CLE programs teach you how to “Think Like A Lawyer,” but succeeding in a law firm environment also requires you to “Think Like A Client” so that your clients will like and respect you, and ideally, want to hire you again and again. Having spent more than twenty-five years as a law firm litigator, an in-house lawyer and now as a client, Zach McGee offers law firm lawyers at every level sage advice on what you should be doing -- and what you should not be doing -- to put your best foot forward when working with your clients.
As lawyers, we make arguments on behalf of our clients every day, but how often do we pause to consider the fundamental principles of advocacy that can help make our arguments as persuasive as possible to our intended audience? Experienced trial and appellate lawyer, law professor and co-author of the book “To Prove, To Please, To Move: Timeless Principles of Legal Advocacy,” Peter Afrasiabi explains how you can use the fundamental insights of Aristotle, Cicero and other great advocates to make your best arguments on behalf of your clients.
Emerging artificial intelligence technology now allows human voices to be mimicked with incredible accuracy in addition to more traditional means of using soundalikes. Where voices of famous people are copied without their consent, the right of publicity under state law is set on a collision course with federal copyright law and in some cases, the First Amendment as well. Veteran intellectual property lawyer Peter Afrasiabi traces the origins of the right of publicity and explains how this right applies when recordings of mimicked human voices are used for commercial exploitation.
Thinking of getting a tattoo? Even lawyers are surprised to learn that, among the many things you should consider before taking the plunge, tattoos can raise significant legal issues including substantive infringement, implied licenses and fair use under copyright law. Experienced intellectual property lawyer Peter Afrasiabi discusses these issues in a fun and engaging program that will make you a legal expert on tattoos before the ink is dry on your new creation.
Did you know that famous cases involving the original Superman comic books and classic works by John Steinbeck can have serious implications for your clients, particularly if you represent artists, writers, musicians, architects or even engineers? Experienced intellectual property litigator Peter Afrasiabi provides the key guidance that you need to know about how copyright operates when estates are transferred, including that previously assigned copyrights can be recovered by authors or heirs, transfer of copyright through a trust is not protected and copyrighted works are assets that may be worth large sums of money to heirs of the creator.
Experienced intellectual property litigator Peter Afrasiabi discusses online tort liability and the federal safe harbors that govern on-line platforms such as Yelp and YouTube under the Communications Decency and Digital Millennium Copyright Acts. This program also explains how copyright infringement principles operate in the Internet world, and how the safe harbors work to protect online service providers . . . and where they don't.
Handling a lying witness – whether on deposition or on the witness stand at trial – requires both careful planning and consideration of your overall case strategy. Experienced trial lawyer Paul Fraidenburgh gives expert guidance on what steps you should take when a witness you are examining strays from the facts to ensure that you maximize the benefits for the client you represent. Paul will share valuable tips that will help you with your examinations of all witnesses (lay and expert) in all settings (depositions and trial).
In the latest program in this popular series, Zach McGee discusses the California Attorney Guidelines of Civility and Professionalism, which reflect how the California State Bar thinks that lawyers should practice law, in the context of answering the question: Do lawyers have a duty to negotiate in good faith? Using a fun hypothetical negotiation between lawyers, Zach illustrates the differences between the California State Bar’s aspirational guidance that lawyers negotiate in good faith and the black-letter law and legal ethics rules that require only that lawyers refrain from knowingly making false statements of material fact or law or otherwise engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.
In this fun, topical and engaging course, veteran litigator Andrew Struve examines the legal, ethical and practical implications of dealing with unethical adversaries, co-counsel and clients who don't play by the rules, and provides sage advice on how to deal with bad behavior by others in the moment. This program includes an overview of the legal ethics rules that most often come into play in this context, including an attorney’s duties of competency, diligence, loyalty, confidentiality and candor.
In this installment of our Double Play series, our two, thirty-minute programs cover advancing diversity and understanding implicit bias. Why should you care about diversity and inclusion? This program gives you four good reasons why you should -- your company's culture, internal clients, legal talent, and performance of your team -- and offers advice on things you can start doing today to advance diversity and inclusion in your law department and company. We all have implicit biases, and these biases pose a challenge to our efforts to improve diversity and eliminate discrimination in the legal profession. This program identifies the most common ways implicit bias can affect the hiring, advancement and performance of lawyers, and provides practical guidance on what steps you can take to "de-bias" your company.
How well do you know that rules that govern transactions with your clients? This course gives a comprehensive overview of issues relating to common scenarios in attorney-client transactions, including all of the factors to consider vividly illustrated through the use of real-world examples. The tripwires are serious with massive consequences, and very easy to trip over, so it's a very practical and useful presentation to make sure you stay within the boundaries.
In part three of this entertaining program, Andrew Struve chronicles the rise and fall of several infamous attorneys – ranging from G. Gordon Liddy to Kwame Kilpatrick to Charles Kushner – and discusses how their conduct ran afoul of the law and the legal ethics rules. The program materials include an ethical violation scorecard so can play along as we catalog the legal ethics violations committed by this rogues gallery of disbarred attorneys.
In most cases, judges represent the best and brightest of the legal profession. Yet, there are a few who experienced spectacular falls from grace. In this entertaining program, Andrew Struve chronicles the rise and fall of several infamous judges – ranging from Sol Watchler to Walter Nixon to Harry Claiborne – and discusses how their conduct ran afoul of the law and the ethics rules.
Recent revelations about book royalties, travel and other monetary and in-kind benefits individual Justices have received has shined a bright light on the judicial ethics and disclosure rules that apply to the federal judiciary, but not to the Supreme Court. Ironically, while the Supreme Court generally has exempted itself from scrutiny, near identical situations to the ethics-recusal situations confronting Supreme Court justices result in ethics problems for lower court judges, sometimes even by order of the Supreme Court itself no less. And similarly some lawyers have faced legal ethics charges for having challenged federal judges for alleged violations of the law and the rules of judicial ethics. Peter Afrasiabi helps to navigate the shifting sands of the judicial ethics and disclosure regimes as they apply to the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts and offers some predictions about potential future reforms by the Court and Congress.
In this third program in the series, Zach McGee explores the topic of business ethics versus legal ethics to help you answer two key questions: what are your business clients taught about ethics, and how can you, as their lawyer, help them make ethical business decisions? Zach uses notorious scandals at Theranos, Volkswagen and Turing Pharmaceuticals to illustrate how real-world institutional and competitive pressures can lead some business leaders to follow unethical business practices.
Implicit bias is assessed here by looking at our three major areas of IP law—copyright, patent and trademark—and discussing the required issues of implicit bias through the lens of a survey of our IP laws. In this program, intellectual property lawyer Peter Afrasiabi takes you on a fun, interesting journey asking these questions: Does copyright law and fair use as it collides with modern AI technologies require us to assess, where implicit bias in the stock of material that AI is learning on, whether fair use and copyright law need to take that into account in deciding the AI fair use questions being litigated? Do the large differentials in male to female inventor patent grant rates, and the differential in male to female patent examiners, create implicit bias in the patent system, especially where we have elastic patentability concepts on abstract ideas? Do our trademark laws’ central focus on the archetypal “consumer” create their own bias issues by not seeing the “consumer” as an actual person? These and other interesting implicit bias issues, with strategies to combat implicit bias, are addressed.
This program explores implicit bias through the prism of improving advocacy efforts as lawyers and to assess judicial and case examples where implicit bias has appeared and may present issues for you and your clients. Peter Afrasiabi discusses strategies and actionable steps to recognize implicit bias, combat it, and enable you to make better decisions as an advocate for your clients.
Can you believe there have been judges who searched a party’s home and seized property, had sex in chambers with former interns and lawyers, jailed a woman for a year for unpaid parking tickets, went on vacation with the prosecutor after a guilty verdict and took bribes to render not guilty verdicts? In these cases, the truth is stranger than fiction, and Peter Afrasiabi reviews these unbelievable cases while discussing how these judges flagrantly violated the canons of judicial ethics that govern the conduct of federal and state court judges in the United States.
In this installment of our Double Play series, our two, thirty-minute programs cover five ethical traps in defending class actions and ethical issues in multijurisdictional practice. Can your company offer customers a discount on future purchases in exchange for a waiver of claims after a class has been certified? Can you ethically obtain declarations from putative class members to help oppose class certification? This program considers these and other important ethical issues that often arise in class actions. How well do you know the rules that govern your ability to perform legal services in a state where you are not licensed or the sanctions for violating them? This program gives you the guidance you need to avoid engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.
In this installment of our Double Play series, our two, thirty-minute programs cover key Issues for in-house lawyers and avoiding corporate conflicts of interest. Does this internal company document contain legal advice protected by the attorney-client privilege or merely business advice that is not protected? If the document is privileged, what do I need to do to protect that privilege from being waived? As an in-house lawyer at a company with subsidiaries, how well do you know the legal ethics rules that apply to conflict of interests that can arise between entities within the corporate family? When can you safely share privileged information with officers, directors and employees of those subsidiaries and when might disclosure waive the attorney-client privilege? This program answers these important questions among others to help in-house counsel stay in compliance with the legal ethics rules.
In this installment of our Double Play series, our two, thirty-minute programs cover managing privilege in patent litigation and behaving ethically in front of your judge. As the recipient of a letter that a patent you've never heard of "may be of interest to your company," what steps do you as in-house counsel need to take to ensure a proper response? This program gives you the guidance and specific strategies you'll need to decide when to act, what to do in response, and how to conduct your internal and external investigation. A judge who spent most of his career as an in-house lawyer shares the key insights he wished he had when he was practicing to ensure that you always behave ethically and establish and maintain the litigation brand that will best serve your company when appearing before the court.
In the latest installment in this popular series, Zach McGee discusses the judicial and legal ethics issues that arise out of the bombshell sex scandal that one commentator called “a body blow to the integrity” of the entire bankruptcy system. The facts of this case are so sensational – a bankruptcy judge who was living and sleeping with a lawyer who regularly appeared before him, while at the same time approving fee applications for the lawyer’s legal work in those cases – they would be hard to believe if they weren’t true.
How well do you know the rules that govern your ability to perform legal services for a client located in a state where you are not licensed or the sanctions for violating them? In the latest program in this popular series, Zach McGee gives you the guidance you need to avoid engaging in the unauthorized practice of law, including the rules that govern lawyers who engage in remote or hybrid work.
In the latest installment of this popular series, Zach McGee examines an important question: what are your legal and ethical obligations when your client turns out to be the devil incarnate, or at the very least, a very bad and unethical person? Using the criminal fraud and conspiracy convictions of “PharmaBro” Martin Shkreli and his lawyer, Evan Greebel, as the backdrop for the discussion, Zach provides practical guidance to lawyers should they ever find themselves representing a smart, arrogant, manipulative fraudster.
In the latest installment of this popular series, Zach McGee discusses the now infamous “ChatGPT lawyers sanctions” case where a New York federal district judge sanctioned two lawyers and their law firm under Rule 11 for submitting a brief that cited to six federal court decisions that did not in fact exist. In a case of seemingly first impression, ChatGPT had made up these cases out of whole cloth, and the lawyers failed to do any independent verification of those cases before filing their brief. This fascinating case is a cautionary tale for any lawyer who is tempted to use ChatGPT or other generative AI tools in their legal practice.
In the latest installment of this popular series, Zach McGee presents Part One of “The Dirty Dozen” – the 12 most unethical lawyers in the history of lawyering in the United States. The stories of the illegal and unethical conduct of these lawyers are cautionary tales for any lawyer who values his or her law license.
In the latest installment of this popular series, Zach McGee presents Part Three of “The Dirty Dozen” – the 12 most unethical lawyers in the history of lawyering in the United States. The stories of the illegal and unethical conduct of these lawyers are cautionary tales for any lawyer who values his or her law license.
In the latest installment of this popular series, Zach McGee presents Part Two of “The Dirty Dozen” – the 12 most unethical lawyers in the history of lawyering in the United States. The stories of the illegal and unethical conduct of these lawyers are cautionary tales for any lawyer who values his or her law license.
In the latest installment of this popular series, Zach McGee discusses the legal ethics issues that arise when someone other than the plaintiff is funding a lawsuit, which often goes by the name “alternative litigation finance” or ALF. Zach examines these issues in the context of the two most famous ALF lawsuits that have been prosecuted to date: E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit against former President Donald Trump alleging that he sexually assaulted and defamed her, and Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against the gossip website Gawker alleging that the site invaded his privacy when it published a sex tape in which Hogan appeared.
In the latest installment of this popular series, Zach McGee discusses Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) and how this technology – particularly Generative AI that can generate content in the form of text, images, video, audio, etc. in response to prompts from a user – is poised to change how knowledge workers, including lawyers, do our jobs. But before you consider using ChatGPT or other Generative AI tools to assist in your law practice, you need to make sure you understand exactly how these tools work, what they can do and what they can’t, how reliable they are or aren’t, and most importantly, what legal ethics issues can arise. This program gives you the knowledge you need to perform that exercise for yourself as Generative AI tools continue to evolve.
One of the scariest things an attorney can face is an allegation that he or she has violated the legal ethics rules or committed malpractice, and it’s not only incompetent, lazy or dodgy lawyers who get hit with misconduct complaints. In the latest program in this popular series, Zach McGee provides an overview of the attorney discipline system, including reviewing the safeguards that exist to ensure that attorneys who are accused of misconduct are afforded due process. This program also includes a detailed review of an actual case that was recently decided in California involving a real attorney, real findings of misconduct and real sanctions imposed to show how the attorney discipline system works in practice.
One of the scariest things an attorney can face is an allegation that he or she has violated the legal ethics rules or committed malpractice, and it’s not only incompetent, lazy or dodgy lawyers who get hit with misconduct complaints. In the latest program in this popular series and in part two of this program, Zach McGee provides an overview of the attorney discipline system before turning to a detailed review of two cases that were recently decided in California involving real attorneys, real findings of misconduct and real sanctions imposed to show how the attorney discipline system works in practice.
Is there a legal ethics rule that no lawyer ever has been sanctioned for having violated? The answer to that question is “no,” but because ABA Model Rule 2.1 comes very close, it is routinely overlooked by state bar disciplinary authorities and practicing lawyers alike. In the latest installment in this popular series, Zach McGee provides lawyers with practical guidance on how to fulfill their ethical obligations under ABA Model Rule 2.1 to exercise independent professional judgment and to render candid advice. ABA Model Rule 2.1 also permits lawyers to refer not only to law but to other consideration such as moral, economic, social and political factors in rendering their advice, which can be useful when a client’s desired course of action is not in his or her best interests.
In most cases, lawyers working remotely do not commit the unauthorized practice of law in states where they are not members of the bar as long as you follow a few basic rules. But the situation gets much more complicated if you begin providing legal advice to clients in the remote working state. In the latest program in this popular series, Zach McGee gives you the guidance you need to continue working remotely without running the risk of engaging in the unauthorized practice of law and suffering the reputational, financial, legal and ethical consequences that would flow from such a determination.
As lawyers, we negotiate on behalf of clients practically every day. You know the legal ethics rules require you to be truthful but how do you apply those general pronouncements in a context where puffing, posturing and concealing one’s bottom line are more the rule than the exception? This program uses a hypothetical negotiation between lawyers representing a writer seeking to sell a script and a film studio seeking to buy it to illustrate how the ethics rules apply when lawyers act as negotiators.
In the latest installment in the popular “Negotiation Ethics for Lawyers” series, Zach McGee discusses even more “dirty tricks” and bad faith tactics that the other side may use to try to gain an unfair advantage in your negotiations. The program will include a review of the legal ethics rules that apply to lawyers when we negotiate as well as some powerful techniques you can use to legally, ethically and strategically respond when the other side is using negotiation “dirty tricks” and bad faith tactics against you.
In the next installment in this popular series, Zach McGee takes it to the “next level” with an analysis of the sorts of negotiation tricks and bad faith tactics that sophisticated parties often use to try to obtain an advantage in negotiations. Using a hypothetical negotiation between lawyers, the speakers will describe and analyze some of these “next level” negotiation tricks and bad faith tactics, including: Lying about company policy; Lying about other deals; Anchoring; Co-opting the other side’s negotiator; and Nibbling. Along the way, this program will teach you some powerful negotiation techniques and strategies that you can use to ethically respond when the other side is using these sorts of negotiation tricks and bad faith tactics against you. The program will include a review of the key ethics rules that apply when lawyers act as negotiators as well as some useful negotiation techniques and strategies.
Negotiation Ethics for Lawyers: How to Recognize and Respond to "Dirty Tricks" and Bad Faith Tactics
In the second installment in the popular “Negotiation Ethics for Lawyers” series, Zach McGee explores a fun and extremely useful topic for anyone who negotiates: how should we respond when the other side engages in “dirty tricks” and other bad faith tactics, without violating our own ethical obligations? Using a hypothetical negotiation between lawyers, this course identifies and analyzes the most commonly faced “dirty tricks” in negotiation, and explains how easily you can turn the tables. The discussion will deal with tricks ranging from the easily-spotted “Good Cop, Bad Cop” routine and “Take It or Leave It” positioning, to more subtle bad faith tactics such as introducing phony facts and using time tricks. The course includes an introduction to the key ethics rules that apply when lawyers act as negotiators and to common negotiation techniques and strategies.
In the latest installment in the popular “Negotiation Ethics for Lawyers” series, Zach McGee takes examines the use of “paltering” in negotiations – the active use of truthful statements to create a false impression – to explore whether such behavior by lawyers is ethical. Paltering is a way of deceiving the other side that differs both from lying by commission – where you misstate facts – and lying by omission – where you fail to provide information. In this program, you’ll not only learn to spot when the other side in a negotiation is paltering but also to understand why paltering works so well and why people have such different views on whether it is ethical.
Most lawyers have read thousands of legal opinions, but how many of those opinions were written in verse, refer to famous films or TV series or went so far as to insult other judges on the same court? In Part II of this popular program, Andrew Struve uses these wild legal opinions as a basis for reviewing the canons of legal ethics that apply to judges and to discuss whether these “unique” opinions are consistent with the high ethical standards to which members of the judiciary are held.
Most lawyers have read thousands of legal opinions, but how many of those opinions were written in verse, refer to famous films or TV series or went so far as to insult other judges on the same court? Andrew Struve uses these wild legal opinions as a basis for reviewing the canons of legal ethics that apply to judges and to discuss whether these “unique” opinions are consistent with the high ethical standards to which members of the judiciary are held.
In the latest installment of this popular series, Mark Wooster takes on one of the most famous – and as it turns out, most unethical – lawyers of all time, Clarence Darrow.
In this unique installment of this popular series, Mark Wooster is joined by Magician, Anthropologist, Cybersecurity Expert and Keynote Speaker Paul Draper. Drawing upon decades of experience working in cybersecurity consulting for Fortune 100 companies, Paul teaches you what you need to know about cybersecurity, privacy and data protection, all the while keeping you entertained with some awesome magic tricks. Mark connects the “what you need to know” with the “what you need to do” in order to fulfill your legal ethics obligations in the context of discussing some challenging hypotheticals arising from the use of technology in your law practice.
Drawing upon his personal experience as a former law firm lawyer in addition to guidance from psychologists and other experts in the field, Zach McGee discusses professional burnout among lawyers: what it is, how it impacts attorneys in and out of the office, how to spot it and how to address it. Zach also reviews the legal ethics rules that require lawyers to provide competent representation to our clients, and require supervising lawyers to ensure that more junior lawyers meet this obligation, which may become implicated when lawyers are suffering from professional burnout.
Drawing upon his experience working at a prestigious New York law firm and now as an in-house lawyer at a global media company, Zach McGee discusses professional burnout among lawyers – what it is, how it impacts attorneys in and out of the office, how to spot it and how to address it – to help you recognize signs of stress in yourself and take preventative measures intended to reduce your risk of developing a substance use disorder or becoming clinically depressed. Zach also offers sage advice on how to manage competing obligations that may implicate our duty of competence under the legal ethic rules, and how enhancing personal well-being and adopting strategies for balancing life’s demands can enhance our ability to meet this obligation.
In this ethics program, we explore the issue of judges judging judges. Experienced intellectual property litigator Peter Afrasiabi takes you on a fun, interesting journey through the fascinating history of federal judicial ethics rules and the cases that have led to judges judging judges in often light and inconsistent ways. You will explore the inconsistent use of ethics-based disqualification rules by Supreme Court justices judging themselves versus how they judge other judges in similar situations. And you will explore remarkable cases of judges handcuffing kids from the public gallery in court to judges going on family vacations with prosecutors right after a trial they all were in to even the case of three judges getting drunk and then in a public brawl with someone. And we look at who judges them, what punishments are meted out, and does the system of judges judging judges really comport with how the rest of us and our clients are judged and punished for similar behavior?
They say that love is blind, but it is also unethical? Recently, many states have enacted legal ethics rules that expressly prohibit dating a client, while in others, lawyers remain free to date a client unless the romantic relationship adversely affects the lawyer’s representation of the client. In this topical and engaging program, Andrew Struve examines the legal, ethical and practical implications when lawyers choose to date clients and other lawyers.
You’ve seen the headlines, but do you know how Michael Avenatti, who famously represented porn star Stormy Daniels in her dispute with former President Donald Trump, came to be convicted of multiple felonies including extortion, fraud and identity theft? Experienced trial and appellate lawyer, Peter Afrasiabi details the egregious conduct that got Avenatti convicted in these cases, and reviews how the legal ethics rules apply when lawyers stand accused of making improper threats, falsifying documents, stealing client funds and failing to act in their best client’s interests.
The State Bar civility guidelines are aspirational, but in this program Peter Afrasiabi walks through how hewing to civility can actually improve our success as advocates. Watch lawyers and clients fighting, literally almost coming to blows, yelling, threatening, and all manner of behavior, with appearances by Bieber to Lil Wayne no less, this program gets you the specialized credit you need without preaching virtues to you, and instead by demonstrating how principles of positive advocacy—objectivity, credibility, respect—actually sit beneath the civility guideposts letting you be a better advocate.
In this installment of our Double Play series, our two, thirty-minute programs cover depression and substance abuse. Experts differ on whether lawyers are more prone to depression than others who work in equally high-stress occupations such as doctors. But one thing is clear: the stigma associated with depression is one of the reasons lawyers may not get help when they need it. Is an ancient virus the reason humans are susceptible to substance use disorders? How has modern medicine changed the way we treat substance use disorders? This program answers these important questions so that today's lawyers have the tools they need to help themselves or a colleague.
In this unique installment of this popular series, Mark Wooster is joined by Magician, Anthropologist, Cybersecurity Expert and Keynote Speaker Paul Draper. Paul teaches you what you need to know about cybersecurity, privacy and data protection, all the while keeping you entertained with some awesome magic tricks. From the basic steps you and your firm need to take right now to prevent being hacked by someone who dabbles in hacking to more advanced measures you need to consider if you might become a target of a more sophisticated ransomware attack, Paul gives you the benefit of his decades of practical experience working and consulting in cybersecurity for Fortune 100 companies.
Lawyers are much more likely than other professions to suffer from substance use and mental health disorders due to the high-stress nature of our work and a culture that encourages us to be self-reliant. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing stress and isolation among lawyers has made this problem even worse, particularly for the newest members of the bar. Our experts discuss this alarming trend and what we can do to help ourselves and our colleagues during these difficult times.
Studies show that lawyers experience substance use disorder at twice the rate of the general population. Teaching lawyers how to recognize when they may have a problem and getting them help when they do is difficult even in “normal times.” But the COVID-19 pandemic not only made the traditional obstacles even more challenging, but set up some new roadblocks in our path. This presentation examines why preventing addiction has become harder during the pandemic and shares some expert advice on what you can do to ensure that you or someone you know gets the help they need.