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Responding to Demand Letters: Tone and Substance

$65.00

Responding to a demand letter is as tricky as issuing a demanding letter.  There are issues of getting the substance right and getting the tone right.  How time do you spend researching the law and laying out your case?  How much do you disclose about your favorable facts? Is your goal settlement and, if so, how does that impact the tone of your letter?  Do you know enough about the letter writer and his or her client to gauge their likely reaction to your response?  And when do you respond – right away, by any deadline given, or do you wait?  These and many other questions will be addressed in this practical discussion of the tradeoffs of responding to demand letters.    Goals – do you want settlement or to make it go away – or are you preparing for litigation?  Law – how much do you research and push back? Tone – are you assertive, making counter-demands, or conciliatory? Facts – How much of what you know do you lay out? Timing – responding right away, by a deadline in the demand, or later?   Speaker: William J. Kelly, III is a founding member of Kelly Law Partners LLC and has nearly 30 years’ experience in the areas of employment and commercial litigation. In the area of employment law, he litigates trade secret, non-compete, infringement and discrimination claims in federal and state courts nationwide and has advised Fortune 50 companies on workplace policies and practices.  In the area of commercial litigation, his experience includes class action litigation, breach of contract and indemnity, mass-claim complex insurance litigation, construction litigation and trade secrets.  Earlier in career, he founded 15 Minutes Music, an independent music production company.  Mr. Kelly earned his B.A. from Tulane University and his J.D. from St. Louis University School of Law.

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  • 60
    Minutes
  • 2/10/2026
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Evidentiary Issues with Text and "Chat" Messages

$65.00

Text messaging is mainstream. Clients generate virtual reams of data when they message with business partners, vendors, employees, and even public. This is a rich vein of electronically stored information that is potentially discoverable in formal litigation or pre-litigation.  Because texting is so convenient, casual and almost reflexive, the caution clients exercise in other forms of communication are often disregarded when texting, including when they text with their lawyers. This program will provide you with a practical guide to obtaining text messages, the risks of discovery in litigation, and related issues. Obtaining text messages – working with mobile carriers Timing – how long are texts kept and in what form? Discovery issues – obtaining texts from parties or other sources Issues related to encrypted messaging services How strategies differ for plaintiffs and defendants Speaker: Stanley E. Woodward Jr. is a partner in the law firm Brand Woodward Law, where he has a broad civil litigation and white-collar criminal defense practice.  He also conducts internal corporate investigations.  He serves as an adjunct professor of law at Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, where he teaches pre-trial litigation and employment law. Before entering private practice, he served as a judicial clerk to Judge Vanessa Ruiz of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, and Judges Joan Zeldon and Judge Rufus King III of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.  

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    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 5/10/2026
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2024 Ethics in Litigation Update, Part 1

$65.00

This annual ethics update will cover a wide range of ethical developments important to your civil litigation practice.  The program will provide detailed coverage of developments in conflicts of interest in litigation, confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege, and ethics in defense and common interest agreements.  The program will provide a wide-ranging discussion of the ethical issues that arise with the spread, use and development of technology in litigation.  Also, the panel will discuss ethical issues in discovery of digital files, records, and communications.  Please join for this annual program which will provide you with a lively discussion of ethical developments important to civil litigation practice.    Day 1: Generative AI and legal ethics Conflicts update, part 1 Witness preparation   Day 2: Deception in investigations Confidentiality and privilege update Conflicts update, part 2   Speakers: Lucian T. Pera is a partner in the Memphis office of Adams & Reese, LLP.  His practice includes professional malpractice litigation as well as counseling lawyers and law firms in the area of ethics and professional responsibility.  He was a member of the ABA’s Ethics 2000 Commission and is co-author of "Ethics and Lawyering Today," a national e-mail newsletter on lawyer ethics, which is accessible at: www.ethicsandlawyering.com.  He is the immediate past Treasurer of the ABA and currently serves as Vice President of the Tennessee Bar Association.  Before entering private practice, he served as a judicial clerk to Judge Harry W. Wellford of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.   Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  

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    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 6/5/2026
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2024 Ethics in Litigation Update, Part 2

$65.00

This annual ethics update will cover a wide range of ethical developments important to your civil litigation practice.  The program will provide detailed coverage of developments in conflicts of interest in litigation, confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege, and ethics in defense and common interest agreements.  The program will provide a wide-ranging discussion of the ethical issues that arise with the spread, use and development of technology in litigation.  Also, the panel will discuss ethical issues in discovery of digital files, records, and communications.  Please join for this annual program which will provide you with a lively discussion of ethical developments important to civil litigation practice.    Day 1: Ethics and discovery Ethics and preparing witnesses – the limits of coaching Recent developments in conflicts of interest, part 1   Day 2: Annual technology review – the many ways in which technology can cause ethical traps for lawyers in litigation Client confidentiality, the attorney-client privilege, and work product doctrine Recent developments in conflicts of interest, part 2   Speakers: Lucian T. Pera is a partner in the Memphis office of Adams & Reese, LLP.  His practice includes professional malpractice litigation as well as counseling lawyers and law firms in the area of ethics and professional responsibility.  He was a member of the ABA’s Ethics 2000 Commission and is co-author of "Ethics and Lawyering Today," a national e-mail newsletter on lawyer ethics, which is accessible at: www.ethicsandlawyering.com.  He is the immediate past Treasurer of the ABA and currently serves as Vice President of the Tennessee Bar Association.  Before entering private practice, he served as a judicial clerk to Judge Harry W. Wellford of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  Mr. Pera received his A.B. with honors from Princeton University and his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law. William Freivogel is the principal of Freivogel Ethics Consulting and is an independent consultant to law firms on ethics and risk management.  He was a trial lawyer for 22 years and has practiced in the areas of legal ethics and lawyer malpractice for more than 25 years.  He is chair of the Editorial Board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct. He maintains the Web site “Freivogel on Conflicts” at www.freivogelonconflicts.com <http://www.freivogelonconflicts.com/> .  Mr. Freivogel is a graduate of the University of Illinois (Champaign), where he received his B.S. and LL.B. Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.    

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    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 6/6/2026
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When Business Partners Want Out: Business Divorce, Part 1

$65.00

Business divorce can be as complicated, costly and dramatic as traditional divorce. When owners of a closely-held company decide they cannot or will not work together anymore, there are several alternatives for achieving the separation – a division of assets among the owners, a buyout of one owner or several owners by a third party or by the company itself, or a complete or partial sale of the company.  But these and other transactional forms come with risk – the risk that dividing the assets of an operating business will cause substantial destruction of value to the company or that strife will take its toll on operations and employees.  This program will provide you with a practical guide to the alternatives for achieving a business divorce, planning the process, containing the risk and preserving value.   Day 1: Overview of techniques to accomplish a divorce – buy-sell arrangements, redemptions, compensation, employment separation and retirement plan techniques Special considerations when the divorce involves LLCs, S Corps or partnerships Valuation methods and disputes in a business divorce Techniques for financing a buyout as part of a business divorce Minimizing adverse tax consequences in a business divorce   Day 2: Compensation and retirement plan-based techniques for accomplishing a business divorce Special issues when a business divorce involves a distressed business Role of confidentiality, non-competition, and non-solicitation agreements as part of the divorce Important intellectual property issues, including customer lists, goodwill and trade secrets Preservation of valuable tax attributes   Speakers: Frank Ciatto is a partner in the Washington D.C. office of Venable, LLP, where he has 20 years' experience advising clients on mergers and acquisitions, limited liability cocmpanies, tax and accounting issues, and corporate finance transactions.  He is a leader of his firm's private equity and hedge fund groups and a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Subcommittee of the ABA Business Law Section.  He is a Certified Public Accountant and earlier in his career worked at what is now PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York.   Norman Lencz is a partner in the Baltimore, Maryland office of Venable, LLP, where his practice focuses on a broad range of federal, state, local and international tax matters.  He advises clients on tax issues relating to corporations, partnerships, LLCs, joint ventures and real estate transactions.  He also has extensive experience with compensation planning in closely held businesses.  

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    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 11/8/2026
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When Business Partners Want Out: Business Divorce, Part 2

$65.00

Business divorce can be as complicated, costly and dramatic as traditional divorce. When owners of a closely-held company decide they cannot or will not work together anymore, there are several alternatives for achieving the separation – a division of assets among the owners, a buyout of one owner or several owners by a third party or by the company itself, or a complete or partial sale of the company.  But these and other transactional forms come with risk – the risk that dividing the assets of an operating business will cause substantial destruction of value to the company or that strife will take its toll on operations and employees.  This program will provide you with a practical guide to the alternatives for achieving a business divorce, planning the process, containing the risk and preserving value.   Day 1: Overview of techniques to accomplish a divorce – buy-sell arrangements, redemptions, compensation, employment separation and retirement plan techniques Special considerations when the divorce involves LLCs, S Corps or partnerships Valuation methods and disputes in a business divorce Techniques for financing a buyout as part of a business divorce Minimizing adverse tax consequences in a business divorce   Day 2: Compensation and retirement plan-based techniques for accomplishing a business divorce Special issues when a business divorce involves a distressed business Role of confidentiality, non-competition, and non-solicitation agreements as part of the divorce Important intellectual property issues, including customer lists, goodwill and trade secrets Preservation of valuable tax attributes   Speakers: Frank Ciatto is a partner in the Washington D.C. office of Venable, LLP, where he has 20 years' experience advising clients on mergers and acquisitions, limited liability cocmpanies, tax and accounting issues, and corporate finance transactions.  He is a leader of his firm's private equity and hedge fund groups and a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Subcommittee of the ABA Business Law Section.  He is a Certified Public Accountant and earlier in his career worked at what is now PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York.   Norman Lencz is a partner in the Baltimore, Maryland office of Venable, LLP, where his practice focuses on a broad range of federal, state, local and international tax matters.  He advises clients on tax issues relating to corporations, partnerships, LLCs, joint ventures and real estate transactions.  He also has extensive experience with compensation planning in closely held businesses.  

  • MP3 Download
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 11/9/2026
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Course1

Selection and Preparation of Expert Witnesses in Litigation

$65.00

Experts play a vitally important role in civil litigation, whether they act as consulting experts or also as testifying experts.  The complexity of modern litigation has substantially increased the pressure on attorneys to carefully evaluate the suitability of experts for a particular case and prepare them for testimony. Approaching, evaluating and preparing witnesses, however, is as much an art as science or database search.  Furthermore, once an expert is selected, there are substantial risks surrounding discovery and preserving the attorney-client privilege.  This program will provide you with a practical guide to selecting and preparing experts in civil litigation.   How to find the right expert witness and common traps Evaluating the suitability of experts for your case Consulting v. testifying experts Approaching and retaining experts Preparing witnesses for testimony in a specific case Practical tips on the best/worst uses of particular types of expertise in litigation Discovery issues and preserving the attorney-client privilege   Speaker: Shannon M. Bell is a member with Kelly & Walker, LLC, where she litigates a wide variety of complex business disputes, construction disputes, fiduciary claims, employment issues, and landlord/tenant issues.  Her construction experience extends from contract negotiations to defense of construction claims of owners, HOAs, contractors and tradesmen.  She also represents clients in claims of shareholder and officer liability, piercing the corporate veil, and derivative actions.  She writes and speaks on commercial litigation, employment, discovery and bankruptcy topics.

  • MP3 Download
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 12/12/2026
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