Virginia Live CLE Bundle 2021

Legal scholars debate whether financial institutions should not primarily serve shareholders but owe primary direct duties to creditors, insureds, and account holders. Further debates span if these institutions also owe broader fiduciary duties to the public, given the protections banks receive from taxpayers as institutions that are “too big to fail.” This has turned into an ongoing debate about the original purpose of the corporate entity and differing opinions over the lessons of precedent. This course will discuss this topic at length, reviewing recent trends for incorporating banks as benefit corporations. It will also discuss proposals for legislation to allow federally chartered banks to consider non-shareholder interests in decision-making expressly.

Attendees will learn the history of financial institutions, specifically focusing on instances of them prioritizing wealth generation over the common good. Regarding more recent times, attendees will also learn modern attempts to define and/or legislate corporate responsibilities and new perspectives towards more enhanced fiduciary duties. The course will consider the enhanced provision of services allegedly provided to stakeholders by seven benefit B Corp Banks in the U.S. and six foreign banks in the UK, Canada, and Australia. Lastly, it will discuss the legal risk assessment of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., and Wells Fargo & Co.’s not to transition to benefit corporations.

This course is ideal for attorneys at any stage in their careers interested in the trends towards enhanced fiduciary duties of financial institutions for multiple stakeholders, the incorporation of thousands of benefit corporations, and values-driven banking.

Learning Objectives:

• Evaluate the history of banks as institutions prioritizing wealth generation over the common good
• Assess the debate over reimagining corporations and financial institutions that require enhanced fiduciary duties for multiple stakeholders
• Review proposed federal legislation to align federally chartered bank priorities with the public’s interests
• Analyze the alleged provision of enhanced services of seven examples of B Corp Banks in the United States and six foreign banks in the UK, Canada, and Australia
• Evaluate the basis for rejecting big banks' proposals to convert to benefit corporations
• Assess the likelihood that large or small banks will transition into statutory Public Benefit Corporations (PBCs)

Course Time Schedule:

Eastern Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Central Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Mountain Time: 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Pacific Time:  11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Alaska Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Hawaii-Aleutian Time: 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

This course is also being presented on the following dates:

Tuesday, December 30, 2025

This course will break down the steps of the transaction and provide attendees with a foundation in business acquisitions from a legal perspective. Attendees will learn about common problems that arise during various phases of the transaction, such as pending litigation, outstanding tax liabilities, obtaining regulatory consents, and other requirements. 

Effectively guiding clients through the sale or acquisition is essential to providing the best service possible. It can help enhance the value of a sale, get the best value on a purchase, limit liability, and comply with local laws and regulations. 

This program is appropriate for transactional attorneys. After completing this program, attendees will know how to draft effective acquisition and sale agreements, the difference between asset and stock sales and acquisitions, the elements of due diligence, bill of sale, corporate resolutions, and other documents necessary to complete the transactions.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the steps of a business acquisition
• Identify documents required to complete business acquisitions
• Detect potential liability exposure in the transaction
• Apply the facts learned during due diligence to effectively draft transaction documents

Course Time Schedule:

Eastern Time: 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Central Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Mountain Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Pacific Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Alaska Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Hawaii-Aleutian Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Custody disputes are among the most challenging and emotionally charged cases in family law. These disputes require a comprehensive and nuanced approach that considers the diverse and often conflicting needs of all involved family members. Attorneys who practice in this area must be equipped to navigate the complex landscape of custody law, recognizing that each family is unique, with its own set of dynamics, needs, and identities that must be carefully balanced.

This course offers an in-depth exploration of the various factors that can influence custody disputes, providing attorneys with the tools they need to develop new perspectives and strategies for effective negotiation and advocacy. The course delves into the importance of understanding and addressing the specific needs of families, particularly those facing additional challenges such as disabilities, mental health issues, and other vulnerabilities. Participants will learn how to advocate for these families with empathy and precision, ensuring that their unique circumstances are fully considered in the resolution of custody matters.

Additionally, the course will provide critical insights into the pervasive issue of racial bias within family courts and its detrimental impact on the pursuit of justice. Attorneys will be encouraged to adopt an intersectional approach, recognizing how race, gender, socioeconomic status, and other factors intersect to create complex realities for families involved in custody disputes. The course will also cover advanced techniques in mediation and negotiation, equipping attorneys with the skills to reach fair and equitable resolutions that honor the diverse experiences and identities of all parties involved.

This program is designed for attorneys at all stages of their careers who are committed to integrating principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion into their practice. Whether you are a seasoned practitioner or new to family law, this course will provide valuable insights and practical tools for navigating custody disputes in a manner that is both just and compassionate. By the end of the program, attorneys will be better prepared to advocate for families in a way that acknowledges and respects the full spectrum of human diversity. 

Learning Objectives: 

• Evaluate how to support family members with different special needs through a custody dispute
• Explore how we can use intermediaries and advocates through the process
• Identify the different aspects of a person’s identity which could be the key to understanding that person’s situation
• Examine how mediation can be shaped to accommodate family diversity and enhance equality
• Discover an anti-racist approach in family court

Course Time Schedule:

Eastern Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Central Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Mountain Time: 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Pacific Time: 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Alaska Time: 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM
Hawaii-Aleutian Time: 6:00 AM - 7:00 AM

It is important for attorneys to learn about challenges to legal ethics principles posed by lawyers succumbing to alcoholism and/or addiction and the ways in which the legal profession is currently seeking to prevent, or remedy, such problems. Even attorneys not suffering from alcoholism or addiction have a professional responsibility to learn about, and apply critical analysis to, the legal profession's ongoing efforts to prevent, or attempt to remediate, problems for this profession. Attorneys who are "recovering" from either condition (or both) can contribute valuable insights in an interactive seminar on the subject such as this seminar.

The format of this course is a blend of the lecture method with the Socratic method extensively involving a high degree of interactive participation and critical analyses of a wide range of issues relevant to the subject of the seminar in a manner not limited to mere chronological description of particular topics and sub-topics. Depending on the number of participants in a particular seminar, the format usually results in most, if not all, participants verbally engaging in conversational-styled interactive discussion and/or analysis of particular topics in the seminar and also permits interruptions, questions, challenges, etc. throughout the seminar. Think of collegially enjoyable and enlightening round-table discussions. It's a form of learning by thinking in the course of interactively participating rather than learning solely by listening (the latter of which is the lecture method).

Any attorney who is required to attend a CLE seminar on "substance abuse" and any other attorney recognizing the professional responsibility to understand how the legal profession and the courts are currently seeking to (a) reduce the number of lawyers succumbing to such problems, (b) provide effective remedial assistance when needed, and (c) apply suitable disciplinary measures when necessary.

Learning Objectives: 

• Examine the effect of the Constitution's (and each state constitution's) vesting of "the judicial power" of the sovereign in its "Supreme Court" and its thereby incorporation of the evolutionary nature of the judiciary's common law inherent judicial power (i.e., sui generis power) to define, prescribe, and enforce educational, moral, ethical and civil standards for the practice of law and the status of lawyers as officers of the courts
• Explore how exercising such common law inherent judicial power (sui generis power) in an adversarial system created under common law, the supreme court of the sovereign (i.e., the U.S. Supreme Court and each state supreme court) creates structural and functional tools for the administration of justice -- i.e., rules of evidence, burdens of proof, procedural rules, and regulatory control over the conduct of attorneys
• The judiciary generally encourages lawyers to participate actively in the regulatory control over our profession generally and the conduct of lawyers individually. Therefore, each attorney has a duty to keep abreast of such disciplinary and regulatory activities and as much as possible to actively participate (pro bono, of course) in, and support, such activities
• Explore the "illness" nature of alcoholism or addiction
• Develop and implement regulatory measures to provide remedial assistance to those suffering from such illness, but do not let the goal of remediation to completely eclipse ethical (and moral) responsibility
• Analyze how the public perceives the legal profession as a "self-regulating" profession" and how this underscores the duty of the legal profession to handle  this regulatory responsibility in ways that increase, rather than diminish, the public's confidence in our legal system
• Recognize the legal profession’s duty to avoid letting compassion unduly repress the sense of responsibility to protect the justice system from the too-widespread perception among the public that lawyers can always avoid the consequences of their own shortcomings or misconduct

Course Time Schedule:

Eastern Time: 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Central Time: 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Mountain Time: 7:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Pacific Time: 6:00 AM - 8:00 AM
Alaska Time: 5:00 AM - 7:00 AM
Hawaii-Aleutian Time: 4:00 AM - 6:00 AM

This course is also being presented on the following dates:

Tuesday, December 30, 2025