Virginia Live CLE Bundle 2021

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: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Central Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Mountain Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Pacific Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Alaska Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Hawaii-Aleutian Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

This course is also being presented on the following dates:

Saturday, December 20, 2025
Saturday, December 27, 2025

In this interactive seminar, attendees will review decisions by the United States Supreme Court concerning police stops of motor vehicles. Discussion areas include the legal standards for stopping cars, police pursuits, and the lawful duration of traffic stops. The course will also cover special considerations with DWI checkpoints and whether Miranda warnings must be read to motorists. 

Identifying common issues surrounding vehicle stops by law enforcement is a key skill for prosecutors and defense attorneys nationwide. By understanding the constitutional standards for vehicle stops and searches, attorneys may become better equipped to represent their clients in criminal proceedings. 

This course is designed for attorneys who litigate criminal cases at all levels and for attorneys interested in constitutional law and criminal procedure issues. 

Learning Objectives: 

• Identify the legal standards for stopping vehicles, including stops at no suspicion and reasonable suspicion
• Recognize the objective standard for stopping motorists
• Identify the requirements of a lawful traffic/DWI checkpoint
• Explain the law of police pursuits, including exigent circumstances
• Explore whether Miranda warnings must be administered to vehicle occupants

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

This course is also being presented on the following dates:

Saturday, December 6, 2025
Saturday, December 20, 2025

This course offers essential instruction on civil trial preparation in New Jersey probate matters, along with key ethical considerations to ensure compliance with professional standards. Attorneys will gain practical strategies for managing complex probate disputes while effectively addressing the ethical challenges that often arise in this area of practice.

Topics will include probate-specific trial preparation in New Jersey, such as pleadings, discovery, evidentiary issues, and trial strategy. The course will also explore the application of the New Jersey Rules of Professional Conduct to probate litigation, with a focus on real-world scenarios.

This seminar is ideal for attorneys practicing in probate, estate planning, and civil litigation, as well as general practitioners looking to expand their knowledge of probate disputes and legal ethics in New Jersey.

Learning Objectives:

1. Examine the procedural framework for probate civil trials in New Jersey courts. 
2. Strategize for discovery and evidence presentation in probate litigation. 
3. Explore trial techniques for resolving probate disputes, including will contests and challenges to fiduciary duties. 
4. Review the New Jersey Rules of Professional Conduct on ethical issues in probate practice. 
5. Classify New Jersey case law and probate statutes impacting trial preparation.
6. Apply best practices for managing conflicts of interest and client communications.

Attorneys who encounter legal ethics problems can use this course to learn a methodology for solving them. Although no methodology is perfect, there is a methodology known by the acronym "MORALS" for solving legal-ethics problems or dilemmas. This seminar focuses on such methodology. 

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 desiring to learn how to analyze legal ethics problems or dilemmas to maximize the likelihood of an ethically proper solution is encouraged to attend this program.

Learning Objectives: 

• Refresh what should be every lawyer's common knowledge of unique aspects of the legal profession in contrast to all other professions, occupations, etc.: It's 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
• Analyze 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
• Participate actively in regulatory control over the legal profession generally and the conduct of lawyers individually, as is generally encouraged by the judiciary. Therefore, each attorney has a duty to keep abreast of such disciplinary and regulatory activities and, as much as possible, actively participate (pro bono, of course) in and support such activities
• Maximize one's objectivity by seeking a thorough analysis of all relevant and material facts, issues, and laws when determining how to solve an ethics problem or dilemma
• Recognize intrinsic conflicts between "justice" (or what's "morally right") on the one hand and legal, ethical duties on the other and then analyze them to determine when attorneys must, or sometimes must not, implement an ethically correct solution that is a polar opposite of "justice."
• Assess the best way to prevent a legal professional’s self-interests in desiring to avoid damage to the legal professional’s standing in solving an ethical problem and the professional responsibility to derive an ethically proper solution

Course Time Schedule:

Eastern Time: 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Central Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Mountain Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Pacific Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Alaska Time: 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Hawaii-Aleutian Time: 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

This course is also being presented on the following dates:

Monday, December 1, 2025
Monday, December 8, 2025
Monday, December 15, 2025
Monday, December 22, 2025
Monday, December 29, 2025