Virginia Live CLE Bundle 2021

Attorneys should attend this course if they want to sharpen their mastery of civil procedure and turn the Federal Rules into powerful tools for advancing plaintiffs’ employment cases. Too often, practitioners overlook the straightforward application of the rules they learned in law school. This course will demonstrate how a disciplined approach to the rules, rather than relying on guesswork or hostility, can ensure that claims are taken seriously and cases progress efficiently toward resolution.

Participants will learn how to strategically apply civil procedure rules from the pleading stage through discovery, motions practice, and settlement. Using real-world case studies, the program will demonstrate how to file effective pleadings, hold defendants accountable for deficient answers, leverage discovery obligations, respond to obstructionist tactics, and use the rules themselves to advance wage-and-hour and discrimination matters.

This program is designed for any plaintiff-side employment attorneys who want to improve case management and maximize results by leveraging procedural rules. It will also benefit newer attorneys seeking to “raise the floor” in litigation practice, as well as experienced practitioners looking to refine strategies against difficult opponents.

Learning Objectives:

1. Recognize how disciplined use of federal civil procedure rules streamlines case advancement and avoids unnecessary conflict.
2. Apply Rules 8, 11, 12, and 15 effectively at the pleading stage to strengthen complaints and hold defendants accountable for deficient answers.
3. Utilize Rules 26 and 37 to enforce discovery obligations, prevent abuse, and move quickly on motions to compel.
4. Develop protective strategies under Rule 26(c) and respond to improper or overbroad defense discovery requests.
5. Translate procedural leverage into practical results at summary judgment, mediation, and settlement negotiations in wage-and-hour and discrimination cases.
6. Explore ways to get courts/judges to take defendants’ conduct or rules violations seriously, such that attorneys can advance or even win their case on that basis.

Course Time Schedule:

Eastern Time: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Central Time: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Mountain Time: 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Pacific Time: 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Alaska Time: 7:00 AM - 8:30 AM
Hawaii-Aleutian Time: 6:00 AM - 7:30 AM

This course is also being presented on the following dates:

Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Wednesday, June 17, 2026

This program will refresh knowledge of the evolution of the legal profession, legal ethics standards, civil liability standards, and modes of enforcement of such standards, all of which make the legal profession uniquely distinguishable from all other professions or occupations.

Attendees will learn (or be reminded of) the extent to which) legal-ethics standards gradually changed from being case-law-based to a uniform state-by-state set of "canons" and then uniform state-by-state codes, which gradually lost uniformity among the states. This program will also discuss the least-uniform standards in the form of the current set of Rules of Professional Conduct.

The format of this program combines the lecture method with the Socratic method, fostering extensive interactive participation and critical analysis of a broad range of issues relevant to the seminar's subject matter. This approach goes beyond merely chronological descriptions of specific topics and subtopics. The content of each workshop (and the order and extent of emphasis upon particular topics and subtopics) will be substantially influenced by the nature and extent of interactive participation regarding specific aspects thereof. Depending on the number of participants in a particular seminar, the format typically results in most, if not all, participants engaging in conversational-style, interactive discussions and analyses of specific topics during the seminar, and also permits interruptions, questions, challenges, and other contributions throughout the seminar. This program employs a form of learning that involves thinking while interactively participating, rather than learning solely by listening (the latter of which is the lecture method).

This course is designed for any attorney desiring to learn, or reacquire an in-depth understanding of what makes the legal profession uniquely vital to democracy, which is designed to protect liberty writ large.

Learning Objectives:

1. Refresh what should be every lawyer's common knowledge of unique aspects of our profession in contrast to all other professions, occupations, etc.: It's the effect of our 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.
2. Evaluate how the interpretation and enforcement of legal ethics standards have become more dynamic, making it vital for lawyers to not only keep abreast of changes in the law in their fields of practice but also changes in the ethical regulation of our profession.
3. Explore how the judiciary generally encourages lawyers to participate actively in the regulatory control over our profession and the conduct of lawyers individually. Therefore, each of us as a lawyer must keep abreast of such disciplinary and regulatory activities and, as much as possible, actively participate (pro bono, of course) in and support such activities.
4. Assess how to maximize one's objectivity in the process of seeking a thorough analysis of all relevant and material facts, issues, and laws in determining how to solve an ethics problem or dilemma.
5. Evaluate intrinsic conflicts between "justice" (or what's "morally right") on the one hand and our ethical duties on the other, and then analyze them to determine when we must, or sometimes must not, implement an ethically correct solution that is a polar opposite of "justice." 
6. Analyze the best way to prevent self-interest in desiring to avoid damage to the legal professional's standing in solving an ethics problem, and an attorney’s professional responsibility to derive an ethically proper solution.

Course Time Schedule:

Eastern Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Central Time: 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Mountain Time: 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Pacific Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alaska Time: 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Hawaii-Aleutian Time: 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM

This course is also being presented on the following dates:

Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Notice can be tricky to establish, and a client’s testimony can trigger a fatal summary judgment motion. Attorneys must have different strategies as no two clients or cases are the same. This program provides a guide for attorneys when conducting depositions in premises liability cases and other ways to improve advocacy.

Attorneys will learn what types of defective conditions are more likely to lead to a finding that Defendants had notice of a defective condition and how to depose a Defendant and prep their Plaintiff for a premises liability deposition. This will include how different defects require different strategies. Attendees will also learn how to prepare for meetings with clients, along with practical tips for handling difficult clients.

This course is designed for attorneys with some experience. Any attorneys who practice in civil litigation are encouraged to attend this program.

Learning Objectives:

1. Assess how to prepare a client.
2. Examine how to conduct a Defendant’s Premises EBT.
3. Explore what speaks to “notice” in various types of defects.

Course Time Schedule:

Eastern Time: 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Central Time: 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Mountain Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Pacific Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Alaska Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Hawaii-Aleutian Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

This course is also being presented on the following dates:

Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Wednesday, April 8, 2026

Substance abuse continues to be a significant problem among the legal profession and continues to show higher rates of addiction when compared to those in other occupations. There are many challenges to legal ethics principles posed by lawyers succumbing to alcoholism and/or addiction, and attorneys should be aware of how the legal profession is currently seeking (and/or ought to establish) to prevent or remedy such problems.

Attendees will gain insights about proposals for proactively preventing such problems rather than merely reactively and/or remedially responding to issues relating to lawyers already suffering from alcoholism and/or addiction. Even lawyers 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 the profession, by lawyers suffering from alcoholism and/or addiction.  Lawyers 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 program combines the lecture method with the Socratic method, fostering extensive interactive participation and critical analysis of a broad range of issues relevant to the seminar's subject matter. This approach goes beyond merely chronological descriptions of specific topics and subtopics.  In other words, the content of each workshop (and the order and extent of emphasis upon particular topics and subtopics) will be substantially influenced by the nature and extent of interactive participation regarding specific aspects thereof. Depending on the number of participants in a particular seminar, the format typically results in most, if not all, participants engaging in conversational-style, interactive discussions and analyses of specific topics during the seminar, and also permits interruptions, questions, challenges, and other contributions throughout the seminar. Think of collegially enjoyable and enlightening round-table discussions.  It's a form of learning that involves thinking while interactively participating, rather than learning solely by listening (the latter of which is the lecture method).

All attorneys are encouraged to attend as each lawyer has a 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 practical remedial assistance when needed, (c) apply suitable disciplinary measures when necessary, and (d) to consider developing programs, tools or methods to proactively prevent from ever getting onto that slippery slope to alcoholism and/or addiction.

Learning Objectives:

1. 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 our 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.
2. Understand that in 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. 
3. Recognize how the judiciary generally encourages lawyers to participate actively in the regulatory control over the legal profession and the conduct of lawyers individually.  Therefore, each lawyer must stay informed about disciplinary and regulatory activities and, whenever possible, actively participate in and support them (pro bono, of course).
4. Examine the "illness" nature of alcoholism or addiction is necessary to develop and implement regulatory measures to provide remedial assistance to those suffering from such illness. Still, attorneys cannot permit the noble goal of remediation to completely eclipse the profession's ethical (and moral) responsibility to also apply common-sensical judgment in evaluating the degree to which volitional choices played a role in the creation of the illness and are needed in a process seeking recovery therefrom.  Nor should attorneys exclude consideration of whether new, proactive programs, methods, or tools could prevent lawyers from ever getting onto that slippery slope towards alcoholism or addiction.
5. Explore how the public perceives the legal profession as a "self-regulating profession" underscores the duty of the attorneys to handle this regulatory responsibility in ways that increase, rather than diminish, the public's confidence in our legal system. 
6. Assess how the legal profession owes to the public and to the legal system a duty to avoid letting compassion unduly repress the sense of responsibility to protect our system of justice from the too-widespread perception among the public that lawyers can always avoid the consequences of their shortcomings or misconduct, which perception undermines the public's confidence in our judicial system as the best created by human civilization thus far.

Course Time Schedule:

Eastern Time: 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Central Time: 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Mountain Time: 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Pacific Time: 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Alaska Time: 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Hawaii-Aleutian Time: 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM

This course is also being presented on the following dates:

Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Wednesday, March 4, 2026