AttorneysEd Center

In this important program for all attorneys, Amy Bomse, a partner in Arnold & Porter LLP, discusses some developing trends in legal ethics. Topics include: • ethical issues pertaining to electronic information, including maintaining client files and information, meta data and email privacy, • a lawyer’s obligations with respect to electronic communications, including inadvertent receipt of documents from one’s opponent or even one’s own client, and • current developments in the use of ethical screens to protect confidential information and avoid conflicts of interest.

Todd Solomon, a partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP, and a frequent speaker and writer on employee benefits issues resulting from domestic partnerships and same-sex marriages, discusses the impact of the New York same-sex marriage law on employee benefit plans. Topics include: • which plans are required to offer coverage to same-sex spouses, • the federal and state tax implications of providing such coverage, and • best practices for administering a program that covers same-sex spouses.

Lawyers advising clients on asset protection planning and integrated estate planning matters are not only subject to ethics claims, but also risk potential exposure for civil and criminal liability as the result of ethical violations. Join Barry Engel for this important analysis of ethical considerations for asset protection and estate planning attorneys. Specific ethical rules to be discussed include: (a) the diligent representation of a client (Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.3); (b) the potential conflict of interest involving current and former clients (Model Rules 1.7, 1.8, and 1.9); (c) the ethical duty of confidentiality (Model Rule 1.6); and (d) withdrawing and/or terminating the representation (Model Rule 1.16). Specific ethical issues to be covered include: (a) who is actually the client (including when to represent the individual client, when to represent the husband and wife, and when to represent the integrated estate planning trust); (b) the attorney-client privilege, and why your files are not as

Join Barry Engel as he covers the latest developments in asset protection and integrated estate planning. Topics include federal tax law, trust planning, conveyancing, debtor-creditor rights, bankruptcy law, contempt law, international law, and litigation developments that have taken place during the period July 2011-October 2012.

Asset protection and bankruptcy lawyers need to stay current with respect to relevant reported legal decisions in each other’s areas of practice in order to best serve their clients. In this program, Barry Engel (asset protection) and Rob Shilliday (bankruptcy) combine their areas of expertise to provide an informative legal review and a comparative analysis of their carefully selected top ten reported asset protection cases in the bankruptcy setting. Cases discussed involve: • both domestic and foreign asset protection trusts and other trusts with important principles concerning contempt of court, fraudulent transfers and preferences in bankruptcy, bankruptcy crimes, and alter ego, • when and if an interest in a trust should be included in a debtor’s bankruptcy estate, and • practical considerations from asset protection and bankruptcy perspectives when considering whether to voluntarily file for bankruptcy protection when an interest in a trust is involved.

In this program for asset protection and integrated estate planning lawyers, Barry Engel analyzes choice of law decisions and how they may lead to conflict of law issues. Topics include: • a review of applicable reported cases with respect to choice of law and conflict of law principles, • a comparative analysis of the law in select domestic and offshore asset protection-oriented jurisdictions, i.e., given choice of law principles, what is there from which to choose, and once selected, what are the legal principles that would either support or interfere with the selected law, • an analysis of the foregoing jurisdictions’ statutory provisions and a discussion of some of the more interesting nuances from jurisdiction to jurisdiction that make them attractive or at least interesting, and • a comparative analysis of offshore trust planning versus domestic trust planning in the asset protection setting.

Federal appellate courts are accustomed to, and expect, a high standard of practice. In this program, Sean SeLegue and Simona Agnolucci of Arnold & Porter LLP provide tips, strategies and the legal framework every lawyer handling a federal appeal should understand.

Federal trial litigators must be ever vigilant in planning for possible appeals and preserving their clients’ rights to bring those appeals. Sean SeLegue and Sean Callagy of Arnold & Porter LLP discuss avoiding waiver of issues on appeal and situations in which there is an opportunity for an early appeal or a requirement to bring such an appeal or waive it.

Join us for this Ethics program for all lawyers involved in litigation and e-discovery. Jones Day partner Josh Fuchs discusses how, by seeking to fulfill their obligations of competence (Model Rule 1.1), expediting litigation (Model Rule 3.2), and duties to the court and opposing counsel (Model Rules 3.3 and 3.4), practitioners can reduce the e-discovery burden and costs associated with today's litigation.

Rule 11(b) (3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (F.R.Civ.P.) imposes an ethical requirement that an attorney certify, after an inquiry reasonable under the circumstance, that factual allegations in federal pleadings have evidentiary support. The recent decisions by the Supreme Court in Twombly and Iqbal imposed similar obligations on attorneys, by requiring a showing of “plausibility.” Join federal litigation and bankruptcy specialist Rob Shilliday as he explores the potential effects of Twombly and Iqbal on the ethical requirements and enforcement of F.R.Civ.P., and analyzes how the prior 1983 Amendments to the Rule may be used to predict future application of Twombly and Iqbal.