2020 CLE Blast!
8 Hour CLE Webinar
June 5, 2020
This program is offered as a live webinar. Register for the full day or 1/2 a day!
Schedule
8:30 a.m. – 9:20 a.m.: 50 Tips in 50 Minutes
Presented by Danielle Hall, Kansas Lawyers Assistance Program
Buckle up and get ready for this exciting and fast-paced program. From tips on tools like Microsoft Outlook and Word, to software and apps that can make your life simpler, plus web-based tools and security tips, this session really does have something for everyone. In 50 short minutes, you will be given 50 tips to increase your productivity and improve your practice.
9:20 a.m. – 10:10 a.m.: 1031 Exchange Topics
Presented by Kyle Mead, Lawyers Title of Kansas, Inc.
This presentation will provide an overview of requirements and procedures taxpayers (attorneys or clients) can use to perform tax-deferred exchanges of qualifying real property under Revenue Code Section 1031. I intend to provide an update on Notices the IRS has provided in response to COVID orders, and the effect on the 1031 exchange process specifically.
10:10 a.m. – 11:00a.m.: Sharpen Your Attack; Left to Right; Chop Blocks; Your Words Are Electric
Presented by The Honorable Stephen Hill, Kansas Court of Appeals
The presentation focuses on three points about legal writing. First, lawyers, by rule, must be professional writers. They need just as much competence in this skill as any of the other required skills our profession demands. I review several Supreme Court rules reflecting this point. I stress that to be persuasive, a lawyer's sentences must communicate on three levels.
Next, I look at block quotations, so popular in some lawyers' writings. I question their worth. But I go on to show how to cut them down into bite size chunks to make them more readable and thus more understandable. A lawyer cannot be persuasive if she is not understood
Finally, I approach the whole concept of document design and why lawyers need to be aware of how their work appears on digital screens. Paper is not now the only way that a lawyer's work is read. And reading in a digital age is vastly different. I talk about eye tracking studies and how a lawyer should seriously consider document design when she is trying to be persuasive.
11:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m.: Enhancing Justice by Reducing Bias (Part 1)
Presented by Hon. Karen Arnold-Burger, Chief Judge, Kansas Court of Appeals
This program will introduce lawyers to the most recent research on the issue of implicit bias. The first half of the presentation will be spent talking about how our brain processes information and how researchers have determined implicit bias exists. The second half will address how implicit bias is currently being discussed in several areas of law from criminal-prosecution and defense, to employment law, health care law, and property law to name a few.
11:50 a.m. – 12:30 p.m:- Lunch
12:30 p.m. – 1:20 p.m.: Enhancing Justice by Reducing Bias (Part 2)
1:20 p.m. – 2:10 p.m.: Cybersecurity & Attorney Ethics
Presented by Blake Klinkner, Washburn University School of Law
Law firms are increasingly attractive targets for cyber-attacks. In this CLE, Professor Blake Klinkner will discuss attorney ethical duties relating to cybersecurity. Professor Klinkner will discuss the types of cyber-threats most frequently encountered by attorneys and their clients, and the categories of data covered by the attorney’s duty to protect. Professor Klinkner will address the levels of security required to protect against cyber-threats, and the sources of attorney ethical duties pertaining to cybersecurity. Attendees will be provided with a number of practical tips and best practices for improving their cybersecurity.
2:10 p.m.- 3:00 p.m.: Magna Carta and Kansas Law
Presented by Hon. Norbert C. Marek, Jr., District Judge in the Second Judicial District for Jackson County
All Kansas lawyers have probably heard of the Magna Carta and perhaps been taught that it is a foundational document for establishing English liberties under the common law. Very few probably know what the Magna Carta actually said or that provisions of it can be found in the laws of Kansas. Take a one-hour trip back to the year 1215 while you engage in a detailed review of the actual provisions of the Magna Carta that are the most important to Kansas judges and lawyers. Along the way you will compare Magna Carta to current Kansas law. Warning: Lawyers who attend this seminar might end up citing the 800-year-old Magna Carta in your next legal opinion or brief.
3:00 p.m. – 3:50 p.m: Time to Put on your Jeans (Your Sweatpants are Lying to You) – How to Establish Purpose During a Global Health Pandemic
Presented by Whitney Casement, Goodell, Stratton, Edmonds & Palmer, L.L.P.
We are over two months into the Governor’s stay-at-home order. If you haven’t established a pandemic routine, now is the time. It’s time to do your hair, replace those sweat pants for jeans, get outside, get connected, get mindful, and get physical.
Presenter Bios
The Honorable Karen Arnold-Burger is a 4th generation Kansan and a 1982 graduate of the University of Kansas School of Law. She was appointed to the Kansas Court of Appeals in 2011 by Gov. Mark Parkinson. She was appointed Chief Judge in 2017. Prior to that she served as Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Kansas and Presiding Municipal Judge for the City of Overland Park, Kansas for 20 years. She has presented programs throughout her career to judges, lawyers and community groups around the state and the country on a wide range of topics. The ABA presented her with the Burnham “Hod” Greeley Award in 2015 for her tireless work promoting the public understanding of the role of the judiciary in a democratic society and the importance of the rule of law. In 2016 the National Judicial College presented her with the Payant Award for excellence in teaching. Also in 2016, the Kansas Bar Association honored her with its highest award, the Distinguished Service Award for exemplary service to the legal profession. She has been presenting programs nationally related to racial profiling and bias since 2000. In 2018 she was appointed by the Chief Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court to chair the statewide Pretrial Justice Task Force.
Whitney Casement is a Senior Associate at Goodell, Stratton, Edmonds & Palmer, L.L.P. in Topeka. Whitney’s practice focuses primarily on workers compensation, employment law, administrative law, and professional licensure actions. Whitney has been a lawyer for seven years, having graduated from Washburn School of Law in 2012. It took her only three years of being a lawyer to realize how much she needed better healthy habits, especially mindfulness and meditation. That is why she has dedicated herself to learning healthful practices and sharing her knowledge with the rest of the profession. This includes holding weekly meditation groups, volunteering with KALAP, and sitting on a subcommittee of the Supreme Court’s Lawyer Well-being Task Force. When she’s not wearing her attorney hat, she loves on her baby girl, Mazie, talks to her therapist husband (sorry, Daniel), runs, hikes, kayaks, plays basketball with inmates, and spikes volleyballs.
Danielle Hall has served as the Executive Director for the Kansas Lawyers Assistance Program since December 2019. Prior to her appointment, Danielle served as a Deputy Disciplinary Administrator for the State of Kansas where she investigated and prosecuted disciplinary cases before the Kansas Supreme Court, assisted with Client Protect Fund investigations, and served as a coordinator for the Attorney Diversion Program. As part of coordinating the Attorney Diversion Program, Danielle’s primary focus was in providing lawyers with assistance and training in the area of law practice management and law office technology to improve their practice and reduce stress. Danielle regularly teaches continuing legal education on many topics including lawyer well-being, addiction issues, ethics, law practice management, and technology use in the law practice. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Kansas Lawyer Well-Being Task Force and is Chair of the Topeka Bar Association Technology Committee, Co-Chair of the Minority Women in the Profession Committee for the Kansas Women Attorneys Association, and a regular contributor to the Kansas Bar Association Law Practice Management and Technology Blog. She is also an active member in the ABA Law Practice Division, having served on several committees. In her free time, Danielle serves an adjunct professor at her alma mater, Washburn University, teaching law office technology in the Legal Studies Department and coaching the undergraduate mock trial team. She is also an adjunct professor at Washburn School of Law, teaching in the Intensive Trial Advocacy Program and coaching the competition teams with her husband, Jay Hall, who is also a lawyer. Danielle received a B.A. degree in Political Science in 2006 and a J.D. in 2009.
The Honorable Stephen D. Hill lives with his wife, Sandra, in Topeka. He attended Washburn University School of Law, receiving a J.D. degree in 1975. After that, Hill started his own firm of Hill & Wisler and engaged in private practice in Mound City, Kansas until he became Linn County Attorney in 1976. After serving a term as county attorney, Gov. John Carlin appointed Hill as District Judge for the Sixth Judicial District in Kansas in 1981. Then in 2003, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius appointed him to the Kansas Court of Appeals where he currently serves.
Hill speaks at many continuing legal and judicial education presentations in Kansas and on occasion at the Judicial College in Reno, Nevada. His topics include such subjects as ethics for lawyers and judges, the law and procedure of contempt proceedings, decision-making, appellate brief writing and oral argument. Judge Hill also speaks often to civic groups and organizations, telling about Kansas courts and the law.
Hill also served as Chair of the PIK Committee, a subcommittee of the Judicial Council, from June 2003 to June 2012. He currently serves on the Judicial Council and Kansas Sentencing Commission.
Professor Blake A. Klinkner serves on the faculty at Washburn University School of Law. Professor Klinkner also serves as Assistant Director for Academic Support & Bar Passage at Washburn Law. Professor Klinkner frequently publishes articles and presents lectures within the area of Law & Technology.
Upon graduation from law school, Professor Klinkner served a 2-year clerkship with the District Court of Wyoming. Following his clerkship, Professor Klinkner served as Assistant Attorney General in the Water & Natural Resources Division of the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office, where he served as counsel for a number of State of Wyoming agencies including the Wyoming Department of Agriculture and the Board of Control. Professor Klinkner also worked for the large, regional law firm of Crowley Fleck PLLP before starting his own practice. As a practicing attorney, Professor Klinkner took numerous cases through trial, including multi-week and multi-million dollar trials. Professor Klinkner’s practice focused on the areas of environmental law, natural resources law, energy law, cybersecurity and technology law, and complex commercial litigation.
The Honorable Norbert C. Marek, Jr is a 1990 graduate of Kansas State University and a 1995 graduate of the Washburn University School of Law. He was appointed District Judge in the Second Judicial District for Jackson County in 2015. Prior to his judicial appointment he served as Wabaunsee County Attorney, as city attorney for ten cities located in Pottawatomie, Riley, Wabaunsee and Nemaha Counties and as a council member for the City of Westmoreland. Before being appointed county attorney in January 2007, Norbert was with the law firm of Myers, Pottroff & Ball in Manhattan for eleven years. Norbert is a native of Westmoreland having graduated Westmoreland High School in 1986. He and his wife Jennifer currently live in Holton. They have been married for 27 years and have two adult children.
Kyle J. Mead has been with Lawyers Title of Kansas, Inc. since 2002. As Chief Examining Attorney, Kyle determines what requirements need to be met in order to insure residential and commercial real estate transactions, and, in appropriate situations, assists the parties in satisfying those requirements. In 2018, Lawyers Title opened its 1031 exchange qualified intermediary service, Exchange Intermediary, LLC, for which Kyle serves as the Manager. Kyle was in private practice for five years before joining Lawyers Title. He credits the perspective gained from his practice experience with real estate, family law, probates and estates, banking law, collections and civil litigation for his ability to meet customer needs as Examining Attorney. He is a licensed title insurance agent and a notary public and he is a member of the KBA Title Standards Committee.
