25th ANNUAL STATEWIDE ETHICS SYMPOSIUM

25th Annual Statewide Ethics Symposium

Friday April 15th, 2022
9:30 a.m.–4:10 p.m.
Live Stream via Zoom

This program offers up to 5 hours of participatory MCLE credit (4.0 hours of legal ethics and 1.0 hour of elimination of bias). This program has also been approved for legal malpractice legal specialization credit by the State Bar.

Program schedule
Registration information
Printable brochure

Program schedule

9:30 a.m.–9:45 a.m. Welcoming Remarks

• Justin J. Fields: Chair, Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct
• Ruben Duran: Chair, Board of Trustees of the State Bar of California

9:45 a.m.–11:00 a.m. Recent Developments in Legal Ethics and Professional Conduct–What You Need to Know

This panel will discuss important developments in legal ethics, centering on recent and developing advisory ethics opinions prepared by COPRAC and other professional conduct developments. Topics will include client file release and retention duties, ethics of in-house counsel, cryptocurrency, and civility and professionalism.

• Justin J. Fields: Moderator; Chair, Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct; Partner, Duane Morris LLP, San Francisco
• Sarah J. Banola: Vice-Chair, Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct; Partner, BRB Law LLP, Oakland
• Dena M. Roche: Advisor, Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct; Partner, O’Rielly & Roche LLP, San Francisco

11:10 a.m.–12:25 p.m. Entry Into the Practice of Law

This panel will address significant issues, impediments, and developments related to entry into the practice of law. These will include barriers to admission related to legal education and bar pass rates, the level of ethics education new lawyers receive, and ethical pitfalls new lawyers face, as well as proposals to expand access to legal service.

• Brandon N. Krueger: Moderator; Member, Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct; Shareholder, Sall Spencer Callas & Krueger, A Law Corporation, Laguna Beach
• Carole J. Buckner: Partner and General Counsel, Procopio, San Diego
• Erin M. Joyce: Shareholder, Erin Joyce Law P.C., Pasadena
• Toby J. Rothschild: Of Counsel, OneJustice, Westminster

12:25 p.m.–1:30 p.m. Lunch

1:30 p.m.–2:45 p.m. Ethical Issues – Attorney Fees and Billing

This panel will address ethics issues and recent developments regarding attorney fees and billing practices. The panel will discuss proposed COPRAC opinions regarding flat fees and conversion clauses in contingent fee agreements and the impact of the current Rules of Professional Conduct, recent cases and developments in the field of attorney fees, billing, mandatory fee arbitration, suspect billing practices, and other fee and billing ethics issues.

• Kenneth E. Bacon: Moderator; Member, Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct; Senior Counsel, Mastagni Holstedt, A.P.C., Sacramento
• Joel Mark: Attorney, Joel Mark, Esq., Palm Desert
• Lorraine M. Walsh: Attorney, Law Office Lorraine M Walsh, Walnut Creek

2:55 p.m.–4:10 p.m. Eliminating Bias in the Courtroom

This panel will discuss eliminating bias in the litigation arena with a focus on the courtroom. This panel will cover recent studies in bias on the bench, new laws governing jury selection in criminal cases, and guidance on how to eliminate conscious an unconscious bias from trial work in the context of ethical requirements.

• Hunter E. Starr: Moderator; Member, Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct; Deputy District Attorney, Kern County District Attorney, Bakersfield
• Amyra C. Cobb-Hampton: Deputy Public Defender, Solano County Office of the Public Defender, Fairfield
• Terrance J. Evans: Partner, Duane Morris LLP, San Francisco
• Ivy B. Fitzpatrick: Managing Deputy District Attorney, Riverside County District Attorney, Riverside
• Jeanine E. Kraybill, PhD: Associate Professor of Political Science and Pre-Law Program Director, California State University Bakersfield, Bakersfield

Registration information

This year the Ethics Symposium is being offered for free and is limited to 1,000 registrants. Register online no later than April 6, 2022.

Note: All registrants will receive a confirmation email with the link and password to the Zoom webinar. Only those who attend will receive an email following the event, containing a link to their MCLE certificate. When registering for the event, provide the email address associated with your Zoom account. You will use this email address to log into the event and this will allow us to verify your attendance.

MCLE credit

This program offers up to 5 hours of participatory MCLE credit (4.0 hours of legal ethics and 1.0 hour of elimination of bias). This program has also been approved for legal malpractice legal specialization credit by the State Bar. The State Bar and the Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct are approved State Bar of California MCLE providers.

Questions

For questions regarding registration, program content, or requests for special assistance, please call 415-538-2116.

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, those requiring accommodations for this event should notify Angela Marlaud at: (415) 538-2116. Please provide notification at least 72 hours prior to the event to allow sufficient time to make arrangements for accommodations.