Welcome to the Duquesne Kline School of Law Online CLE Center

The use of AI in daily life has seen a prolific – if not meteoric rise in popularity. The legal profession is not immune to this increase. This program will focus on cutting edge research in AI and Law and how it impacts the legal profession.

Date Recorded: August 16, 2023

Speakers: Wesley M. Oliver, Law and Computing Program Director, Marie-Clement Rodier, C.Sp. Endowed Chair and Professor of Law & Morgan A. Gray (L'19), Adjunct Professor

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While most lawyers believe they understand confidentiality, the Attorney-Client Privilege, and the Crime-Fraud Exception, there are thorny questions that arise at the intersection of these doctrines that can be difficult to solve. Explaining the Rules of Professional Conduct, cases, and the Restatement of the Rules Governing Lawyers, this ethics hour will address some of the problems that lawyers may face by posing a series of hypotheticals for the audience and the discussing their resolution.

Date Recorded: July 21, 2021

Speakers: Jane Moriarty, Carol Los Mansmann Chair in Faculty Scholarship and Professor of Law

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While much of the litigation about conflicts of interest is in civil cases, complicated conflict issues arise in criminal cases. These include representing co-defendants, getting hired and fired, negotiating plea agreements, litigation between the government and the lawyer, joint-defense agreements, conflicts between the client and lawyer, and being paid to represent a client by a third party. Using real-world problems, this presentation will explain the various Rules of Professional Conduct and cases that govern conflicts in criminal matters.

Date Recorded: August 11, 2021

Speakers: Jane Moriarty, Carol Los Mansmann Chair in Faculty Scholarship and Professor of Law

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Attorney Jenkins will discuss the things that you must always do, as well as the things that you must absolutely avoid. From fee agreements, instructing clients on the law, to preserving attorney client privilege, a host of issues that we all need to be cognizant of that would be beneficial to both newer and seasoned attorneys will be discussed.

Date Recorded: November 18, 2021

Speakers: Turahn L. Jenkins, Esq. (L'04)

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This CLE will discuss the unique challenges in managing digital assets, including cryptocurrency, in estate planning and estate administration. The first part will review the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets adopted by Pennsylvania made effective in January 2021 and will then move into a discussion of the complications cryptocurrency may create for a fiduciary as well as emerging trends with handling cryptocurrency in estate planning and administration.

Date Recorded: December 9, 2021

Speakers: Ashley R. Bozewski, Esq. (L'12)

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In the face of rapidly changing laws and regulations in foreign jurisdictions, U.S. companies are confronted with a growing number of obstacles and challenges when operating globally. With the complexity of managing entities abroad only increasing, U.S. companies are now taking steps to operate more efficiently and to ensure that their global entities remain in compliance. With this in mind, it is important for attorneys and legal professionals to have an understanding of the best practices in managing global entities and be aware of the potential risks that this work presents. This presentation will outline the growth and expansion of U.S. companies to global markets, recent jurisdictional changes, operational efficiencies and considerations for global entity management, and upcoming changes and trends to expect.

Agenda:
I. Expansion of U.S. companies to Global Markets
II. Examples of Jurisdictional Changes
III. Operational Efficiencies
IV. Changes & Trends to Expect

Date Recorded: October 14, 2021

Speakers: Devlin Aaron Fisher, Esq. (L'12), and Robert J. McHugh, Esq. (L'12)

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The CLE will present the basic issues that have arisen in Pennsylvania Constitutional Law over the past 50 years, including the unusual structure of Pennsylvania's government, broader interpretations of shared federal/state rights and rights unique to Pennsylvania. The course will also review the relationship of state to federal law and the role of a state constitution. The ethics portion of the CLE will focus on the broad powers of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the History of Judicial Discipline.

Date Recorded: February 1, 2025

Speakers: Bruce Ledewitz, Adrian Van Kaam Endowed Chair in Scholarly Excellence & Professor of Law

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The CLE will focus on three specific types of hatred in America: Anti-Semitism, Racism, and Misogyny, and will explore similarities and differences between these hatreds and the movements combatting them. It will view these forms of hate through the lenses of intersectionality, history, law, and populism. The CLE will consider both causes of and solutions to these forms of hate with specific attention on opportunities for collaboration between groups to achieve equality and end oppression and persecution.

Date Recorded: November 6, 2020

Speakers: Rona Kaufman, Associate Professor of Law

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As a part of the 2024 Grefenstette Center Tech Ethics Symposium, Associate Dean Katherine Norton moderates a discussion about AI policy, focusing on the state and local level.

Date Recorded: October 18, 2024

Speakers: Rep. Napoleon Nelson, Annie Newman, Elise Silva

Moderators: Katherine Norton

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"What am I doing here? I don't belong."

"I'm a total fraud and, sooner or later, everyone's going to find out."

Imposter syndrome, also called perceived fraudulence, involves feelings of self-doubt and personal incompetence that persist despite your education, experience, and accomplishments. While early studies focused on highly successful women, it is now clear that it can affect anyone in the legal profession – from law students to Big Law executives.

Living in constant fear of discovery, you strive for perfection in everything you do. You might feel guilty or worthless when you can't achieve it, not to mention burned out and overwhelmed by your continued efforts. The results can be devastating.

True imposter feelings involve self-doubt, uncertainty about your talents and abilities. But what if you find yourself in an environment where your peers fail to make room for you or imply you don't deserve your success? Along with the more traditional factors, gender bias and institutionalized racism can also play a significant part in imposter feelings. Even if only perceived, they can surely reinforce the feeling you don't belong.
Hear our experienced speaker discuss the impact of the untimely death of his mentor and how trying to "fill his shoes" became more than a job, it took over his life. The consequences were a decades long effort to cope with and then conceal those feelings with alcohol and drugs.

Mr. Quinn will discuss:
I. Imposter Syndrome: What Is It?
II. Impacts of Imposter Syndrome on Attorneys
III The Role of Gender and Racial Bias in Creating Imposter Syndrome
IV. Practical Guidance for Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
V. How to Support Attorneys Battling Imposter Syndrome
VI. Potential Ethical Risks of Imposter Syndrome
VII. Personal Experience of Struggling with Imposter Syndrome

Date Recorded: October 10, 2024

Speakers: Brian Quinn, Esq., Laurie Besden, Esq., Nancy Conrad, Esq., Jessica Holst, Esq.

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This program is a panel discussion designed to help normalize the "ask" and to break down the stigma of a mental health or substance use challenge. If you had cancer, you would see an oncologist. If you had diabetes, you would take insulin. Mental health diagnoses are no different. They are medical diagnoses and the prognosis of recovery is excellent when health is sought.

Date Recorded: October 10, 2022

Speakers: The Honorable Ann M. Butchart, Michele S. Haggery, Esq., C. Reginald Johnson, Esq., Anabelle Nietupski, Laurie J. Besden, Esq.

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Please join us for a collaborative program between the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University and Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers of Pennsylvania. The prevalence rates of mental health and substance use challenges in the legal profession are alarming. This riveting program will address those challenges and the importance of mental health through a robust, vulnerable, and candid panel discussion with some of the finest legal professionals in the United States. Asking for support is a sign of strength. The goal of this program is to break down barriers, melt away stigmas, and normalize 'the ask' for help. There is no one more important to advocate for than yourself!

Date Recorded: October 10, 2023

Speakers: Laurie Besden, Jessica Holst, David Jaffe, Avery McLean, Monica Monroe, and Riley Ross III

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The presentation will include the structure of the claim process, ethical requirements of those participating int he VA system, rulemaking within the VA, important court decisions and pending litigation/legislation especially in the area of toxic exposure claims.

Date Recorded: March 17, 2022

Speakers: Commander John B. Wells, Esq., USN (Ret.) (L'94)

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Topics to be covered include:
• Purpose of an LLC entity structure;
• Types of structure (member-managed vs manager-managed)
• General formation process (Pennsylvania based)
• Tax advantages discussion (S-Corp designation)
• Structure of the Operating Agreement
• The "Four D's" - Death, Disability, Death, Divorce
• Purpose of Buy-Sell Agreement

Date Recorded: November 4, 2021

Speakers: Rocco E. Cozza, Esq. (L'03), and Matthew Bolewitz, Esq. (L'15)

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The last broad restriction on solicitation of clients by lawyers is the restriction on personal contact. This session will explore the continuing viability of this rule in an era when limitations on lawyers' commercial speech are tested for their efficacy in remediating a real harm. The personal contact rule has little historical validity and its value, if any, is shrouded in mythology.

Date Recorded: July 29, 2021

Speakers: Mark D. Yochum, Professor of Law (retired)

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This CLE will discuss the dilemma of using police dogs in the apprehension of criminal suspects, particularly focusing on the issues surrounding use of force and racial bias. Recent severe injuries and even deaths caused by police dogs have triggered media attention and government audits of K-9 programs. This CLE will discuss the legal basis for using police dogs for the apprehension function, while bringing in historical, scientific, and psychological evidence, along with current events to help reevaluate their use.

Date Recorded: March 19, 2021

Speakers: Ann Schiavone, Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship and Associate Professor of Law

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The legal limits on the use of force by police officers are very unclear and the subject of much controversy. Search and seizure law, by contrast, is governed by a vast body of law and - Breonna Taylor's case notwithstanding - is not a matter of public concern. To put this contrast more starkly, the law very precisely tells an officer when it is appropriate to search the trunk of a car, but provides almost no guidance on when it is appropriate to shoot someone dead. Police academies largely rely on judicial decisions to train officers. The law's lack of guidance on force therefore has significant consequences. How did the law come to thoroughly regulate searches but not shootings? This CLE will demonstrate that judicial responses to Prohibition in the 1920s provide a possible explanation and suggest that the remedy Prohibition gave us - namely the exclusionary rule - is a relic of that era, unsuitable for a world with concerns much more consequential than liquor searches, and unworthy of the deference we typically attribute to precedent.

Date Recorded: February 26, 2021

Speakers: Wesley M. Oliver, Professor of Law

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The legal profession is the unhappiest profession in the entire world. The idea of happiness for lawyers can be challenging, not because you don't want it, but because 1) you just don't know how to find it; 2) you don't have a good concept of what being happy really means; or 3) on some level, you feel like you don't deserve it. The truth is that happiness is taught incorrectly by people who really don't know anything about it. You can be a lawyer and be happy. This course strips down happiness to uncover its secrets so that you can practice happiness.

Date Recorded: August 3, 2023

Speakers: Dannie De Novo, Esq. (L'05)

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Without emotion, ethics compliance and professionalism will be at best weakly formal. Inspiration for a higher level of ethical performances can come from the rest of life. In this talk, Professor Yochum will explore the ethics of sportsmanship as a model for professional practice. The title refers to the mistake Fred Merkle made in a storied baseball event of 1908, wherein the failure to attend to a simple rule leads to professional disaster and even death. The talk will tell his story and, perhaps, provide guidance on how we deal with errors in others and, inevitably, errors in ourselves. Rules of Professional Conduct will be discussed, those rules born of a concern for "zealous advocacy".

Date Recorded: August 4, 2021

Speakers: Mark D. Yochum, Professor of Law (retired)

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This CLE will discuss the implications for law of Professor Bruce Ledewitz's new book, The Universe Is on Our Side: Restoring Faith in American Public Life. The phenomenon Friedrich Nietzsche called the Death of God has undermined trust in American society, including trust in the rule of law. The framers of the Constitution would have embraced the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., of the arc of the moral universe bending toward justice. But that faith as well has eroded. The book offers a new starting point for the renewal of the claims of truth, beauty, goodness and justice.

Date Recorded: March 29, 2022

Speakers: Bruce Ledewitz, Adrian Van Kaam Endowed Chair in Scholarly Excellence & Professor of Law

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As the COVID-19 global pandemic enters its third year, it is commonplace for attorneys to practice law in a hybrid workplace. We regularly work from home or another remote location some of the time, and other times (perhaps in the same work day) we practice law in a more traditional office setting. These hybrid work arrangements trigger ethical responsibilities in the areas of competency, confidentiality, and supervision of others. Our presenter, Jay Glunt (Duq 2000), is a workplace law specialist. Jay regularly trains employers about best practices for managing remote workers, sometimes referred to as the "invisible workforce." In this presentation, Jay will bring his practical approach to the professional responsibility obligations of an "Invisible Lawyer."

Date Recorded: February 17, 2022

Speakers: James F. Glunt, Esq. (L'00)

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Are you qualified to advise your clients on elder law issues? This CLE will discuss the areas of law in which elder law attorneys focus their practice and how that differs from general estate planning for the elderly. This CLE will also discuss how to avoid liability when advising clients on planning for long term care, estate planning with long term care in mind, Medicaid eligibility, and Medicaid crisis planning.

Date Recorded: March 31, 2023

Speakers: Colleen Bratkovich, Esq. (L'08) and Justin Ellis, Esq.

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