June 11/Seattle: The Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunities for Military Children

Title: "The Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunities for Military Children"

When: Thursday, June 11, 2009, 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.*

Where: Ben Bridge Corporate Office, 2901 3rd Ave., 2nd Floor, Seattle, WA

CLE Credit: 1 credit (pending)

Free to members of the WSBA Legal Assistance to Military Personnel Section. Join here: http://www.wsba.org/lawyers/groups/lamp

To register, click here: https://pro.wsba.org/forms/cle/Z90611.asp

*Lunch - You may elect to bring lunch or one will be provided for $10 by advance order. To order a lunch, please contact Dianne Smith at dsmith@benbridge.com or 206-239-6850 no later than Monday, June 8. Indicate your sandwich selection: tuna salad, roast beef, chicken club, turkey club, or Italian garden veggie. Payment will be collected at the meeting; cash or check payable to Ben Bridge Jeweler.

June 8/Web & SanFrancisco: Protecting Homeowners w/Limited Scope Representation

Protecting the Rights of Homeowners with Limited Scope Representation

San Francisco, June 8, 2009
Live Webcast, June 8, 2009

Free Pro Bono Program!

Millions of Californians are unrepresented in Family Court matters. Low-income clients are in desperate need of your pro bono help. 

Learn how to use limited scope representation in the growing, complex field of homeowner association law at this free pro bono program presented by PLI in cooperation with The State Bar of California, Public Interest Clearinghouse and others. Get the practical skills you need to help homeowners who would otherwise be without representation. You will also learn best practices and receive risk management materials, fee agreements and other materials you will need, even if you are starting a limited scope practice from scratch. 

What You Will Learn 

• The ethical rules governing limited scope representation
• The special application to homeowner association law
• How to master the complexities of the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act
• How to utilize limited scope representation to target a pool of potential paying clients who are currently unrepresented
• How to limit risk, including malpractice and insurance coverage issues
• How to identify the cases which lend themselves to limited scope representation
• How to market your limited scope practice

Learn more & register: http://www.pli.edu/emktg/strongmail/WWZ9_2.htm

If you prefer to register by phone, please call PLI's Customer Relations Department at (800) 260-4754. 

May 28/Boise: Guantanamo and the Rule of Law

Guantanamo and the Rule of Law

Join Scott McKay, of Nevin, Benjamin, McKay & Bartlett, LLP., as he shares his experiences representing individuals being held at Guantanamo Bay. Please plan to bring your own brown bag lunch.

Free to Idaho State Bar International Law Section Members (Non-section Members $15.00)

Thursday, May 28, 2009 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm (Mountain Time)

The Law Center
525 W. Jefferson St.
Boise, Idaho 83702

Presented by the ISB International Law Section

1.0 CLE credit (Idaho)

• Registration
• Brochure (PDF)

June 12,17,28 / Washington State: Voluntary Attorney Training in support of returning veterans

Attorneys Assisting Citizen-Soldiers and Families (AACF) invites you to Volunteer Attorney Training, co-sponsored by the WSBA Legal Assistance to Military Personnel(LAMP) Section.

Programs

• June 12, 2009: Tacoma Armory,715 South 11th St,Tacoma, WA 98405
• June 17, 2009: Yakima Readiness Center,2501 Airport Lane,Yakima, WA 98903
• June 18, 2009: Spokane Readiness Center, 1626 N. Rebecca St., Spokane, WA 99217

CLE Credits: 3.0 Credits (2.5 General Credits and .5 Ethics Credits)

Register online: https://pro.wsba.org/forms/cle/Z90612.asp

More Information:http://aacf.wordpress.com/

May 28/Seattle OR by Telephone: 2009 Children and Youth Legislative Wrap-Up

Title: 2009 Children and Youth Legislative Wrap-Up: Beyond the Budget

When: Thursday, May 28, 2009
11:30 to 1:00 p.m.

Where: WSBA and by phone
1325 Fourth Ave., Ste. 600, Seattle, Washington State

(Directions)

Co-sponsored by the WSBA Juvenile Law Section and the Alliance for Equal Justice Youth Law Task Force.

Join us for an informative mini-CLE to learn everything you need to know post legislative session to serve children and youth. The program will include presentations on legislation related to child welfare, juvenile offender, civil legal needs of youth, children's healthcare and an overview of budget items impacting children and youth. Come learn practical tips about how best to advocate for your children and youth clients during this period of limited resources. If you would like to participate by phone, please indicate phone participation when you register and a call in number will be e-mailed to you prior to the event.

Approved for 1.5 general credits (WA)

Cost:
Juvenile Law Section members: Free
Non-Juvenile Law Section members: Free
Law students: Free

Registration: https://pro.wsba.org/forms/cle/S90528.asp

Questions and/or Special Accommodations:
Contact Jeannie Nist at jeannie.nist@teamchild.org.

It is not required to join the Juvenile Law section to attend this event; however you should consider supporting it by joining it here.

Web, San Francisco: Using California Family Law Judicial Council Forms 2009

Using California Family Law Judicial Council Forms 2009

Date:
San Francisco, June 4, 2009, 3:00 pm - 5:15 pm
Live Webcast, June 4, 2009

CLE-CA Credits
Credit Status: Approved
Total Credits: 2.00
General: 2.00
(Check your own state concerning credit)

Why You Should Attend

PLI is pleased to present this program in collaboration with The Bar Association of San Francisco's Volunteer Legal Services Program (VLSP), The State Bar of California, Public Interest Clearinghouse and others.

Millions of Californians are unrepresented in Family Court matters. Please attend this program so that you can get the basic information that you need to volunteer to represent low-income clients with family law matters. It is our hope that you will join other pro bono attorneys by contacting VLSP or a pro bono organization in your community.

What You Will Learn

An experienced Family Court attorney will present all of the Judicial Council forms that you will need and explain how to use these forms.

Who Should Attend

Attorneys in California who volunteer to represent low-income clients through a Volunteer Lawyer program or attorneys in equal access to justice organizations will benefit from the program.

PLI Can Arrange Group Viewing to Your Firm

Contact the Groupcasts Department via email at groupcasts@pli.edu for more details.

Special Features

Live Webcast - Simultaneous live webcast of the San Francisco session is available for individual viewing. Webcast participants will receive streaming audio and/or video of the program, view and print course materials, and have the ability to submit questions electronically.


INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION

Web/AV: FreeCLE.com

No discussion of free CLE can omit FreeCLE.com.

FreeCLE.com, the result of unremitting pro bono labor by Washington State attorney Edward V. Hiskes, has hosted literally dozens of credits of AV CLE - free for all! Generally, the programs are first webcast live (therefore eligible for live credit) and then made available in recorded format: totally and absolutely free. The site doesn't even have ads!

FreeCLE.com focusses on Washington State; some programs are also approved in other states; there appears to have been some success with this, per a notice in the December 2008 Florida Bar News. Keep in mind that this is totally a volunteer project and therefore it may be completely up to lawyers in other states to apply for credit approval in their jurisdictions.

The site is old-skool bare-bones: no style sheet, no graphics, not even "About Us". That's ok; you can figure it out pretty easily (...after all, you're some kinds of lawyer, so exercise your deductive facilities!)

According to SiteAnalytics, FreeCLE.com gets a few hundred unique visitors a month, naturally peaking at end-of-year. When you consider that there are hundreds of thousands of active attorneys in the United States, this seems to be a mercifully small number, considering what the web traffic could be.

Well done, Attorney Hiskes!

June 4/Seattle - The War on Drugs

Event Title: CLE for Attorneys: The War on Drugs

Host: ACLU

Information:
http://www.aclu-wa.org/detail.cfm?id=1097

Date/Time: June 4, 2009
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Location: Knee High Stocking Co., Capitol Hill in Seattle
1356 E Olive Way, between Bellevue & Melrose. (map)

Continuing Legal Education presentation for attorneys:
The ACLU-WA presents an historical perspective and updates on current federal and state law and policies related to the War on Drugs. Speakers include ACLU-WA drug policy director Alison Holcomb.

Knee High Stocking Co. is a speakeasy-themed restaurant and bar across from City Market. There is no sign identifying the establishment, so look for a brown door on a blue wall, with a single light hanging above. No-host happy hour follows the presentation.

Cost: FREE; limited space, registration required

Pending 1.0 General CLE Credit, Washington State Bar Association

LEARN MORE AND PREREGISTER:
http://www.aclu-wa.org/detail.cfm?id=1097

Web/AV CLE: Expanding Your Practice Using Limited Scope Representation 2009

This program will provide an introduction to the rapidly changing practice of limited scope representation (often called "unbundling") in a family law context, including all of the fee agreements, forms and other materials you will need to practice limited scope representation competently, safely and profitably.

Title: 
Expanding Your Practice Using Limited Scope Representation 2009
http://www.pli.edu/product/clenow_detail.asp?id=54234
Host: 
PLI
Price: 
$0.00.You will have to formally purchase this zero-cost program, which requires setting up a free account with PLI.
Credits: 
Depending on jurisdiction, typically 3 or 3.5
Per http://www.pli.edu/product/clenow_detail.asp?id=54234#
CLE Now (On-Demand Web Programs) and Segments are approved in: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
More Information:
http://www.pli.edu/product/clenow_detail.asp?id=54234#

What and Why is 4freeCLE?

Continuing Legal Education (CLE) is an important part of legal practice. In most, or perhaps all, jurisdictions in the United States, an attorney must take CLE and report it periodically, or be disbarred.

One hopes that the CLE are relevant to skillful and ethical practice, and I'm sure that such is the goal of most CLE providers and CLE takers. However, CLE can be expensive, $35 an hour and up. To attorneys charging $250 an hour, this may seem like nothing, but to the many attorneys operating under 200% of the federal poverty line (something like $42,000 for a family of four in 2007) no-cost CLE is a necessity.

Contrariwise, those who provide free CLE need a way to promote their presentations. If they're offering it for free, generally speaking they can't afford a lot in the way of promotion.

4freeCLE serves both providers and consumers of free CLE in an efficient and inexpensive way (..that is to say ... the service is free!)

Why Would Someone Offer Free CLE?

Everyone's got a reason!

• Some providers are nonprofits offer training that is eligible for CLE credit, in exchange for pro bono service.
• Some providers regard education as part of their mission.
• Some offer a free course to get you to try their "non-free" products or to get you on their mailing list.
• Currently, our most frequent source of free CLE are Bar Association Sections, that offer free CLE as a membership benefit. In some sense, these aren't totally free since you have to join the section to get them. However, they are often VERY economical; typically the cost of section membership is less that the cost of 1 CLE credit, and the rest are no-cost. Therefore I've made the editorial decision to include them unless there are complaints.

What to Do if I have a Free CLE to Offer

If this is just a one-shot deal, get the information to me in the form of a "reply" to this posting, and I'll post it for you. Include contact information, whether CLE credit has been applied for and in which jurisdiction(s), plus whatever else seems reasonably calculated to help people decide whether they wish to attend.
If you offer periodic free CLE, consider becoming an editor of this blog so you can just add items when convenient. I welcome anyone who's interested in being helpful!

Other Venues

4free CLE started out and continues as a listserve hosted by Yahoo. This blog mirrors its content in a format that many prefer.
Postings to this blogspot are fed to twitter via twitterfeed. Feel free to follow us at http://twitter.com/4freeCLE

SPREAD THE WORD!

Feel free to pass on information about this list, in a non-spam way, to anyone interested. The objective is service!