June 12: Reimagining Wellness for Lawyers - Strategies to Thrive at Work and Life

Description:

Being a lawyer is one of the most stressful professions in the United States. Lawyers often have limited time for their own self-care which greatly impacts their mental and physical well-being. In this program, lawyers will learn how to redefine wellness by approaching it through a more holistic, self-compassionate lens. Specifically, lawyers will learn how to live a more harmonious life by building resilience and setting boundaries. Lawyers will also explore avenues to foster a positive mindset and build community in their personal and professional lives. Additionally, lawyers will discover strategies to integrate self-care practices into their busy lives to increase overall work performance and life satisfaction.

Title:
Reimagining Wellness for Lawyers - Strategies to Thrive at Work and Life
Date+Time:
June 12, 2025

3:00 PM CDT • 2:00 PM MDT • 1:00 PM PDT • 4:00 PM EDT 

Register Now For This Free Continuing Legal Education Webinar!
Speaker:

Erin Clifford

Erin Clifford is the Managing Director at Clifford Law Offices, Chicago’s premier personal injury law firm. She provides overall management of strategic business development, including planning, coordinating, and implementation of marketing and business plans. providing her with an understanding of the stressors that a high-demanding job entails. Erin is also a corporate wellness consultant who is deeply passionate about helping professionals create healthy lifestyles for a more fulfilling, happier existence. Corporations and law firms hire Erin to speak, train and coach their employees so they incorporate appropriate lifestyle changes that produce real and lasting results, yielding more productivity and positivity in the workplace. Born and raised in Chicago, Erin began her career teaching for Chicago Public Schools. She holds a Juris Doctor (JD) from DePaul College of Law and a master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling from Northwestern University. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Illinois, a National Certified Counselor, and certified as a holistic wellness coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. She also holds the highest credential in wellness coaching as a National Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC). Her book, Wellness Reimagined: A Holistic Approach to Health, Happiness, and Harmony, published by Forefront Books releases in May 2025.
By:
Clifford Law Offices
Credit:

• Illinois: Approved for 1.0 hour of Professional Responsibility credit (mental health and substance abuse) by the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism. 
• Iowa: Approved for 1.0 hour of ethics credit (wellness) by the Iowa Supreme Court Commission on Continuing Legal Education. 
• Missouri: Approved for 1.2 Ethics hours by the Missouri Bar MCLE Department. 
•  Ohio: Approved for 1 hour of Attorney Professional Conduct by the Supreme Court of Ohio Commission on Continuing Legal Education. 
• California: Reciprocity for 1 hour of Wellness Competence by the State Bar of California. 
• Florida: Reciprocity for 1 hour of Substance Abuse/Mental Health by the Florida Bar.
• Other Jurisdictions: You may check with your credit-granting authority to see how to apply for credits.

More Information And Registration

February 20: Ethics Jeopardy: Answers and Questions

Now in its 18th year, Clifford Law Offices has sponsored free programs on professional responsibility on many subjects — from client communication and trial work to preparing witnesses and social media.
The 2025 program, “Ethics Jeopardy: Answers and Questions” will delve into many subjects confronting lawyers in their daily lives. For two hours, an all-star ethics panel will discuss hypotheticals — some based on real cases — to help lawyers understand how to do the right thing. 

Issues such as use of artificial intelligence, delegating responsibility to non-lawyers and the use of social media platforms in one’s practice are just some of the hypotheticals that will be posed to the panel of speakers.
 Please join us for two hours of ethics education on the web.

Title:
Ethics Jeopardy: Answers and Questions
When/Where:
Thursday, February 20, 2025
2:30 to 4:30 pm CDT 

Register Now For This Free Continuing Legal Education Webinar!
Speakers:

• Robert Clifford, founder and senior partner at Clifford Law Offices, moderator.
• Lea Gutierrez, Illinois ARDC Administrator
• Jamie Kleppetsch, DePaul University College of Law Director of Bar Passage and Professor of Legal Practice
• Hon. Ray McKoski (ret.), Adjunct Professor, UIC Chicago School of Law and author of “Judges in Street Clothes: Acting Ethically Off-the-Bench.”

By:
Clifford Law Offices.
Credit:

• Illinois: Approved for 2.0 hours of Professional Responsibility credit by the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism
• Indiana: Approved for 2.0 DE General/Ethics credit hours by the Indiana Supreme Court Office of Admissions & Continuing Education
• Missouri: Approved for 2.4 Ethics hours by The Missouri Bar
• Wisconsin: Approved for 2.0 of EPR (Ethics and Professional Responsibility) credit hours by the Wisconsin Board of Bar Examiners
• Iowa: Approved for 2.0 Ethics credit hours from the Iowa Supreme Court Commission on Continuing Legal Education
• Other Jurisdictions: You may check with your credit-granting authority to see how to apply for credits.

More Information And Registration

June 13: Working Wellness: Healthy Solutions for Lawyer Well-Being

The legal profession is a very high-stress environment and lawyers experience mental health concerns at higher rates than the general population. Therefore, it is imperative that lawyers find avenues to support their well-being that will enable them to thrive in their personal and professional lives.

In this program, lawyers will learn strategies to create more work-life harmony and make decisions that are guided by their values. Lawyers will also learn skills to set clear personal and professional boundaries to help manage stress and support their mental wellness. Additionally, lawyers will be given a framework to incorporate self-care more easily into their daily routines.

Title:
Working Wellness: Healthy Solutions for Lawyer Well-Being
A FREE Clifford Law Offices CLE Webinar 

When/Where:
Thursday, June 13, 2024
3:00 to 4:00 pm CST 

Register Now For This Free Continuing Legal Education Webinar!

Speaker:
Erin Clifford, J.D., M.A., Director of Marketing and Business Development, Clifford Law Offices Founder, Erin Clifford Wellness
By:
Clifford Law Offices
Credit:

• Illinois: Approved for 1.0 hour of Professional Responsibility credit (mental health, and substance abuse) from the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism.
• Iowa: Approved for 1.0 hour of Ethics credit (wellness) from the Iowa Supreme Court Commission on Continuing Legal Education.
• Missouri: Approved for 1.2 Ethics hours from the Missouri Bar MCLE Department.
• Ohio: Approved for 1 hour of Attorney Professional Conduct by the Supreme Court of Ohio Commission on Continuing Legal Education.
• Other Jurisdictions: You may check with your credit-granting authority to see how to apply for credits.

More Information And Registration

February 15: Ethics 2024: Questions from the Trenches

For 17 years, Clifford Law Offices has sponsored free programs on professional responsibility on many subjects — from client communication and trial work to preparing witnesses and social media.

For the 2024 program, we turned to practicing lawyers — the lawyers in the trenches — and we asked them what’s on their minds in the area of lawyer ethics. What problems do they see day in and day out? And we listened. The 2024 all-star panel will address hypotheticals and ethical issues that came from you. They will discuss issues from the revised IOLTA account rules to double billing issues.
Please join us for this informative interactive program that is being offered to lawyers across five states!

  Title:
Ethics 2024: Questions from the Trenches
When/Where:
Thursday, February 15, 2024
2:30 to 4:30 pm CST
Register Now For This Free Continuing Legal Education Webinar!
Speakers:

• Kevin L. Hopkins Brody-O’Neill Endowed Faculty Scholar University of Illinois Chicago School of Law
• Hon. Mary Cay Marubio Acting Presiding Judge, Pretrial Division Circuit Court of Cook County
• Melissa A. Smart Director of Education, Senior Counsel Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois
• Moderated by: Robert A. Clifford Founder and Senior Partner Clifford Law Offices. 

By:
Clifford Law Offices
Credit:

• Illinois: Approved for 2.00 hours of professional responsibility credit from the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism.
• Indiana: Approved in Indiana for 2.0 hours of Ethics credit.
• Iowa: Approved for 2.0 hours of Ethics credit from the Iowa Supreme Court Commission on Continuing Legal Education.
• Missouri: This seminar has been approved for 2.4 ethics hours from the Missouri Bar MCLE Department.
• Wisconsin: Approved for 2.0 hours of ethics/professional responsibility credit.
• Other Jurisdictions: You may check with your credit-granting authority to see how to apply for credits.

More Information And Registration

June 15: Five Things the Busy Lawyer Needs to Know to Stay Healthy

The legal profession is exciting and rewarding, but with it can come stressors that must be acknowledged along with health and mental health concerns that need to be remedied stemming from work fatigue and an imbalanced lifestyle. Erin Clifford, a lawyer and holistic wellness expert, will discuss the importance of self-care and how you can better manage your stress.
Attorneys attending this online seminar will learn about self-care, intentional rest and unplugging from technology, and the importance of mindfulness and healthy nutrition. She will offer five takeaway tips to tweak your journey to getting and staying healthy.
Title:
Five Things the Busy Lawyer Needs to Know to Stay Healthy
When/Where:
Thursday, June 15, 2023

3:00-4:00 p.m. CST / 4:00-5:00 p.m. EST 

Register Now For This Free Continuing Legal Education Webinar!
Speaker:
Erin Clifford J.D., M.A. Corporate Wellness Consultant and Coach at Erin Clifford Wellness; Director of Marketing and Business Development at Clifford Law Offices
By:
Clifford Law Offices
Credit:

• Illinois: Approved for 1 hour of professional responsibility credit (mental health and substance abuse) from the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism.
• Iowa: Approved for 1 hour of Wellness credit from the Iowa Supreme Court Commission on Continuing Legal Education.
• Missouri: This one-hour seminar is free and has been approved for 1.2 hours of Ethics credit from the Missouri Bar MCLE Department.
• Other Jurisdictions: You may check with your credit-granting authority to see how to apply for credits.

More Information And Registration

June 9: The 29th Annual Clifford Symposium on Tort Law and Social Policy: “New Torts”

The topic of the 2023 Annual Clifford Symposium on Tort Law and Social Policy is “New Torts.” The two-day program will be held as a webinar and live at DePaul University College of Law on June 8-9, 2023.
Academics from around the country will gather for the two-day program to discuss a mix of innovative and traditional topics, focusing on individual harms, public nuisance, health care and medicine, the impact of technological innovation, and matters intimately connected to gender. Among the topics to be discussed are “AI Malpractice,” “The Duty of Climate Care” and “How an Old Tort Became New: The Case of Offensive Battery.”
DePaul Law School Professor Stephan Landsman, organizer and director of the symposium, will offer introductory remarks along with DePaul Law School Dean Jennifer Rosato Perea. Various panels will be conducted over the two days among two dozen law school faculty including Deborah Tuerkheimer, Northwestern School of Law; Molly Brady, Harvard Law School and Douglas Kysar, Yale Law School.
Each speaker writes a thought-intensive article that appears in a special edition of the DePaul University School of Law Review. Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices, endowed the tort law and social policy chair in 1994 at DePaul Law School, his alma mater. Since then, it has produced the most-quoted law reviews in courts around the country on tort topics.

Title:
The 29th Annual Clifford Symposium on Tort Law and Social Policy
When/Where:
Friday, June 9, 2023
8:00 AM
Online, and also in-person at In-person attendance is limited at the DePaul Conference Center, 1 E. Jackson Blvd., 8th Floor, Chicago.
Register Now For This Free Continuing Legal Education Webinar!
By:
Clifford Law Offices
Credit:

• Illinois: Up to 10.5 hours of CLE credit.  
• Other Jurisdictions: You may check with your credit-granting authority to see how to apply for credits.

More Information And Registration

February 16: Refresher on Ethics of Trial Work in a Courtroom

As health officials continue to try to get the pandemic under control, the legal community is trying to get back to business as usual. But is it? Lawyers’ skills and knowledge of courtroom practice and procedure may need a bit of sharpening. It is time for lawyers to brush up on the ethical rules that are in place when handling trials. Through hypotheticals, this two-hour program will deal with areas of concern that lawyers come across every day. A panel will answer questions on how best to handle and diffuse what could turn into unnecessary confrontational situations. From discovery issues to closing arguments, hypotheticals will be presented at various trial stages with attendees answering polling questions on best practices.

It should also be noted that effective Jan. 1, 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court has enacted an updated Illinois Code of Judicial Conduct for the first time in almost two decades, bringing it in line with national standards by addressing the use of social media and other technology that didn’t exist at the code’s last major update in 1993. How some of these Rules dovetail with trial lawyers in a courtroom will be discussed as well.
Title:
Refresher on Ethics of Trial Work in a Courtroom
When/Where:
Thursday, February 16, 2023
2:30-4:30 p.m. CST / 3:30-5:30 p.m. EST
Register Now For This Free Continuing Legal Education Webinar!
Speakers:

• James Grogan, Adjunct Ethics Professor, Loyola College of Law, and former ARDC Deputy Administrator and Chief Counsel
• Christopher R. Heredia, CNA Risk Control Consulting Director, Global Specialty, Lawyers Professional Liability; Former Litigation Counsel for the ARDC
• Hon. April G. Troemper, Circuit Court Judge, Seventh Judicial Circuit at Macoupin County and Member, Illinois Judicial Ethics Committee (IJEC)
• Moderated by: Robert A. Clifford, Founder and Senior Partner, Clifford Law Offices.

By:
Clifford Law Offices.
Credit:

• The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism approved “Refresher on Ethics of Trial Work in a Courtroom” for 2.00 hours of professional responsibility credit.
• The Missouri Bar accredited "Refresher on Ethics of Trial Work in a Courtroom" scheduled for 2-4 p.m. on 2/16/2023 for 2.4 total hours, including 2.4 ethics hours of CLE credit.
• The State Bar of Wisconsin approved the program for 2.00 hours of general or ethics credit.
• The Indiana Office of Admissions & Continuing Education approved 2.00 hours of general or ethics credit.
• Other Jurisdictions: You may check with your credit-granting authority to see how to apply for credits.

More Information And Registration

February 17: 15th Annual Clifford Law Offices Free Ethics Continuing Legal Education Webinar

Title:
15th Annual Clifford Law Offices Free Ethics Continuing Legal Education Webinar
When/Where:
Thursday, February 17, 2022
2:30-3:30 pm CT: Wellness Program
3:30-4:30 pm CT: Diversity & Inclusion Program
Register Now For This Free Continuing Legal Education Webinar!

Wellness Program: Mind, Body, & Soul: Defining Well-Being in Law

Since the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being issued its Report & Recommendations in 2017, there has been much progress. However, a culture shift around well-being and sustained innovation still faces certain challenges. To be a good lawyer, law student or judge, one has to be well. To achieve well-being, we have to engage in a continuous process in which we “strive to thrive” in each of the following dimensions of our lives: emotional, intellectual, occupational, physical, spiritual and social.
Our panelists will discuss what constitutes well-being in each of these six components, provide some best practices that everyone can employ in their own lives and in their work or school setting, and consider where we have been and the challenges we face as we move forward on this front.
Speakers:

• Moderator: Robert A. Clifford Founder and Senior Partner, Clifford Law Offices
• Erin Clifford Partner, Clifford Law Offices and Founder/CEO of Erin Clifford Wellness
• Brian Cuban Lawyer and Author of "The Addicted Lawyer" Tracy Kepler CNA Risk Control Director, Adjunct Law Professor and former Director of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility
• Judge David Shaheed Associate Professor at Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

Credit:

• The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism approved the substance of Mind, Body & Soul: Defining Well-Being in Law for 1.00 hours professional responsibility credit (Mental Health and Substance Abuse).
• The Missouri Bar has approved the Wellness course for 1.2 hours of ethics credit.
• The program, Mind, Body & Soul: Defining Well-Being in Law, has been accredited for 1.00 hour in ethics by the State Bar of Texas. 

Diversity & Inclusion Program: Mind, Body, & Soul of Diverse Lawyers: The Weathering Effect

It is coming to light that lawyers of diversity can be impacted by “the weathering effect.” This relatively new term will be discussed in the context of how one’s experiences and reactions as a lawyer in a diverse community are different because of one’s race, gender, ethnicity, disability, socioeconomic status, and other diverse factors. The weathering effect can create an erosion of professional, mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health from unconscious bias and the daily microaggressions that one of diversity is forced to endure. This can impact the way one responds to certain situations and can ultimately impact one’s outlook, health or longevity in the profession. It can make one more vulnerable or more callous in certain situations, more so and more sensitized than those who are not considered part of a minority community. It can create mental blocks. The concept of intersectionality – members of the profession falling into more than one identity group – and the toll it takes on those in figuring out how to react given the situation and the group into which one falls also can be exhausting.
This highly experienced panel will openly discuss their experiences and beliefs in what is happening in this arena and will offer suggestions as to how everyone can become more aware in order to improve the health of the profession.

Speakers:

• Moderator: Robert A. Clifford Founder and Senior Partner, Clifford Law Offices
• Lea Gutierrez DEI Director at Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office
• Leslie Davis CEO, National Association of Minority & Women Owner Law Firms (NAMWOLF)
• Lindsey Draper Former Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney, Assistant Public Defender and Ret. Judicial Court Commissioner primarily with the Children’s Court and the current Vice President of DEI for the Institute of Well-Being in Law.

Credits:

• The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism approved the substance of Mind, Body & Soul of Diverse Lawyers: The Weathering Effect for 1.00 hours professional responsibility credit (Diversity and Inclusion).
• The Missouri Bar has approved 1.2 total hours, including 1.2 ethics hours and 1.2 elimination of bias hours.
• The program, Mind, Body & Soul of Diverse Lawyers: The Weathering Effect, has been accredited for 1.00 hour in ethics by the State Bar of Texas.

By:
Clifford Law Offices

More Information And Registration

November 4: The Law of the Back-End - Post-Settlement Governance

Title:
The Law of the Back-End - Post-Settlement Governance
2021 Clifford Scholar-in-Residence Lecture
When/Where:
Thursday, November 4, 2021
3:00-4:00 pm CT
Register Now For This Free Continuing Legal Education Webinar!
Speaker:
Georgetown University Law Center Professor Maria Glover is an expert in complex litigation and mass torts, aggregate dispute resolution, civil procedure, civil settlements, and the intersection between private and public regulation. Professor Glover’s work has been published in The Yale Law Journal, The Stanford Law Review, The N.Y.U. Law Review, The University of Pennsylvania Law Review, The Vanderbilt Law Review, The N.Y.U. Journal of Law & Business, The William and Mary Law Review, and the Fordham Law Review, among others. In addition to publications in leading law reviews and business journals, her work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Consumer Reports, Reuters, The Hill, Bloomberg Law, among other media outlets, and has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.
By:
by DePaul University College of Law and Clifford Law Offices
Credit:

• Illinois: One hour CLE Credit.
• Other Jurisdictions: You may check with your credit-granting authority to see how to apply for credits.

More Information And Registration

February 18: Legal Ethics and Professionalism of Your Favorite TV Shows, Yada, Yada

Clifford Law Offices is pleased to present its 14th annual CLE program, “Legal Ethics and Professionalism of Your Favorite TV Shows, Yada, Yada.” For two hours, a highly qualified panel will examine the ethics and professionalism of lawyers as portrayed on various television shows over the years. Some of your favorite lawyers on tv have been involved in issues that raise ethical and professionalism concerns for themselves, their law firms and their clients. Just how far can one go in preparing a witness? How should one ethically advertise or solicit clients? If you think your client is lying, how should the case move forward? These are just some of the questions to be examined with clips of tv shows serving as hypotheticals. Of course, “Seinfeld” is no exception. 

Title:
Legal Ethics and Professionalism of Your Favorite TV Shows, Yada, Yada
When/Where:
Thursday, February 18, 2021
2:30-4:30 p.m. CST
Register Now For This Free Continuing Legal Education Webinar!
Speakers:

• Jayne R. Reardon, Executive Director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism
• Hon. Daniel B. Shanes of the Lake County Circuit Court and Chair of the Illinois Judicial College Board of Trustees
• Professor Cynthia Fountaine, former Dean of Southern Illinois University School of Law and now Professor of Law there on legal ethics, civil procedure, complex litigation and the jury process; Professor Fountaine is a Fulbright Senior Scholar.
• Moderator: Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices in Chicago. 

By:
Clifford Law Offices
Credit:

• Illinois: This course has been approved for two (2.0) hours of professional responsibility credit by the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism.
• Other Jurisdictions: You may check with your credit-granting authority to see how to apply for credits.

More Information And Registration

February 20: Ethics 2020 – The Future is Now

Open a new decade with a look at where the legal profession is heading. As the Rules of Professional Responsibility evolve along with technology innovations, lawyers must remain competent as to how these Rules impact their practice of law. This two-hour webinar will examine issues of which the lawyers of today and tomorrow must be aware. From non-lawyer referral services to jury research to social media consequences, this distinguished panel will discuss cutting-edge problems through hypotheticals. Some recent and proposed Rule changes that impact all lawyers across the state will be examined. Other topics include:

• Ethical Considerations in Boosting Your Client Reviews, i.e. Can I Solicit Positive Reviews?
• Can You (and Should You) Investigate Jurors Prior to Jury Selection or During Trial?
• The Right Way to Start a Law Blog? What ethical pitfalls should I watch out for?
• Post-Trial Communications with Jurors--Do's and Don'ts
• Does Email Tracking Violate the Rules of Professional Conduct?
• Is Jury Research on Social Media an Ethics Risk or a Competency Requirement?
• Can Lawyers and Judges Be Social Media Friends? How has this evolved?
• How to Respond to Negative Online Attorney Reviews Keeping Ethics and Marketing In Mind
• Limited Scope Appearances in Illinois State Courts.

Title:
Ethics 2020 – The Future is Now
When/Where:

Thursday, February 20, 2020

2:30 to 4:30 pm CST

A FREE Clifford Law Offices CLE Webcast - Register Now! 

Speakers:

• Moderated by: Robert A. Clifford Founder and Senior Partner, Clifford Law Offices, Moderator
• Wendy Muchman, Northwestern University School of Law Faculty, former Chief of Litigation and Professional Education, ARDC
• Mark C. Palmer, Chief Counsel, Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism
• Honorable Clare J. Quish, Circuit Court of Cook County, First Municipal District.

By:
Clifford Law Offices
Credit:

• Illinois: This program is approved for two (2.0) hours of professional responsibility credit by the Illinois Commission on Professionalism. 
• Other Jurisdictions: You may check with your credit-granting authority to see how to apply for credits.

More Information And Registration

February 21: The Path to Lawyer Well Being & Conscious Inclusion

This program - The Path to Lawyer Well Being & Conscious Inclusion - comes in two parts.

Program #1: The Path to Lawyer Well Being
Too many in our profession are too exhausted, too impaired or too disengaged to develop into their best selves. Many find themselves in a profession drained of civility and compassion and plagued by chronic stress, poor self-care, and high rates of depression and alcohol problems.
The result is that the legal profession may not be living up to its full potential as an institution in which attorneys can thrive, best serve their clients and contribute to a better society. Further, recent research demonstrates that lawyers are far more likely to suffer from substance use and mental health disorders compared to other professions and the public as a whole. What can we do and how do we create a movement of change towards improving the health and well-being of the legal profession?
This program discusses practical steps that can be taken by lawyers, law firms, bar associations, judges, legal educators and regulatory counsel to shift the legal culture from one that can be self-destructive to one that focuses on the well-being that is expected by all those who look to the legal system for justice. In addition, participants also will learn ways to foster healthy lifestyles within their practice settings as well as how to implement some stress-reduction techniques at home and in the workplace in examining best practices for promoting healthy lives in the legal profession.
Program #2: Conscious Inclusion
Implicit bias occurs in every aspect of the law – from the courtroom to the law firm to legal non-profit organizations. It is a daily challenge to consciously include those who deserve to be part of the picture. The Illinois Supreme Court IPI Civil Jury Committee promulgated a new instruction for civil jury trials in Illinois on implicit bias in May 2018, recognizing that we “all have feelings, assumptions, perceptions, fears, and stereotypes about others. Some biases we are aware of and others we might not be fully aware of, which is why they are called implicit biases or ‘unconscious biases.’” Additionally, it warns that “our biases” often affect how we act, favorably or unfavorably, toward someone. Bias can affect our thoughts, how we remember, what we see and hear, whom we believe or disbelieve, and how we make important decisions. Illinois is the seventh state to require MCLE on the elimination of bias. The terms surrounding this issue hold no universal definition, and our panel of various experts in this field will discuss what these issues mean in the context of various institutions, interest groups and legal entities.
Our speakers will discuss a “how-to” in these various areas and how diversity can be meaningful. It is the moral thing to do. It’s the right thing to do. And it’s even good for business. The first step, though, is understanding implicit bias and recognizing when it may be permeating your decisions. Hypotheticals will be discussed as well as ways to reduce implicit bias and how diversity and inclusion can become part of one’s everyday life in this one-hour interactive, lively discussion.
Title:
The Path to Lawyer Well Being & Conscious Inclusion
When/Where:
February 21, 2019
2:30-4:30 p.m. CST
Webcast - Register Now!
Speakers:

• Moderated by: Robert A. Clifford - Founder and Senior Partner, Clifford Law Offices, Moderator 
• Robin Belleau - Executive Director, Lawyers' Assistance Program (LAP)
• James Faught - Associate Dean, Loyola University School of Law, and Chicago Bar Association, Future of the Profession Chair, Law Student and New Lawyer Committee, LAP Board Member
• Hon. E. Kenneth Wright, Jr. - Cook County Circuit Court, Presiding Judge, Municipal Division, and Chair, Illinois State Bar Association Special Committee on Health and Wellness
• Tracy L. Kepler - Director, Center for Professional Responsibility, American Bar Association
• Karen Munoz - Lawyer, Certified Yoga Instructor, LAP Illinois Task Force on Well Being and CBA Member of Mindfulness & the Law Committee
• Hon. Thomas More Donnelly - Cook County Circuit Court, and Chair, Illinois Judicial College Board of Trustees, the Illinois Supreme Court’s educational arm
• Cunyon Gordon - Senior Counsel and Director, Settlement Assistance Program, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
• Josie M. Gough - Assistant Dean for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity at Loyola University Chicago’s School of Law
• Allison Wood - Principal of Legal Ethics Consulting, P.C., Former Hearing Board Chair and former Litigation Counsel with the ARDC

By:
Clifford Law Offices
Credit:

• Illinois: This two-hour program has been approved for two hours of professional responsibility credit: specifically, one hour of Mental Health/Substance Abuse and one hour of Diversity/Inclusion.
• Other Jurisdictions: You may check with your credit-granting authority to see how to apply for credits.

More Information And Registration

February 15: The Changing Ethical Landscape of Litigation

The landscape of litigation certainly is changing, and dealing with new and evolving ethical issues along with it. "Fighting fair" is imperative, but why does it seem to be getting more difficult and complicated to do so? In part it may be because we have new technologies and new players "in the sandbox" with lawyers. Our panel of speakers will break down some of the most pestering yet important issues that impact lawyers every day: confidentiality, privilege and work product, conflicts of interest, contacting non-clients, dealing with experts, disclosure obligations, social media and electronic discovery.
Join us with speakers Jayne Reardon, Executive Director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism; Lawrence J. Fox, Professor of professional responsibility at Yale Law School and author of several books and treatises on ethics; and Judge Deborah Mary Dooling (ret.) who sat on the Cook County Circuit Court for 23 years and also taught Professional Negligence for the Illinois Judicial Conference. Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner at Clifford Law Offices, will moderate the two-hour program.
Title:
The Changing Ethical Landscape of Litigation
When/Where:
Thursday, February 15, 2018
2:30-4:30 p.m.
Webcast - Register Now!
Speakers:

• Judge Deborah Mary Dooling (ret.) is assigned to the Law Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County. She presides over a jury room and hears pretrial conferences, dispositive motions, jury and bench trials and post-trial matters.
• Lawrence Fox is the George W. and Sadella D. Crawford Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School and a partner of Schoeman Updike Kaufman & Gerber LLP
• Jayne Reardon is the Executive Director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism. A tireless advocate for professionalism,
• Moderator: Robert A. Clifford, Founder and Senior Partner, Clifford Law Offices

By:
Clifford Law Offices

Credit:

The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism approved the substance of The Changing Ethical Landscape of Litigation for 2.00 hours professional responsibility credit. Some other states may grant credit through comity or self-application.

More Information And Registration