Click here to view the 2014 webinar
*Please note: the recorded webinar is not approved for CLE.
Clifford Law Offices is sponsoring a free two-hour continuing legal education program on the ethics of client communications in the seventh annual Clifford Law Offices Continuing Legal Education Series. The 2014 program will cover the dos, don’ts and best practices of lawyer communication with both commercial and consumer clients; issues in ex parte communications between lawyers and adjudicators; and how to avoid breaches of client confidentiality. The program will also address the unique challenges and ethics of client communications in the Internet Age: What can we say about our cases on our websites and in our marketing materials? Can we discuss our cases in private online forums with other lawyers? How do we handle a bad “Yelp” review? Should we accept Facebook “friend” requests from clients? A number of actual cases and hypotheticals will be presented to help attendees understand the ethics of dealing with client communications in light of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct. The goal of the two hours is to train lawyers on ethical communication with their clients and about their cases.
MCLE Information: Clifford Law Offices is an accredited Illinois MCLE provider. This program has been approved for 2.00 hours of professional responsibility credit in Illinois and for 2.00 total CLE hours of ethics instruction in Ohio.
Date: Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014
Time: 2:30-4:30 p.m.
Moderator:
Robert A. Clifford, Senior Partner, Clifford Law Offices
Panelists:
Justice Maureen Connors of the Illinois Appellate Court:
Justice Maureen Connors received her B.A. from Loyola University and her J.D. from IIT/Chicago-Kent College of Law; both degrees were conferred in the 1970s. She is presently sitting in the First District Appellate Court, having been elected to that position in November, 2012, after being appointed in October of 2010. She began her judicial career as an Associate Judge in 1988 and in 1994 she was elected as a Circuit Judge by the voters of Cook County. Justice Connors has participated in numerous educational programs for the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois Bar Association. She serves and the chair of the Committee on Discovery Procedures to the Illinois Judicial Conference.
James Grogan of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission:
James J. Grogan is both the Deputy Administrator and the Chief Counsel (DACC) of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois (ARDC). For more than 33 years, he has investigated and prosecuted hundreds of charges of lawyer misconduct and has argued dozens of disciplinary cases in the Supreme Court of Illinois. He is a Past President of the National Organization of Bar Counsel (NOBC), the bar association of lawyer regulators. For over 27 years, Mr. Grogan has taught legal ethics, first at the DePaul University College of Law and then at the Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, where he is an Adjunct Professor. He has presented hundreds of speeches, lectures and workshops to law firms, bar associations, corporations and judicial and governmental groups and agencies on various professional responsibility and lawyer regulation topics.
Sara Parikh, Ph.D., Managing Director, Leo J. Shapiro & Associates:
Sara Parikh is Managing Director of Leo J. Shapiro & Associates, a Chicago-based behavior and opinion research firm, where she designs and conducts research on consumer and professional behavior and jury decision-making. Since joining the firm in 1985, Sara has worked on over one hundred jury cases, including personal injury, medical malpractice, patent and trademark infringement, securities fraud, breach of contract and libel.  Sara also testifies as a survey expert in false advertising and trademark infringement disputes.  Sara is a member of the Law and Society Association and the International Trademark Association. She has a Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
