LACBA presents Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, University of California, Irvine School of Law, addressing "Supreme Court Review: Past, Present, and Future." Attendees commit to leading at least one classroom discussion on Dialogues on Freedom day, October 19, 2011. Our grateful appreciation to co-sponsors Atkinson-Baker, Inc., Simpluris, Inc., ARC-Alternative Resolution Centers, law firms Munger Tolles & Olson LLP and Palermo Barbaro Chinen & Pitzer LLP, and the Lawyers' Club of Los Angeles.

A tribute presented February 3, 2011, at the John Marshall Day program of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Senior Lawyers Section

For more information about LACBA's services, events, and products please go to www.lacba.org .

(Please click on the paper clip above the video screen to download the program materials)

Michael Jackson was a cultural icon. Known as the King of Pop, the life of this complex man remains a puzzle, even after his untimely death in 2009. In spite of wealth and fame, he was accused of serious misconduct. Jackson settled a civil law suit accusing him of molestation in the early 1990s and in 2005, a jury in Santa Barbara County acquitted him of molesting a thirteen year old boy at Jackson's Neverland Ranch. Both cases add to the legal lore.

Attorney Seth Hufstedler will moderate a panel discussion offering an in-depth historical and legal analysis of these highly publicized and very unique California celebrity cases. The panel includes those most closely involved with these cases: the judge, Honorable Rodney Melville (Retired); the prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Ronald Zonen; defense attorney Thomas A. Mesereau, Jr. who represented Jackson in the Santa Barbara County criminal trial; attorney Larry Feldman who represented the alleged victim in the civil case; and attorney Carl E. Douglas who represented Jackson in the criminal investigation of the civil case.

Clark Brown - Introducing Case Tracking Elerts

(To find out more about Case tracking Elerts please click on the paper clip above the video screen)

Elerts supply attorneys with four ways to configure e-mail notifications: by a client’s name, case number, new case filing, or by case type. Whenever a filing is made at the courthouse, Elerts notify the attorney that a new lawsuit has been filed against a client, or a motion has been filed on a particular case number or type. Attorneys can learn about these court motions a day or two before their clients do, alerting the attorneys to take charge proactively on behalf of their clients. Or attorneys can track the filing activity of their opposing counsel, client, or prospective client for all Los Angeles Superior Court cases. See below for more informatin about each of the four Elerts or go directly to configure any one of these options for your automatic notifications:

• Daily Case Watch
• Daily Name Watch
• Daily Case Filings
• Daily Case Type

Research.
• The Searchable Civil Register arms attorneys to search all filings in the Los Angeles Court Civil Register using a variety of search criteria, including issues, judges, law firms, and parties involved. Containing data from 1997 to the present, the register includes information about general and limited jurisdiction civil cases from all districts (except cases filed in Van Nuys (general jurisdiction) before January 8, 2001). For example, information about how a judge rules on challenges, demurrers, and motions can be found as well as that judge’s number of trial days.

Experts and consultants.
• Attorneys find trial-experienced witnesses in hundreds of specialized and unique subject areas at expert4law.org—The Legal Marketplace. The Web site can be searched by name, subject area, company, or keyword. If you’re looking for alternative dispute services, expert4law.org also furnishes a list of arbitrators and mediators.

Preparation for court.
• LACBA supplies members with automated California Judicial Council Smart Forms free of charge from LexisNexis. At all stages of case management, especially during trial preparation, attorneys require these forms. By using Hot Docs, made available at no cost to LACBA members, you can fill out the forms online and save them for future use or editing.

• Solid preparation also calls for researching the judge’s past rulings and courtroom etiquette. Judge in a Flash (JIF) and Judicial Profiles excel in helping attorneys get to know their judges. When attorneys are choosing between judges or deciding whether to file a 170.6 motion at the start of a case, they easily access JIF to compare judges on critical court management data.

• The Appellate Tips deliver in-depth explanations to your computer for when, how, and under what circumstances an appeal should be launched and pursued.

Clark Brown - Introducing Judge-In-A-Flash

(To purchase Judge in a Flash please click on the paper clip above the video screen)

What is it?
The LACBA Judge in a Flash (JIF) is your best source for detailed, on-the-fly information about judges in Los Angeles Superior Court. It is powered by LACBA's Searchable Superior Court Civil Register, another exclusive, LACBA product, and your best source for obtaining detailed information about the court.

HOW IT WORKS
JIF is a special tool built into a standard USB flash drive. Simply insert your JIF flash drive into a computer with a USB port and an Internet connection. Within seconds you can access four unique features to analyze how a judge manages cases.

Did you know that LACBA has a unique, searchable database that can tell you more about judges, commissioners, parties and even opposing counsel than you thought possible?

It's called the Searchable Civil Register (SCR). You can learn more details about SCR.

You can access the SCR, but you’ll need your membership login (username and password) and a special access code.

To obtain the special access code for SCR, call Member Services Department at 213-896-6560.

LACBA regularly downloads the full Superior Court civil register (docket sheets), and has created a search engine allowing for searches by almost any criteria.
You can find out such things as:

• how many peremptory challenges (Section 170.6) filed against a judge in any given year (identify possible "difficult" judges to avoid or investigate)
• how many motions for summary judgment granted versus denied (does this judge tend to grant them?);
• how many days spent in trial (does the judge try cases or dispose of them by other means?);
• how many demurrers granted/denied (and with or without leave to
amend);
• how many SLAPP motions granted/denied;
• how many motions to compel granted/denied (should you invest the time for a motion?);
• how many continuances granted/denied; and much more.

How about the number and types of cases in which various parties, or an opposing law firm, have been involved?

Is your opposing party a vexatious litigant?

How many cases has she filed in the Superior Court? Which other firms has your client retained?

Gretchen M. Nelson, former LACBA President for 2007, introduces us to John Carson, former LACBA President, who tells us how he came upon the idea of TAP (Trial Advocacy Project) while talking with former LACBA President Jack Quinn over lunch in 1977. Michael Schwartz recounts how he has led and expanded TAP since that time.

Watch the video by clicking on the video player's "play" button with the ">" on its lower left corner.

Created in 1978, Traditional TAP is a unique, 2-part course where attorneys receive comprehensive, in-depth trial advocacy training and actual trial experience. Over a 1500 attorneys have participated in Traditional TAP, providing more than 250,000 hours of pro bono service.

In light of the overwhelming success and popularity of Traditional TAP, the Association has expanded TAP to create several additional TAP courses— Introductory TAP, TAP: The Seminar Series and TAP: The Workshop Series. We now offer different TAP courses for different skill levels.

Justice Carlos Moreno visited Garfield High school in the Spring of 2008 as part of LACBA's Mentoring Program. Created by LACBA's Diversity Committee, the Mentoring Program seeks to build bridges between kids that have no positive exposure to lawyers or the justice system and practicing lawyers in Los Angeles. The Committee believes diversity in the legal profession will never improve if kids in minority communities do not realize that they can succeed in law school and become a lawyer no matter their background.

Judge Moreno delivers a speech that explains his humble beginnings, emphasizing that lawyers come from all the communities in Los Angeles and from all kinds of circumstances.

He draws on his own immigrant family from Mexico. His parents had little education and no specialized job skills but were determined to work hard and build a good life. Outlining many similar origins with today’s high school students, he recalls his own youth, growing up in downtown Los Angeles, and tells how he found inspiration from his family and friends to study and move up in the educational system, eventually reaching California’s Supreme Court.