Brooklyn Bar Association kicks off CLE season with ethics seminar

January 4, 2016 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The Brooklyn Bar Association and CLE Director Amber Evans are excited about upcoming CLE seminars for the spring season. Eagle photos by Rob Abruzzese

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The holiday season is over and the frigid days of January are upon us, which means the start of the Continuing Legal Education (CLE) season at the Brooklyn Bar Association (BBA). The BBA will kick off the season on Jan. 20 with an ethics seminar hosted by Andrew Cabasso.

“Our fall season went really well, and we feel like our spring season will be even better,” said Amber Evans, the BBA’s CLE director. “We have a couple of judges coming — Judge Leventhal and Judge Kamins. These topics are courses that people actually need, [they’re] not just filler courses. We try to keep it fresh and lively so people actually want to come out and will be interested in our topics.”

The first CLE seminar of 2016, which will be held on Jan. 20, is called, “Ethics, Social Media, Websites and Online Advertising — What Attorneys Need to Know,” and will be hosted by Andrew Cabasso. Mark Caruso is also coordinating a Real Property CLE seminar with Kevin Dwarka on Jan. 25.

“It’s really popular because people can get two of their four required ethics credits,” Evans said of Cabasso’s ethics CLE. “It’s everything about internet stuff, dos and don’ts about social media and what you can and can’t say on your website.”

February features a couple of interesting CLE seminars, including one with attorney Carmen Jack Giordano and retired detective Eric Grimes covering video evidence on Feb. 18. There will also be a 2016 Civil Practices Laws and Rules (CPLR) Update coordinated by Michelle J. Stern and co-sponsored by the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers. President of the Columbian Lawyers Association of Brooklyn RoseAnn C. Branda will host a CLE session on Feb. 25 titled “How to: Tips and Practical Overview for Preparing Judgements of Divorce and How to Incorporate the new Maintenance Guidelines.”

Leventhal will host his CLE seminar on March 14. It is titled “Confrontation after Crawford,” and he is expected to discuss recent civil rights cases. Kamins will discuss “Uniform Discipline Rule” during his CLE session, which has yet to be officially scheduled.

Other important upcoming seminars are an elder law update on April 26 and an Article 81 (Guardianship) CLE session on May 17, which will be worth a whopping eight credits. Both will be coordinated by Anthony Lamberti.

“One big thing is that we have some courses that people have been waiting for,” Evans said. “The Article 81, the CPLR update, the elder law update. That OCA course [Article 81] is our highest selling pre-recorded course, so people will want to get that updated information as well.”

New York state requires that practicing attorneys obtain 24 CLE credits every two years, including four ethics credits. The BBA strides to provide attorneys attending CLE sessions with dinner and good networking opportunities with other attorneys and professionals who sponsor events. For more information on specific CLE seminars, visit www.brooklynbar.org.

“This year is going to be really good,” said Evans. “We’re focused on the content, getting good content out there and attracting new faces.”