Product Details

 

About the Seminar
Sean Carter graduated from Harvard Law School in 1992. His ten years of legal practice focused on corporate securities and mergers and acquisitions. During this time, he represented such clients as GNC, Experian, The Boston Beer Company, Homeside Lending, Safelite Auto Glass, J. Crew and many others. Most recently, he served as in-house counsel to a publicly-traded finance company.

 

In 2002, Mr. Carter left the practice of law to pursue a career as the country's foremost Humorist at Law. Since then, Mr. Carter has crisscrossed the country delivering comedic professional educational seminars for more than 400 organizations in more than 40 states. He is also the author of the first-ever comedic legal treatise -- If It Does Not Fit, Must You Acquit?: Your Humorous Guide to the Law.

 

Seminar Agenda
Welcome and Opening Remarks
The Ethy Awards
Each year, Hollywood celebrates the best performances in motion pictures at the Oscars. Well, each year, we note the worst ethics violations in the legal profession at the Ethys. Sean Carter will host the festivities and announce the award winners for:

 

Least Competent in a Legal Representation
Best Supporting Actor (in a criminal activity)
Worst Love Scene
Most Creative Billing
Worst Temper in a Non-Legal Setting
Most Impaired in a Legal Setting
The Lifetime Achievement Award
And much more ...

In the process of recapping these egregious instances of unethical behavior, Mr. Carter will demonstrate how the rest of us can avoid more common ethical violations.

 

Attorney, Heal Thyself!
Sean will discuss substance abuse and common mental illnesses that impair a lawyer's ability to faithfully fulfill his/her duties as both an advocate and an officer of the court. Specifically, he will explain how substance abuse and mental illness play a part in many disciplinary matters / malpractice cases and the most common ethical violations resulting from these ailments (e.g., failure to communicate, lack of diligence, trust account violations, etc.). Sean will then closely examine the detection, treatment, and prevention of each specific malady.

 

Ethical Jeopardy
This session is modeled after the popular TV gameshow, you will compete against your fellow attendees in answering legal ethics-related questions, such as the one below:

Which of the following is NOT grounds to disclose client information?

 

·         To prevent death or harm to another person
  To defend oneself against civil, criminal, or disciplinary charges
  To impress prospective clients
  To prevent fraud

 

Lawyers will be allowed to make their selections via cellphone (or other electronic device) and see their scores in real-time. At the end of the program, a winner will be announced, and each lawyer will be able to see how they fared against the “competition."

 

Who Wants to be Disbarred?
In this program modeled after the TV game show, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, you will compete against your fellow attendees in answering legal ethics-related questions, such as the one below:

 

Which of the following conflicts of interest is prohibited by the ethics canon?

A. Being related to the client.

B. Going to the same high school as the judge.

C. Being close friends with opposing counsel.

D. Lending money to the client.

Lawyers will be allowed to make their selections via cellphone (or other electronic device) and see their scores in real-time. At the end of the program, a winner will be announced, and each lawyer will be able to see how they fared against the “competition."

 

Discipline or No Discipline
In this interactive game modeled after the popular television game show, Deal or No Deal, you will be presented with 30 briefcases. Each briefcase contains the details of an actual disciplinary case that was filed against a U.S. lawyer.  Inside each case are the facts leading to discipline and then, as counsel for the respondent, you will be offered a "deal" (e.g., a reprimand, 1-year suspension, etc.). It will be your job to decide whether to accept the proposed discipline or to reject it, in hopes that the actual sanction imposed was less severe than the proposed sanction. If you choose correctly (accepting a good deal or rejecting a bad deal), you will be awarded the points contained in that briefcase.

 

Lawyers will be allowed to choose “Discipline” or “No Discipline" via cellphone (or other electronic device) and see their scores in real-time. At the end of the program, a winner will be announced, and each lawyer will be able to see how they fared against the “competition."

Adjourn 

Mandatory MCLE Credit Hours
This program qualifies for 6.0 MCLE credit hours, including up to 5.0 LEPR credit hours and 1.0 SA/MH credit hour.

 

This seminar is a Basic to Intermediate level program.

 

Note: When submitting your compliance reports to the SC Commission on CLE and Specialization, if you completed this in 2024, please use this course code: 241282ADO.
 

Note: When submitting your compliance reports to the SC Commission on CLE and Specialization, if you completed this in 2025, please use this course code:  

Tags Mental Health/Substance Abuse/Wellness; Ethics/Professional Responsibility; Big Ticket