2021 Connecticut Legal Conference

Asha Rangappa is a senior lecturer at the Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and a former associate dean at Yale Law School. Upon graduation from Princeton University, she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study constitutional reform in Bogotá, Colombia. Attorney Rangappa has published op-eds in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post, among others, and has appeared on NPR, BBC, and several major television networks. She is an editor for Just Security and is currently a legal and national security analyst for CNN.  

The President’s Track

In 2020, the crisis caused by COVID-19, social injustice, and access to justice challenges forced the bar and bench to develop new creative legal solutions and innovations. Many of these advances occurring across the state and country were ushered in by a process know as legal design thinking. Come learn about what this process is and how it is helping the legal community serve the public. 

The Ethics Track

The session will provide a review of the most recent ethics opinions from the CBA Standing Committee on Professional Ethics and American Bar Association; decisions from the Statewide Grievance Committee and the courts; and a review of any proposed rule changes. 

The Real Property/Environmental Law Track

This session will explore antitrust issues that have arisen in the area of real estate. Specifically, we will discuss instances where restrictive covenants in real estate contracts or conveyance documents have led to antitrust liability, including DOJ investigations. We will also examine the antitrust implications of “pocket listings” and the ways courts have analyzed such conduct under traditional antitrust doctrine. We will also discuss recent developments in price-fixing litigation in the real estate broker context. Finally, we will cover the Connecticut Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Reserve Realty, LLC v. Windemere Reserve, LLC, which revisited the tying doctrine under Connecticut’s state antitrust statutes. 

The Trial Track

This session will discuss advanced issues in writing persuasive appellate briefs.

The Trial Track

This session will provide a review of the law relating to a person's right against self-incrimination under the 5th Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article First, Section 8 of the Connecticut Constitution and the implications for invoking that right in the civil litigation context. This session will assist civil litigators in identifying potential self-incrimination issues of parties and witnesses and evaluating them relative to litigation strategy.  

The Trial Track

A panel discussion from the perspectives of the bar, the bench, and academia on the interplay between the Connecticut Rules of Professional Conduct and common aspects of federal practice, such as discovery disputes, settlement negotiations, motion practice, and what to do if a client goes rogue in open court. 

The Workplace Track 

The session will focus on pre-formal and formal hearings in the Workers’ Compensation Commission. 

Chief Justice Richard A. Robinson will address the CBA and discuss the current events of the Judicial Branch. President Amy Meyerson will deliver her farewell address before the 2021-2022 officers are installed. Incoming CBA President Cecil J. Thomas will present his vision for the 2021-2022 bar year.

The President’s Track 

This session will discuss the work of the CBA’s In-House Counsel Committee, timely issues of interest to corporate counsel, and what in-house counsel want and need from their outside counsel and law firms. 

The Business Law Track

The session will address a number of common antitrust issues that are sometimes overlooked, particularly by attorneys who do not regularly practice antitrust law. 

The Family Law Track

Join us for the annual review of cases pertaining to the field of family law. Participants will be provided with richly detailed materials summarizing all relevant and current family law cases. 

The Legal Technology Track 

The proliferation of remote depositions has created a host of new issues for even the most seasoned litigator. This program is designed to bring practitioners up to speed on these issues, and provide them with practical tips for how to deal with the “new normal” that we will all have to navigate in the years to come. 

The Real Property/Environmental Law Track 

The session will include a brief history of the Transfer Act and the current status of the recently passed bill sunsetting the Transfer Act. The panel will consist of members of the "working group" that DEEP has put into place to establish these "release-based regulations." 

The Updates in Case Law Track 

Three experienced practitioners will address recent case law in commercial litigation, consumer bankruptcy, and business bankruptcy. 

The Workplace Track

The session will provide an annual review of workers' compensation caselaw, a legislative update, and address by the agency chairman. 

Racial segregation characterizes every metropolitan area in the US and bears responsibility for our most serious social and economic problems. We’ve taken no serious steps to desegregate neighborhoods, however, because we are hobbled by a national myth that residential segregation is de facto—the result of private discrimination or personal choices that do not violate constitutional rights. The Color of Law demonstrates, however, that residential segregation was created by racially explicit and unconstitutional government policy in the mid-twentieth century that openly subsidized whites-only suburbanization in which African Americans were prohibited from participating. Only after learning the history of this policy can we be prepared to undertake the national conversation necessary to remedy our unconstitutional racial landscape. 

Around the country, jurisdictions are enacting or considering significant changes in the regulation of the practice of law. These changes include permitting nonlawyers to own or profit from the sale of legal services and permitting nonlawyer humans and computer programs to practice law. Motivations for these reforms vary, but the most common reasons have at their core expanding access to justice. Sandefur discusses what the existing evidence base has to say about the promise and challenges of these efforts, and what we are learning from the efforts already underway. 

The President’s Track

Experienced trial lawyers share their winning techniques and strategies on opening and closing statements in civil jury trials focusing on personal injury cases. 

The Family Law Track

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the way practitioners conduct court proceedings in a virtual setting, specifically via Microsoft Teams. Preparing for your case with live witnesses and exhibits can be stressful enough but having to conduct a proceeding in a virtual setting presents additional challenges and situations that you may not have encountered in a courtroom. This session will discuss the preparation and handling of virtual hearings and trials and the use of exhibits. The presenters will conduct a mock virtual examination with the use of exhibits. The presenters will also discuss insights obtained and lessons learned during a six-week virtual matrimonial trial, which consisted of multiple live witnesses sitting in different states and numerous exhibits, both documentary and video. 

The Real Property/Environmental Law Track  

FIRPTA is the IRS acronym for the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act, 26 USC Sect. 897. It is becoming more common for foreign persons to own property in the United States. While there are no prohibitions on non-US citizens holding title to real property, when those owners sell, they are subject to the same capital gains taxes as US citizens pay. Sellers and buyers, and their attorneys, need to know what to expect when dealing with a foreign seller and how to comply with the act’s requirements that are imposed on the parties in the real estate transaction. 

The Updates in Case Law Track 

This session will provide an enlightening and comprehensive review of Connecticut Supreme Court cases from the past year by Kenneth J. Bartschi, followed by an insightful and thought-provoking review of Connecticut Appellate Court cases from the past year by Karen L. Dowd. 

The Workplace Track 

This session will focus on changes to employment laws and best practices in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Evictions used to be rare. But today, for many poor Americans eviction has become a way of life. Desmond’s groundbreaking book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City follows tenants and landlords swept up in the process of eviction. Drawing on the urban reportage and original statistical data gathered for the book, his lectures shows that eviction is a cause, not just a condition, of poverty and that the face of America’s eviction epidemic belongs to mothers and children. Presenting new insights into the fundamental role housing plays in deepening inequality in America, Desmond affirms the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible. 

The President's Track

The Business Law Track 

Valuations lie at the heart of many disputes—the family business or real estate that makes up the bulk of an estate's or divorcing couple's assets, the respective shares in a company's buy-sell agreement, the value of a lost business or development in commercial litigation or bankruptcy. If the parties can settle on a value for those assets, the resolution of the rest of the dispute falls into place or, worst case, the litigation can focus on liability, making it less complicated. This program will explore how to reach that agreement.

The Diversity and Inclusion Track

This is a two-part panel with the first hour focusing on diversity fatigue from the viewpoint of diversity, equity, and inclusion professionals highlighting their own exhaustion while simultaneously motivating others to hone their awareness of diversity issues. The second part focuses on how to make a meaningful contribution to diversity, equity, and inclusion as a member of a traditionally non-diverse community. 

The Family Law Track

This session is designed to provide insight and helpful information for family law practitioners involved in cases where the children have special education needs. 

The Ethics Track

The Rules of Professional Conduct include specific obligations regarding technology. What does this mean for lawyers and what obligations to clients does it create? In this program, we will review the requirements of the Rules of Professional Conduct and the many reasons to be technologically competent. 

The Real Property/Environmental Law Track 

Review of cases and legislation of interest to real property lawyers. 

The Trial Track

Highly-skilled trial practitioners and judges will walk you through the “Ten Commandments” of direct and cross examination and how to effectively elicit the necessary testimony from experts. State v. Chauvin direct and cross video clips will provide relevant and timely examples for the presenters to showcase the effectiveness of the commandments as trial tools. 

This interactive plenary will explore why the right incentives matter when creating sustained change in diversity and inclusion as well as how the "business case" and "right thing to do" are outdated models that measure efforts based on activity, which does not always lead to achieving results. Additionally, this presentation will explore questions that produce innovative solutions, such as How can you articulate and communicate the difference between diversity and inclusion? How can organizations and individuals ensure that they are working on inclusion alongside their diversity efforts because each is ineffectual without the other? Dr. Arin N. Reeves will incorporate how inclusion needs to continue to play a role during these challenging times and incorporate new research that reflects the new realities of the workplace during and post COVID-19. 

The Hot Topics Track

This program is designed to help law firms shift toward a culture of well-being. Panelists will describe the issues that led the participating firms to prioritize well-being, any roadblocks and barriers that needed to be addressed, how those challenges were addressed, subsequent positive impacts of well-being prioritization, and future goals for continued improvement.

The Business Law Track

Robert Day and Louis Schatz will provide an update on the recent Connecticut tax law changes, including the proposed employer payroll tax, changes to the pass-through entity tax, and the 2020 special rule impacting Connecticut residents that normally work outside of the state. 

The Diversity and Inclusion Track

This session will address how attorneys can become affected by mental health and acquired disabilities and what law firms can do to support them. Many attorneys acquire health conditions and become impaired but don’t view it as a disability and are afraid to mention it. This seminar is intended to discuss those issues. 

The Family Law Track

The Legal Technology Track

Make the most of your legal research member benefit with an introduction to basic legal research. The session will include how to run a search; how to download, print, and share resources, tips, and tricks for conducting efficient legal research; and general research skills. 

The Legal Technology Track

This session will explore data privacy laws not just in Connecticut, but across the globe and touch on how the changing landscape impacts not just your business but also your clients. You’ll hear from experienced professionals on existing and pending legislation across 31 other states as well recent enforcement actions both domestically and internationally. 

The Trial Track 

The speakers, led by moderator Tom Donlon, will discuss ethical pitfalls and issues related to modern appellate practice in the context of a series of scenarios—some hypothetical, some real. 

The Ethics Track

Presented by some of Connecticut’s leading defense counsel lawyers, this plenary will focus on providing valuable instruction, risk control, and recommendations to help lawyers safely navigate today’s complex legal environment and assist them in minimizing professional liability risk. Topics to be covered include: the ethics of errors, exploring some nontraditional legal malpractice exposures, conflicts of interest and the rules that govern them, and exploring cautionary case law.  

The Diversity and Inclusion Track 

Do you wish to do more to diversify your practice and make it more inclusive? Then this session is for you. Although geared towards small to midsize firms, it will benefit large firms as well. 

The Family Law Track 
 
This session will re-introduce the legal community to the Pro Bono Work to Empower and Represent Act of 2018, known as the POWER Act. The act mandates that federal courts hold annual public empowerment events in partnership with domestic violence service providers and volunteer lawyer projects to promote “pro bono legal services as a critical way in which to empower survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and to engage citizens in assisting these survivors.”   

The session will bring together lawyers and service providers to shine a spotlight on the critical need for pro bono legal representation of victims and survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, and human trafficking in federal and state courts.  

The Hot Topics Track

Over the course of the past year, COVID-19 has cast nursing homes and other living facilities into the spotlight. State of Connecticut’s Long Term Care Ombudsman Mairead Painter and Attorney Julia M. Brown will discuss the rights of residents and effective methods of advocating for residents from nursing home admission through to discharge. 

The Hot Topics Track

Discussion of the changes in the current administration's approach to immigration law as compared to the prior administration. 

The Real Property/Environmental Law Track

This session is intended to provide lawyers the basics of what they need to know about land use law and how land use can impact private property rights. 

The Updates in Case Law Track 

Significant new developments are occurring regularly in the dynamic area of construction law. It is essential for those involved in this field in Connecticut—whether as a "veteran" construction lawyer, an occasional practitioner, or as an owner or contractor—to keep abreast of this changing law, legislative initiatives, and recent statutory enactments. This session will provide you with up-to-date information about the current state of construction law. 

The Workplace Track 

Review of recent significant Federal and Connecticut decisions impacting employment law.  

Neal Katyal, who has argued 44 cases before the US Supreme Court, will discuss the current term and how decisions will continue to make news on a variety of issues. As an accomplished litigator on the Supreme Court, he will share his insights into the decisions of the Court, what we could expect this term, and their importance for the country. Additionally, Katyal will detail the Court's sometimes tragic role in protecting our civil liberties.