Humorist at Law: Ethics, Diversity and Elimination of Bias with Sean Carter, June 9, 2020

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The 2020 Ethy Awards – Highlighting the worst ethics violations of the year (morning)

                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. Humorist Sean Carter will host the festivities and announce the award winners.  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.

Enough is Enough: Avoiding Vexatious Lawyering (afternoon)

                While lawyers are expected to provide their clients with zealous representation, we are not allowed to become outright zealots in pursuit of our client's objectives. Yet, time and again, this is precisely what happens as lawyers become fixated on winning at all costs. And as a result, they end up paying the ultimate price -- the loss of their license to practice law.  

                In this sobering but surprisingly funny presentation, legal humorist Sean Carter will distinguish permissible zealous legal practices from unethical legal zealotry. Moreover, he will provide helpful tips to overcome the temptation (and sometime, client expectation) to play "hardball" and to avoid those situations that are most likely to cause lawyers to cross ethical lines

Keep It Classy (and Ethical): How Not to Market Legal Services

                With current technology, legal marketing has never been easier or less expensive. Anyone with a cell phone can shoot and distribute a commercial online in a matter of minutes. Moreover, lawyers can make their presence known on social media, blogs, law firm websites and lawyer referral sites. It's never been easier for a lawyer to get the word out. Nor has it ever been easier for lawyers to run afoul of the ethical rules regulating legal marketing.

In this fun multimedia presentation, legal humorist Sean Carter will show examples of lawyers who cross the boundaries of legal ethics (or just good taste). In particular, he will give examples of lawyers who inappropriately use branding, jingles and humor in their legal marketing. Furthermore, he will demonstrate how such efforts can create unjustified expectations, inadvertently give legal advice, and diminish the image of the profession in the eyes of the public.

 

Diversity & Elimination of Bias - I THINK, THEREFORE I AM … BIASED: How the Natural Tendency to Form Biases Manifests Itself in the Legal Profession

The human brain is wired to recognize patterns and make generalizations.  In fact, this pattern-recognition ability may be our greatest advantage as a species.  It is at the core of our ability to understand the sciences, invent new technologies and even to create art and literature.  The very act of reading this description is made possible by our ability to recognize patterns of lines and shapes as letters.  In fact, we have become so dependent on this skill that we will employ it, even in situations where the information if faulty or incomplete.  As a result, the human brain will often fill-in-the-blanks, making assumptions to fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle.  And contrary to popular opinion, lawyers are human.  As a result, we are just as susceptible as anyone to form biases (assumptions based on limited/faulty information) and then to act upon them when dealing with clients, co-workers and others in the practice of law.

In this eye-opening program, legal humorist Sean Carter uses scientific studies, video demonstrations and personal anecdotes from his decade as a black lawyer to illustrate how lawyers (himself included) form racial, gender, and other biases; and how they are seldom the result of animus or hatred, but rather the result of our brain’s pattern recognition “firmware.”  Furthermore, he demonstrates how these biases affect our decisions with regards to hiring, evaluating and employing women and lawyers of color, communicating with clients, and making a myriad of other decisions.  And finally, Mr. Carter will provide some tips for how to recognize our own biases and to negate their effects, so that we can make fairer (and better) decisions for our legal organizations and our clients.

 

When
June 9th, 2020 8:30 AM through  4:30 PM
Location
WEBCAST ONLY
United States
Contact
Phone: 816-235-1648
Event Fee(s)
Full Day $285.00
Half Day $175.00