The Legacy of RBG
Barbara Ann Radnofsky moderates panel discussion with former RBG Clerk Katie Barber and UT Law Professor Elizabeth Sepper.
1 hour of free MCLE. Course #: 174101806
KATIE BARBER clerked for Justice Ginsburg during October Term 2018. She previously clerked for Judge John B. Owens of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Barber earned her law degree from the University of Virginia, where she served as a notes editor on the managing board of the Virginia Law Review and was honored as a member of the Raven Society and Order of the Coif. She currently practices in Richmond, where she focuses on high-stakes litigation, dispositive motions, and appellate advocacy.
BARBARA ANN RADNOFSKY is the author of A CITIZEN'S GUIDE TO IMPEACHMENT. Barbara was a partner at Vinson & Elkins, from which she retired after twenty-seven years as a trial lawyer and head of the firm's ADR section. She was the first woman in Texas history to run as the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2006 (she lost to incumbent Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison) and the first, also, to run as the Democratic candidate for Texas Attorney General in 2010 (she lost to incumbent Greg Abbott). She currently has a legal practice as a mediator. She volunteers with numerous causes and as a teacher for special needs children. She graduated magna cm laude from the University of Houston, where she enrolled at age sixteen, and the University of Texas School of Law.
ELIZABETH SEPPER is a Professor of Law at the University of Texas at Austin and a nationally recognized scholar of health law, equality, and religious liberty. She has written extensively on conscientious refusals to provide reproductive and end-of-life healthcare and on conflicts over religion and antidiscrimination law. Sepper received her B.A. in History from Boston University and her LL.M. and J.D. from New York University School of Law. Followi
Eviction Crisis CLE
Moderated by Judge Jim Kovach, and featuring panelist:
State Rep./Harris County Recovery Czar Armando Walle
Justice of Peace Jeremy Brown
Eric Kwartler, landlord/tenant law program clinic director at STCL
U.A. Lewis, trial lawyer and tenant advocate
Zoe Middleton, regional director at Texas Housers
1 hour of free MCLE; Course Number: 174099779
Voter Protection Boot Camp CLE
This CLE program is designed for lawyers, law students, and others serving as election judges, alternate judges, and election clerks in Harris County. Course Number: 174097437 (2 hours MCLE including .25 ethics).
NOTE: Since the recording of this CLE, the policy of the County Clerk’s Office has been modified: Anyone who wishes to cancel a mail-in-ballot and vote in person must either surrender their mail-in-ballot or vote on a provisional ballot. The guidance given in this CLE on the topic of cancelling mail-in-ballots was about the former policy and does not reflect the current policy of the County Clerk’s Office.
This course is a supplement to -- not a replacement for -- the official training provided by the Harris County Clerk. For information on required training for Harris County election workers, go to: http://harrisvotes.com/ElectionWorkers?lang=en-US...
Also note that this is not a replacement for the required online and on demand training poll watchers must complete.
This course covers portions of the Election Code most relevant to election clerks, judges, and alternate judges. This CLE program will consist of presentations by a series of Texas lawyers versed in election and voter protection laws. Topics include voter ID requirements, what the Election Code provides for voters needing assistance, the rules prohibiting electioneering and intimidation, the limits of a poll watcher's abilities, when to use provisional ballots, the rules governing who can bring firearms into a polling location, and topics specific to this year including an overview of Harris County's new drive-through voting sites and issues specific to COVID and mask-wearing.
Help us protect the integrity of the democratic process by applying to become an election worker. Most of the election worker positions are paid. You can apply to become an election worker at harrisdemocrats.org/election-worker
Moving Toward Sustainability CLE
Panel discussion moderated by Mike Collier, featuring:
Kayla Alix - Candidate for Texas House Dist 129
Adrienne Bell - Candidate for CD-14
Susan Criss - Candidate for Texas Senate SD-11
Sri Kulkarni - Candidate for CD-22
Rashad Lewis - Candidate for CD-36
Jon Powell - geological and chemical scientist
The panel focused on infrastructure planning and severe storm protection for the Gulf Coast area, including 2 current proposals: sspeed.rice.edu/gbpp & coastalstudy.texas.gov/
1 hour of MCLE; Course #174095319
American Authoritarianism with John Dean
American Authoritarianism, a conversation with John Dean. TX Bar CLE course #174094901 (1 hr MCLE credit). Dean and Barbara Radnofsky dicuss recent unprecedented and alarming authoritarian actions in the US, including militarization of federal forces to perform state and local police functions. Dean provides a piercing analysis of how someone like Trump and his followers achieved power—and what they have shown they are willing to do to try to keep it. He offers insight into why facts and logic will not change the minds of so many people who are faithful to an authoritarian leader.
Prof. Warren Binford on the Border Crisis
4 Days in Clint: Account of what Willamette Law professor and international children’s rights expert Warren Binford discovered when she and her colleagues walked into the Clint Border Patrol Facility on a routine monitoring visit outside of El Paso, Texas, in June 2019. Over the course of four days and through interviews involving approximately 70 children, the team came to realize that hundreds of children were being unlawfully warehoused by the U.S. government in a state of filth, hunger, sickness, and sadness, without any meaningful adult care. Some children reported being assaulted by the Border Patrol while many reported being forced to sleep on concrete floors, including infants and toddlers, in overcrowded jail cells, a loading dock, and a windowless warehouse. Binford explains what had changed in their observations about the government’s treatment of the children in its care that compelled them to go to the media for the first time in 22 years of Flores monitoring visits. Binford lays out the legal framework that applies to migrant children in custody, highlighting both the legal violations, as well as the loopholes that need to be closed to ensure the humane treatment of children, and -- importantly -- how the average U.S. citizen can take action. Binford’s discussion includes powerful direct quotations from the children’s sworn declarations to ensure that their voices and stories are heard and amplified by the American public. Filmed at Univision studios in Houston.
Portland Protests
Eddy Binford-Ross may be the only front-line reporter regularly risking her safety to write for a high school newspaper. Her coverage of extreme federal deployment, civil rights abuses, and the protests have received national attention. Eddy and her mother, Professor Warren Binford provide their first hand accounts and discuss the crisis that resulted from Trump's dangerous Portland policy. Portland attorney David Sugerman provides an overview of the litigation against the federal government over their atrocities in Portland. Texas NAACP President Gary Blesoe moderates the discussion. Sri Kulkarni joins at the beginning of the program to comment on the crisis and provide an update on his campaign.
Course #: 174093550
Policing Reform vs. Abolition, and Everything in Between
Moderator: Christian Menefee, Nominee for Harris County Attorney
Panelists:
Jay Kumar Aiyer, Asst. Cty Attorney, Harris County Attorney's Office
Sarah Labowitz, Policy & Advocacy Director, ACLU of Texas
Reginald McKamie, Attorney
Kandice Webber, Black Lives Matter Activist
1 hour of MCLE (including .25 ethics)
Course #: 174090745
The Future of the Texas Supreme Court
CLE program featuring:
Justice Gisela Triana (Third Court of Appeals)
Judge Amy Clarke Meachum (201st District of Travis County)
Judge Staci Williams (101st District of Dallas County)
Judge Tina Clinton (Dallas County Criminal District Court 1)
Houston lawyer Kathy Cheng
Coronavirus in Prisons & Detention Centers
Keri Blakinger, Brandon Duke, & Andre Segura discuss COVID-19 risks of of people incarcerated in prisons and detention centers and pending litigation to address this health crisis in prisons and detention centers.
Cannabis Law CLE with Susan Hays (April 2,2020)
Austin attorney Susan Hays provides overview of cannabis legal issues.
The State Bar course # for this CLE is 174081757. (1 hour of MCLE including .25 ethics credit).
Coping with Coronavirus & Mindfullness
Dr. Brendan Kelly & Dr. Ann Friedman provide advice on how to stay calm and protect your mental health during the ongoing pandemic. TX Bar Course #174085677 (1 hour of ethics credit)
Voting in a Pandemic
Harris County Clerk Dr. Diane Trautman, Special Harris County Attorney Doug Ray, and Texas Democratic Party Voter Protection Director Rose Clouston discuss plans to conduct a safe and fair election during the COVID-19 crisis.
