Matthew J. McKeown served in national leadership in the U.S. Departments of Justice and Interior, starting his career as a Deputy Attorney General for the State of Idaho. Matt is a frequent speaker and a recognized authority on a variety of legal and litigation subjects, including attorney ethics
CLE Presentations
Review of the basics associated with the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, along with other provisions that were the subject of timely and high-profile litigation surrounding the Covid. This presentation will also focus on the rights that are protected by the 1st Amendment, including those not litigated during the height of Covid. A welcome opportunity for legal practitioners to sort out what they remember learning in law school from some of the more recent debates surrounding the same points in the media, and among friends and family.
Everything regulation issued by federal agencies must comply with the Administrative Procedure Act and standards of “due process” under the 5th Amendment. You’ll learn about each and the breadth of their impact, including for reproductive and other health-related rights.
Here we dive deeper into how the “due process” of the 5th Amendment applies to real world situations. A key theme is the evolving, and discrediting, of a line of cases from long ago during the “Lochner Era.” The concept more recently returned in cases like Griswald v. Connecticut and Roe v. Wade. And it’s once again in doubt in the wake of last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. We’ll also explore questions of the “free exercise” and “establishment” clauses of the 1st Amendment, which consider what role the government can play in the religious and spiritual life of U.S. citizens.
How much do you actually know about other countries’ constitutions? Here we’ll contrast the foundational documents of the US and Canada, a refreshing view you don’t normally get.
This session covers the basics of client solicitation, the handling of client funds, diligence, and many of the other topics that are the most frequent reasons why clients file ethics complaints with a State’s Bar.
This session is relatively new and perhaps long overdue. It will cover the ethical issues associated with attorney substance abuse, particularly alcohol, and how the various State Bars have responded to this very real problem.
This session will be a trip back in time (or not?) to when Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution was written. Among the many powers delegated to Congress was the right to “define and punish Piracies” and to “grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal” to engage in what was commonly called “privateering.” We’ll explore what the Founders were trying to accomplish with these provisions and whether they are still relevant in 2023. Read ye this well: anyone wearing pirate-themed attire or using pirate “vernacular” will be given a door prize!
Alcohol does not discriminate in its ability to disrupt the lives of those who abuse it. Not only are licensed attorneys not immune to this simple fact, but there is ample evidence to suggest that alcohol abuse by attorneys far exceeds the habits of the general public and other kinds of highly educated professionals.
The reason for the prevalence of this problem among lawyers could be as simple as a profession-wide failure to understand and accept the fact that alcoholism is a disease. As such, it cannot be overcome by advocacy, argument, or negotiation.
This session will focus on the conduct that this illness can generate that causes attorneys to risk violating the Rules of Professional Responsibility. Model Rules of Professional Responsibility 8.3 and 8.4 are now being regularly relied upon by multiple jurisdictions to discipline attorneys for everything from creating hostile work environments, compromising the interests of their clients and as sanctions for criminal conduct by licensed attorneys. And the common factor that lurks behind all these ethic challenges for practitioners is the abuse of alcohol.
You will not leave this session with the skills needed to be an alcohol abuse counselor. But you will be equipped with the knowledge to know when behavior that is rooted in the disease of alcohol abuse becomes behavior that puts an attorney at risk for violating the Rules of Professional Responsibility.
We have all heard the expression “your reputation precedes you.” This is one of those moments in your career where your performance should exceed reputations. And whether this is your area of specialization, an occasional opportunity or a once-in- a-career detour, your ethical obligations to your client, the court and opposing counsel remain unchanged in a personal injury case. You are not the victim of an injury or the underwriter for an insurance company. You are a highly trained professional who is expected to help guide an injured client or, just as often, a legitimate business the primary purpose of which is to make sure there are sufficient resources to address the loss suffered by the injured while also trying to stay in business itself.
This two-hour session will provide an always needed reboot regarding what it means to provide ethical legal representation, regardless of the nature of the case or matter. And it will necessarily address some of those issues that are unique to the practice of personal injury law (both for plaintiffs and defendants) in the United States. A working assumption of this session is that the best and the worst of the legal practice advertise on billboards, TV game shows and park benches. And that assumption will be no different regarding those who find clients over drinks at a country club, as a civic volunteer or at church.
There is nothing collegial or friendly about one person or entity suffering an injury and another person or entity being asked to part with hard earned resources to address that injury. The obligation of a licensed attorney is to make that inherently difficult situation better, not worse. And that is not just a good idea. It is what the Model Rules of Professional Conduct require from each of us. This session will be profoundly substantive, engaging and will challenge whatever biases are loaded onto the apps in your head.