Source: http://www.imla.org/jobs-board/27-teleconferences/1811-2017-distance-learning
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 00:49:44+00:00

Document:
Unless otherwise noted, all programs are one hour long from 1-2 PM Eastern. Additionally, IMLA will be offering 10 FREE programs for members. In addition to one free Ethics program that will be broadcast live from our seminar and one free program broadcast live from our annual conference, the other free programming is noted below.
To purchase a recording of any of the past distance learning events, please CLICK HERE.
ALL IMLA WEBINARS ARE COMPLETE FOR THE 2017 YEAR!
IMLA webinars will start back up in the new year on January 16th, 2018. As a reminder, all IMLA members receive 10 FREE webinars a year. Please visit this page regularly to see which webinars will be free. Additionally, don't forget about our 2018 Kitchen Sink Subscription program!! Your entire office can receive 40 + webinars for just $499. In addition to these webinars, you will all get all seminar and conference teleconferences. Click here to learn more. Click here to view the tentative 2018 schedule.
While you were messing around last year, paying no attention to the most recent, important statutory and case law developments, our panel of national experts had their noses to their computer monitors and yanked every relevant Tweet off their smartphones. You can have the benefit of their collective knowledge by dialing in to this kickoff session of our annual land-use law teleconference series and getting the highlights of the past year in a way that will help you in 2017.
Click here to view the speakers bios.
* This is NOT an IMLA event.
Many state and local governments still don’t believe that data breaches and other cyber events can happen to them, while others simply don’t know what to do. But data breaches are becoming common for all organizations, so having a plan ahead of time is vital. Join Practical Law’s Mel Gates and Zach Ratzman for a free webinar that will explain recent data breach trends affecting state and local governments and provide tips on how to prepare for and help prevent a data breach or other cyber event . . . before it happens.
CLE credit available in multiple states.
The laws related to transgender and gender identity issues are evolving and changing. This session will provide an overview of the applicable laws and model policies regarding transgender employees and patrons of municipal facilities; discuss how to address transgender and gender identity issues; and cover some of the frequently asked questions surrounding these issues.
Intended primarily for young attorneys and those new to municipal law, this presentation provides an overview of laws and rules related to ethics and professional responsibility.
Marc P. Hansen & Charles W. Thompson, Jr.
Click here to view the speaker's bios.
This program will introduce practitioners to a fundamental structure for procurement offerings for public-private partnerships with municipal government. The program will walk attendees through the key structural elements of a request for proposals or other offering documents. The presenter will discuss each form of procurement including the following: 1) requests for information, 2) requests for qualifications, 3) requests for proposals and 4) requests for qualification and proposals. Each element of the evaluation will be discussed and participants will learn the intricacies of qualifications-based selection (“QBs”) as opposed to the traditional low bid offerings municipalities presently utilize.
The program will then turn to the essential elements contained in a P3 contract between the government owner and the industry organization. Risk assignment, shared cost and profit ownership, and return of facilities joint permitting and other items including comprehensive insurance & surety products will be discussed.
Click here to view the speaker's bio.
The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari review of a regulatory taking case for the October 2016 term which is focused on the issue of how the court measures the property interest at issue in determining whether the impact of the governmental regulation triggers the requirement for compensation. The case involves a challenge to a lot merger ordinance that involuntarily merges substandard lots by operation of law with a commonly owned, contiguous lot so as to make one fully conforming lot. Regulatory takings expert and organizer of the annual Conference on Litigating Takings Challenges to Land Use and Environmental Regulations Professor John Echeverria wrote an amicus brief in the case on behalf of a group of economists to help the Court understand how regulatory restrictions affect the value of land and will discuss the case and its potential impacts on the law with land use webinar hosts Susan Trevarthen and Dan Mandelker.
While some folks are gearing up for a day of candy hearts and romance, the rest of us are biting our nails and sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for AMC to roll out the latest Walking Dead episodes. Using this critically acclaimed dystopian zombie thriller as a backdrop, Ms. Moran walks attendees through several important tips for navigating the risky waters of employee discipline (no actual knowledge of the Walking Dead required).
The presentation will address a variety of legal issues that arise during the disciplinary process, including practical limitations on at-will employment and how to avoid discrimination and retaliation claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and similar laws governing the employment relationship. The presentation will also look at the EEOC’s guidance on employee discipline and termination and offer practical strategies to help navigate the high-risk process of separating employees.
The SMART pilot program is designed to address low-level misdemeanor offenders who repeatedly cycle through the criminal justice system committing drug and quality of life offenses. These repeat offenders often have no access to services, coordination of care, or meaningful incentives to engage with social service providers. The goal of the SMART program is to safely divert chronic misdemeanor offenders, particularly those who are otherwise resistant to intervention, to a case manager, individualized treatment, and tailored housing placement. It is a collaborative effort between the San Diego City Attorney’s Office, the San Diego Police Department (SDPD), and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.
Click here to view a descriptive outline of webinar.
• 6302(e)which provides that after a 90 day review period, the governor of each state may “opt in” or “opt out” of FirstNet, but if the governor opts out, that states has only 180 days to develop an alternate plan that must be approved by the FCC.
This presentation will explain the law, share insights from FirstNet and from attorneys that have been actively engaged in the State planning process, and provide a framework to help local government attorneys understand and proactively solve numerous expected and unexpected issues that they will encounter in the next several months as FirstNet and State opt out decisions are being made. Participants will seek to provide practical guidance to protect your community in an environment where they must react to these decisions.
Part of the focus of this webinar will be on the protected Classes that the EEOC will be targeting, especially Religion and Ethnicity.
Speaker: Lawrence Lee & David Roth.
This webinar will provide an update on the regulatory path being paved with the release of the Federal Automated Vehicles Policy. Presenters will provide an update on federal policy, national legal developments and federal grant opportunities associated with automated vehicles. Additionally, practical guidance will be provided for the safe and successful implementation of shared mobility networks and driverless vehicle technologies into cities, including reducing risks in pilot projects, planning for infrastructure needs, and achieving energy efficiency through advanced transportation technologies. Technology is quickly merging with transportation and our speakers look forward to helping webinar attendees navigate the legal and policy considerations with automated vehicles.
This session will give an overview of definitions and key provisions of local ordinances that can make or break a community cat program. Additional model drafting considerations regarding community cat programs wills be covered. Review and discussion regarding issues commonly related to these ordinances, such as the problem with feeding bans, and progressive nuisance-related provisions. The program will also address state statutory schemes as well as pertinent Federal statutory and regulatory schemes, and how those may affect considerations for ordinance drafting and enforcement.
Local governments can generate long term revenues by leasing land, water towers and buildings for cellular communications towers and antennas. The key to a successful lease is the rental terms, plus the right terms and protective conditions so as to avoid potential legal landmines. John Pestle, Esq. and Jonathan Kramer, Esq. are highly experienced local government telecommunications attorneys who regularly craft and enforce municipal cell tower leases. In this 90-minute webinar, they will walk you through the process of dealing with the cell tower providers and their contractors to help get the best financial terms in leases, and identify and avoid the legal landmines commonly found in industry boilerplate provisions, including the risk of accidently triggering property reverters. They will also provide helpful practice pointers about the cell tower leasing and sales process. The program will cover both key aspects of cell leases, and the potential sale by municipalities of such leases, as well as long-term leasing rights. Extensive handouts in PDF format will be provided to participants, which commonly include local government attorneys, city managers and the real estate property managers working for local governments. A lively and interactive Question and Answer session will follow the presentation.
What limits can be placed on public comment or advertising in various kinds of public forums? How far do the protections of the government speech doctrine reach in an era of public private partnerships? These questions have gained new urgency following the 2015 Supreme Court decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert. Sign law guru Randal Morrison will join one of his co-authors of the IMLA joint amicus brief in Reed, Susan Trevarthen, and Sacramento city attorney Gerald Hicks to explain the current state of the law governing public fora and government speech.
Speakers: Randal Morrison, Gerald Hicks, Susan Trevarthen & Dan Mandelker.
The demands on agencies to operate custody facilities within Constitutional guidelines is challenging, particularly during times of budget constraints. This webinar will explore the potential risks of falling below Constitutional guidelines. There will be discussion of Department of Justice investigations resulting in Consent Decrees, and a discussion of class action litigation brought on behalf of inmates and the methods of avoiding, managing and resolving such litigation.
The IMLA International Committee will kick off its inaugural 2017 series of webinars on April 4th at 1 PM Eastern with a conversation between Michael Humphries QC and Dwight Merriam, FAICP entitled “Retrofitting Our Cities for the 21st Century” They will offer a cross-cultural comparison of the U.K. and U.S. of the infrastructure challenges and solutions facing both nations. There are lessons to be learned from how the issues have been addressed in the U.K. that have “take away value” for those of us in the U.S. and Canada.
Perfluorinated Chemicals (PFCs) in Drinking Water: What Municipalities Need to Know About Evolving Regulatory Requirements, Health Effects and Cost-Recovery/Affirmative Litigation Options for PFOA and PFOS Contamination.
In recent months, PFCs have been discovered in dozens of drinking waters supplies throughout the country resulting in EPA or state mandated multi-million dollar clean-up projects. The source of PFC contamination is typically a manufacturing facility that improperly stored, used or disposed PFC containing materials on-site or an airport or fire-fighting training facility that utilized fire-fighting foam containing PFCs.
In response to the discovery of this recent contamination and the public outcry over health effects associated with PFCs, EPA recently lowered its Health Guidelines for PFCs and states are also beginning to implement their own regulatory response to this growing problem.
This webinar will discuss the extent of the problem, legal and scientific issues relating to remediating drinking water supplies contaminated with PFCs, health effects from PFC exposure and cost-recovery/affirmative litigation options for municipalities whose drinking water supplies are contaminated with PFCs.
Over the last two years there has been debate and discussion over law enforcement’s use of force, particularly in areas with large minority communities. This session focuses on the law, community expectations, and recent proposals put out by President Obama’s 21st Century Policing task force as well as the National Consensus on Use of Force promulgated by a number of law enforcement groups. Comparisons between the legal standard and recommendations, exhibit the potential that law enforcement officers may be held to two distinct standards with respect to use of force. Attorneys representing public entities should be aware of these two distinct standards and how they may become blurred in legal claims of excessive force.
• Workloads for managers, how many people can you manage effectively?
April 18th- Sanctuary Jurisdictions Webinar- FREE!
President Trump's January 25 Executive Order on "Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States," and specifically its provisions related to "sanctuary jurisdictions," have been subject to litigation. This webinar will help local government officials understand, and learn how to explain, the legal issues at stake in this litigation.
Although this webinar is being offered to help local government officials understand the legal issues involved, we believe IMLA members who are interested in these issues would benefit as well, particularly as this webinar may help you think about how to explain these issues to your local government officials and other non-attorney employees. This webinar is free though registration is required (including for kitchen sink members). No CLE credit is being offered.
This program will introduce practitioners to the various forms of public-private partnerships currently being developed in municipalities around the country. The four most common forms of P3s include the following: 1) water and wastewater utilities, 2) energy project development, 3) public and sports recreational development, and 4) economic development. This program will teach municipal practitioners how to distinguish, differentiate and structure the deals based on the public purpose of the program. Essential contract provisions that vary between the forms of transaction will be identified and various language risk and cost-sharing arrangements will be discussed. Specific and preferable forms of land and facility ownership facility valuation net present valuation and forms of compliance foreclosure and termination options will be discussed.
What makes a land use cases different from other cases? This webinar includes practical tips and insights from a former superior court judge on best practices for land use cases.
The employment relationship is unique. Employers quite rightly view employees to be extensions of their business or organization, serving as representatives of the employer’s goals and mission. Employees for many purposes become the public face of the employer. Indeed, in many circumstances, the acts of an employee can become legally binding on the employer. Accordingly, it would seem that employer has a very strong interest in employing people whom the employer believes display character traits consistent with its own values.
When an employee engages in bad acts while on the job, the employer’s interest in regulating and disciplining the employee for such is obvious and unquestioned. The more difficult question is posed by circumstances where the employee engages in bad acts while off-duty. Does the employer have a legitimate interest in disciplining an employee, to include terminating him, for such off duty conduct? If the employee and his character become extensions of the employer and the face of the business or organization, doesn’t the employer have a compelling interest in determining whether their employment relationship should continue when the employee has engaged in behavior that the employer finds morally repugnant? What are the legal constraints on such terminations?
In this presentation, the term “moral turpitude” shall refer to any act by an employee that portrays a base or depraved character, including illegal, unethical, or immoral conduct, as well as behavior that is judged to be outside societal norms. Though such standards of conduct are perhaps difficult at times to establish and consensus may not be universal, the oft-used phrase “conduct unbecoming” is the essence of concept addressed by this discussion.
May 17th- Technology- The Sharing Economy: Airbnb and Uber FREE for members!
The growth of ride sharing and short-term rental websites and applications have disrupted the hotel and transportation industries. These disruptions affect cities in a number of ways, including licensing, regulation and land use impacts. This webinar will provide an overview of these impacts and explore ways in which cities can mitigate the harmful impacts and take advantage of the positives ones.
Click here to view the speakers bio.
Fitness-for duty evaluations are a practical tool that can be used to either validate, or disprove, an employer’s contention that an employee may lack the physical and/or mental capacity to perform the essential functions of the job. Such an evaluation is of critical important in the public-safety sector, particularly with law enforcement offices, because of their constant engagement with citizens, which is both highly visible and heavily scrutinized. While fitness-for-duty exams are a useful preventative measure that can reduce the employer’s exposure and provide a legitimate basis for removing unsuitable employees from the workforce, the benefits co-exist with risks in light of 42 U.S.C. § § 12101-12213—the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended (“ADA”).
Under the ADA, an employee can qualify for the statutory protections if the employee is either actually disabled or regarded as disabled. However, the employee must be able to perform the essential functions of his or her job. A failed fitness-for-duty exam strengthens the employer’s posture in litigation because it is evidence that the employee cannot perform the essential job functions. On the other hand, if an employee successfully completes a fitness-for-duty exam and is later subjected to an adverse employment action, the very act of requiring the fitness-for-duty exam may be used as evidence that the employee was regarded as disabled by the employer. As such, even if no actual disability exists, the employee may be able to establish that he or she was veiled by the ADA’s protections, making the employer’s burden at trial more challenging.
This presentation will analyze the interplay between the right of the employer to require fitness-for-duty evaluations and the employer’s obligations under the ADA to refrain from disability discrimination, in the context of litigation.
The tragic events of 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson, not only triggered protests and civil disorder, placed a community of 20,000 people at the center of vigorous debate in the United States about the relationship between law enforcement officers and African Americans, the militarization of the police, and the use of force doctrine in Missouri and nationwide.
In response to the shooting and subsequent unrest, the U.S. Department of Justice conducted an investigation into the policing practices of the Ferguson Police Department. In March 2015, the U.S. Justice Department announced that they had determined that the Ferguson Police Department had engaged in misconduct against the citizenry of Ferguson, by discriminating against African-Americans and applying racial stereotypes, in a "pattern or practice of unlawful conduct." While the conclusions of the 100 page report pertaining to law enforcement priorities were widely reported, media account predominantly focused on law enforcement practices. The report also detailed practices in the municipal court that that imposed substantial and unnecessary barriers to defendants that undermined the court, eroded community trust, contributed to making policing less effective, and ultimately devastated the City of Ferguson.
As the City of Ferguson works to rebuild a community that is damaged in multiple ways, U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division’s report provides insights that may prevent other cities thought out the United States from experiencing similar tragedies.
3. Describe the local and nation consequences and reforms stemming from the Ferguson tragedy.
This presentation will introduce legal issues in local government finance, including those that confront counsel when raising revenues, making expenditures, and borrowing money. The webinar describes the different characteristics of taxes, fees, and bonds, and includes important practice information such as constitutional and statutory limitations.
Click here to view speaker bio.
Intended to preserve the proper functioning of the attorney-client relationship as well as shield adverse parties from improper approaches, this application of the Rule becomes complicated when the party is a corporation or governmental body. Who falls within the protection of the Rule, and who can you rightfully shield from contact? Who are you allowed to contact? What special aspects of the Rule apply when a governmental body is involved? There are many aspects of Rule 4.2 and complexities to consider. This webinar will explore Rule 4.2 and provide attendees with an analytical roadmap through which to assess these issues.
Speakers: Tom Lynch, Trish Weaver & Charles W. Thompson, Jr.
• Legal issues in drafting regulations that are often overlooked, and how to recognize them: vagueness and over breadth, delegation of authority, constitutional issues.
• Identifying unclear language, and thinking ordinances through to avoid unintended consequences; How to better organize regulations.
• Writing in plain English; avoiding legalese and plannerese. Remember your audience.
On a daily basis, planners at all levels and in all jobs are called upon to draft, use, and interpret many types of documents. All of these documents and actions have legal implications that can land an issue before a Board of Adjustment, another internal appeals or hearing board, or a judge.
Little time in a planner's education is often spent on the nuances of good writing, and the importance of clarity. In the day-to-day rush of getting work done, writing may end up rushed as well. The presenters will cover important issues in language usage, legislative drafting, and discuss specific legal issues that come up in the regulatory context, like delegation of authority, and vagueness, definitions, and the importance of findings and legislative history.
The presenters will use examples from their practices to discuss how planners and lawyers approach ordinance drafting differently, and how to achieve clear, enforceable, and defensible regulations.
Attendees will leave with practice tips on how to identify the legal issues, how to evaluate their documents for clarity and logical organization, and how to avoid the most common pitfalls int he drafting process.
A recent benchmarking study of municipality websites revealed that 40 percent failed accessibility tests. These results are troublesome in light of the ADA’s legal mandate that the operations and services of local governments, including their websites, are accessible to individuals with disabilities who make up over 15% of the population. The U.S. Department of Justice not only is moving forward with promulgating regulations to govern website accessibility, but also is pursuing legal actions against those municipalities and local governments whose websites and other Internet communications are not accessible to individuals with disabilities.
• Other technology-based assistive accommodations you may need to make for disabled employees.
Our speaker, a professor of planning at Kansas State, is widely acknowledged as one of the nation’s preeminent authorities on farmland preservation. If you care about feeding this and future generations, you will want to join us for this eye-opening discussion of how you can preserve that production base through regulation.
Employees check out their Facebook friends at work. Did you see the tweets? Put the cellphone down! Social media has inundated our lives. Are your personnel policies up to date to address the lack of productivity and use of public resources? What can you monitor - and what can you use to discipline an employee? This webinar will explore the variety of personnel issues that social media implicates in the municipal workplace and provide important pointers to avoid the pitfalls.
First Amendment and police cases dominate the Supreme Court's state and local government docket this term. Discuss these and other cases of interest to states and local governments with Mike Scodro, Mayer Brown, who argued one of the police cases this term, Kyle Duncan, Schaerr Duncan, and Ayesha Khan, Potomac Law Group.
Thank you to NACo for hosting this event!
Attorneys Christopher Petrini and Christopher Brown, experienced practitioners in both municipal law and construction law, will present an informative program on risk allocation issues for public construction projects, including indemnification provisions, insurance requirements, and payment and performance bonds.
In February, the IMLA land use webinar schooled you on Murr v. Wisconsin. The Supreme Court has now upheld the County ordinance at issue. On July 27 at 1 pm ET, tune in to hear Susan Trevarthen talk to John Echeverria, Lisa Soronen, and Jeffrey Mandell authors of amicus briefs in the case, who will analyze the opinion and discuss its implications for local government regulations going forward.
Once your local government leases its property or a structure for a cell tower, you will routinely receive offers to buy the cell tower lease for a lump sum payment (often plus a percentage of future revenues), coupled with a long term (or perpetual) easement. The most common question is whether these are good deals for governments. This program, taught by John Pestle, Esq. and Jonathan Kramer, Esq., both highly experienced local government telecommunications attorneys, covers (1) how to determine whether a sale of a cell lease and future leasing rights is in a municipality's best interest, (2) descriptions of the non-binding bid process which will commonly lead to the best price and terms, and (3) the significant legal and business issues and potential pitfalls involved in selling the lease and the traps hidden in the lengthy "Communications Easement" you will be asked to execute. This program will help you spot the major issues in the very one-sided documents typically offered by buyers. Key points to be addressed include (a) making sure the municipality is not hindered in using its property for its primary public use; (b) ensuring that future sums and duties promised by the purchaser in fact are performed; (c) unique insurance and bankruptcy issues; (d) special questions of municipal authority; (e) compliance with bond obligations and IRS tax-exempt bond regulations; (f) municipal finance/procurement statutes; and (g) prohibitions on waste. Extensive handouts in PDF format will be provided to participants, which commonly include local government attorneys, city managers and the real estate property managers working for local governments. A lively and interactive Question and Answer session will follow the presentation.
Although the Kelov. New London SCOTUS decision upheld the local exercise of eminent domain for redevelopment – transfer of private property to private developers to revitalize blighted urban areas – you wouldn’t know it. The backlash from Kelo has been intense but mixed: anti-eminent domain and anti-redevelopment sentiment has increased, but efforts to constrain local eminent domain power and redevelopment have been largely unsuccessful. In the immediate aftermath of Kelo, the federal government and many states attempted to restrict the use of eminent domain for redevelopment, but these efforts failed for the most part. The California legislature and Governor Brown, however, abolished redevelopment in 2012. The webinar will touch on the pros and cons of eminent domain for redevelopment and legislative inroads into the eminent domain power.
in Turner v. United States. Turner and the details of the materiality requirement will be discussed.
What do the Golden Rule, the Girl Scouts, Robert Fulgram and the ABA’s Model Penal Code for Lawyers have in common? That’s right – you!
A discussion of recent Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions against state and local governments and officials, developments in Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rules affecting advisors to state and local governments, and other securities law developments relevant to municipal bond issuers.
Based on a question from a member about signing the certification in the Byrne Grant Application, IMLA will host a call for members interested in discussing this issue. This call will provide members with an opportunity to discuss their questions and concerns arising from the 2017 DOJ Byrne Grant application process and accompanying certification. Space will be limited.
The lower courts have had two years to apply the Supreme Court’s holding in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, Arizona that content-based regulations are subject to strict scrutiny. John M. Baker, Greene Espel, will discuss how local governments have been modifying their sign codes to come into compliance with Reed and how courts have interpreted the Reed decision in and out of the sign context.
* Please note this is NOT an IMLA CLE event.
Thank you to the National League of Cities for hosting!
September 11th- Land Use- BIAS, AND CONFLICTS, AND PRE-JUDGMENT, OH MY!
Come on, just because the commissioner’s brother-in-law is the applicant for a shopping center shouldn’t be a problem, should it? And the fact that another commissioner is a Deacon in the church nest door is no concern? Or that the elected chair of the commission ran on a platform of saving the small town local merchants from those evil big boxes? Prof. Owens has something to say about all this and more!
Tips on preparing for bargaining and reaching your goals, holding your ground, maintaining legal compliance with contract language, giving the other side an opportunity to say yes and closing the deal.
As federal law and FCC regulations carve more deeply into local government zoning authority, and federal courts hand down decisions interpreting those law and regulations, cell tower zoning and regulation by state and local governments has materially changed. The new FCC Wireless Siting/6409(a) rules; the FCC Shot Clock; new-builds of macros, small cell, and DAS sites creates new challenges for local governments to balance the federal rules with preservation of local land use controls. Governments around the country are in the process of altering their local processes to comply with the new legal reality. This 90-minute webinar, presented by two national experts, will provide a summary and overview of the Federal law of cell tower zoning, including: (1) Key court cases, principles and practical advice from the two decades since Congress passed the 1996 cell tower zoning amendments; (2) the 2012 Federal statute (Section 6409(a)) as recently interpreted by the FCC; (3) the current FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on radio frequency emissions safety standards; and (4) dealing with the wireless industry under the new rules. This live webinar, taught by John Pestle, Esq. and Jonathan Kramer, Esq. (highly experienced local government telecommunications attorneys) includes two narrated PowerPoint presentations, an 85+ page paper summarizing many of the relevant cases and proceedings, and substantial practical guidance for municipal attorneys dealing with wireless tower siting ordinances and planning matters. A lively and interactive Question and Answer session will follow the presentation.
The ABA Section of State and Local Government Law's International Law Committee and the IMLA's International Committee are proud to sponsor this program: Cambodia's New Environmental Code: A Primer on Environmental Governance Issues in the 21st Century.
Cambodia has embarked upon a startling transformation of its environmental and land use laws. A new generation of political leaders seeks to modernize the country's approach to the entire spectrum of environmental issues from protected areas management to pollution control to land use planning. The proposed new Environment and Natural Resources Code would also provide drastically enhanced transparency and grievance mechanisms.
Cambodia's Ministry of Environment is the key proponent of the new Code and has tasked Vishnu Law Group, a Cambodian public interest law firm, to lead the effort of developing the contents with stakeholder input. Vishnu has in turn reached out to a range of experts over the two year process of creating the Code, including Retired Judge Peter Buchsbaum, member of the ABA's State and Local Government Law Section.
Please join us on September 28 at 6:30 p.m. EDT for a discussion about the process to create the new Code, particularly its sustainable land use planning provisions, the challenges and solutions in creating viable governance mechanisms such as the Code in developing countries, and the opportunities for value added engagement from US-based legal professionals in this ongoing effort and others like it. In addition to Mr. Buchsbaum, we will be joined for this webinar by Megan Quenzer, Project Manager, and Brian Rohan, Advisor, both based in Phnom Penh with Vishnu Law Group.
What happens if an opposing lawyer is acting badly or unprofessional? When does such conduct rise to the level of an ethical Rule violation? This webinar will look at guidance provided by certain codes of civility as well as the litigation ethics rules. The course will look at outcomes of cases involving incivility and the applicable rules of professional conduct. There will also be a focus on how to ethically deal with pro se persons during the course of litigation.
It is rare for the Supreme Court to have such an interesting docket before its new term begins. But it is not rare that the interesting cases--including partisan gerrymandering, the travel ban, free speech and the free exercise of religion--affect states and local governments. Join Todd Kim, District of Columbia Solicitor General, who will argue one of the two cases involving the District this term, Ashley Johnson, Gibson Dunn, who co-wrote a merits brief on behalf of Governor Chris Christie in a sports gambling case, and Kevin Daley, Supreme Court reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation, in a discussion of the most important cases so far for states and local governments to be decided in the Court's 2017 term.
This webinar is FREE and open to the public. If you can’t make this day and time then sign up anyway and you will receive a recording of the webinar. The SLLC will not apply for CLE credit in the 50 states for this event.
The program will discuss the important role that legal counsel plays in pursuing recoveries for large and complex insurance claims resulting from Hurricanes. While insurance risk management may not ordinarily be handled by counsel, when large losses are suffered legal advice and participation are important at various stages of the claim process, including the interpretation of insurance contracts, the identification of potential coverage issues, and the development and pursuit of strategies for driving a claim to a prompt recovery. The program will provide and discuss a checklist of important tasks requiring counsel’s participation, and address important coverage issues, such as whether a loss falls within exclusions or low limits for flood damage.
Click here to read the speaker's bio.
Mike and Neil will provide an overview of how the ADA applies to public facilities and services. The program will begin by discussing the application of the ADA to local public entities. The program will then proceed to discuss litigation strategies in defending Title II lawsuits.
Unlike traditional zoning, a form-based code is a land development regulation that provides a means of achieving a specific urban form. It utilizes physical form as an organizing principal and focuses on an integration of uses rather than a separation of uses. This presentation will provide an overview of form-based codes and will discuss both their pros and cons. Under which circumstances would a community use a form-based code? Attend this presentation to learn more.
Click here to read the speaker's bios.
In King County v. Vinci/Parsons RCI/Frontier-Kemper, JV and Liberty Mutual et al., King County won a contract dispute returning to it over $130 Million and $15 Million in attorneys’ fees. Learn how and learn how the construction contract provisions enabled this win. When construction contracts go well, no one seems to notice but when they break bad, they’re in the news. A loss can be disastrous, put yourself in a position to win.
This program will briefly describe RLUIPA’s basic provisions, followed by a discussion of at least 10 lessons municipalities and their counsel should heed based on the past 10+ years of RLUIPA litigation. The key to preventing extremely expensive and highly emotional RLUIPA claims is to proactively plan for religious uses and to educate local decision makers. This program will provide practical advice on how municipalities can avoid the costly mistakes of other communities.
Click here to view the sepaker's bios.
December 14- Preemption FREE for IMLA Members!!
Speaker will share valuable lessons learned from litigating issues arising from Concord, New Hampshire’s excavation fee ordinance. This presentation will also include a broader discussion of excavation fee ordinances as well as key insights and tips for cities wishing to implement similar ordinances. See description below.
After nearly 7 years of litigation, the New Hampshire Supreme Court issued an Order which found that Concord NH’s excavation fee ordinance, which charges utilities a fee to excavate paved roadways, is valid under New Hampshire law. This is a significant victory for both Concord as well as other municipalities across the United States in their efforts to preserve paved roadways.
By way of background, following years of research throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Concord observed deterioration to its paved roadways as a result of utility excavations. In 2009, the Concord City Council adopted the excavation fee ordinance to protect Concord’s taxpayers from paying the long-term deterioration costs that occur when utilities excavate and patch paved roadways. In July of 2010, Liberty Utilities (natural gas company) brought a lawsuit in Merrimack County Superior Court challenging Concord’s excavation fee ordinance as invalid. Concord defended the validity of the ordinance, which included several proceedings in the trial court, including a 6-day bench trial, and two appeals to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Ultimately, the NH Supreme Court found in favor of Concord– the excavation fee ordinance was deemed valid, and therefore, Concord was entitled to retain all excavation fees collected and maintain its excavation fee ordinance.
Click here to view the Jim's bio.

References: v. 
 § 12101
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.