Following a terrific conference—ACLEA’s 58th Annual Meeting in Vancouver—several attendees were privileged to get a tour of the Vancouver Law Courts from Lynett Jung and Alex Henderson of the BC Prosecution Service. In addition to the tour of the Great Hall, designed by architect Arthur Erickson and featuring the statue of Themis, the goddess of justice, ACLEA members heard from Justice Shergill, who spoke with the group and provided advice to legal educators.

Prior to her appointment to the bench, Justice Palbinder Kaur Shergill practised as a lawyer and mediator with her law firm, Shergill & Company, Trial Lawyers. She has extensive trial and appellate experience and has appeared before courts and tribunals across Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Justice Shergill was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2012 and is a recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for Community Service. Regarded as a leading human rights advocate, she has been instrumental in helping shape human rights and religious accommodation law in Canada through her pro bono work as General Legal Counsel for the World Sikh Organization of Canada.

Justice Shergill was born in Punjab, India, and immigrated to Canada with her family at the age of four. She grew up in Williams Lake, BC, and received her law degree from the University of Saskatchewan. Called to the British Columbia Bar in 1991, she has held leadership positions both within and outside the legal community. She has been involved with the Cabinet of Canadians, the Trial Lawyers Association of BC, and the Canadian Bar Association. From 2002 to 2008, Justice Shergill served on the Board of Directors of the Fraser Health Authority, the largest health region in the province.

Department of Justice Canada. “Government of Canada Announces Judicial Appointments in the Province of British Columbia.” Government of Canada. June 23, 2017. https://www.canada.ca/en/department-justice/news/2017/06/government_of_canadaannouncesjudicialappointmentsintheprovinceof1.html.

Justice Shergill’s remarks included the following summarized advice:

1. Digital literacy is essential: Justice Shergill linked the court’s ability to deliver timely decisions to the judge’s ability to review the exhibits, cases, submissions, and other materials in a timely and convenient way. She talked about the underutilization of technology to make materials searchable and portable so she can review materials and write her decisions anywhere, anytime. She described being buried in binders and binders of printed affidavits in a recent civil case. Making exhibits the original printed, filed, sworn copies makes sense and establishes the record, but ensuring that judges have materials in a digital format allows judges to read, review, and consider the materials when they have the time. Justice Shergill has noticed a lack of digital literacy among counsel and thinks that needs to change so that contested applications and trials can be decided more quickly, thereby increasing access to justice instead of slowing down the justice system.
2. Advocacy skills and mentorship need to be prioritized: Justice Shergill noted that counsel are not getting the advocacy experience they need, and lawyers are not prioritizing watching trials or shadowing experienced counsel as a way to learn. Justice Shergill encouraged legal educators to prioritize advocacy training and endorsed the mock trial method.
3. Good lawyers understand their clients: Justice Shergill recommended that legal educators coordinate learning events encouraging lawyers to speak to and understand their clients and their cultures. She gave an example of a recent case where counsel was in direct examination of his own client and, on the stand, repeatedly asked his client to look at the judge and give his answers directly to her. Justice Shergill recognized that the witness was actually showing her respect and deference by avoiding eye contact, as he was of Korean descent. Justice Shergill’s assessment of the witness was not adversely impacted by a lack of eye contact, and counsel should have understood his own client and the client’s personal culture, which informed his way of communicating. Justice Shergill recommended that instead of focusing on general programming about cultural trends, traditions, and customs, CLE providers should instead help lawyers realize that gaining a personal understanding of their clients and each client’s culture is best practice.

At the courthouse tour attendees also saw the testimonial accommodations equipment available in British Columbia courts helping reduce the trauma of testifying and enabling witnesses to fully communicate their evidence. Those accommodations are featured in this six-minute video: Testimonial Accommodations

Courthouse tour participants were also invited to view the BC Prosecution Service’s witness preparation videos in multiple languages: Witness Information

Gina:
It was 1975. Summer. And my previous carefree relationship with dipping a toe in the water changed forever with just a few notes on the piano…da-dum, da-dum, da-dum. 

Even though I lived in the midwest and was a thousand miles away from the nearest shark, I’d never even seen an ocean, and certainly shouldn’t have seen the movie—Jaws forever changed the way that I thought about swimming, survival, and scary movies. 

Looking back, adjustments I made—ensuring I could always touch bottom and run out of the water if necessary; identifying who I’d be willing to sacrifice in my bid to get away with all limbs; and having a companion who would shield me from the scariest parts of any movie scene while I created bruises as I grasped them uncomfortably tightly—were probably unnecessary. 

And then it was 2020. Spring (well, really still Winter). And my previous carefree relationship with conferences changed forever with the start of a pandemic. Da-dum, da-dum, da-dum. 

COVID-19 has now forever altered the way I think about personal interactions; facilitating engaging experiences for attendees; technology related to conferences and how it helps, hinders, and adds expense; and the varied comfort levels of all persons involved in a conference. 

Fall 2021: In-person conferences were back! We were moving ahead with plans to get attendees together in a room with speakers at a podium or table delivering educational content, albeit with new procedures and protocols in place. 

But new spikes in COVID cases, the Delta variant, and conflicting views on masks and vaccines meant that we were having to make the same (or even more) decisions about how to adjust programming to create the best experience for our attendees, while fulfilling contracts and covering expenses. Da-dum, da-dum, da-dum. 

While I had so little reason to fear that I would experience a shark attack and need to utilize the contingencies I’d planned in my head, COVID and how it changed the conference experience and the decisions I make have affected nearly every day since. 

Do we forgo the in-person conference and again move to an online only event? Do we stream the program as a hybrid event and allow an online audience to access the educational content at the same time as the in-person audience? Do we stream in remote speakers who are not allowed or able to travel to the in-person event? How do we ensure engagement with our online attendees—both with each other within the platform and with speakers and attendees at the in-person event? 

As I work with ABA staff to answer these questions for our upcoming events, I encourage you to consider the needs of your audiences as well as the parameters of your own technology and budgets when planning for your upcoming conferences. 

Kristin:
These were also the questions ACLEA contemplated when finalizing plans for the 58th Midyear Meeting, coming up January 22-24, 2022 in Austin, Texas. And this is how we answered those questions. 

Do we forgo the in-person conference and again move to an online only event? 

ACLEA had originally planned our 2021 Midyear Meeting to be held in Austin. After much negotiation, the hotel agreed to allow us to postpone the contract to 2022 or face stiff penalties for canceling. As such, ACLEA agreed to hold the upcoming 2022 Midyear Meeting in-person in Austin.

In order to fulfill the obligations of our contract, ACLEA needs to encourage as many in-person attendees to come to Austin as possible. ACLEA focused on ways to ensure the safest environment for our attendees: a vaccine mandate/negative test requirement; encouraging masks; and working with the hotel on cleaning and social distancing.  

Do we stream the program as a hybrid event and allow an online audience to access the educational content at the same time as the in-person audience? 

Working with our LMS partner CE21 and the Austin Planning Committee, ACLEA approved a virtual program to accompany the in-person event. We will stream all plenary sessions and two sessions from each breakout session throughout the event. These will also be recorded and made available to attendees to access online. 

While there is additional expense to offer an online option, ACLEA determined that it was critical to allow our entire membership access to the event, even if they did not travel to the live in-person event in Austin. ACLEA is committed to giving our members options and allowing all members the choice to not travel but still be involved with the conference and take advantage of the high-quality content that has been planned.  

Do we stream in remote speakers who are not allowed or able to travel to the in-person event? 

In determining if we should allow speakers who are not allowed or able to travel to Austin to present remotely, there were three components to our analysis: technology; expense; and most importantly, the impact on the experience of our in-person audience. 

The technology surrounding pulling in and pushing out a stream to both audiences is more complicated than it might first appear. While technology is relatively simple to do one or the other, when looking to do both at the same time (stream in speakers to the live in-person event and at the same time, incorporating those speakers into a stream out to a virtual audience) it becomes much more challenging. Since the platform has to take on a heavy load to merge the two streams for the online audience, the equipment needs in the room would be greater (large screen with both the remote speakers and slides, confidence monitor for in-person speakers to see the remote speakers). 

To both stream in speakers and stream out to a virtual audience would add considerable expense with the need for additional AV, extra staffing, and training of staff to enable. 

One of ACLEA’s largest considerations was ensuring that the in-person experience remained the focus of our final determination. How could we provide our in-person audience the benefits of live attendance that would justify the additional time and expense of traveling to Austin? What does in-person attendance look like if the speakers are streamed in remotely or pre-recorded? Would an in-person audience sitting in a room watching a video screen of remote speakers or videos provide the positive experience and benefits of other live in-person conferences? Additionally, communication between the remote speakers and in-person attendees would be difficult, and wouldn’t create the networking opportunities that are critical to being together at the event. 

Ultimately the question became a choice between streaming speakers into the Austin conference or creating a virtual event streaming content out to our members. Weighing the considerations, ACLEA determined that a virtual event in which the entire membership could benefit from the content and the interaction with colleagues better fulfills the ACLEA mission of serving continuing legal education professionals worldwide through leadership, community, education, and development.  

How do we ensure engagement with our online attendees—both with each other within the platform and with speakers and attendees at the in-person event?

We have all discovered that creating and encouraging community and networking can be especially challenging in the online and hybrid world in which we now find ourselves. ACLEA will continue to work with the planning committee and other volunteers to find new ways to engage our audiences, and create dialogue and participation across our membership. 

While it may be easier to ignore the related issues, we cannot “ignore this particular problem until it swims up and BITES US IN THE A**!”* Through analysis and discussion, ACLEA’s plan to move forward with the live in-person event with in-person speakers presenting, coupled with a virtual event streaming the majority of the content to a remote audience, will provide benefit to the largest percentage of our membership. 

Gina:
As we move through these COVID-infested waters, collaboration and open discussion are key to getting through the next conference, the next year, and the next challenge. 

Kristin:
Please join us in Austin or online with CE21 as we get back into the water!


*Jaws, Richard Dreyfuss as Hooper

It is truly hard to believe that a year ago, ACLEA had to shift to holding our Annual Meeting in a virtual format for the first time.

As my term comes to a close, I wanted to reflect back on a successful year that was not without many challenges.

We have been fortunate to have been able to host and deliver our 2021 Mid-Year and Annual Meetings in a virtual format successfully with the help of our partnership with CE21. Our Conference Planning Committees for Austin and Minneapolis have worked hard to pivot from initial planning for an in-person conference to a virtual conference, at times on short notice. A lot of work from the teams at Ewald and CE21 helped to make this happen. Please join me in thanking the teams at Ewald and CE21 along with the Austin and Minneapolis Conference Planning Committees for all of their hard work on this. We could not have done this without you.

I am thankful that we have been able to continue to deliver timely and relevant content to our members as we slowly start to return to a new normal.  Hearing from everyone, at our virtual conferences and/or SIG/Committee meetings, we are all faced with the same questions, and it is truly remarkable that we are able to consult with one another for advice and/or best practices for those that have started returning to in-person programming or are in the midst of preparing for a hybrid programming model. ACLEA members are clearly constantly willing to help and share with each other.

The Executive Committee (“EC”) has been instrumental in steering ACLEA through this difficult and challenging time. The EC has made it a priority to kept costs and expenses low, despite some challenges in renegotiating our hotel contracts. We have also been working very closely with our association management company—Ewald—to keep our management fees low by having ACLEA volunteers take on additional responsibilities. A huge thank you to Laurie Krueger and her team at Ewald along with all ACLEA volunteers for their continued involvement and support. 

There are a lot of exciting projects the members of the EC have been working on in recent months and you will be able to see the end results shortly. As a result of feedback we received from Boot Camp attendees and faculty, we have made some changes to the virtual offering of Boot Camp that will be applied with the program at the upcoming Annual Meeting. There will be more opportunities for attendees to meet each other and additional time has been added to the schedule to allow for the popular “Hot Topics” discussions. 

In addition, at the upcoming 2022 Austin Mid-Year Meeting, we will be launching the first ever Flight School Boot Camp for those CLE professionals who are looking to advance their career in CLE/CPD. More details will be released shortly. The topics are extremely valuable, while the speakers are extremely experienced in the CLE/CPD world. Watch for more details to be released shortly.

Finally, ACLEAs 57th Annual 2021 Meeting is coming up in a few weeks time and I look forward to seeing everyone virtually. The full conference schedule can be found here. Please join us as we are Doubling Down on Innovation, Leadership, and Inclusion.

We have learned a lot in this pandemic and been through a lot, together as an association. I am truly grateful to the EC and our Executive Director, Laurie Krueger and her team at Ewald, for all of their hard work, dedication, and support as we worked through a difficult year. They definitely made my job easier. It has been a privilege to lead ACLEA through this challenging time. I am also truly grateful to all of you for your support as ACLEA members. Thank you! 

Be well, stay safe.

Alexandra

ACLEA is an organization that is strong on volunteerism. Our members continuously donate their time and expertise to support the organization’s goals and strategies. With the support and contributions from ACLEA volunteers, the Executive Committee (EC) has been able to complete several projects, while others are in progress.

Despite the numerous obstacles ACLEA has encountered during the global pandemic, the EC has managed to accomplish a lot in moving the association forward. I wanted to take the time to share some of our accomplishments with you.

I am pleased to advise that the EC has approved the budget for 2021-2022.  It is a conservative budget that takes into account the current economic conditions. ACLEA is in a sound financial position to get through the pandemic.

ACLEA continues to have a very strong relationship with Ewald Consulting, our association management company, and I am pleased to advise that this partnership has been renewed through April 2024. The EC held discussions with a dedicated task force and volunteers that helped ACLEA to reach this 3-year renewal agreement.  On behalf of all ACLEA members, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire Ewald team for their hard work and dedication that ensures all aspects of ACLEA are running smoothly.  We look forward to continuing our partnership.

The EC continues to work hard to reduce expenses for ACLEA and to that end, we have worked closely with Ewald on our management agreement’s scope of work. To reduce expenses, several tasks previously managed by Ewald are now being managed by EC members and ACLEA volunteers.  These changes are being closely monitored by the EC and adjustments will be made if required. The level of service members are used to receiving remains unchanged.

CE21 is our learning management system (LMS) provider. Our continued partnership with CE21 has given us the ability to deliver virtual conferences through our existing LMS. We are happy to continue our work with them and thank them for their continued support of ACLEA. Be sure to check out ACLEA’s LMS where you will find an archive of on-demand past programs.

The EC and a dedicated task force have been reviewing feedback from several Boot Camp sessions over the past few years. While the Boot Camp program has traditionally been held in-person, with the pandemic, the program was converted into a virtual delivery format. Exciting changes are coming to the virtual-format program based on feedback from attendees and faculty. To highlight some of the proposed changes, the virtual program will now have a slightly earlier start time and the popular Hot Topics sessions will return to the program agenda.

The EC is also working on an Executive Leadership Boot Camp program for CLE professionals looking to advance their careers. Watch for more details on this exciting new program that will launch at the 2022 Mid-Year Meeting.

The progress made on EC projects is due in part to ACLEA volunteers who have contributed their time, expertise, and support. On behalf of the EC, I would like to express our deepest appreciation to all ACLEA volunteers who have contributed to our successes with their dedication and commitment — we could not have done it without you.

Our SIG/Committee Chairs are working extremely hard to keep everyone connected through monthly meetings and listserv posts in between conferences.  This is extremely valuable while we are not able to meet in person. A huge thank you goes out to our SIG/Committee Chairs as well.

Whether you are a seasoned or a new ACLEA member, I encourage you to get involved — meet new people, learn new things. For more information, visit the “Getting Involved” page on ACLEA’s website.

This is your organization! I am sure you will find it to be a very rewarding experience as you will get to meet new people and learn more about the organization all at the same time.

Keep safe and be well everyone.

It’s been several months now since we’ve all had to adjust our program delivery methods/models and to some extent our content. The COVID-19 pandemic has given all of us terrific opportunities to become more creative from a technology perspective. Some of us have even taken on additional technological responsibilities to assist with delivering programs; not something any of us would have anticipated.

With all of our programs in a virtual environment, technology, we know is not perfect. A number of factors can affect the outcome of the final product; internet bandwidth, audio/sound quality and speaker technology knowledge are just some examples.

I wanted to take some time to share with you what we have been doing in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) at the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) and some of the challenges that we are facing.

The availability of accessibility services such as closed captioning is limited with the legal system moving to a virtual platform for the most part and requesting reporter services is a challenge. For one of the LSO CPD’s recent programs, I had to go through several different vendors to try and secure closed captioning services for a program despite several weeks notice; usually, I’m able to secure a Captionist on the first request.

At the LSO CPD, we are very fortunate to have our own Production Services Team. We have relied heavily on the Zoom platform to connect all of our speakers on the backend of our webcasts; in turn, the Zoom feed is sent to our webcast system – Freestone. For the most part, our programs are delivered via live webcast with our speakers presenting from their home/office. There have been some programs where we have hosted speakers in our event space as well. In those cases, a lot of social distancing measures have been implemented to keep staff and speakers safe.  A lot of being aware of public health recommendations in process document creation on my part, but it has proven to be somewhat of a success to date.

Our Production Services Team has been able to ensure all faculty are able to see and hear each other during a program; at the same time, our faculty is able to hear the entire program while connected to Zoom. We do this by using several Zoom Rooms at the same time for each program.

We work with a webcast provider who has been able to help us with our webcast program delivery models and higher than normal virtual attendance numbers. This partnership has allowed us the capability to be creative and innovative, and at the same time, we have been able to live broadcast all of our Fall programs. During our Winter/Spring season, the majority of our programs were rescheduled or shifted to a pre-recorded format, which presented challenges in itself.

A lot of the magic happens behind the scenes from our Production Services Team who makes all the speaker transitions appear seamless from a technology perspective, the end result looks fantastic on the viewer side. At the same time, my Program Delivery Team who is used to having in-person programs has had to adjust and change their processes. They are now “Zoom Room Hopping” to check-in speakers. Not an easy task as some of our programs have over 20 speakers. 

As I write this, LSO CPD has successfully completed 3 full-day programs virtually with all faculty being completely remote with positive feedback from speakers and attendees.

It’s a huge team effort to be able to deliver the programs our members and customers look forward to, more so now that ever. We continue to improve our processes, but look ahead to future programs that will have additional elements as part of the program. For example, our annual Solo and Small Conference, has traditionally had a lot of in-person perks — professional headshots, networking, and exhibit hall on top of the content. We are starting to turn our heads to try to figure out how we can replicate the same experience in a virtual world for them. We’re several months away from the program, but as planners/programmers, we know the earlier you start to plan, the better the end result will be.

It hasn’t been easy to plan and deliver programs in a virtual world, using a hybrid model, but we are all in this for the long haul. I have attended several SIG calls and the sharing of ideas, frustrations, and best practices has been extremely helpful. Always remember, ACLEA members are in this together and we are not alone!   

Stay safe everyone, reach out to each other, and keep up the great work you’ve all be doing!