Fall will soon be here and PACDL has plenty of activity planed for the coming weeks. The 2015 Membership Drive committee, co-chaired by Heather Mattes and Ed Spreha, has a series of events planned for the fall of 2015. We are stating our drive in Western Pennsylvania with a Prospective Member Event on August 31, 2015 at 6:00 pm at Tavern 245 located at 245, 4th Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. If you practice in Western Pennsylvania, contact local criminal defense lawyers who are not yet members and encourage them to attend. Thanks to Josh Goldberg for organizing this event.
Amicus Committee
On August 17, 2015 PACDL, along with the Pa Innocence Project, submitted a joint Amicus in Cmwlth. v. Descardes, a case involving the viability of coram nobis relief. The Amicus Brief was drafted by Pepper Hamilton's David Richman, with Peter Goldberger and Jules Epstein providing substantive and significant input into the Brief on behalf of PACDL. The end product was an excellent and persuasive Amicus. If anyone would like to review a copy of the Amicus, please contact PACDL. PACDL sincerely thanks those involved!
CLE Committee
The CLE Committee has been busy planing a great lineup of seminars -- mark your calendars for the following:
6 Rule 801 Capital credit hours, including 1 hour of ethics
Board of Directors' Meeting at 12:15 p.m.
Friday, September 25, 2015
Hotel Monaco, 620 William Penn Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15219
(and be sure to attend the social gathering on Thursday, 9/24/15 at 6:30 p.m. the rooftop Biergarten of the Hotel Monaco)
Getting to "Not Guilty":
Jury Trial Advocacy Skills in an Eyewitness Identification Case
(Mock Jury Trial; 6 credits of CLE; Approved for Rule 801 Certification)
Friday, October 23, 2015
Board of Directors' Meeting at 12:15 p.m., Golf Outing on Saturday, October 24, 2015
Toftrees Golf Resort & Conference Center, One Country Club Lane, State College, PA
2015 White Collar Practice
12 credit hours
November 12 & 13, 2015
The Union League, Philadelphia, PA
Capital Cases
6 Rule 801 Capital Case credit hours
DUI and Motor Vehicles
6 credit hours
Board of Directors' Meeting at 12:15 p.m.
Friday, December 4, 2015,
The Doubletree Hotel
King of Prussia, PA
2016 Annual Meeting
12 credit hours
Thursday and Friday, April 28 & 29, 2016
Elections and Board of Director's Meeting on Friday, April 29, 2016
The Harrisburg Hilton, 1 N. Second Street, Harrisburg, PA
Juvenile Committee
The Juvenile Committee, co-chaired by Elton Anglada and Rita Murillo, have been meeting and have decided to narrow the focus to three or four issues they thought would be important/relevant to the larger PACDL community.
1. Act 32, which took effect 1/1/15, greatly broadened the reach of Mandatory Reporting Laws and also expanded the reach of mandatory background clearance checks. Both of these issues have consequences for the entire defense bar across the Commonwealth.
a) Mandatory Reporting - Previously, mandatory reporting was limited to situations where the mandatory reporter was speaking with a victim of child abuse. Act 32 broadened the mandatory reporting requirements to include disclosures made to sex offender treatment therapists by defendants in the course of their court-ordered sex offender treatment, (in other words, perpetrators rather than victims). This expansion of mandatory reporting places certain ethical obligations on defense counsel and has the unintended consequence of chilling the therapeutic relationship. Defendants must now decide between incriminating themselves or complying with their court-ordered sex offender treatment. If defendants comply, they run the risk of being charged with new crimes; if they don't comply they run the risk of being held to be non-compliant with their court-ordered sex offender treatment. This in turn could result in a violation of probation and/or termination from the sex offender treatment program. Attorneys must be trained on how to advise clients w/r/t Act 32.
b) Background Clearance Checks - Act 32 also requires attorneys who represent juveniles to submit to background clearance checks. We anticipate a lot of pushback from the defense bar from lawyers who are unwilling or reluctant to submit to background checks after already having been found fit to practice law by the PA Bar Association.
2. Act 21. In December 2014, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that SORNA registration is unconstitutional as applied to almost all juveniles. The remaining exception is juveniles civilly committed as sexually violent delinquent children under Act 21. In order to provide effective representation, attorneys must understand the nuances of civil commitment legislation, and be able to advise juvenile clients effectively.
3. Expungement - The collateral consequences of a juvenile adjudication can dramatically impact a young person's future, including access to housing, employment, and education. Attorneys should be trained on the obligation to advise their clients about collateral consequences and the procedures for assisting juveniles in expunging their juvenile records.
Publication Committee
The Publication Committee is looking for individuals who are willing to submit an article for our new publication entitled 'For the Defense'.
The topic you select should be informative, useful and helpful to our membership. If you have an article you would like to submit kindly contact Brian Deiderick ([email protected]) or Steven Breit ([email protected]) for more information.
White Collar Committee
The White Collar Committee has been busy planning the annual White Collar Practice seminar on November 12 & 13, 2015 in Philadelphia.
PACDL Member News
Marc Bookman has again published in Mother Jones:
Reminders
PACDL'S NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS
PACDL has changed it's e-mail address. The new PACDL e-mail address is: [email protected] Although we will continue to monitor the old mail for the next several weeks, please update your address books and contact list.
PACDL ON SOCIAL MEDIA
PACDL has joined Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter!
Visit and "like" the PACDL Facebook Page or follow us on Twitter for updates on PACDL news and events. We have created several discussion groups you can join and share ideas as a compliment to our highly successful listserve.
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