Trusts are meant to endure, but shifting circumstances can take a substantial toll on their assets, their tax and legal status, their ability to make distributions, or even their survival. The law may change in ways that adversely impact a trust. Beneficiaries may develop intractable conflicts that jeopardize the trust’s stability. Assets may underperform, and the cost of administering a trust may make it uneconomical. And sometimes trusts may just no longer have a purpose. In these and other circumstances, trustees, beneficiaries, and their advisers struggle to find ways to reform or recast trusts to make them viable again or to dissolve them and distribute their assets. This program provides you with a practical guide to the circumstances giving rise to trust reformation and practical techniques for fixing broken trusts.

Business entities—corporations, LLCs—are not absolute shields against liability for their owners. An individual shareholder’s or LLC member’s assets can be reached in a surprisingly large number of circumstances to satisfy the claims of creditors, tort claimants, disgruntled shareholders, and others. An entity’s owners can be held individually liable for improper distributions, certain transfers made before a bankruptcy filing, and a range of federal and state taxes—including the failure to proper collect state and local sales taxes. This program is a guide to the circumstances when a veil can be pierced under statutory and common law, ways to defend against individual liability, and how to “cure” the circumstances giving rising to veil-piercing.

Sales/leasebacks of property are sophisticated real estate transactions where both seller/tenant and investor/landlord can obtain substantial financial, tax, and operating benefits. The property owner builds or buys a property it intends to use for its own purposes, sells it to an investor, and then immediately leases it back from the investor for a term of years. Properly structured, the seller/tenant can harvest equity from a building while still using it or finance construction on favorable terms and obtain tax benefits. The investor/landlord can also obtain substantial financial and tax benefits. However, if the transactions are not properly structured, there is a substantial risk of adverse financial and tax consequences, nullifying all economic benefits. This program provides you with a practical guide to understanding the economics of sale/leaseback transactions, properly structuring these deals, and drafting trips to avoid traps.

A master of the courtroom stage who possessed an uncanny understanding of human character, Clarence Darrow was arguably the greatest trial lawyer of the 20th century. Called the “Attorney for the Damned,” he fought for the underdog and took on criminal cases thought to be hopeless. Filled with humor, humanity, and intense courtroom drama, the movie covers four of the great defense lawyer’s most famous cases between 1910 and 1928. Using Darrow’s own thoughts and courtroom summations, the movie explores timeless social, legal, and ethical issues. The movie is followed by a filmed panel discussion and includes a moderated online discussion to ask questions and discuss ethical issues in legal practice. The ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct will be referenced.

Technology has changed everything lawyers do. You market your expertise through firm websites, e-newsletters, and social media. You communicate with clients and opposing counsel via email and mobile devices. You receive, edit, store, and transmit client files electronically. You may even file documents with the courts electronically. The first ethical duty of a lawyer is to practice competently, which includes understanding and managing technology in the law office and, while using it, ensuring client confidences. In a firm of any size, this can be a tremendous challenge—even more so in small firms. This program provides you with a practical guide to major ethical issues particular to smaller law firms in choosing and using technology in law practice.

There has never been a tax on net investment income—until now. Recent health care reform legislation imposed a 3.8% Medicare surtax on “net investment income.” The tax applies to the net investment income—capital gains, dividends, rents, royalties, interest, distributions—of trusts and estates as well as individuals. The new tax applies to income above $11,900 or $10,000 depending on the type of income. For the first time, practitioners will have to plan for the impact of tax, determine which types of income it applies to and to what extent, understand new administrative issues, and plan to minimize application of the tax. This program provides you with an understanding of the new tax, how it applies to the income of trusts and estates, reporting of income, and planning techniques to minimize the tax.

How do you take one of the most complicated bodies of law in the U.S.—the Uniform Commercial Code—and make it not only comprehensible but entertaining? Attending this seminar is the only way to find out! The UCC governs virtually every phase of a transaction in goods, as well as payment systems used in these transactions and in commerce generally. Robert LeVine, author of The Uniform Commercial Code Made Easy, will provide you with a solid working knowledge of the meaning of the text of the UCC. Develop an understanding of how the various articles of the UCC fit together. Gain key strategies for drafting documents and litigating matters within the scope of the UCC. Attorneys with this knowledge will have a significant advantage at every phase of a transaction governed by the UCC, whether it is transactional, in litigation, or during the ongoing business process.

Elder abuse and undue influence come in many forms—some overt like physical harm, others more difficult to detect like financial exploitation. The abuse or undue influence can be exerted by the elder’s family members, caretakers, or others. Frequently, attorneys have a privileged view of these forms of abuse and are left with the excruciating choice between maintaining strict adherence to the duty of confidentiality and the desire to rectify the abuse. This program provides you with a real-world guide to major ethical issues related to competence, confidentiality, the attorney-client privilege, and when an attorney may or is required to break client confidences to report abuse.

The most accurate way to describe what is involved in being a practicing lawyer and running your own law office is, “it’s complicated.” This seminar will help uncomplicate matters by providing you with legal ethics best practices and practical advice for handling law office responsibilities. From where to go for ethics advice to forming the attorney-client relationship, you will receive guidance about a number of key issues, including a lawyer’s duties to a client, handling conflicts, ending the attorney-client relationship, and maintaining a level of professionalism. Don’t miss this opportunity to ask questions and get answers from the bar’s ethics experts.

May 17, 2014, marks the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education Topeka, which legally ended racial discrimination in U.S. schools. But discussing bias is a mostly academic exercise unless it is placed in the context of lives lived in the forefront of the struggle for equality and social justice. Thurgood Marshall’s Coming! presents Justice Marshall (portrayed by T. Mychael Rambo) looking back and reliving past trials and victories. Based upon Marshall’s writings and reflections, the movie highlights the discrimination he faced as he tried to enter law school, practice as a lawyer, and defend the civil rights of others.

Following the movie, a moderated panel discussion will explore Marshall’s legacy and the effects of Brown.

Geared for those with an active estate planning practice, this year’s seminar covers vital topics. Discover almost two dozen ways to have a trust’s gain taxed to the beneficiary, and learn when portability works and when it should be avoided. Explore creating socially responsible family businesses through benefit companies, and gain the knowledge necessary for defensive trustee reporting. Find out what can trigger an IRS review of indirect gift and step transactions and how to plan for defense strategies. Finish the day with a look at financial elder abuse, including how abusers manipulate the legal system to obtain their financial goals.

The 14th Annual Tax Institute offers an outstanding faculty on hot topics for tax practitioners. Federal income tax developments will be covered in depth, and you will hear about significant national and Oregon SALT developments. Learn the latest about the 0.9% additional Medicare tax on wages and self-employment income, such as tax liability trigger points, the rules, special complications, and refund opportunities. Gain an overview of grantor retained annuity trusts, including ways to present the effectiveness of GRATs to clients. Discuss structuring considerations when a partnership or tenants in common are involved in a Section 1031 exchange. Our experts will demonstrate how LLCs and disregarded entities can be used to solve tax issues, explore the IRS’s treatment of conservation easements, and examine the federal tax consequences and pitfalls of converting entities under a variety of state statutes. And what happens when tax professionals cross the line? Find out with a review of the civil and criminal penalties.