When: Wednesday, December 2, 2020 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Program Fee: $25
THIS PROGRAM IS ONLINE ONLY
CPCS approved for 2.0 hours of CLE credit for the Adult Criminal Trials and CAFL panels; and 1.0 hours of CLE credit for Adult Criminal Appeals and YAD panels. To receive credits attendees must be logged on during the program for a minimum of 80% of the conference time. Certificates will be emailed to all attendees who were logged onto the program for at least 80% of the program.
Legislative history is a critically important advocacy tool in Federal Court when statutory language is ambiguous and begs for clarification. Federal judges invite and apply the use of legislative history to avoid incongruous results, illuminate drafting errors, determine specialized meanings, or choose reasonable interpretations of politically controversial statutes.
In these and other instances, Congress’s intent must be inferred from the statute’s legislative history, which successful advocate’s must stitch together from a variety of sources including:
• The text of the bill and proposed amendments that were accepted or rejected
• Transcripts of hearings conducted by Congressional committees responsible for the bill
• Committee reports written about the bill
• Transcripts of House and Senate floor debates related to the bill
Alex Philipson, who has taught classes in appellate writing at New England Law Boston and Northeastern University Law School, and Senior Reference Attorney Brian Harkins will show the “how” and “where” to find and interpret these and other sources of legislative history.
This program will teach advocates the research skills necessary to reconstruct a statute’s legislative history for use in pleadings, briefs and oral arguments.
Online registration is encouraged. For assistance, questions on group discounts, accommodations requests, special billing, program content, out-of-state CLE credits, and general CLE information contact Michael Saporito by email at msaporito@socialaw.com. Registrations accepted in order of receipt. Registration fees are non-refundable. Most Social Law Library CLE events are recorded. The recording is available by digital download, generally within a week after the program date. Most downloads include print material and are $19.95 each. This product purchase is separate from CLE registration and is not included in the price of a CLE registration. CLE credit, when applicable, is only granted when the live webinar is attended.