CLE Seminar Brochure

Co-Chairs
Jaclyn Barbosa
Aditi Deal
Travis Hookham
Jason Keith

HBA Staff Liaison
Ashley Gagnon Steininger

Committee Members
Laura Alaniz
Rick Anderson
Johnny C.C. Day
Chris DeMeo
Cheryl Diggs
Ian Furman
 

Keith Houston
Chandria Jackson
Hannah Koval
Hon. Lamar McCorkle
Adriana Merlan
Samantha-Anne Nadolny
Lan Nguyen

Claire Parsons
Stanley Santire
Kenneth Scott
Margot Stander
Ryan van Steenis
Victoria "Tory" Vonder Haar
Robert White

Friday, August 7
12:00 Noon – 1:00 p.m.

Changing Legal Career
Emily Hoy (Gerger Hennessy Martin Peterson)
Vanessa Walther (XG Solutions)
Stephanie Gallo (Veritas Legal Recruiting)
Matthew Bergeron (Hanszen Laporte)
Marshall Moorhouse (Howard Energy Partners)
Moderator: Aditi Leal (Durham, Pittard & Spalding, LLP)

1 hour MCLE credit; no ethics credit 

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Not every legal career runs in a straight line. This panel brings together attorneys and legal recruiting professionals who've each made a deliberate pivot to talk candidly about what prompted the move, what the transition actually cost them, and what they'd do differently. Panelists include Emily Hoy (Gerger Hennessy Martin Peterson), Vanessa Walther (XG Solutions), Stephenie Gallo (Veritas Legal Recruiting), Matthew Bergeron (Hanszen Laporte), and Marshall Moorhouse (Crain Caton & James), moderated by Aditi Deal (Durham, Pittard & Spalding). Whether you're weighing a change yourself or just curious how others navigated one, this session offers a practical, unvarnished look at legal career transitions in Houston.

Friday, Auguat 14
12:00 Noon – 1:00 p.m.

Criminal Law: Advising Your Clients on the Basics
Vikram (Vik) Vij (Vij & Krell, PLLC)

1 hour MCLE credit; no ethics credit 

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This program will cover the basic steps involved and potential options when a client is facing criminal charges.

Friday, August 28
12:00 Noon – 1:00 p.m.

Tax Treatment of Settlements
Peter Marmo (Marmo Law PLLC)

1 hour MCLE credit; no ethics credit

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This program will examine the critical federal tax issues associated with settlement payments, including determining whether settlement payments are ordinary income, capital gain, or tax free for the recipient, and whether payments are deductible for the payor.  It will also review withholding and reporting issues.

Friday, September 18
12:00 Noon – 1:00 p.m.

Strategies for Challenging Texas Property Tax Appraisals
Brandon Barchus (PropertyTaxes.Law)

1 hour MCLE credit; no ethics credit 

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This program will cover navigating Texas’ property tax system.  Learn how to best represent your properties at the Appraisal District, avoid pitfalls and set yourself up for a success in a property tax lawsuit.

Friday, September 25
12:00 Noon – 1:00 p.m.

The Key to Competent, Ethical Representation & Professional Excellence: Mental Fitness for Legal Professionals
Wayne Basist (ESQ Mental Fitness LLC)

1 hour MCLE credit; including 1 hour of ethics credit 

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This course is a 60-minute ethics CLE program examining the relationship between attorney wellness, professional competence, and ethical compliance. The program analyzes how chronic stress, cognitive fatigue, and burnout can impair professional judgment, client communication, diligence, and supervisory responsibilities under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.

This session introduces an evidence-based mental fitness framework that helps attorneys identify cognitive and behavioral risk factors that may contribute to ethical violations. Participants will review common self-sabotaging performance patterns and learn practical, research-supported strategies to improve focus, decision-making, stress regulation, and professional sustainability. The program includes applied tools such as a structured self-assessment, “real time” mindfulness stress regulation techniques, and daily practices that support competent, ethical representation. 
Using legal practice scenarios and ethics analysis, the course demonstrates how mental fatigue and wellness deficits can create professional risk and how proactive mental fitness practices can support compliance, improve leadership and supervision, and promote long-term professional effectiveness. Participants will leave with practical strategies to support ethical obligations, reduce risk exposure, and not just maintain capacity for competent representation, but long-term sustainable excellence.

Friday, October 9
12:00 Noon – 1:00 p.m.

The Virtual Law Firm – Tech & Ethics of Operating from Anywhere
Kevin Keeling (Law Offices of Kevin A. Keeling, LLC)

1 hour MCLE credit; including 0.5 hours of ethics credit 

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The presentation will cover practical, technical, and ethical considerations for law firm management and operations particularly focusing on remote work and non-brick and mortar law firm operations.

Friday, October 16
12:00 Noon – 1:00 p.m.

Prosecuting and Defending Never Events
John Sheppard (Wilson Elser)

1 hour MCLE credit, no ethics credit 

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There are medical mishaps that have been deemed “Never Events” by the enters for Medicare & Medicaid Services.  This term refers generally to preventable occurrence so egregious that they should never occur.  But they do occur.  And when they do, litigation often follows.  The presentation focuses on the prosecution and defense of three types of never events: the wrong patient/wrong side surgery, operating room fires and retained objects.

Friday, July 24
12:00 Noon – 1:00 p.m.

Property Owners Association 101 and Hot Topics
Sipra Boyd (Roberts Markel Weinberg Butler Hailey PC)

1 hour MCLE credit, including no ethics credit

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This presentation will provide a high-level summary of the laws that apply to property owners’ associations (single-family, townhome, condo, etc.) as well as a few hot topics which discuss relevant case law impacting property owners’ associations.