Exploring Local Government Legal Operations as a Management Discipline This webinar explores the emerging concept of Local Government Legal Operations as a Management Discipline. Attendees will examine why leadership of a modern local government legal office requires more than legal expertise and consider common challenges of many local government legal office leaders, including the lack of formal preparation for organizational leadership and the reality that urgent demands often overshadow the long-term responsibilities that strengthen an organization over time. Drawing on...

Key Issues in Local Historic Preservation Law Professor Bronin will familiarize attendees with local powers to designate and regulate historic properties and put those local powers in a state and national context.  She will also provide a tour of the National Preservation Atlas (www.preservationatlas.org), the country’s first-ever public resource to integrate historic properties designated the local, state, and federal levels, and the legal protections that apply to them. Speaker: Sara Bronin

Legal Ethics and the Municipal Attorney In this program, Texas Center for Legal Ethics Executive Director Brad Johnson will discuss several Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, with a focus on municipal attorneys. The discussion will include conflict-of-interest rules (Model Rule 1.7), representation of an organization (Model Rule 1.13), and more. Speaker: Brad Johnson

Disorder in The Court: The Crossroads of Incivility and Wellness in the Legal Profession Abrasive or burned out? Overworked or uncivil? Zealous advocate or bully? The legal profession is currently navigating a critical crossroads where the traditional, often adversarial culture of lawyering meets an urgent need for practitioner well-being. Based on recent reports, it is widely believed that civility in the legal profession is under severe strain, with many arguing it is in critical condition. While not entirely dead, the...

Why Accurate Legal Messages Still Get Misunderstood: Using AI to Pressure-Test Communication with Officials, Boards, and the Public Local government lawyers regularly have to explain nuanced legal conclusions to elected officials, boards, department leaders, law-enforcement personnel, and members of the public—audiences who may not share the lawyer’s vocabulary, assumptions, or objectives. Even when a message is legally accurate, it may be interpreted through a political, operational, or emotional lens. A recommendation may be heard as obstruction, an explanation as evasion,...

The First 24 Hours: Media, Messaging and Liability After a Critical Incident Critical incidents are judged twice: first by what happened, and then by how leaders explained it. In the first 24 hours after an officer-involved shooting, in-custody death, mass-casualty event or other high-liability incident, incomplete facts, intense media pressure and competing voices can turn an operational crisis into a lasting legal and reputational problem. This practical webinar examines how municipal attorneys, law-enforcement leaders, public information officers and elected officials...

Debugging City Hall: The Practical, Ethical, and Litigation Risks of Lindke v. Freed at Two Years While the Supreme Court's two-prong test is now familiar, the operational gap between the doctrine and its daily application remains the hard part for municipal counsel. Lindke v. Freed replaced appearance-based reasoning with a structured test: actual authority to speak for the government on the specific matter, and a purported exercise of that authority in the specific post or moderation action. Lower courts are still working...

Source of Income Ordinances and the Expanding Landscape of Landlord-Tenant Preemption Local governments increasingly face questions about how far they can regulate residential housing and landlord-tenant relationships, especially as states enact legislation that limits municipal regulatory power. Source-of-income ordinances, which generally prohibit landlords from rejecting prospective tenants based on lawful sources of income such as housing vouchers or public assistance, have become a major point of contention in the broader debate over local housing regulation. This webinar will examine the...

PFAS & Products Liability Law: How Cities are Securing Funding Through Litigation & Settlements with Polluters CLE available to Kitchen Sink Subscribers and in some cases to others but fees may apply. This webinar will provide an overview of how legal action against polluting chemical manufacturers is providing significant funding for municipalities nationwide. Ken Sansone will first provide a brief update on the state and federal regulatory landscape for PFAS in drinking water, wastewater, and biosolids, focusing on current and...