Our latest Featured Speaker is Zachary A. Streiff of Downey Brand LLP!

Zach is speaking at our 21st Annual Superior Court Boot Camp: The Nuts and Bolts (CA) on October 6 and 8, 2026!

This two-part webinar has set the standard in California litigation training for more than two decades. Designed for attorneys litigating in California state court, it walks through every phase of a case, from the first pleading through pre-trial motions, with insights from both sides of the bench. Sitting and recently retired Superior Court judges give candid commentary throughout on what they see in their courtrooms every day, what works, and what does not. Hon. Laura A. Seigle of the Los Angeles Superior Court comments throughout Part 1, and Hon. Kira L. Klatchko (Ret.) comments throughout Part 2.

Zach is co-teaching “Discovery and E-Discovery: Strategy, Proportionality, Preservation, and Motion Practice” on October 6, along with Courtney Abrams. It is the longest session of Part 1 and covers the new discovery and e-discovery rules, scope and proportionality, e-discovery costs, authentication, sources and preservation, meet and confer requirements and building a good record, interrogatories and requests for production, failure to preserve and sanctions, subpoenas and affidavits, motions to compel and for protective orders, cost-cutting measures, and dealing with unresponsive opposing counsel.

The rest of the program is built the same way, pairing experienced plaintiff and defense litigators with the bench. Part 1 opens with building the case from day one, covering early case assessment and themes, drafting and answering the complaint, defenses versus affirmative defenses, and motions directed at the pleadings. Judge Seigle then takes attendees through case management conferences and complex civil cases. The day closes with ex parte applications, TROs and preliminary injunctions, and sanctions.

Part 2 moves into depositions, summary judgment, and trial preparation. It opens with deposition strategy and preparation, objections, and making effective use of depositions at trial and in settlement talks. From there the faculty covers winning and defending summary judgment, including persuasive brief writing and what judges want, need, and do not want to see. The program closes with pretrial conferences, trial briefs, motions in limine, and the final status conference.

Whether you are handling your first case or need a refresher, you will leave with actionable strategies and a stronger command of California civil procedure in state court.

Click here for full details and registration.

Zach is a Senior Associate at Downey Brand, where he excels at resolving complex business disputes both in and outside the courtroom. Whether through negotiation, mediation, or vigorous litigation, Zach is tireless in pursuing the best possible results for his clients.

Zach’s clients are diverse, ranging from technology companies and Silicon Valley startups to California public entities, retail and hospitality businesses, as well as legal, healthcare, and financial professionals. His broad litigation experience includes actions involving breach of contract, harm to business interests, real property, and family trust disputes, among others.

Prior to joining Downey Brand, Zach practiced law for five years at a small firm in Monterey County. Before that, he served as a research attorney for the Civil Department of the Monterey County Superior Court. After graduating from law school, Zach practiced for two years with the U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review, through the U.S. Attorney General’s Honors Program.

We are so glad to have you with us, Zach!

Our latest Featured Speaker is Ed Samuelson!

Ed spoke on Tuesday at our Winning Motions for Summary Judgment: From Discovery Strategy to Persuasive Writing (IL and Federal) webinar. Thank you, Ed. We always love having you.

Good news, we have Ed again next month. Ed opens Part 1 of our 16th Annual Circuit Court Boot Camp: The Nuts and Bolts on October 27 with “Building the Case from Day One: Themes, Pleadings, Defenses, and Early Motions,” teaching alongside Kim R. Walberg. They cover early case assessment and themes, the complaint and the rules and strategies behind it, answering the complaint, defenses versus affirmative defenses, motions directed at the pleadings including motions to dismiss and motions to strike, and the case management conference.

Now in its 16th year, the Boot Camp remains the preeminent litigation training program in Illinois for attorneys handling or returning to state court practice. Whether you are newly admitted or simply need a comprehensive refresher, it is the essential foundation for success in Illinois civil litigation.

Hon. Patricia O’Brien Sheahan, Hon. Eileen Marie O’Connor, and Hon. Chloé G. Pedersen give candid commentary throughout on what they see in their courtrooms every day, what works and what does not, covering pleading and motion pitfalls, oral argument, deposition conduct, discovery disputes, and trial readiness. Paired with practical instruction from experienced plaintiff and defense litigators, attendees walk away knowing how to handle complaints, early motion practice, depositions and discovery including e-discovery under the new rules, and what judges actually want to see in motions and argument.

You can see the detailed agenda and sign up to watch it live, or purchase OnDemand Streaming or a recorded package download, here.

Click here for full details and registration for the Boot Camp.

Ed brings something to a summary judgment program that very few speakers can. He spent nearly 12 years as a judicial law clerk at the Circuit Court of Cook County, working for Judges Ronald S. Davis, John P. Kirby, John “Jack” P. Callahan, Jr., and Melissa A. Durkin. He wrote orders on motions, prepped judges for hearings, reviewed settlement petitions, and assisted with courtroom proceedings. When Ed talks about what makes a motion work, he is describing what he watched happen from inside chambers.

Ed also taught two classes at The John Marshall Law School, now the Law School at U.I.C. One was for judicial externs, through which he came to know many Northern Illinois state and federal court judges. The other was called Illinois Civil Motion Practice and focused on the practical side of litigating, walking students through the chronology of motions at every stage of a case, from motions challenging venue and jurisdiction through motions for a good faith finding.

Ed is recently retired. In practice he focused on personal injury, medical malpractice, and nursing home neglect cases, joining Levin & Perconti as an associate attorney in 2022. Before his years as a judicial law clerk, he was an associate attorney at another Chicago personal injury firm.

Ed came to law after an academic career in French. He holds a Master of Philosophy and a Master of Arts in French Studies with Distinction from New York University, and a Master of Arts in French with Distinction from the University of Illinois at Chicago, along with a Bachelor of Arts in Medieval Studies with a minor in Economics from Northwestern University. He then graduated cum laude from The John Marshall Law School in 2008, earning the Dean’s Scholarship, the Baim Scholarship, and the Herzog Scholarship for Academic Excellence.

Thank you again, Ed! We are so glad to have you back in October.

Our latest Featured Speaker is Daniel B. Herbert of Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Trester LLP!

Dan recently taught “Trust and Will Contests” during Part 1 of our three-part webinar, Probate Litigation 101: The Nuts and Bolts, covering trust contests, will contests, revocation and probate, and contracts to make a will. Thank you, Dan. Our attendees loved having you.

This three-part program gives attorneys a practical command of probate litigation from end to end: statutory deadlines, probate-specific discovery, capacity and undue influence, trust and will contests, fiduciary removal and accounting disputes, contested conservatorships, 850 petitions and prohibited donees, and finally settlement, trial, evidence, privilege, ethics, and getting paid. The faculty is heavy with California Certified Legal Specialists in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law.

Dan is back tomorrow, September 24, for Part 3, teaching two sessions. He joins Kirsten A. Brown and Barry Adams for “Trials and Evidence: Practical Guidance from Final Status Conference Through Closing Argument,” which runs from final status conference and trial briefs through motions in limine, the order of trial, witness examinations, exhibits, objections, and closing argument, and then continues into attorney-client privilege in the fiduciary context and who holds the privilege after death. Dan closes the program with “Ethics: Practical Issues in Probate Litigation.” You can see the detailed agenda and sign up to watch it live, or purchase OnDemand Streaming or a recorded package download, here.

Dan is one of our longest-running faculty members. He has taught our specialist-certification courses in 2013 and 2015, our Trust & Estate Boot Camp in 2014, a probate practical course in 2016, an advanced estate planning seminar for complicated estates in 2016, and earlier editions of Probate Litigation 101 in 2017 and 2019. Our attendees keep coming back to him for the same reason we do, which is that he teaches from cases he has actually tried.

Dan is a partner at Manning & Kass, where he has been head of the firm’s trust and estate litigation group since 2005. Previously he was a partner with McKay, Meyer and Herbert, APC, where he ran that firm’s trust and estate litigation for eight years. He is certified by the California Board of Legal Specialization as a specialist in estate planning, trust, and probate law. Dan has considerable experience prosecuting and defending trust and estate matters through trial and appeal, including actions to remove fiduciaries for malfeasance, actions to recover property and damages from fiduciaries, beneficiaries, and third parties, will and trust contests, and contested conservatorships. He won a $5.4 million judgment at trial during his first two weeks with the firm, and prevailed on a $1.2 million appeal the same day.

Dan has presented to attorneys around the country. He spoke to the American Bar Association at the 2009 Annual Symposia of its Real Property, Trust & Estate Section in Washington, D.C., on trust and probate litigation; to the State Bar of California at its 2014 Summit in Newport Beach on a program called “Litigated to Death: How to Sue, Defend, and Settle with the Dead”; and to the Los Angeles County Bar at its 2015 Trusts & Estates Symposium on ethics for the probate bar. He also gave post-death litigation presentations to civil litigation and trial attorneys in Los Angeles, broadcast live to five other cities, in 2012 and 2016.

He is a published author as well. He wrote “Trustees Face Big Liability” for the Insurance Journal in December 2010, and “Last Beneficiary Standing: Identifying Proper Parties in Fiduciary Litigation” for the ABA e/Report in June 2009.

Dan is admitted to practice in the state and federal courts of California, Illinois, and New York, and before the Seventh and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeal. He graduated cum laude from Whittier Law School in 1990 with Law Review, Dean’s List, Honor Roll, a Dean’s Merit Scholarship, and several American Jurisprudence Awards. He is a member of the trust and estate sections of the American Bar Association, the California Lawyers Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and the Pasadena Bar Association.

Welcome back, Dan! It is always a pleasure to have you as a speaker.

Click here for full details and registration.

Our latest Featured Speaker is Christopher D. Carico of Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP!

Chris spoke last Thursday during Part 2 of our three part webinar, Probate Litigation 101: The Nuts and Bolts, where he co-taught “Removal of Fiduciaries and Accounting Litigation” with William Benz. Thank you, Chris, it was a big hit with our attendees.

This three part program is designed to give attorneys a practical command of probate litigation from end to end: statutory deadlines, probate-specific discovery, capacity and undue influence, trust and will contests, fiduciary removal and accounting disputes, contested conservatorships, 850 petitions and prohibited donees, and finally settlement, trial, evidence, privilege, ethics, and getting paid. The faculty is heavy with California Certified Legal Specialists in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law.

Chris returns this Thursday, September 24, to open Part 3 with “Pre-litigation Settlement and Mediation Strategies,” covering petitions to approve settlements, preparing an effective demand letter, drafting an unfiled petition, and when you should propose mediation. You can see the detailed agenda and sign up to watch it live, or purchase OnDemand Streaming or a recorded package download, here.

Chris knows this side of the practice well. He is committed to helping people resolve trust and estate disputes as quickly and efficiently as possible, and he puts real time behind it, volunteering as a mediator on the various court-sponsored pro bono probate mediation panels and currently serving as a volunteer Probate Settlement Officer on the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s Probate Settlement Conference Panel.

Chris is Partner and Co-Chair of the Estate Planning, Probate and Trusts Department at Ervin Cohen & Jessup, and a board-certified specialist in estate planning, trust, and probate law with 35 years of legal experience. His practice spans all facets of trusts and estates, and he represents families, individuals, professional trustees, conservators, guardians, and beneficiaries.

What sets Chris apart is that he works both sides of the discipline. He has deep experience in the estate tax planning component and the litigation component, and because of that dual expertise he designs estate planning instruments that stand up to the closest scrutiny, and he knows how to challenge someone else’s instrument from the ground level up.

He divides his time between representing beneficiaries and fiduciaries in dispute resolution, will and trust contests, financial elder abuse actions, fiduciary surcharge, removal and accounting litigation, and property characterization disputes, and counseling clients on advanced estate planning techniques including family limited partnerships, family limited liability companies, designated beneficiary trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, intentionally defective grantor trusts, and life insurance trusts.

Chris has frequently served as a court-appointed expert, giving the probate court his opinions and recommendations in trust reformation proceedings, fiduciary accountings, actions for breach of fiduciary duty, actions for fiduciary suspension and removal, fee petitions, and the compromise of creditors’ claims. From 2014 through 2018 he served on the Executive Committee for the Trust and Estate Section of the State Bar of California, now the statewide California Lawyers Association.

Thank you again, Chris! We are so glad to have you back on Thursday.

Click here for full details and registration.

Our latest Featured Speaker is Mona Naser of Carlson Dash!

Mona is speaking tomorrow at our Winning Motions for Summary Judgment: From Discovery Strategy to Persuasive Writing (IL and Federal) webinar on Tuesday, September 22, 2026.

This program is built for attorneys who want a practical, step-by-step framework for summary judgment in Illinois state and federal court. It starts with the differences between FRCP 56 and section 2-1005 and the practical impact of Local Rule 56.1, then moves through building the record in discovery, choosing which arguments to bring, drafting the motion and the statement of undisputed facts, and responding effectively when you are the one opposing. The faculty pairs a practicing commercial litigator with two people who have spent years working inside the Illinois courts.

You can see the detailed agenda and sign up to watch it live, or purchase OnDemand Streaming or a recorded package download, here.

Mona has taught for us before at our litigation boot camps and is a favorite with our attendees, who tell us she strikes a great balance between being personable and giving them the level of detail they need, teaching through real scenarios and sending them away with practical tips they can use the next day.

Mona is a Member and Director of Personnel at Carlson Dash. She works with corporate and individual clients across commercial litigation, commercial real estate, general corporate work, and residential real estate.

On the litigation side of her practice, Mona represents individuals and entities as well as major creditors in a wide range of matters involving complex commercial cases and employment law.

As a legal business counselor, she has advised individual and corporate owners of multi-unit dwellings, commercial strip malls, gas stations, mixed-use property, and small businesses on dispositions, acquisitions, leasing, employee policies, and financing. She works with clients to determine the right business formation for their needs and continues the relationship by helping them with corporate formalities, shareholder disputes, and dissolution, drafting the shareholder agreements, bylaws, operating agreements, resolutions, and employment contracts that corporate governance requires. She also represents buyers and sellers in dispositions and acquisitions.

That combination is part of why she is well suited to a summary judgment program. Mona sees these disputes from both ends, counseling the client who is structuring the deal and then litigating it when the deal goes wrong.

Welcome back, Mona! We are so glad to have you speaking with us again.

Click here for full details and registration.

Our latest Featured Speaker is Kevin T. Turkcan, Law Clerk to the Hon. Rena Marie Van Tine of the Appellate Court of Illinois, First District!

Kevin is speaking tomorrow at our Winning Motions for Summary Judgment: From Discovery Strategy to Persuasive Writing (IL and Federal) webinar. 

This program is built for attorneys who want a practical, step-by-step framework for summary judgment in Illinois state and federal court. It starts with the differences between FRCP 56 and section 2-1005 and the practical impact of Local Rule 56.1, then moves through building the record in discovery, choosing which arguments to bring, drafting the motion and the statement of undisputed facts, and responding effectively when you are the one opposing. The faculty pairs a practicing commercial litigator with two people who have spent years working inside the Illinois courts.

You can see the detailed agenda and sign up to watch it live, or purchase OnDemand Streaming or a recorded package download, here.

Kevin has clerked for Justice Van Tine since 2020, and before that he clerked for the Honorable Eileen O’Neill Burke. Our attendees love hearing from him, because a clerk can tell you what a judge is actually looking for when a motion lands on the desk, and Kevin delivers it as a polished speaker with information they can put to use right away.

He has also sat on both sides of the bench, which is part of what makes him so good on a summary judgment program. From 2013 to 2020 Kevin was in private practice, primarily representing plaintiffs in police misconduct, whistleblower, and employment discrimination cases, and he also practiced criminal defense. He has tried civil and criminal cases in both state and federal court. So when he talks about a brief, he is talking as someone who has written them under deadline and as someone who now reads them for a court.

Kevin obtained his J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2013 and his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame in 2009.

Kevin will be back again next month. He opens Part 2 of our 16th Annual Circuit Court Boot Camp: The Nuts and Bolts on October 29 with “Winning and Defending Summary Judgment: Strategy, Persuasive Writing,” along with Howard L. Teplinsky commenting. They will cover timing, strategic and cost considerations, writing persuasive briefs from the introduction and headers through the content and conclusion, mistakes to avoid, and what judges want, need, and do not want to see.

Hon. Eileen Marie O’Connor will also comment throughout Part 2, so attendees will get the clerk’s view and the judge’s view of the same motion in the same session. Now in its 16th year, the Boot Camp remains the leading litigation training program in Illinois for attorneys handling or returning to state court practice. You can see the detailed agenda and sign up to watch it live, or purchase OnDemand Streaming or a recorded package download, here.

Thank you, Kevin! We are so happy you will be back with us in October.

Click here for full details and registration for the Boot Camp.

Live webinar | Wednesday, October 14, 2026 | Florida | $129 | Also available OnDemand

You win the case, you move for fees, and the court cuts the award by a third. The reduction rarely reflects on the quality of the work. It reflects block billing, vague task descriptions, entries that cannot be tied to a compensable claim, and reconstructed time that does not survive cross-examination.

This session treats the fee award as its own litigated proceeding, because in Florida that is what it is. It starts with the billing practices that determine the outcome long before the motion is filed: how to describe tasks so the entries survive review, why contemporaneous records matter and what happens when they do not exist, how to handle block billing, travel, and clerical time, and how to allocate time between claims when only some of them support a fee award.

From there it moves to the motion and the hearing: establishing the lodestar and supporting both the hours and the rate, when a fee expert is required and how to prepare one, and what the evidentiary hearing actually looks like. It addresses how opposing counsel will attack the records and how to defend them, along with the findings a court must make and what a deficient order means on appeal.

The session covers both sides. Attorneys opposing a fee motion will find the same material useful in reverse.

Attendees also receive a sample proposed fee order they can adapt for their own practice.

Our fantastic speakers are the Hon. Milena Abreu of Florida’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit and Arya Attari Li, Assistant Vice President and Insurance Claims Counsel at Lockton Companies, LLC and previously a partner at Ploeg & Marino. Both have spoken for us many times and are consistently among our highest rated faculty. A fee award turns on how the court reads your billing records, so hearing directly from a sitting judge is a valuable opportunity.

Click here for full details and registration.

And for Florida litigators building core skills, join us for the Taking and Defending Depositions: Preparation, Strategy, and Practical Skills program on November 10 and 12, 2026. Geared to the newer Florida litigator, this two-part program includes live deposition demonstrations during most sessions.

The program features Angela F. Benjamin, Robert (Beau) E. Blumberg, David E. Cannella, Michael E. Dutko Jr., Shawn T. Jewell, Peter J. Klock II, Bernard Pastor, and Daniel E. Smith II.

Click here for full details and to register for the deposition program.

Our Featured Speaker is Amber N. Morton of Holland & Knight LLP!

Thank you to Amber for speaking last Thursday during Part 1 of our Probate Litigation 101: The Nuts and Bolts program. Our attendees loved Amber, and they loved Part 1.

Amber covered capacity, walking through the standards that apply to trusts, wills, and conservatorships. She then co-taught undue influence with Kirsten A. Brown of Manning Kass, from the elements of the claim to what it takes to rebut the presumption.

Amber is a Los Angeles attorney in Holland & Knight’s Private Wealth Services Group and a member of the firm’s Trusts, Estates and Fiduciary Litigation Team. She is a seasoned litigator with substantial experience in both state and federal courts, and her practice focuses on complex trusts and estates litigation, including trust and will contests, contested conservatorships, breach of fiduciary duty matters, and financial elder abuse claims.

What makes her experience so relevant here is the breadth of it. Amber represents clients through every phase of a dispute, from pre-litigation advice aimed at resolving conflicts before anything is filed, through discovery, law and motion, trial preparation, and trial. She also handles settlement negotiations and mediation, always with an eye toward the best resolution for the client.

Thank you again, Amber! We were so pleased to have you on as a speaker, and we hope to have you back.

Parts 2 and 3 are still ahead, this Thursday and the following Thursday. If your attorneys can’t attend live, OnDemand Streaming is available. We also have group discounts for 2-4 attorneys and licenses for firms sending more than four. Feel free to forward to colleagues.

Email me if you’d like a group discount or an OnDemand Streaming license. 

Probate Litigation 101: The Nuts and Bolts (CA)

Parts 2 & 3 | Thursdays, Sept. 17 & 24 | 1:00 to 4:45 p.m. Pacific | Also available OnDemand

Click here for full details and registration.

Still ahead in Parts 2 and 3:

• Removal of fiduciaries, temporary trustee appointments, and accounting litigation
• Contested conservatorships, substituted judgment petitions, and representing clients with limited capacity
• 850 petitions, and prohibited donees under Probate Code § 21380
• Pre-litigation settlement and mediation strategies
• Trials and evidence, from final status conference through closing argument
• Attorney-client privilege in the fiduciary context, ethics, and getting paid

Live webinar | Tuesday, September 22, 2026 | Illinois & Federal | $125 | Also available OnDemand

Summary judgment is usually won or lost in discovery, not in the brief. By the time you sit down to write, the record either contains the admissions and the undisputed facts you need or it does not, and no amount of drafting skill will manufacture them. Attorneys who consistently win these motions are working backward from the motion during depositions and written discovery, months before anything is filed.

This session treats the motion as the end of a process rather than a discrete writing task. It covers how to identify, early in the case, which issues are genuinely susceptible to summary disposition and which are not. It addresses how to structure deposition questioning to lock in the testimony a motion will rely on, and how to use requests to admit and interrogatories to close off the disputes that would otherwise defeat the motion.

The drafting portion covers what actually persuades: framing the undisputed facts, handling the evidence rules that govern what can support or oppose the motion, and the affidavit requirements under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 191 that regularly sink otherwise sound filings. It also addresses the differences between Illinois practice under Section 2-1005 and federal practice under Rule 56, including the local statement of material facts requirements that vary by district and are enforced strictly.

The session also covers the defensive side.

Speakers include the fabulous Mona Naser of Carlson Dash; Edward J. Samuelson, who spent nearly 12 years as a judicial law clerk at the Circuit Court of Cook County; and Kevin T. Turkcan, Law Clerk to Justice Rena Marie Van Tine of the Illinois Appellate Court, First District. Two of the three bring an inside view of how courts actually evaluate these motions.

And for a comprehensive program on Illinois civil litigation practice, join us for the 16th Annual Circuit Court Boot Camp: The Nuts and Bolts on October 27 and 29, 2026.Whether you’re newly admitted or simply need a comprehensive refresher, this two-part webinar is the essential foundation for success in Illinois civil litigation.

The program features Hon. Eileen Marie O’Connor, Hon. Chloé G. Pedersen, and Hon. Patricia O’Brien Sheahan, along with Ian H. Fisher, Kristen E. Hudson, Megan O’Malley, Howard L. Teplinsky, Kim R. Walberg, Heidi L. Wickstrom, Edward J. Samuelson, and Kevin T. Turkcan. Ed and Kevin are also speaking at this summary judgment program.

Full details and registration: https://new.pincusproed.com/product/winning-summary-judgment-strategies-discovery-and-drafting-il-federal-webinar-watch-live-or-via-ondemand-streaming/

Our latest Featured Speaker is William G. Benz of Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP!

Bill is speaking during Part 2 of our upcoming three part webinar – Probate Litigation 101: The Nuts and Bolts. Bill is speaking on on September 17, 2026.

Bill will co-teach “Removal of Fiduciaries and Accounting Litigation.” The session will address removing a trustee or other fiduciary, temporary-trustee appointments, strategies involving a neutral private professional fiduciary, interim orders affecting real property, trustee accountings, de facto trustees, and related practical issues.

Will is a seasoned litigator whose practice includes trust and estate disputes and business transactions. He represents beneficiaries as well as family-member, professional, and public fiduciaries in complex probate matters. His corporate-law background is especially valuable when a trust or estate dispute involves layered business entities, disputed ownership, financial elder abuse, fiduciary surcharge or removal, or efforts to recover trust property.

The three-part program will take attorneys from key deadlines and discovery through settlement, trial, evidence, ethics, and fee petitions.

Welcome back Bill! So glad to have you speak again.