The FCBA Professional Responsibility Committee will hold a CLE on Thursday, October 10 from 6:00 – 8:15 p.m. entitled “Conflicts of Interest and Unauthorized Practice: Pitfalls for FCC Lawyers to Avoid.”  This program will be held at Bingham McCutchen LLP, 2020 K Street, NW.

Panel One will look at situations “When You Need to Worry about the Unauthorized Practice of Law in FCC-Related Transactions.”

Panel Two will explore “Conflict or Consensus:  Representing Multiple Parties in Large Rulemakings.” Participation in a coalition can save clients money and amplify the power of their advocacy.  But what’s a lawyer to do when one of the members shifts position?  Or how to judge in a wide-ranging rulemaking when one client’s tangential issue conflicts with another’s?

The FCBA has applied for 2.0 MCLE ethics credits. Approval is pending.

AGENDA

6:00 – 6:05 p.m.         Welcome and Introductions

6:05 – 6:55 p.m.         When You Need to Worry About the Unauthorized Practice of Law in FCC-Related Transactions
A panel of experts will discuss the rules governing practicing before the Federal Communications Commission and applying communications law expertise to transactions or in venues other than the FCC.  The following topics will be discussed: 

·         Federal pre-emption of state UPL law

·         Different rules govern lawyering v. lobbying

·         How variations in the rules of surrounding jurisdictions affect different types of FCC practice

·         What UPL law governs a lawyer’s work on an engagement that involves activity in several jurisdictions and the application of the law of a jurisdiction in which the lawyer is not licensed?

·         Can a lawyer who moves to a state in which he or she is not admitted to practice, limits his or her practice to “federal” only?

Moderator:
Gregg P. Skall, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, LLP

Speakers:
Barry E. Cohen, Crowell and Moring, LLP (Legal Ethics, Malpractice, Professional Responsibility-Related Advice and Litigation)
John Griffith (“Grif”) Johnson, Jr., Telecommunications Law Professionals, PLLC (Professional Ethics Issues in Communications Law)
Cynthia Wright, Chair of the Unauthorized Practice of Law of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals

6:55 – 7:05 p.m.         Break

7:05 – 8:15 p.m.         Conflict or Consensus:  Representing Multiple Parties in Large Rulemakings
A panel of experts will discuss how to judge when a conflict has arisen in a wide-ranging rulemaking.  The following topics will be discussed:

Differences between conflict of interest principles in rulemaking representations vs. more conventional representations
Who, if anyone, is the adverse party in a rulemaking representation?
Special issues as to lobbying
Choice of law
What to do when one member of a coalition shifts position
Jurisdictional variations from the model rule
Conflicts between a client and an affiliate of a different client
Potential conflicts between different industry sectors aligned on some issues but diverging on others
Potential conflicts between a client active in a rulemaking and another non-participating client with interests that may be adversely affected

Moderator:
Lawrence J. Movshin, Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP

Speakers:
Arthur D. Burger, Jackson and Campbell, P.C. (Professional Responsibility Practice Group Chair)
Thomas D. Mason, Zuckerman, Spaeder LLP (Legal Profession and Ethics Practice Chair)
Julia L. Porter, Senior Assistant Bar Counsel, District of Columbia (Ethics Investigations and Prosecutions)