Our charitable CLE education initiative benefits charitable causes. Courses are pre-approved by the Florida Bar and our speakers are the top experts in their field.

Upcoming CLE Events

28
May2020
Trademark Basics and Common Pitfalls
Understand the basics regarding trademark filings, understand the common mistakes, and prevent ethical violations arising out of trademark law. Pre-approved by the Florida Bar for 1.0 hour CLE. 60 minutes. Speaker: Steven Forte.
9:30 AMLivestream Online
4
June2020
Patents Law: Fight Childhood Cancer at Big Storm Brewing Co.You can attend entirely online and/or watch the livestream feed at Big Storm Brewing Company. Our speaker, Anton Hopen will head to Big Storm after the livestream to greet and socialize with everyone attending there. 90-minutes. Pre-approved by the Florida Bar for 2.0 hours General CLE; 1.5 hours Technology; 2.0 hours Board Certification Business Litigation; and 2.0 hours Board Certification Intellectual Property. 90 minutes.
3:00 PMBig Storm Brewing and Online
11
June2020
Fight Childhood Cancer – Live Stream Florida Bar CLE Program for Charity: Patentability of BiotechnologyProtect new developments in life sciences with the aim to commercial them and turn (often) tax-payer-funded research into products that improve health and quality of life. Pre-approved by the Florida Bar for 2.0 hours General CLE; 2.0 hours Technology; 2.0 hours Board Certification Business Litigation; and 2.0 hours Board Certification Intellectual Property. 90 minutes. Speaker: Michele Lawson.
9:30 AMLivestream Online
30
June2020
Online CLE for Charity: Trademarks and UDRPIdentify examples of when a domain name registration is subject to cancellation or transfer on account of a third party’s intellectual property rights, as well as to develop a strategy to protect intellectual property rights in a cost-effective way, without the need to enter into complex litigation. Pre-approved by the Florida Bar for 2.0 hours General CLE; 2.0 hours Technology; 2.0 hours Board Certification Business Litigation; and 2.0 hours Board Certification Intellectual Property. 90 minutes. Speaker: Nicholas Pfeifer.
9:30 AMLivestream Online
14
July2020
CLE for Charity: Defending Patent Infringement ClaimsPractical strategies for advising their clients on how to avoid patent infringement and defending their clients in patent infringement lawsuits. Pre-approved by the Florida Bar for 2.0 hours General CLE; 2.0 hours Technology; 2.0 hours Board Certification Business Litigation; and 2.0 hours Board Certification Intellectual Property. 90 minutes. Speaker: Andriy Lytvyn.
9:30 AMLivestream Online
23
July2020
CLE for Charity: IP Infringement in the Digital AgeIdentify examples of online infringement of intellectual property rights, as well as to develop a strategy to protect intellectual property rights in a cost-effective way, without the need to enter into complex litigation. Pre-approved by the Florida Bar for 2.0 hours General CLE; 2.0 hours Technology; 2.0 hours Board Certification Business Litigation; and 2.0 hours Board Certification Intellectual Property. 90 minutes. Speaker: Paul Murty.
9:30 AMLivestream Online

Why we started this

Since I was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1995, I’ve spoken countless times a conferences, groups and other events. I’ve always taken these engagements very seriously and committed resources and time to prepare. I have usually had travel and hotel stipends which were a rounding error in view of my time commitment.

Live Advertorials

The legal education and conference industry has adopted a disturbing trend…pay to speak. I am hard to offend, but having a conference organizer ask me to prepare an hour presentation on a cutting edge topic then try to monetize my participation was an eye-opener.

I spoke with colleagues in other legal disciplines and they relayed similar experiences. One close friend and former general counsel for a multi-billion dollar organization was only offered a partial discount on a conference he was speaking at.

Something has to change. The best and brightest are not going to devote their time, wisdom and expertise to pay to speak. Those CLE presentations are essentially live advertorials. Sure, conferences and events cost money but if you want to bring in the best speakers there has to be an alternative.

Our Solution – Charitable CLE Education

My partners at Smith & Hopen and I discussed this and decided to innovate an alternative….charitable CLE education. We only bring in the highest level of legal authority to speak before colleagues and donate 100% of the voluntary contributions to charitable organizations.

There is never a pay to speak opportunity at our events. Speakers are only selected on merit…experience, reputation and credentials. A typical speaker will have at least ten years of legal experience, hold board certifications from the bar and an AV-rating from Martindale Hubbell.

We create registrations for the CLE events through EventBrite and all money generated gets deposited through ACH to the target charity. It never even touches our organization.

Board certified IP attorney Anton Hopen speaking in Tampa.
Anton Hopen Speaking in Tampa, Florida

We offer an opportunity for the best attorneys to share their expertise before their colleagues while helping those less fortunate. We hope you will support our mission.