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Criminal Practice
Original Program Date :


 

Presiding:

 

Patrick G. Longhi, Program Chair; Law Office of Patrick Longhi, Kennesaw, GA

 

 

8:00

IN-PERSON REGISTRATION

 

 

8:25

INTRODUCTION

 

Julia D. Neighbors, ICLE Director, State Bar of Georgia, Atlanta, GA

 

 

8:30

WELCOME AND PROGRAM OVERVIEW

 

Patrick G. Longhi

 

 

8:35

GEORGIA LAW OF EVIDENCE 

 

B. Michael Mears, Associate Professor, John Marshall Law School, Atlanta, GA

 

 

9:35 

NEW CHALLENGES IN ETHICS 

 

Patrick G. Longhi

 

 

10:35

BREAK

 

 

10:45

DUI AND TRAFFIC OFFENSES 

 

Ashley L. Schiavone, Schivone Law PC, Alpharetta, GA

 

 

11:45

BREAK

 

 

12:30

FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE 

 

Moderator: Joe D. Whitley, Womble Bond Dickinson LLP, Atlanta, GA

 

Panelists:

 

Lynsey Barron, Barron Law LLC, Atlanta, GA

 

Kurt Erskine, Polsinelli PC, Atlanta, GA

 

Nicole Kaplan, Staff Attorney, Federal Defender Program, Atlanta, GA

 

Richard Moultrie, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta, GA

 

 

1:30

OPENING STATEMENTS VS. CLOSING ARGUMENTS 

 

Steven H. Sadow, Steven H. Sadow PC, Atlanta, GA

 

 

2:30

BREAK 

 

 

2:45

PROFESSIONALISM: GUIDING PRINCIPLES & VALUES 

 

Hon. Verda M. Colvin, Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia, Atlanta, GA

 

 

3:45

ADJOURN

 

 

 

 

 

Program Coordinator:

 

Deloise Mathews, Senior Program Coordinator

 

 

Mr. Patrick G. Longhi, Law Office of Patrick Longhi

Patrick G. Longhi, Esq. is an Attorney at Law admitted to practice law in Georgia and Washington, D.C. With his general trial practice, he has been advising and representing individuals and businesses since the 1980s. He teaches lawyers at continuing legal education seminars for close to three decades in the area of Legal Ethics but also Trial Tactics and has lectured in Criminal Law. He is the author of papers on Ethics and has been published in professional law journals. He has practiced before both federal and state trial courts and filed briefs with the Georgia Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court of Georgia, theUnited States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.

As a local bar president, he received an Award of Merit from the State Bar for writing, directing and hosting an educational film, "Lawyers and the Justice System,"  distributed to local libraries and school media centers. He appeared in Marquis Who's Who in American Law 10th, 12th,14th and 15th editions,before receiving its Lifetime Achievement Award, and has been rated a "highly respected, ethical member of the Bar"by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. He still serves the legal profession and community on the Fulton County Law Week Committee as chair of the Washington Workshops Scholarships Subcommittee[for Atlanta area high school students], as an active member of various localbar associations and also as an alumni ambassador for his undergrad university.

Mr. Buddy M. Mears, Atlanta's John Marshall Law School

Michael Mears is an Associate Professor at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School where he teaches Evidence, Advanced Criminal Procedure, and Ethics. He received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in Teaching degrees from Mississippi State University. Michael is a graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law (Class of 1977). Michael served as the Mayor of the City of Decatur, Georgia from 1985 – 1993.

Michael was awarded the Elbert P. Tuttle Jurisprudence Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Southeast Regional Anti-Defamation League, February, 2009; He was awarded the Liberty Bell Award by the Atlanta Bar Association 2008; and was named named as a Georgia Super Lawyer for the years 2004, 2005, and 2006 by Atlanta Magazine. In 2003, Michael was selected to be the founding Director of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council after serving for over ten years as the Director of the Multi-County County Public Defender Office, a state-wide death penalty public defender service funded by the State of Georgia. He retired from that position in 2007 and has been an Associate Professor of Law at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School since his retirement from the Public Defender Standards Council. In addition to his teaching duties, Michael has also served as the Associate Dean of the Law School for Academic Affairs. Michael has also been selected as a visiting scholar at Bahcesehir University Law School in Istanbul, Turkey.

Michael is the author of numerous articles and books including “Objections: Preventing Errors in Criminal Trials;” “A Brief History of The Georgia Indigent Defense Counsel: Twenty-Five Years of Struggle to Provide Adequate Counsel for The Poor; “The Death Penalty in Georgia – A Modern History, 1970 -2000; and “The Defense Attorney’s Ethical Response to Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claims, Copyright 2002. In 2006, Michael presented a keynote paper to the W.E.B. DuBois Institute of Clark Atlanta University’s Annual Spring Conference entitled “A Strategy for Confronting Racial Discrimination in the Use of the Death Penalty in Georgia.” His most recent law review article “A Student’s Brief History of the United States Federal Rules of Evidence,” was published in the Bahcesehir University (Istanbul, Turkey) Law Faculty of Law, Law Journal, Volume 7, Number 81-82 (2011), ISSB 1304-7949.

Publications

An American Tragedy: The Story of Johnny Lynn Old Chief, Journal Jurisprudence, Volume 35, page 65, March 2018.

End the Reliance on Volunteer Lawyers in Death Sentence Appeals, Daily Report, American Law Media, Volume 123, Number 76, Tuesday, April 17, 2012.

A Student’s Brief History of the United States Federal Rules of Evidence, Bahcesehir University Law Faculty of Law, Law Journal, Volume 7, Number 81-82 (2011), ISSB 1304-7949.

Objection! A Guide to Preventing Errors in a Criminal Trial, Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School Press, March 2010.

Confronting Racial Discrimination: In Use of the Death Penalty in Georgia, Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School Law Journal, Volume I, Number 1, Spring 2008.

The Challenge of Fingerprint Comparison Opinions in the Defense of a Criminally Charged Client, Georgia State University Law Review, Volume 19, Number 3, Spring 2003.

Seeking Sanctuary: Interviews with Family Members of Capital Defendants, (Co-Authored with Elizabeth Beck, Ph.D., Brenda Sims Blackwell, Ph.D., Pamela Blume Leonard, B.S.), Cornell Law Review, Volume 88, Number 2, January 2003.

Death Penalty Law, Mercer Law Review, Volume 54, Fall 2002, Number 1.

Representing the Unpopular Client After September 11th, Georgia Bar Journal, Volume 7, Number 5, April 2002.

Death Penalty Law, Mercer Law Review, Volume 53, Number1, Fall 2001.

Georgia Death Penalty Law, Mercer Law Review, Volume 52, Number 1, Fall 2000.

The Death Penalty in Georgia – A Modern History, 1970 -2000, The Georgia Indigent Defense Council, Professional Education Division Publications, Randco Printing, Copyright 2000.

The Defense Attorney’s Ethical Response to Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claims, Georgia Bar Journal, Volume 5, No. 2, October 1999.

Guilty, Not Guilty, or Innocent?, The Champion, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, June, Copyright 1997.

Earning and Collecting Reasonable and Adequate Fees in Appointed Criminal Cases, Georgia Bar Journal, Vol. 3 No. 2, October, 1997.

Media, Public & Professional Appearances

Atlanta Magazine, A question of justice: When should a district attorney heed the wishes of crime victims? (3/25/15)

GPB Radio – Two Way Street, Comments on Robert Durst’s defense, re: HBO’s The Jinx (3/21/15)

GPB Radio – On Second Thought, Suing the State from Death Row (3/19/15)

AJC, A double voyeur, with macabre on the side (2/20/15)

GPB Radio – On Second Thought, Georgia Prepare’s to Execute Latest Death Row Inmate (1/27/15)

Professor Mears is a frequent contributor on NPR and WPBA as an expert on the death penalty in Georgia.

Outside The Classroom

Professor Mears currently serves as the Chairperson of the Institute of Continuing Legal Education. He has previously served as a member of the State Bar of Georgia’s Committee on Indigent Defense and as a member of the State Bar’s Post-Conviction Committee.

 

Ms. Ashley Lee Schiavone, Schiavone Law PC

 

            After graduating law school in May 2008, Ashley began working as a law clerk with Head, Thomas, Webb & Willis in Atlanta, Georgia. When she passed the Georgia Bar Exam in October 2008, she accepted an associate position with the firm and has been practicing law since then. She's a founding member of DUIDLA (DUI Defense Lawyers Association) and general member of GACDL (Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers), Georgia Defense of Drinking Drivers, State Bar of Georgia and the ABA (American Bar Association).  She has also attended many seminars dedicated to continuing education in the areas of DUI and criminal defense. In 2009, she attended and completed an intensive seminar that qualified her as an instructor of field sobriety evaluations in accordance with NHTSA (National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration) standards. 

            In January 2012, Ashley opened up her own law firm, Schiavone Law, P.C. and is currently practicing as a solo practitioner in the areas of general criminal defense (misdemeanor and felony cases), DUI, traffic law and uncontested divorce. In both 2012 and 2014, Ashley was named one of “Atlanta’s Finest Professionals” by Proactive Resources and Creative Loafing in Atlanta, Georgia.  She has also consistently been named a “Rising Star” by “Georgia Super Lawyers” since 2017.

            Ashley continues to speak state-wide and nationally in the area of DUI defense.  From 2012-2016, she published her book, “Defending DUI: Case Outline.” In the spring of 2022, her book launched as an app, “Georgia DUI Caselaw” and can be found for sale on both Apple and Google platforms.

 

 

 

 

Hon. Joe D. Whitley, Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP

Joe Whitley represents clients nationally and internationally in a variety of white collar matters including corporate internal investigations, regulatory enforcement, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and export controls compliance, corporate compliance, health care fraud and FDA-related matters, securities fraud, criminal antitrust, financial institution fraud, public corruption and campaign finance, and commercial bribery.

In addition to his years of private practice experience, Joe has served in several high-level roles with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). During the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, he served as Acting Associate Attorney General, the third-ranking position at Main Justice. He was also appointed by Presidents Reagan and Bush, respectively, to serve as the U.S. Attorney in the Middle (Macon) and Northern (Atlanta) Districts of Georgia. Throughout his career, Joe served under five U.S. Attorneys General and four Presidents in a number of key operational and policy positions. Earlier in his career, he served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit in Columbus, Georgia. Joe maintains strong professional relationships with the state and federal law enforcement community.

In 2003, Joe was appointed by President George W. Bush as the first General Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the highest ranking legal official at DHS. He held that position for two years working for DHS Secretaries Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff, before returning to private practice. 

Joe's white collar practice focuses on corporate defense and representation of clients in complex civil and criminal enforcement matters brought by the DOJ, other federal agencies, state Attorneys General and local prosecutors. He has represented numerous individuals and corporations in major government investigations throughout the US and internationally. 

Joe’s practice also includes representation of clients before the Antitrust Division of the DOJ together with State Attorneys General and the Federal Trade Commission. He has represented clients in criminal antitrust cases including price fixing and market allocation matters, and he has participated in compliance training programs for clients including sessions devoted to dealing with worldwide dawn raids.

He is a frequent speaker on white collar, compliance, corporate governance and DHS-related issues. 

Homeland Security Experience

  • General Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and responsible for providing legal advice to more than 180,000 employees of the Department. 
  • Responsible for directing and coordinating the creation of a single legal department from the legal departments of the 22 agencies that were combined in the formation of DHS. 
  • Responsible for supervision of a total of 1,800+ lawyers in agencies, directories, and offices, including attorneys in the following components of DHS (as configured in 2006):
    • U.S. Secret Service (USSS);
    • U.S. Coast Guard (USCG);
    • Transportation Security Administration (TSA);
    • U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS);
    • U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP);
    • Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA);
    • Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC);
    • U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE);
    • Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP); and
    • The Offices for Privacy, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
  • Responsible for a budget in excess of $10 million in the front office of General Counsel.
  • Provided legal assistance to Secretary Tom Ridge and Secretary Michael Chertoff on key legal issues, such as:
    • Worked closely with General Counsel counterparts throughout the federal government at the White House, Departments of Justice; State, Treasury, Defense and other agencies to include the coordination of counterterrorism and federal law enforcement initiatives;
    • Responsible for responding to frequent Congressional inquiries, and the timely proposal and adoption of hundreds of regulations;
    • Provided guidance and input to staff attorneys representing the department in litigation on a variety of matters; and
    • Worked closely with the Office of the Inspector General in conducting reviews of various department programs and responding to issues raised by those reviews.

Private Sector Homeland Security Experience

  • Assisted in Homeland Security consultation and internal investigations for major U.S. defense contracting company.
  • Assist companies with government procurement and contracting issues with DHS.
  • Provides counsel to major corporations on public policy and legislative issues, such as:
    • Cyber-security and critical infrastructure protection;
    • Customs and trade compliance;
    • Immigration compliance;
    • Laws and regulations affecting all segments of the transportation industry; 
    • SAFETY Act applications for certification and designation by DHS;
    • Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) implementation;
    • Vulnerability assessments for members of the energy sector to include the broad spectrum of environmental regulations.
    • Disaster recovery and forward-looking mitigation strategies;

Prosecution Experience

  • U.S. Attorney for the Northern (Atlanta) District of Georgia
  • Acting Associate Attorney General
  • Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General
  • Deputy Assistant Attorney General Criminal Division
  • U.S. Attorney for the Middle (Macon) District of Georgia
  • Assistant District Attorney Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit
Mrs. Lynsey Morris Barron, Barron Law LLC

Lynsey Barron is criminal defense attorney and principal at Barron Law LLC in Atlanta. From 2015-2019, she was an Assistant United States Attorney, prosecuting complex white-collar crimes and crimes involving public integrity and corruption. Before starting her own law practice in August 2022, she was a partner Miller & Martin, where she led the firm's white collar criminal defense practice. She was in-house counsel for United Parcel Service (UPS), where she managed compliance, investigations, data privacy, and cyber security. She began her law career in Jones Day's Atlanta office practicing white collar criminal defense and commercial litigation. 

Lynsey is also a Visiting Assistant Professor of Practice at Emory University School of Law where she teaches courses on Federal Criminal Practice, Sentencing Law and Policy, and White-Collar Crime. She clerked for Judge Beverly B. Martin on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Before becoming an attorney, Lynsey had a career in politics. She was a Legislative Assistant for a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and she also served as the Staff Director for the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues. She was a federal lobbyist for several years focusing on education, health care access, and civil rights issues.

 

Mr. Kurt Robert Erskine, Polsinelli PC

Former U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine is an experienced litigator who relies on his decades of experience with the Department of Justice to help health care providers, corporations, organizations and individuals navigate complex government investigations and high-stakes civil and criminal litigation. Kurt has successfully tried dozens of federal jury trials to verdict and handled hundreds of cases during his federal career. 

Kurt focuses his practice on internal and government investigations, white-collar defense and complex litigation with an emphasis on health care litigation and False Claims Act defense.  He represents corporations, organizations and individuals in civil and criminal lawsuits and investigations involving allegations of financial and health care fraud, public corruption, securities fraud, money laundering, the False Claims Act and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. 

With over 20 years of experience as a federal prosecutor, Kurt served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, overseeing all federal criminal prosecutions and federal government civil litigation in his district.  As the U.S. Attorney, he led a staff of over 100 criminal and civil prosecutors, a professional staff of over 130, partnered with approximately 300 law enforcement agencies, and was responsible for one of the largest districts in the United States.

During his tenure with the Department of Justice, Kurt served in a variety of leadership positions, including as the First Assistant United States Attorney, the Chief of the Public Integrity and Special Matters Section and the Health Care Fraud Coordinator.  In these roles, he prosecuted some of the most sensitive and high-profile matters in the district, including cases involving allegations of complex financial and health care fraud and kickbacks, public corruption, money laundering, controlled substance diversion, and national security. 

Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Kurt was in private practice and focused his work on health care litigation and health care compliance.

Ms. Nicole M. Kaplan, Federal Defender Program Inc

Nicole M. Kaplan, has been with the federal public defender’s office for 19 years as a trial and now appellate attorney. She is a frequent presenter at CLE programs for defense lawyers practicing in federal court.  She is a former law clerk to the Honorable Stanley F. Birch on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the Honorable C. Christopher Hagy, Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Georgia.  Ms. Kaplan obtained her juris doctor cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center and her Bachelor of Arts with honors from Goucher College. 

Mr. Richard Sterling Moultrie, Jr., US Attorneys Office

Richard is the First Assistant U.S. Attorney. Previously he served as Chief of the Violent Crime & National Security Section and as a Deputy Chief in that section.  He also acted as the office’s Human Trafficking Coordinator and a member of the Hiring Committee. Richard has extensive experience handling complex, high-profile matters in federal court, including forced labor and domestic and international sex trafficking violations, and public corruption matters. He was the recipient of the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award in 2004 and the 2010 recipient of the Director’s Award for Superior Performance by a Criminal Trial Team. He is also a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Richard earned a B.A. in History from Morehouse College in 1988 and his J.D. from the University at Austin School of Law in 1991.

Mr. Steven H. Sadow
Hon. Verda M. Colvin, Supreme Court of Georgia

Justice Verda M. Colvin was appointed to the Supreme Court on July 20, 2021, by Gov. Brian Kemp. She is the first African-American female appointed by a Republican governor to the state’s high court.
Previously, she served on the Court of Appeals, having been appointed by Gov. Kemp in April 2020. Her time as judge also includes nearly six years as a Superior Court judge in the Macon Judicial Circuit, during which she served on the Council of Accountability Court Judges.

Justice Colvin discovered her love for trial work early in her career as an Assistant Solicitor in Athens-Clarke County. From there, she went on to serve as Assistant General Counsel to Clark Atlanta University and then as Assistant District Attorney in Clayton County. Before becoming a judge, Justice Colvin was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Middle District of Georgia, where she prosecuted a wide range of offenses from drug trafficking to white collar crime.

Born and raised in Atlanta, Justice Colvin attended Daniel McLaughlin Therrell High School. She earned her bachelor’s degree in government and religion from Sweet Briar College in Virginia and her juris doctorate from the University Of Georgia School Of Law.

Judge Colvin is committed to service professionally and personally. In 2019, the Supreme Court appointed her to serve on the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC). Additionally, during her tenure as a Superior Court Judge she served on the CSCJ Bench & Bar and Legislative Committees and as a member of the Council of Accountability Court Judges (CACJ) where she was part of the Funding Committee, the Committee Chair for Accountability and Treatment Courts and a member of the CACJ Executive Committee. Justice Colvin was serving as co-chair of the Rules Committee for the Council of Superior Court Judges (CSCJ) at the time of her appointment to the Court of Appeals by Gov. Kemp.
She formerly served on Gov. Nathan Deal’s Criminal Justice Reform Committee and the Law Enforcement Task Force Committee. During her service on the Court of Appeals Justice Colvin served as a member of the Internal Operations Manual and the Continuing Judicial Education and In-house Continuing Legal Education for Staff Attorneys. She co-chaired the Strategic Planning/Court Futures Committee and was appointed to serve on the Continuing Judicial Education Board of Trustees. In her service on the Supreme Court of Georgia she currently serves as the Chair of the Access to Justice Committee.

Justice Colvin is a member of several organizations and boards: The Order of Barristers, Macon Bar Association, American Bar Association (ABA), Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys (GABWA), Georgia Association for Women Lawyers (GAWL), Gate City Bar-Judicial Section, William A. Bootle American Inn of Court, Charles Weltner Family Inn of Court, Clarence Cooper Inn of Court, Clarke-Carley Inn of Court, the Downtown Rotary Club of Macon , Board of Trustees for Mount de Sales Academy (Chair of Board in 2021), Jack and Jill of America-Macon Chapter, Board of Directors for the Fuller Center for Housing of Macon (President 2018-2021), Boys and Girls Club of Central Georgia Corporate Board of Directors, Macon Bibb Citizens Advocacy Board, Secretary (2021-Present), Co-chair of ONEMACON 2.0, Georgia Citizen Advocacy Board, Sweet-Briar College Board of Trustees, Goodwill Industries Board of Directors, Wesleyan College Board of Trustees, and Knight Foundation Advisory Board. Justice Colvin is a proud Leadership Macon 2010 graduate.

Among her numerous awards and honors are Justice Verda M. Colvin Month in honor of Women’s History Month in Macon-Bibb County (2022) by Mayor Lester Miller, Alaimo Award (2022) by Georgia Trial Lawyer Association (GTLA), The Leah Ward Sears Award for Distinction in the Profession (2021) by GABWA, The Young Lawyer Division of the State Bar of Georgia Distinguished Judicial Award (2020-21), The Honorable Debra Bernes Community Volunteer Award (2021) by GAWL, Tradition of Excellence Award as a Judge by The General Practice and Trial Section of the State Bar of Georgia (2019), Middle Georgia Association of Women Lawyers Outstanding Woman Lawyer of the Year (2019), The House of Hope-Women’s History Month Award (2019), NAACP President’s Award (2018), Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Pearls of Service Award (2017), Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Citizen of the Year (2016 and 2017), Career Women’s Network Woman of Achievement (2016), Georgia Orthodox Missionary Baptist Association Community Service Award (2015), and Leadership Macon’s Robert F. Hatcher Distinguished Alumni Award as a Community Leader.

Justice Colvin has served as an adjunct professor at Mercer School of Law and she is a member of First Baptist Church where she serves as a children’s Sunday school teacher and on the Women’s Ministry Leadership Team. She is the proud mother of two children, Weston and Taylor, and the wife of Nathaniel Walker with whom she shares two other adult children, Nathan and Nathalie.


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