Selected Topics and Miscellany CLE

7:30 a.m. — Registration; Coffee and donuts will be provided.

8:00 a.m. — Kansas Legislative and Case Law Update: Recent Developments in Kansas Tax, Agricultural, and Business Law

• Roger McEowen, Professor of Agricultural Law and Taxation, Washburn Law
• This presentation provides a focused update on significant recent developments in Kansas law, including newly enacted legislation from the current Kansas legislative session and important recent state and federal court decisions affecting Kansas practitioners. Particular attention will be given to Kansas tax legislation, agricultural and rural landowner issues, business and property law developments, and notable rulings from Kansas appellate courts and the federal courts. Attendees will receive practical insight into emerging legal trends and the potential impact of recent legislative and judicial activity on advising clients, structuring transactions, and managing litigation risk in Kansas.

8:50 a.m. — Break

9:00 a.m. — Back-to-School: Landlord-Tenant 101

• Michelle Ewert, Sheila Reynolds Chair, Director of the Washburn Law Clinic, Washburn Law
• This “train the trainer” CLE will cover the basics of landlord-tenant law, including leases, security deposits, rights and responsibilities during tenancy, fair housing law, and eviction procedure. The statutes discussed will include the Kansas Landlord & Tenant Act and the federal Fair Housing Act. The training will be in the format of a Jeopardy game, and afterwards participants will be prepared to lead similar “know your rights” trainings at high schools around Kansas to provide students the legal information needed to navigate their first leases. This CLE is based on a training that the Education/Outreach Working Group of the Kansas Supreme Court’s Ad Hoc Committee on Best Practices for Eviction Proceedings has developed.

9:50 a.m. — Break

10:00 a.m. — Transitioning Bar Exams: Legacy, Nextgen, and Attorney Admissions

• Andrew Stewart, Visiting Professor of Law and Assistant Director of Academic Enrichment and Bar Readiness, Washburn Law
• This presentation explores the changes in the bar exam, and what the transition period will look like as we move between the Legacy Uniform Bar Exam and the NextGen Uniform Bar Exam. Attendees will see comparative questions between bar exams, discover the changing scope of the bar exam, uncover the reasoning behind the changes, and understand how score portability will impact new attorneys. We will also explore elements of the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam in order to provide the full scope of examinations that guide attorney admissions in Kansas as well as nationwide.

10:50 a.m. — Break

11:00 a.m. — Choose Your Own Ethics Adventure – The Case of the Golfcart Collision Mishap (1.0-hour Ethics)

• Heather Cessna, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Washburn Law
• This session offers practical, time-conscious strategies to strengthen motion writing without adding to your workload. Designed for busy practitioners, it focuses on creating clear organization, concise argument, and persuasive framing that captures the court’s attention. Participants will learn techniques to sharpen issue statements, improve readability, and effectively incorporate facts and law to support their theory of the case and effectively tell their client’s story. The session also highlights common pitfalls of busy practitioners and provides tools to make writing more efficient, impactful, and tailored for real-world practice.

11:50 a.m. — Lunch Break [1]

1:00 p.m. — Recent Developments in United States Supreme Court Cases (Part One)

• Jeffrey Jackson, James M. Concannon Dean and Professor of Law, Washburn Law
• This session will walk through all of the decisions of the United States Supreme Court over the past year. The presenter will bring his insight into trends and approaches the Court has been taking to the myriad issues that they are choosing (and choosing not) to hear. A focus will be on the rules that are coming out that are consistent and that are changing in these cases.

1:50 p.m. — Break

2:00 p.m. — Recent Developments in United State Supreme Court Cases (Part Two)

• Jeffrey Jackson, James M. Concannon Dean and Professor of Law, Washburn Law
• A continuation of the previous session to finish covering all of the Supreme Court cases of the past year.

2:50 p.m. — Break

3:00 p.m. — Water Law Update

• Burke Griggs, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law, Washburn Law
• This presentation will survey the most important developments in federal and state water law over the past several years. At the federal level, it will explain the Supreme Court's 2023 Sackett decision, which dramatically reduced the jurisdictional scope of the Clean Water Act, and how states are responding. It will then survey recent developments in interstate water litigation across the Rio Grande, South Platte, and Colorado River Basins. At the state level, it will provide updates on Kansas Groundwater Management Districts, the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, and state-law water litigation.

3:50 p.m. — Adjourn

 

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[1] Glory Days Pizza will be available at the Law School. Additionally, the newly opened Ichabod Grille is across the street. 

7:30 a.m. — Registration; Coffee and donuts will be provided.

8:00 a.m. — The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA): What Rural and General Practitioners Need to Know

• Roger McEowen, professor of Agricultural Law and Taxation, Washburn Law
• This fast-paced session examines the most significant provisions of the recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and their practical implications for attorneys representing individuals, farm and ranch families, closely held businesses, rural landowners, and general business clients. The presentation will focus on key federal tax provisions affecting income tax planning, estate and succession planning, business structuring, depreciation and expensing rules, pass-through entities, and individual taxpayers. Additional discussion will address provisions impacting agricultural producers, rural businesses, and real estate owners, along with selected non-tax provisions likely to affect client counseling and long-term planning strategies. Attendees will receive a practical overview of the provisions most likely to generate planning opportunities, compliance concerns, and client questions in the months ahead.

8:50 a.m. — Break

9:00 a.m. — Criminal Law Update

• Randall Hodgkinson, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Washburn Law
• This session will cover recent updates in criminal law in Kansas and seeks to give the practitioner who may not regularly deal with criminal cases exposure to those cases and procedures that may have changed in recent years. Participants will walk away with knowledge that may help them refer cases and understand the current status of criminal law practice as they may be asked for general advice.

9:50 a.m. — Break

10:00 a.m. — The AI Copyright Wars 

• Patricia Judd, Kurt M. Sager Memorial Distinguished Professor of International and Commercial Law and Director of the Intellectual Property Law Center, Washburn Law
• This session focuses on the dual copyright battles in the generative AI space. First, the session gives an overview of recent Copyright Office pronouncements and judicial opinions on the copyrightability of materials generated with the help of AI tools. Second, the session provides an overview of the ongoing quest for answers about the implications of using copyrighted materials in training AI models. The discussion covers the practical impediments to answering questions about both copyrightability and infringement, as well as recent legal updates in the attempts to set standards for AI models as generators, manipulators, and consumers of copyrighted works.

10:50 a.m. — Break

11:00 a.m. — Ethical Issues for Attorneys Serving on Non-Profit Boards (1.0 Ethics Credit)

• Shawn Leisinger, Professor of Law, Externship Director and Associate Dean for Centers and External Programs, Washburn Law
• This CLE session will take a look at the ethical issues that should be initially contemplated before joining a non-profit board and those issues that arise with non-profit board service for attorneys. The session will involve some hypothetical board issues and problems followed by discussion and application of the relevant rules. Contemplations of who is the client, conflicts and even confidentiality become much more complex in these settings and participants will work though those concerns and, more hopefully, leaving with a desire to serve and an ability to take proactive steps to avoid ethical issues while doing so.

11:50 a.m. — Break

12:00 p.m. — Hallucinations and Beyond: Unpacking the Ethical Challenges of Generative AI (1.0 Ethics Credit)

• Alice Walker, Deputy Disciplinary Administrator Office of the Disciplinary Administrator
• Generative AI is transforming legal practice, but its use raises complex ethical challenges that extend far beyond hallucinated case law. From safeguarding client confidentiality and ensuring candor toward the tribunal, to supervising staff use of AI, billing fairly, and avoiding bias, attorneys must navigate evolving risks with care. This presentation uses real cases and interactive hypotheticals to explore how competence, supervision, candor, and intent intersect with generative AI in law.

12:50 p.m. — Adjourn