CLE: Hot Topics by Deans Rapoport, Pindell, and Tovino

This program is approved for 2 CLE credits including 0.5 ethics credit.

The HIPAA Privacy Rule and Business Associates: Review and Update (.5 ethics credits) - Stacey Tovino, Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Research and Lincy Professor of Law

This presentation will provide a review and update of the confidentiality obligations of business associates, including outside health care counsel, under the federal HIPAA Privacy Rule, as directed to be amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and its proposed and interim final implementing regulations, as well as state rules of professional conduct.  Topics to be addressed include:  Direct duties of confidentiality; indirect (contractual) duties of confidentiality; business associate agreements; subcontractors as business associates; state attorney general enforcement actions against business associates; civil and criminal penalties; and regulatory updates.   

The Ten Commandments:  Avoiding Judicial Wrath for Practitioners - Nancy Rapoport, Interim Dean and Gordon Silver Professor of Law

Many practitioners lack even basic social skills, let alone lawyering skills.   This presentation will provide a primer in Litigation Behavior 101.  Attendees will learn valuable tips on how to behave in front of judges.  

The Power of Eminent Domain to Address the Local Mortgage Crisis - Ngai Pindell, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law

The effect of the collapse of the housing bubble on state and local governments has been well documented and analyzed in recent scholarship. Cities have struggled with plummeting property tax revenues, vacant and abandoned housing, and a general economic malaise affecting thousands of borrowers living in houses worth less than the underlying mortgages. These extreme economic and social conditions have contributed to a robust debate about the propriety of homeowners walking away from mortgages that no longer make economic sense to maintain.

This presentation focuses on a recent proposal to use the power of eminent domain to address the mortgage crisis at the local level. Under this proposal, cities condemn targeted, performing loans held in securitized bundles. This is a national conversation, but the presentation will focus on its potential application to Nevada. This conversation raises policy issues regarding the appropriate role of cities in protecting the welfare of their communities, the propriety of local versus federal action, and the scope of “property” that should be subject to eminent domain. The conversation also raises important legal issues, including whether this use of eminent domain satisfies the public use requirement of the state and national Constitutions and whether it violates the Contracts Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Agenda