Seminars

26th Annual Aggressive Defense of the Accused Impaired Driver Seminar

May 3-4, 2013

Marriott Tucson University Park Hotel

Click here for seminar materials download instructions.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Hotel Information

Marriott Tucson University Park Hotel

Situated at the main gate of The University of Arizona, the Tucson Marriott University Park is the ideal hotel if you're staying in Tucson for business or pleasure. Just steps from the front door is Tucson's most vibrant social and cultural neighborhood: over 30 restaurants, shopping, touring Broadway shows, and four museums.

Group Rate: $119 available until April 9 or until block of rooms sold out!!

Reservations: 888 236 2427                                       

Address: 880 East Second Street · Tucson, AZ 85719

Registration Information

Cancellation policy: full refund, minus $25 fee, until Thursday, April 25. No refunds after April 25.

Included in registration: Seminar Materials, Continental Breakfasts, Refreshments, Cash Bar Reception. Laptop power strips will be provided in meeting room. Free wi-fi is available in hotel lobby but not in meeting room.

Total CLE hours: 10.25, which includes 1 hour of Professional Responsibility.

Speakers

STEPHEN PAUL BARNARD is a graduate of the University of Arizona Law School. He limits his practice to the defense of vehicular crimes with emphasis on DUI. He has tried over 800 jury trials involving Driving Under the Influence of alcohol or drugs (as a defense attorney), including second degree murder by vehicle. A former prosecutor, he is a member of NDAA (it pays to know the enemy!), National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, National College DUI Defense, ATLA, and ABA. He has been on the Board of Governors for Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice and headed the DUI committee. An AV preeminent rated lawyer, he was chief counsel on 28 published, precedent-setting DUI cases in Arizona. These cases helped establish the right to counsel prior to taking a chemical test; the right to strike judges in lower courts; and the enforcement of the right to obtain independent evidence in DUI cases. Stephen has been at the forefront of several monumental challenges to the use of pseudo-scientific evidence in DUI cases. From the use of blood testing without regulation, State v Cammack, to the RBT IV challenges, State v. Sanchez. He has participated on the faculty of seminars for The National College of DUI Defense, the State Bar of Arizona, Oregon Trial Lawyers Association, Arizona Public Defender Association, Pima County Bar Association, Arizona State University, Maricopa County Public Defenders Office, Maricopa County Bar Association, the 2nd and 3rd DUI Judicial Conferences, The Arizona Defense Bar (Civil) and is the co-founder of the AACJ Aggressive Defense seminar.

MICHAEL J. BLOOM  is a graduate of the University of Illinois (1970) and Loyola University School of Law (1976). He was a Pima County Public Defender from1977 until 1983 and has been in private practice with emphasis on litigation and criminal defense since 1983.  Mr. Bloom's practice includes DUI and vehicular offenses.  Mr. Bloom has handled numerous high profile vehicular homicide offenses
in southern Arizona.  (State v. Marissa Rodriguez; State v. John Rosengren).  In 1994, Mr. Bloom was the Trial Lawyer of the Year for the American Trial Lawyers for Public Justice as a result of his work in uncovering the acknowledged policy of the Tucson Police Department to interrogate suspects in violation of their request for counsel.  See, Cooper v. Dupnik, 963 F.2d 1220 (9th Cir. 1992).  Mr. Bloom has participated in numerous challenges to the manner in which DUI's are investigated in Arizona, including the challenge to the RBT, resulting in the invalidation of 14,000 breath test results. See also, State v. Fields, 196 Ariz. 580, 2 P.3d 670 (Div. 2 1999). He has participated on the faculty for the 3rd and 4th DUI Judicial Conferences, seminars for The State Bar, Pima County Bar, Arizona State Alumni Association
and AACJ. He is a former AACJ Board of Governors member and co-founder of the AACJ Aggressive Defense Seminar. Last, but not least, Mike Bloom is a former beer vendor at Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park where he personally sold over 22,000 bottles of beer.

CAROLINE AEED is a criminal defense attorney in Phoenix specializing in DUI and alcohol related offenses. Ms. Aeed is a third generation native Arizonan and the second DUI lawyer in her family. Prior to starting her own law firm, the Law Office of Caroline Aeed in 2004, she was a trial attorney with the Maricopa County Public Defender's Office. Ms Aeed is a 1996 graduate from Arizona State University with a B.A in Political Science and a law degree from the University of Wyoming in 2000. Ms. Aeed attributes her firm's success to remaining a small practice based primarily on referrals. By keeping it small she is able to connect with each client individually. Her expertise stems from studying patterns of errors in the various crime labs, focusing on the individual criminalist's pattern of lab errors and errors in officer phlebotomy. The art of simplifying forensic alcohol evidennce to the jury continues to contribute to Ms. Aeed's successful practice. She is married to Mark Southam and they have a 7 year old daughter, Marlo.

MIMI COFFEY (Special Guest ) is a trial attorney with 17 years experience. She is the founder of The Coffey Firm, with law offices in Dallas, Tarrant and Collin counties. She is board-certified in DWI by the National College of DUI Defense (NCDD) and has been the Texas delegate for the NCDD for several years. She has also appeared numerous times as a legal commentator for CNN, National Fox News, as well as local Dallas/Fort Worth stations on DWI-related stories. She is also a frequent speaker at both national and state-wide seminars. She is a prolific trial attorney with a proven trial record. She has tried over 300 cases, with 80% of them being jury trials in her 17-year career. Her success include everything from .21 breath tests, blood tests to 3 car accident cases just to name a few. Mimi's cases have also made good case law for the State of Texas. For example, in Tarvin v. State, it was found that weaving within your own lane was not a traffic violation. In Lajoie v. State, the courts determined that the defendant's request to have his attorney must be suppressed as opposed to used as evidence of guilt. She is the author of Texas DWI Defense: The Law and Practice. She is also the author of three nationally published articles and four state-wide articles. Mimi has twice attended Indiana University's Borkenstein Course for state toxicologists both on alcohol and drugs. She has also completed the NHTSA SFST Course, SFST Instructor Course and the 12-Step DRE Mini-Course Program. She is also one of the first attorneys in the United States to attend the Axion Labs Gas Chromatography Training. Her minor in college was Geology lending her a comprehensive and disciplined scientific mind when it comes to scientific and mathematical issues such as blood and breath testing. Mimi has won the President's Heart of a Champion Award presented by the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (TCDLA) numerous times. Mimi also led the effort to get the State Bar of Texas' Board of Legal Specialization to recognize the NCDD's DWI Certification Mimi has been active over the past 4 legislative sessions in fighting against bad DWI laws. Her efforts prevented the breath/blood test refusal as being a separate crime. She has advocated for true deferred adjudication for DWI. Mimi also sued a Dalworthington Gardens police officer for illegally drawing blood. Since her lawsuit, the 2nd Court of Appeals ruled against police officers drawing blood. (The Court of Criminal Appeals overturned this). Mimi also sued the Texas Department of Public Safety for its double jeopardy surcharge program. Since the initiation of her suit, Texas DPS has instituted amnesty programs based on one's earning potential.

MARK D. DUBIEL was born in Arizona and raised in the Valley, developing his ties with the Valley community. Mark attended the University of Arizona graduating cum laude, majoring in Political Science and minoring in Economics. Mark attended the Rogers School of Law at the University of Arizona, graduating in 1995. Mark was an extern for the Honorable J. Carruth and an intern with the U.S.Attorney's Office. Mark worked as a law clerk for the Honorable Cheryl Hendrix, dealing primarily with criminal cases. Mark then worked for the Maricopa County Public Defender's Office where he represented thousands of defendants in cases ranging from misdemeanor DUI to homicide. Each case provided Mark with invaluable courtroom experience, such as jury trial skills and strategies as well as
exposure to the "canned" procedures used by the State in its predictably choreographed prosecutions. For the past 9 years, Mark has successfully defended hundreds of DUI cases in Justice, Municipal and Superior Courts. Mark's diverse group of clients have included professional athletes, prominent
members of the community, and high-profile cases. Mark is an Adjunct Professor  for the Phoenix School of Law in their "Trial Advocacy" section. Mark has actively participated in Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the National College for DUI Defense.

CINDY GAGE has worked for the Arizona Department of Transportation-Motor Vehicle Division for the past 32 years. She has worked in the data entry unit, the Driver License offices administering the written, vision and road tests, has been a Driver Improvement Investigator, provided court testimony and attended administrative hearings on behalf of the Division. Cindy manages a staff of 27 employees in the Driver Services unit which includes the Driver Improvement Investigators, Ignition Interlock Unit and the Technical support unit providing assistance to the Courts, law enforcement, and ignition interlock community. She is responsible for the Arizona National Driver Register (Problem Driver pointer system) help desk and the Arizona Commercial Driver License Information system help desk. Cindy has been involved with analyzing, advising, reviewing, testing and implementing Driver license legislation.

CLIFFORD GIRARD is a sole practitioner who was admitted to practice law in the Arizona in 1969. A graduate of the University of Arizona School of Law, he began his legal career working for Community Legal Services (a.k.a.Legal Aid) in 1970. In 1971 he and others brought a civil rights lawsuit against the Governor of Arizona for vetoing legal aid funding for indigent clients in federal court; the veto was never re-imposed. Clifford was subsequently involved in several issues that resulted in the protection of the general public from deviates in power. Clifford soon adjusted his professional practice to criminal defense, specifically to include the defense of those accused of DUI related offenses, and primarily involving the technical side of BAC analysis. He was granted a contract with the newly formed CAA office in Phoenix Municipal Court, discovering with attorney Chris McBride and criminalist Chester Flaxmayer, that a breath alcohol testing device used by the Phoenix Crime Lab had been rewired and rebuilt using an aquarium pump, and eliminating the manufacturer's surge protector. He later discovered that the Intoxilyzer 5000s then being used by the same crime lab in conjunction with a data bank called ADAMS, was programmed so that failed, flawed, out of tolerance calibration tests which in the exclusive opinion of the labs (DPS and Phoenix) allegedly did not accurately reflect the working condition of the instrument, were being "deleted" in a back file and not disclosed to defense attorneys nor the courts. That discovery resulted in a court of appeals decision in State v. Meza, 2003 Ariz. 50, 50 P.3d 407 (App. 2002) which upheld the suppression of the BrAC readings in that case. This discovery also lead to a consolidation of DUI cases in Phoenix City Court called State v. Hentges that ultimately resulted in the dismissal of approximately 1500 DUI cases and the suppression of BrAC readings in another approximate 1500 with co-counsel Chris McBride and other lead counsel with the CAA office. Following an evidentiary hearing on the attorney fees for Clifford in Meza, the Court ordered that both MCAO and the Phoenix Police Crime Lab pay to Clifford a proportionate share of his attorney fee award, which also resulted in an article about the claim in the Arizona State University Law Journal entitled, "Discovery Violations Prompt Court to Order State to Pay Attorneys' Fees for Defense. The criminal charges against Mr. Meza were also dismissed with prejudice. Clifford is currently involved in consolidated litigation in Maricopa County Superior Court with co-counsel Joe St. Louis, Lawrence Koplow, Mark DuBiel, Lisa Posada, and Mary Brink of the Public Defender's Office challenging a gas chromatograph owned and operated by the Scottsdale Crime Lab as not being scientifically reliable and that the policies and practices of the crime lab that implement the use of that device as also not being scientifically reliable under Daubert. The litigation involves felony DUI cases with MCAO as the prosecutor. Whichever side wins, it is expected to result in the filing of a Petition for Special Action to the Court of Appeals to attempt to resolve the issues.

MICHAEL A. HARWIN. Michael's practice focuses on representing professionals, their businesses and families. An AV ® rated litigator (Martindale-Hubbell) and former prosecutor, Michael has been named one of the Best Lawyers in the U.S. for both criminal and immigration law. Having been rated superb 10/10 by rating agencies such as AVVO, Michael has been listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Attorneys. He has been named to Southwest Superlawyers, picked by Tucson Lifestyle Magazine as one of Tucson's top lawyers, and awarded a fellowship at the The Litigation Counsel of America. Michael graduated summa cum laude from University of Arizona College of Law in 1993, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif, and served on the editorial board of the Arizona Law Review. Michael also served as a Phoenix Assistant City Prosecutor 1995-1997 where he completed 56 jury trials. For the past 10 years he has maintained his litigation practice in Tucson where he resides with his wife and three children.

LAWRENCE KOPLOW. Lawrence has been practicing law in Arizona since 1999. A New York native, after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin he returned to New York for law school. During law school, he externed on Wall Street, at the New York Stock Exchange Office of General Counsel. After law school, he clerked at the Arizona Attorney General's Office, Department of Corrections Unit. He later joined the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and eventually entered their Vehicular Crimes Unit. He
handled cases ranging from Aggravated DUI to Vehicular Assault to Vehicular Manslaughter. In the Koplow Law Firm, he almost exclusively practices DUI and vehicular crimes defense. Lawrence performs a significant amount of pro bono work every year. He frequently accepts mentoring requests from colleagues. He is also an avid fly fisherman and absolutely terrible at it.

GARY KULA is the Executive Director of the Phoenix Public Defender Contract Program. He attended the University of Kentucky and Arizona State University as an undergraduate and received his law degree from the Northern Illinois University College of Law in 1985.  He practiced in Illinois for four years and was sworn into the Arizona Bar in 1989.  He served as a Trial Attorney and Extern Supervisor for 5 years with the Maricopa County Public Defender's Office before opening his own DUI defense solo practice in 1994.  He closed up shop to serve as the Assistant Director of the Phoenix Public Defender Contract Administration Office for one year before becoming Director of the program in 1997.

MARVIN E. SCHECHTER: (Special Guest ) has been a criminal defense attorney for 39 years based in New York City. His diverse caseload has included every conceivable (and some inconceivable) crimes from parking tickets to murder. He has represented homeless persons to corporate officials. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and currently serves on the Bylaws Committee, Audit Committee and the Task Force on Familial DNA Searching. He is the Chairperson of the New York State Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section Executive Committee for 2011-2013 (NYSBA CJS). He co-authored "Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward," issued by the National Research Council and is a member of the New York State Commission on Forensic Science. Mr. Schechter was a co-chair of the NACDL's Problem-Solving Courts Task Force which issued a report entitled "America's Problem Solving Courts: The Criminal Costs of Treatment and the Case for Reform." Since February, 2009, Mr. Schechter has crisscrossed the United States conducting over seventy-five (75) lectures on forensic discipline problems, including recent speeches addressing the problems of disingenuous forensic technician testimony at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Annual Meeting and an analysis of the Frye test's "relevant scientific community" standard before the New York State Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section Annual Evidence Seminar. He was the Attorney-in-Charge at the New York City Legal Aid Society's Criminal Division, Kings County from 1992 - 1994. He has been an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School, has conducted training for the NYS Office of Court Administration and the Attorneys for Children Programs of the NYS Appellate Division (3d Dept.). Recently he spearheaded a successful effort with his colleagues on the NYSBA Criminal Justice Section in obtaining passage by the House of Delegates of a resolution calling for the sealing of misdemeanor and felony convictions to aid persons in re-entering society by obtaining employment and other opportunities often denied to those with criminal records. Mr. Schechter is now working on two projects both affecting New York State legal practices: Brady reforms and setting new standards for changes in eyewitness identification using sequential photo and lineup procedures. Mr. Schechter counts among his non-legal accomplishments being a balloon handler in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and completing a nine and one-half hour hike up a steep mountain in Patagonia, Chile.

LYNDA SHELY opened The Shely Firm, PC in 2003 after serving as the State Bar of Arizona's Director of Lawyer Ethics for ten years. Lynda provides exclusively professional responsibility advice and representation. As the Director of Ethics Lynda answered approximately 8000 ethics calls each year and drafted dozens of written ethics advisory opinions. She supervised the unauthorized practice of law counsel, the Fee Arbitration Program, Peer Review Committee, and served as staff counsel to the Client Protection Fund and Ethics Committee. In 1987, Linda worked as an intellectual property associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Washington, D.C. Lynda is a frequent speaker around the country on ethics, risk management, professional liability, billing, unauthorized practice of law, legal marketing, and professionalism topics. As a member of the State Bar of Arizona's Ethical Rules Review Group and Multijurisdictional Task Force, Lynda helped with the drafting of both the 2003 extensive amendments to the Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct as well as the amendments to Ethical Rule 5.5 to permit temporary practice in Arizona by out-of-state lawyers. She is the Chair of the State Bar's Unauthorized Practice of Law Advisory Committee, and serves on the State Bar's Professionalism Task Force and Convention Committee. She is an adjunct professor at Phoenix School of Law, teaching Professional Responsibility and Law Office Management. Lynda is a member of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, a current director and the past president of the Scottsdale Bar Association, and
a past member of ABA Standing Committee on Professionalism, the ABA Professional Responsibility Conference Planning Committee and the Standing Committee on Client Protection and other ABA Committees. Lynda was selected as the State Bar of Arizona 2007 Member of the Year.

BRIAN DOUGLAS SLOAN Mr. Sloan graduated from Pepperdine University School of Law in 2 ½ years with a Juris Doctorate Degree and a Certificate in Dispute Resolution. Upon passing the Arizona State Bar, Mr. Sloan worked for the Maricopa County Public Defender Office for approximately six years before transferring into Private Practice. Mr. Sloan has focused on DUI and Vehicular-Related Offenses for his entire legal career, representing 1,500+ Defendants, and arguing more than 65 DUI and Aggravated DUI jury trials. Mr. Sloan is also the author of the Guide to All DUI Sentencing Chart, Guide to Work Furlough, Guide to Interstate Compact, Guide to Pre-Sentence Incarceration Credit, and Guide to Out-of-State Prior Felony Allegeability. Mr. Sloan has also created www.MCDUI.com - Your Primary Information Source for DUI Charges in Maricopa County, Arizona, which is an informational website for Defense Lawyers and the public at large.
 

JOSEPH P. ST. LOUIS handles all types of criminal cases - literally everything from misdemeanors to death penalty cases - with an emphasis in DUI defense, including DUI homicides. Mr. St. Louis is Board Certified in DUI Defense Law by the National College of DUI Defense, and Certified as a Specialist in Criminal Law by the State Bar of Arizona. He has an AV-Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell (5.0 out of 5.0), and was chosen to be included in the Best Lawyers in America. Mr. St. Louis has also been chosen as one of the best lawyers in Arizona by Superlawyers magazine, and as one of the best lawyers in Tucson in both DUI defense and Criminal Defense by Tucson Lifestyles magazine. He is a partner in Nesci & St. Louis, named as one of the best law firms in the United States by U.S. News & World Report. Mr. St. Louis's practice includes a heavy emphasis on challenging laboratory test results. His work has lead directly to the Tucson Police Crime Laboratory changing the manner in which it conducts blood alcohol tests, and most recently to the Pima County Attorney's Office changing the manner in which it conducts Grand Jury presentations in felony DUI cases. Mr. St. Louis is the co-chair of Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice's Annual Aggressive Defense of the Accused Impaired Driver Seminar. He served as
president of that organization in 2006, and served as a Justice of the Peace Pro Temp in the Pima County Justice Court in 2003, at the request of the presiding judge. In 2004, he obtained life sentences in two death penalty cases tried to juries, including Pima County's first case in which a jury decided both guilt and penalty phases. He has successfully argued that his clients should be granted directed verdicts of
acquittal in two other first degree murder cases. He has persuaded the Arizona Supreme Court to strike down a portion of a statute, and to adopt a jury instruction he helped write. Mr. St. Louis has also served as a commentator for TRU TV (formerly Court TV) on Arizona court procedure.