(From The Idaho Business Review)

Kay Shields, executive director of the Idaho Trial Lawyers Association, has been elected president of the Idaho Society of Association Executives. The ISAE provides ideas, industry-related meetings and networking opportunities to nonprofit association executives, meeting planners and facility representatives throughout Idaho and the surrounding areas.

Elected to two-year terms were: president-elect, Marc Lebowitz, Ada County Realtors Association; secretary-treasurer, Steve Taylor, Appaloosa Horse Club; past president, Robert Vande Merwe, Idaho Health Care Association; associate director, Kathy Reagan-Larson, Coeur d’Alene; and general directors, Kristin Cundiff, Idaho Association of Counties, and Toni Pugmire, Idaho Hospital Association.

Elected to one-year terms were: associate director, Angie Hroma, Courtyard by Marriott-Boise / Meridian; and general director, Erin O’Neill, Idaho Medical Association.

For more information, contact Holly Cawley at (208) 409-6754 or visit www.idahosae.org.

BREHON LAW SOCIETY: U.S.-IRELAND LEGAL SYMPOSIUM

If you have an interest in “a professional association that fosters the profession of law among persons of Irish ancestry,” explore the Brehon Law Society. Founded in 1976 in Philadelphia, the Society has grown to over 500 members.

From May 11 to 13, the Brehon Law Society is presenting U.S.-Ireland Legal Symposium 2011 in Westport, County Mayo, Ireland. The seminar objectives are: 1) “to harness the experience and expertise of top legal professionals across the global Irish community,” 2) “to promote Ireland and the U.S. as destinations for foreign direct investment…” and 3) to network and build relationships.

Look for marketing opportunities to match your passions and interests with your profession.

Western Capital Bank recently launched its first television advertising campaign. The commercials demonstrate what has always been the Bank’s focus – our customers. Produced locally and running on local TV stations, the ads feature Zen Bento, Western Electronics and Pristine Pools and Spas.

“What you hear are customers talking in their own words why they choose to work with Western Capital Bank. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves,” said Rob Perez, President and CEO.

The ads will air through 2011 in the Treasure Valley, along with print ads in the Idaho Business Review, Idaho Statesman and Boise Chamber of Commerce newsletter.

Our sincere thanks to Rene Iwamasa, Brad Grover and T.J. Brown for their participation and kind words.

(From KTVB)

BOISE — The federal government has filed a lawsuit contending a western Idaho gun club should pay more than $420,000 in costs related to a wildfire that occurred almost two years ago.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boise filed the claim last week against the Gem County Rod and Gun Club seeking costs for suppressing the fire as well as property damages.

The Sand Hollow Fire started in August of 2009 when four individuals shooting metal targets at the Emmett shooting range sparked the blaze that burned 864 acres of federal lands.

Prosecutors said the gun club didn’t have signs posted to notify shooters of the danger of fires or what kinds of ammunition to use.

Gun Club Director Tom Neth was not aware of the lawsuit on Tuesday.

Join us Tuesday, April 26th, 2011 from 11:00AM to 12:30PM at Western Capital Bank for our complimentary teleconference presented by Cannon Financial. This month’s topic will be Allocation of Assets in Estate Planning and Fiduciary Administration. Lunch will be served and participants are eligible for the following credits (1.5):

*         Legal (CLE)

*         CTFA

*         CFP

*         CPA/EA

Please RSVP to Tara Penland via telephone at 208.332.0714 or via email at tara.penland@westerncapitalbank.com<mailto:tara.penland@westerncapitalbank.com> and feel free to forward to any additional contacts that might be interested in attending.

Thank You and we look forward to seeing you there!

From the Idaho Business Review

Brian Aune has joined the law firm of Hawley Troxell as an associate attorney. Aune relocated from Honolulu to join the firm’s corporate and finance departments, focusing on corporate governance issues.

Aune graduated with a law degree from Harvard Law School in 2010. During his time at Harvard, he was president of the student body in his third year, recipient of the Dean’s Award for Community Leadership, and participated in the Harvard Mediation Program and Program on Negotiation. Aune also mediated multiple cases in small claims courts of Massachusetts. In addition, he was editor of Harvard Law and Policy Review and a member of the staff for the Harvard Journal on Legislation.

During law school, Aune was a summer associate with Sheppard, Mullin, Richter, & Hampton and participated in a two-week trial advocacy program. Prior to college, he worked in management, managing small and retail businesses with over $8 million in annual sales.

by Tim Baran of Lawyerist.com

You’ve decided to put on a webinar, offer an online course or plan a national conference. Lawyers are already asking how many continuing legal education (CLE) credits they’ll earn and now you’re about to dive into the CLE accreditation morass.

But is your program even eligible for accreditation? This checklist of sorts has evolved from a Top-5 to a Top-10 after conducting an informal survey of my CLE colleagues on the MCLE Facebook Page and the old Listserv and receiving over 20 meaningful responses.

(To read the rest of this article click here.)

COLUMBUS BAR ASSOCIATION: CLE EASY PASS

For the third year, the Columbus (Ohio) Bar Association is offering a CLE Easy Pass with a 2011-2012 membership. The Easy Pass is an option for new or returning members to purchase 12 hours of CLE for $100 (excluding online and institute CLE) and may be used between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2012.

Examples of eligible CLEs this year include Advising the Advisor: Key Planning Issues for Executives and Small Business Owners; New Lawyer Training: Core Components of Divorce; The CSI Myth: Forensic Flaws, Frauds and Wrongful Convictions; and Ethics, Professionalism, Substance Abuse.

For those joining now, the Columbus Bar Association also is giving three months of free membership. How useful would these ideas be for one of your bar associations?

(To contact Merilee directly click here.)

(By Judy Battista of The New York Times)

Last week, during a lecture at the Yeshiva University Cardozo School of Law, David Boies was reviewing the case he helped argue against California’s Proposition 8 in that landmark same-sex marriage trial when he paused for a moment to compose himself. Earlier in the evening, Boies had called the fight for equal rights for gays the next step in moving closer to the ideals of the country’s founding fathers. As he recalled asking the four plaintiffs in the case why they wanted to marry, he was briefly overcome by what he remembered as the pain and despair in their responses.

“The ‘we’ of our society has expanded,” Boies said that night. “We’re now at the point where essentially the only group outside the circle of ‘we’ is gays and lesbians.”

Nothing that emerges from the antitrust case N.F.L. players have brought against the league will approach the emotional or historical resonance of the Proposition 8 issue. But the N.F.L. hired Boies for the same reason that he is involved in that case; in Oracle’s copyright-infringement lawsuit against SAP; in Jamie McCourt’s divorce from Frank McCourt, which is tangled up with the fate of the Los Angeles Dodgers; among the six trials he had last year.

(Read the rest of the article here)

(From KTVB)

BOISE — Senators approved a $100,000 payment to the Republican Party after the state lost a federal court case that threw out Idaho’s 38-year-old open primary law.

Republicans long sought to close primary elections only to party faithful to thwart crossover voting they contend has skewed the outcomes.

In March, they finally won in court, prompting the Idaho Legislature to pass a law restricting primary elections to only registered party members.

Democrats — and three Republicans — objected to the settlement.

Sen. Elliot Werk of Boise put it like this: A Republican Legislature approving payments to the Republican Party for a lawsuit against the Republican secretary of state was “so bad, it’s comical.”

Sen. Mitch Toryanski of Boise said federal law lets plaintiffs in civil rights cases like this recover legal fees.