The recipient of the 2020 Champion of State Criminal Justice Reform Award is Phil Cherner. In his primary practice of criminal defense, Phil tirelessly advocated for the repeal of the death penalty by serving as lead counsel on a death penalty post-conviction case and being a part of several other trial teams. In addition to defending his accused clients, he worked with the families of victims who were opposed to the death penalty by keeping them involved in legislative hearings and offering support throughout the emotional process. He joined the board of Coloradans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CADP) in 2010 where he helped bring a broad coalition of advocates together to work toward the repeal of the death penalty. Once Phil Cherner retired from the Denver office of Vicente Sederberg, LLC in 2017, he committed most of his time to chairing the board of CADP. In March of this year, Colorado became the 22nd state, in addition to the District of Columbia, to abolish or overturn the death penalty.
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Alcohol, Blackouts and Consent in Sex Cases
This comprehensive training program provides defense attorneys with a rigorous, science-backed approach to dismantling prosecutorial narratives, exposing unreliable testimony, and ensuring that juries are properly educated on the complexities of memory, intoxication, and consent. You'll explores critical mistakes and misconceptions encountered in these cases, including errors in memory reconstruction after an event, incorrect inferences, cognitive schemas, suggestibility, contamination and misinformation, mistakes of fact and more.
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Overcoming the Presumption of Guilt and Defining Reasonable Doubt
Reasonable Doubt, what is it?
In order to win criminal cases, the defense practitioner must object to a reasonable doubt standard that lowers the burden of guilt. This program will discuss proven methods to argue and define reasonable doubt persuasively to a jury. You’ll learn how define reasonable doubt using metaphors and hypothetical scenarios that force juries to dispute the evidence, conflicts in the evidence, or even lack of evidence in your case.
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The DIY of DNA: Exoneration Through DNA Evidence
This presentation might be the first time you’re truly able to truly grasp the fundamentals of DNA evidence. This critical presentation blends real-world storytelling with clear, practical instruction—making DNA evidence finally feel accessible, even to non-scientists—while inspiring attorneys to dig deeper, ask smarter questions, and approach forensic science with newfound confidence. You’ll learn how to identify and interpret electropherograms, understand autosomal vs. Y-STR testing, and recognize the limits of DNA evidence—particularly when it involves partial or mixed samples.
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AI Rising: Integrating & Fighting the Use of Artificial Intelligence
This unique online training will discuss hot topics in AI, including how you might integrate these tools into your practice, use them ethically, and, how you might attack law enforcement’s use of AI tools to ensnare your clients. You'll also uncover e-discovery and combing through terabytes of data all the way to using ChatGPT to test cross-examination questions. These tools can generate content and reach conclusions.
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A Defender's Guide to Federal Evidence - 2nd Edition
This brand-new 2nd Edition 2024 Guide to Federal Evidence is the only federal evidence handbook written exclusively for criminal defense lawyers. The updated 2024 Guide analyzes each Federal Rule of Evidence and outlines the main evidentiary issues that confront criminal defense lawyers. It also summarizes countless defense favorable cases and provides tips on how to avoid common evidentiary pitfalls. The 2nd Edition Guide contains multiple new and updated user-friendly flowcharts aimed at helping the criminal defense lawyer tackle evidence problems.
