Oakland – The California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI) has scheduled a one-day case law seminar in May in both San Francisco and Long Beach. The program will examine how recent trends in decisional law are reshaping California workers’ compensation and discuss appropriate negotiation and defense strategies for claims personnel, attorneys, hearing reps, and others with negotiating authority.

This is the 19th year that CWCI has conducted the case law seminar, and Institute General Counsel Ellen Sims Langille is overseeing development of the program and will serve as the moderator. Ms. Langille notes, “The seminar will provide an update on recent rulings and identify issues related to recent statutory and regulatory changes, examine old case law to see what still applies and what does not, and offer workers’ comp claims professionals a fresh look at the impact of case law.”

The faculty for the program includes attorneys Michael Marks and Saul Allweiss of the Offices of Allweiss & McMurtry, and Richard Jacobsmeyer of Shaw, Jacobsmeyer, Crain, & Claffey, all of whom have both applicant and defense experience. As in the past, the seminar will utilize a debate-style format to present alternate views on recent decisions and insights into what they mean for those trying to deliver benefits or defend claims. Ms. Langille notes CWCI also will introduce several new features to the 2017 program. “This year we decided to mix it up a bit by including a full audio-visual presentation to provide important case details, factual backgrounds, and other highlights for every case on the agenda; and to make the program more interactive, we’ll take questions as the information is presented rather than in a Q&A session at the end.” In addition, instead of handing out manuals at the seminar, a week prior to the session registrants will be sent a link to an electronic version of all of the course materials so they can download them to a laptop or print them out if they want to have a hard copy at the session.

The Institute will present the 2017 Case Law Seminar from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Monday, May 15 at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, and repeat the program on Wednesday May 17 at the Grand Event Center in Long Beach. Tuition is $395, with a $100 discount available to CWCI member company employees. The fee includes the electronic course syllabus with summaries of the significant decisions and full citations, Continental breakfast, a luncheon, and refreshment breaks. CWCI is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider and this year the Institute has obtained certification to offer 5.0 hours of MCLE with Legal Specialization. In addition, certificates of attendance will be available for Department of Insurance workers’ compensation claims administrator credits, and for submission to the Association of Hearing Reps of California.

Preregistration and prepayment are required. For more details or to register online, click the Seminar button at www.cwci.org.