Please be advised that registration for all Training Division Events is limited to persons who provide services pursuant to the Federal Criminal Justice Act (CJA). For more information please read our Training Events Registration Disclaimer. Continuing Legal Education (CLE) accreditation for DSO Training Division Programs will be requested unless otherwise noted. Program Credit hours will always be subject to each state's approval and credit rounding rules. Approved programs and credit hours will be made available at the conclusion of applicable programs.
For CLE information and available resources pertaining to your state, please visit the CLE Information Center.
If you have any questions about registering, please emailus.
10 - 12
Federal Defense Race Conference: Strategies in Pursuit of Justice
In July, Defender Nation will gather in Philadelphia to share litigation ideas, foster friendships, and strengthen our collective resilience and hope in our work at the Race Conference.
The American criminal legal system’s history is steeped in racial inequities, from the oppression of Indigenous Tribes to the disproportionate incarceration of Black people and the targeted prosecution of Latinx communities. The Race Conference is designed to address these critical issues and many more head-on, providing everyone with tools and strategies to combat racial injustice.
We will cover a wide range of topics, including:
- Strategies for litigating race from street encounters to Fourth Amendment challenges, and a blueprint on winning selective enforcement claims
- Navigating the evolving landscape of federal drug policy
- Practical tips for defending noncitizens
- Methods to reduce racial disparities in detention hearings, charging, pleas, and sentencing
- Techniques for de-biasing the court and creating more inclusive environments
- Approaches to recruiting and retaining diverse talent
- Effective ways to have difficult conversations about race
We will also hear and learn directly from those who have experienced the unnecessary cruelty of the law firsthand.
This program is open to everyone working pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act. Yes, that means heads of offices, administrative officers, attorneys, investigators, legal assistants, paralegals, and literally all CJA defense professionals. Feedback from past conferences has highlighted the immense value of this training, with many remarking it should be “mandatory.”
If you have questions about the content of this program, please contact Akin Adepoju at Akin_Adepoju@ao.uscourts.gov.
Continuing Legal Education (CLE) accreditation for this program will be sought in all applicable jurisdictions. This program may satisfy CLE requirements in ethics, elimination of bias, inclusion and cultural competency, and professionalism.
16
Appellate Series, Session 4: Supreme Court Update
This webinar provides an update on recent Supreme Court decisions affecting federal criminal practice, and reviews issues currently under consideration.
Presenter
Easha Anand joined the Stanford Law School faculty in 2023 as an assistant professor of law and co-director of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. A former Supreme Court and court of appeals clerk, Easha joins Stanford from the MacArthur Justice Center, where she served as Supreme Court & Appellate Counsel and litigated police excessive force, prison conditions, habeas, and other criminal defense and civil rights cases around the country. She was the Edwin A. Heafey, Jr. Visiting Professor of Law in the Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic in 2022.
Easha is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law and clerked for Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the United States Supreme Court and for Judge Paul J. Watford on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
CLE
We have applied for CLE accreditation in states that have mandatory requirements. We regret that we cannot respond to telephone inquiries regarding the status of CLE approval prior to the webinar. All information related to CLE will be emailed to attendees within 15-30 days following the program.
- To minimize reporting fees per attorney/program, if you are barred in more than one of the following states NM, TN, PA, NE, attendance will be reported to one state only.
- The attorney is responsible for making sure the appropriate state and bar number is on file with the DSO Training Division.
- For applicable states, attendance will be reported using the bar number and state(s) listed on the registration form submitted for this program.
- Failure to provide the state and bar number may result in the Training Division not being able to report your attendance.
16
Federal Defender Investigators, Paralegals and Mitigation Specialists A Virtual Series: Session No.1 - Investigating the Open-Source Intelligence World in 2025
In the ever-changing digital age, looking for online and social media evidence is essential to any criminal defense investigation. This session will cover the latest techniques and tools to help all federal defender trial teams confidently navigate digital pursuits for useful information in 2025. You will learn the latest search engine hacks, AI tools, advanced social media search strategies and resources to enhance your examinations. Investigators, paralegals and other defense team members will receive practical guides, handouts, and a curated collection of OSINT bookmarks to use in their own cases.
Presenter:
Maria Sapene is the Chief of Litigation Support at the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Los Angeles, CA. Prior to this position, she was a senior capital trial investigator, specializing in the collection and analysis of open source and digital evidence. Before joining the federal defender’s office in 2004, Maria worked as an Investigator for the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board, investigating allegations of police misconduct. Also, she is a former U.S. Army Reserve Intelligence Officer with training and background in intelligence collection and analysis. Maria has presented at regional and national conferences on the use of online and social media in capital defense investigations and law enforcement technology.
NOTE: This webinar series is created for federal defender trial investigators, paralegals, and mitigation specialists and participation is limited to federal defender organization staff.
CLE: CLE credits will not be available for this session.
23
Unlocking the Sentencing Guidelines: Session 15 - In Depth Discussion of 2025 Drug Guideline Amendment
This webinar will provide an in-depth discussion of the 2025 Sentencing Guideline Amendments related to the operation of the drug guideline USSG §2D1.1, which will go into effect on November 1, 2025, absent congressional action to the contrary. We will review the two drug guideline amendments: (1) application of the mitigating role adjustment in drug trafficking cases to lower the culpability of individuals performing low-level functions in a drug trafficking case; and, (2) changes to the mens rea requirement in §2D1.1(b)(13)(B) associated with the misrepresentation of fake prescription pills containing fentanyl or a fentanyl analogue. After this webinar, participants should understand the new drug guideline amendments and related strategies for sentencing success.
Registration for this webinar is closed but it will be recorded and posted in the program materials section of the site.
Presenter
Max Wolson has been an attorney with the National Sentencing Resource Counsel Project since 2023. His prior experience includes work as a Staff Attorney with the National Immigration Law Center, where he worked on impact litigation on behalf of immigrant communities, and as a Staff Attorney in the Office of General Counsel at the United States Sentencing Commission. Before that, he served as an Assistant Public Defender with the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and an Assistant Federal Public Defender in Iowa, representing clients at both the trial and appellate levels.
CLE
We have applied for CLE accreditation in states that have mandatory requirements. We regret that we cannot respond to telephone inquiries regarding the status of CLE approval prior to the webinar. All information related to CLE will be emailed to attendees within 15-30 days following the program.
- To minimize reporting fees per attorney/program, if you are barred in more than one of the following states NM, TN, PA, NE, attendance will be reported to one state only.
- The attorney is responsible for making sure the appropriate state and bar number is on file with the DSO Training Division.
- For applicable states, attendance will be reported using the bar number and state(s) listed on the registration form submitted for this program.
- Failure to provide the state and bar number may result in the Training Division not being able to report your attendance.
6
Federal Defender Investigators, Paralegals and Mitigation Specialists A Virtual Series: Session 2 – AI Becomes Surveillance: Data in Our Cases
Technology and how we use it provides more methods for the government to monitor, surveil and record. Perhaps more importantly, it is creating data repositories that law enforcement can access, and artificial intelligence is giving them more leverage over that data than ever before. This session (1) will review prevalent government surveillance technology programs, from computer vision technology (such as automatic license plate readers and facial recognition), to audio recognition technology (such as ShotSpotter and body-worn camera transcription tools); (2) explain how data generated from these technologies is used by the government; and (3) provide strategies that all members of the trial defense team can use when facing these systems as they investigate, review discovery, and prepare for trial.
Presenter:
Elizabeth Daniel Vasquez has focused on the intersection of data, science, technology and the criminal legal system for more than a decade. She is the owner and founder of E. Daniel Vasquez Consulting. Elizabeth created and ran the Science & Surveillance Project at Brooklyn Defender Services, worked as a staff attorney in the trial division of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, and litigated wrongful conviction and civil rights cases involving forensic error and misconduct throughout the country at Neufeld Scheck & Brustin, LLP. Through her work, Elizabeth has cultivated deep technical and strategic experience working with experts and investigators across disciplines and handling cases that involve complex science and data science.
NOTE: This webinar series is created for federal defender trial investigators, paralegals, and mitigation specialists and participation is limited to federal defender organization staff.
CLE: CLE credits will not be available for this session.
27
Appellate Webinar Series, Session 5 - Writing, With Style: The Rules of Replies
Replies serve a vital role in the briefing process, shedding light for your reader on why the government’s arguments fall short. In this presentation, we’ll unpack how to craft a reply in a structured, replicable format, allowing you to efficiently take down arguments and put your points across the finish line.
Presenter:
Jay McEntire is a civil rights attorney with Connelly Law Offices in the State of Washington. Before joining Connelly, Jay previously served as the senior litigator for the Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and Idaho. There, he represented clients charged with terrorism, white collar crimes, and serious assaults and murders on Native American lands. He took several federal criminal cases to trial, all of which resulted in partial or complete acquittals. Before joining the Federal Defenders, he spent two-and-a-half years clerking for the Honorable Edward F. Shea, U.S. District Court – Eastern District of Washington. Jay also teaches trial advocacy, advanced federal criminal procedure, and advanced legal writing at Gonzaga University School of Law. He loves skiing, triathlon, stylish socks, and talking about good grammar.
CLE:
We have applied for CLE accreditation in states that have mandatory requirements. We regret that we cannot respond to telephone inquiries regarding the status of CLE approval prior to the webinar. All information related to CLE will be emailed to attendees within 15-30 days following the program.
- To minimize reporting fees per attorney/program, if you are barred in more than one of the following states NM, TN, PA, NE, attendance will be reported to one state only.
- The attorney is responsible for making sure the appropriate state and bar number is on file with the DSO Training Division.
- For applicable states, attendance will be reported using the bar number and state(s) listed on the registration form submitted for this program.
- Failure to provide the state and bar number may result in the Training Division not being able to report your attendance.
8 - 12
The Andrea Taylor Sentencing Advocacy Workshop - Virtual Style
This is the sixth virtual Andrea Taylor Sentencing Advocacy Workshop (SAW). In contrast to the in-person 2½-day program, virtual SAW will be a course that engages participants in multiple ways over the course of five consecutive days, from Monday, September 8, 2025, through Friday, September 12, 2025.
The Sentencing Advocacy Workshop teaches a comprehensive approach to sentencing where participants are trained to develop persuasive, fact-based, sentencing theories, and are provided with the advocacy skills necessary to advance their theories both in writing and during sentencing hearings. Pre-recorded presentations for this workshop include client-centered communication, interviewing for mitigation, fact busting, developing persuasive theories and themes, storytelling at sentencing, persuasive writing, and persuasive presentation.
This virtual program will use a combination of pre-recorded presentations and live workshop sessions. Each of the recorded presentations will correspond with one or more of the workshop sessions. The recording corresponding to the workshop session must be viewed prior to attending the workshop session. For example, for Day 1, prior to attending the live Workshop Session 1, “Fact-Busting the Case,” on September 8, 2025, participants must view the 60-minute Recording 1, “Fact-Busting the Case.” All recordings will be available to view approximately two weeks prior to the corresponding live workshop session. Instructions for watching the pre-recorded videos and attending the workshop sessions will be provided in advance of the start of this program.
The five live 120-minute workshop sessions will be led by skilled facilitators in small group settings. These sessions will be held from 3:30 – 5:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), on five consecutive days, Monday, September 8, 2025, through Friday, December 12, 2025.
As with our traditional in-person workshops, participants will get on their (virtual) feet and practice skills and receive peer feedback. Participants are encouraged to bring their own case to this program.
We have a limited number of spots in this workshop; therefore, we require each participant to commit to timely watching the recorded presentations (total of 7 hours, plus 1 optional hour) and to actively attending all live workshop sessions (total of 10 hours).