Home History About Application Process Assignments Awards Related Links Presentations Past Presidents     & Board Members Member Login Awards 2006 Third Place - The Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA To Rap or Not to Rap, That is the Confunction: Ethical Obligations When Street Talk Enters the Courtroom This program explored the attorney-client relationship within the context of a language and cultural barrier arising from the number of recognized languages and cultures in the United States. The program highlighted the issues by exploring the lengths to which an attorney can go to change clients when the clients choose to express themselves in a manner other than standard spoken English. The program began with a rap song using the tune of "Pretty Woman" and used a character who spoke in street talk throughout the program. The character gave the audience the frustrating experience of not being able to understand the client, and paved the way for a debate over what ethical obligations would arise if the character were truly a client. Outstanding Program - The Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA Clawing Your Way to Victory: The Tension Between Our Adversarial System and the Search for Truth The focus of this program was the tension between the rules and tools of the legal system and the search for truth. The program examined the ethical propriety of a lawyer's use of tactics such as the efforts to exploit religious convictions or use celebrities friendships that may influence a jury; addressed the ethical obligations of a junior associate who observed misconduct by a senior partner; and reviewed the obligation a lawyer had when a client apparently perpetrated a fraud. The program's skits highlighted these issues by using song parodies and posing pointed questions at the end of each skit. Outstanding Program - The Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA 2046; A Space Out Odyssey – Legal Ethics v. Pharmaceutical and Technological Advances Set primarily in the year 2046, this program raised legal and ethical questions about the use of pharmaceutical drugs by counsel, their clients, and the judge. It also explored the possible use of mind-reading technology by attorneys, the judiciary and the general public. The program was divided into three acts, and each act includes included humorous skits, songs, displays and a moderator who kept the audience involved by engaging them in a discussion and by posing questions directly to them. 2005 Outstanding Program - The Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA You Are What You Speak: Whether to Promote or Pillory Political Correctness in Legal Discourse This program explored whether "political correctness" in speech and action should be a component of civility and professionalism in the practice of law, or whether it unreasonably stifles fair debate. The program also examined how attorneys and judges should respond to incidents of political incorrectness that arise in court, and what responsibility lawyers and law firms have in dealing with politically incorrect actions of clients. Outstanding Program - The Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA Sympathy for the Adjuster: When Non-Lawyers Call the Shots This program was designed to highlight the ethical and legal dilemmas faced by insurance company defense counsels. In an increasing number of cases, the attorney's exercise of independent professional judgment has been replaced with complex software programs that dictate to the adjuster how much a case is worth. Often the adjuster, rather than the attorney, decided what discovery would be undertaken and what the trial strategy would be. This trend raised the question of whether policyholders are at a disadvantage because their attorney has divided responsibility and reduced control over the outcome of the case. Outstanding Program - The Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA Frivolous Lawsuits: Cutting Edge or Over the Edge? The purpose of the program was to raise ethical and legal issues related to the filing and appeal of frivolous lawsuits, and the use of questionable experts to support those lawsuits. Combining the use of a pre-recorded segment and a live program script, the program addressed such issues as the legal and ethical standards for frivolous lawsuits, what constitutes a frivolous appeal, and whether attorneys should be sanctioned and reported for frivolous cases, defenses, and appeals? 2004 First Place - Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA Queer Eye for the Guilty Guy: From Witness Geek to Witness Chic--The Fine Art of Witness Preparation In a take-off of the popular television program, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," this program used a play to raise ethical and legal issues related to witness preparation. The scenes and discussion periods focused on how far an attorney can go in witness preparation and raised questions about "pocketbook justice"--whether using trial consultants provides an unfair advantage to those with money to hire them. Other issues raised included: the legal and ethical considerations involved in "coaching" a witnesses' testimony; whether such preparation constitutes "tampering"; and members' experiences as to whether using trial consultants is effective. The skits used humor and songs to highlight issues and keep members interested. Audience discussion was encouraged by questions from the moderator. Outstanding Program - The Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA Justice for Just Us; Its Only Fair This program highlighted how litigants might perceive biases within the judiciary and bar when judges and lawyers are affiliated with religious ideas or certain organizations. The growing trend of legal blogs provided the opportunity of weaving in a discussion of the appropriateness of whether the courts should use information found on legal blogs in resolving legal disputes. The program was divided into three acts, and each act had two scenes. A lively audience discussion followed each act. 2003 Second Place - Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA Listen (Doo Wah Doo), Do You Want to Know A Secret? This program was designed to highlight ethical and legal dilemmas encountered in representing a minor in a controversial civil action, using the decision in Newdow v. U.S. Congress as a backdrop. The discussion following the skits sparked a lively debate on issues ranging from problems representing clients in unpopular causes to how a judge should deal with anonymous threats. Outstanding Program - Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA Don't Mess With My Bill This program is a two-part skit which presents questions of law, ethics and personal morals arising from attorneys billing for their services. Part One highlighted the dilemma of an associate caught between a firm's demand for billable hours and the need for honesty in billing a client. Part Two presented parallel criminal matters in which one party has plentiful funds while the other party is indigent. Outstanding Program - Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA Martha's World (Where Corporate Opportunities Meet a Lawyer's Professional Responsibilities): It’s a Good Thing or Is It? This program took the format of a role-playing demonstration and discussion which followed and focused on tensions which exist between a corporate counsel's responsibilities to a corporate client and pressure from corporate officers who seek personal legal advice. Additional pressure from SEC practice requirements and tension between outside director interests and legal obligations to safeguard interests of the corporation were also addressed. 2002 First Place - Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA Honey, We Shrunk the Judge: The Diminishing Role of the Judiciary This program utilized a skit to draw attention to the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) phenomenon as part of a bigger, more powerful debate about the potentially diminishing role of the judiciary. Using song and spoof, the members presented a doomsday scenario where judges relinquished most of their powers to administrators, government officials such as district attorneys and the litigants themselves. The skit and discussions held afterwards forced the audience to examine the very foundation of our system of “justice”. 2001 Third Place - Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA Quick Thinking – 5 Seconds For Your First and Final Answer This award-winning program, entitled “Quick Thinking – 5 Seconds For Your Final Answer”, demonstrated the effect of quickly made ethical and evidentiary decisions. The program used two skits to establish the facts. At key points, a moderator posed questions for participants to answer within a five-second time limit, which, at every turn, affected how they might proceed. Following each skit, the issues, conflicts and results were discussed. 2000 Third Place - Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA When Hatred Isn’t Kosher: Is Speaking Your Mind Going Too Far? The Kennedy Inn's award-winning program was entitled "When Hatred Isn’t Kosher: Is Speaking Your Mind Going Too Far?" This program was designed to stimulate discussion on the points of interface between the First Amendment and the ‘good moral character’ requirement for bar membership and moral turpitude grounds for disbarment. The first skit took a closer look at the rules for admission into the bar, while the second skit examined the actions of controversial people after they have become attorneys. 1999 Fourth Place - Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA It’s All in the Game— Tuning In the Legal Ethics Channel This program utilized game show formats to present legal and ethical situations in a manner that would seize the audience’s attention and generate spirited discussion. It used “The Dating Game” to identify issues surrounding the courtship and retention of attorneys by perspective clients, “The Newlywed Game” to highlight the conundrums associated with attorney/client relationships, and “Family Legal Feud” to focus on the games played in settlement conferences and those played by counsel during trial. 1998 Ninth Place - Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA Endings The program featured six short skits on the practical and ethical problems that arise at the end of various legal relationships. Topics included the end of attorney-client relations, the end of adversarial relationships between attorneys at the close of a case, the end of a multi-plaintiff case through settlement and the end of attorney-judge relations at the close of a trial. 1997 Seventh Place - Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA Juvenile Thoughts on Crimes, Competency, Conflicts and Compensation This program addressed the controversial issues of defending or prosecuting a juvenile. The presentation addressed matters such as the charging of ten year old children with crimes of murder and difficulties of representing children in domestic relations cases. The presentation consisted of three acts which identified several problems within a particular area of juvenile law. Act I explored the problems associated with the prosecution of children in the juvenile justice system. Act II explored some of the possible problems associated with civil suits for personal injury on behalf of juveniles. Act III illustrated a dispute between the mother and the father of a child in a domestic relations setting. 1996 Second Place - Anthony M. Kennedy AIC, Sacramento, CA Do You See What I See?— Fallacies of Eyewitness Testimony This program demonstrated how to conduct direct and cross-examination of a eyewitness and how to conduct cross-examination of an expert on eyewitness testimony. Several demonstrations called for Inn members to become eyewitnesses themselves. Inn members acted as eyewitnesses to an arrest of a suspected car thief and, immediately after the event, were given questionnaires asking them to give a complete narrative description of what they had just seen and to answer a few short questions. Inn members also performed very simple magic tricks to emphasize the fact that eyewitnesses see, but do not observe. Several points relevant to eyewitness testimony were captured on videotape to help illustrate how the mind edits what we visually observe.