Las Vegas: April 27-29, 2018
Our first Destination CPD conference took place in Las Vegas on April 27-29, 2018.
The weekend began with an informal get-together on Thursday night at Cabo Wabo Las Vegas. We were joined by a number of conference attendees as well as a group of public defenders from Boston who just happened to be in Vegas.
The official start of the conference was on Friday at the pool. Sponsored by Millars Law, we had a great day relaxing and enjoying the beautiful Las Vegas weather. As luck would have it, reality TV-star Honey Boo Boo was at the pool as well filming for an upcoming program.
Our educational program began on Saturday morning after a continental breakfast. Our morning line-up included a panel discussion with Daniel Rechtshaffen and Rachel Lichtman and a keynote address with Las Vegas lawyer Bob Nersesian. In the afternoon, Justice Enzo Rondinelli and "Vegas Legend" Dave Rendahl led a group discussion on vigorous defence in light of R. v. Groia (which hadn't need released yet). This was followed by our first Ocean's 11 where our attendees delivered 11-minute lectures on a number of different topics.
On Sunday, we began with a panel discussion on the law society's diversity requirement with Colleen Clark, Carolynn Conron, Adam Goodman, and Shelley Moore; a keynote on criminal advocacy delivered by Justice Enzo Rondinelli (complete with Kanye glasses); and a short lecture with Nick Cake and a panel discussion with Graham Zoppi and Scott Cowan.
Feedback on our first event was overwhelmingly positive. We learned a lot and expect Destination CPD Las Vegas to be bigger and better in 2019! Thanks to everyone who attended.