Last week was the annual seminar sponsored by the National College for DUI Defense in Las Vegas. I have attended the seminar for years, and it is consistently a great seminar. It doesn’t hurt that it’s in Vegas, but what really makes it great is the caliber of presenters.
The seminar is co-sponsored by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), and current NACDL president Steven Benjamin gave a great presentation about the report from the National Academies of Sciences (NAS) report: “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward”. Other outstanding speakers included Troy McKinney on the topic of blood testing discovery and William “Bubba” Head on the issue of winning the unwinnable case by proving police perjury.
The highlight of the seminar for me was the presentation by F. Lee Bailey. Bailey is literally a living legend, having defended such high profile clients as Sam Sheppard (“The Fugitive”), Ernest Medina (the My Lai Massacre), Patty Hearst (bank robberies after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army), and O.J. Simpson (no parenthetical explanation required!).
Bailey touched on some of those cases as he delivered an outstanding presentation about taking command of the courtroom. A surprising part of his talk was that Bailey (age 79) discussed the importance of technology in the courtroom and even gave specific recommendations for tablets, apps, and projectors.
F. Lee Bailey was the superstar of another great NCDD/NACDL DUI seminar in Vegas. I plan to incorporate some of the seminar’s material in my D.U.I./O.V.I. practice, including the recommended apps and projector!