2022 Spring CLE Conference
Friday, April 8 - Saturday, April 9, 2022

Register Here by April 1st

The Westin Buffalo
250 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14202

Hotel Reservations by March 15th

Friday, April 8, 2022

2:30pm - 3:00pm
Registration or Log On 

3:00pm - 3:50pm
Ethical Duties and Electronically Stored Information (1 Ethics Credit)
Brian M. Chase, Esq., Digital Forensics, ArcherHall
This Continuing Legal Education presentation covers electronic discovery and the related ethical duty of competence. Drawing on guidance from the State Bar, recent e-discovery cases, and our own experience assisting attorneys, the presentation outlines the main risks to counsel and client of failing to properly understand e-discovery obligations in litigation.

Brian M. Chase, Esq. is a Managing Director of Digital Forensics at ArcherHall, an expert witness, and an adjunct professor of law. Before joining ArcherHall, he was a practicing attorney and the owner of Chase Technology Consulting, a legal technology consulting firm providing digital forensics and ediscovery expertise. Mr. Chase is currently licensed to practice in Arizona and New York.  Mr. Chase has a diverse education and work background. He spent years working as a network administrator for the University of Arizona. He has a Management and Information Systems degree from the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona, a top ranked program in the country. Mr. Chase went on to earn a law degree, also from the University of Arizona. He has worked with various sized law firms both in an IT and legal capacity. He has consulted with firms on their use of technology within the office and has provided expert testimony in criminal and civil matters ranging from misdemeanors to murder to medical malpractice.  Mr. Chase has published and spoken on various technology related issues impacting law firms as well as parties in the civil and criminal justice system. He teaches various topics regarding law and technology, and digital forensics and evidence, at a variety of legal and technical conferences. He was honored by the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Arizona Daily Star with a “Tucson’s 40 Under 40 Award”, which recognizes young leaders who are making an impact in the community with their professional and charitable work.

3:50pm - 4:00pm
Break

4:00pm - 4:50pm
Recognizing and Representing Mild Traumatic Brain Injury  (mTBI/ Post-Concussion Syndrome) as a Potentially Permanently Incapacitating Injury (1 Skills Credit)
Geoffrey Schotter, Esq., Schotter Millican and Michael Flomenhaft, Esq. The Flomenhaft Law Firm, PLLC
Brain injuries can be confounding for workers’ compensation practitioners. The appropriate WCB-coded specialists are few and far between.The claimants often have difficulty describing the circumstances of the accident or their symptoms or are otherwise “poor historians” due to the very head injuries they are claiming. The doctors with whom they do treat early on often miss critical evidence of profound cognitive impairment because they don’t ask the right questions or obtain the proper diagnostic studies.  To make matters worse, the Workers’ Compensation Board has now approved new Medical Treatment Guidelines for traumatic brain injury (TBI)that will for the first time force claimants and their providers to go through the same cumbersome variance process that currently governs the most common orthopedic injuries.Now, more than ever, a basic familiarity with the science and medicine of the brain will be critical for New York workers’ compensation practitioners handling TBI claims.  In this presentation, personal injury attorney Michael Flomenhaft will discuss the structure and function of the human brain, the mechanisms by which even “mild” trauma to it can cause severe and permanent impairment, the diagnostic procedures necessary to discover and prove such impairment, and the treatments that are necessary to help claimants overcome the challenges their TBIs pose.  Workers’ compensation attorney Geoffrey Schotter will then discuss the effect that the new TBI Medical Treatment Guidelines will have on the ability of New York workers’ compensation practitioners to obtain these diagnostic procedures, obtain authorization for the appropriate treatment, and ensure that claimants receive compensation that is commensurate with the severity of their injuries.

Geoffrey Schotter, Esq. was born and raised in New York City. He graduated from Cornell University with a BA in 2005. Prior to law school, He attended a joint JD/MA program in law and legal history at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, graduating in 2011. While at Case Western, He was an editor of the Case Western Reserve Law Review and also helped found the Case Western Reserve Journal of Law, Technology and the Internet (JOLTI).  After graduating from Case Western, Geoffrey returned home to New York City and began a fellowship at the national office of the ACLU researching the growing crisis of America's aging prisoner population, and worked briefly in the Manhattan office of Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein P.C. in their labor and employment practice.  In late 2012, at age 30, Geoffrey opened his solo workers’ compensation law practice, which grew steadily over the next 8 years. In 2020, he formed Schotter Millican with three other attorneys with whom he had been working.

Michael Flomenhaft, Esq. is a graduate of Boston University School of Law and the Trial Lawyers College. The vast majority of his practice involves trying cases for victims of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and severe chronic pain. His chronic pain cases frequently involve Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)/Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) or other traumatically caused changes in the nervous system producing agonizing, unrelenting pain and potentially adverse brain consequences.  He is renowned for his vast knowledge of neurosciences encompassing neuroimaging, neuropsychology, neurobiology and the neuroanatomy of brain trauma and chronic pain and trial skills related to these subjects. He is also distinguished for his knowledge in spinal neurology, the psychologically fragmenting consequences of trauma including Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), and the evidentiary challenges entailed in the courtroom presentation of these claims.  Mr. Flomenhaft has won landmark evidentiary rulings from New York state courts establishing the scientific validity of Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), which shows white matter/axonal brain damage not infrequently seen in victims of motor vehicle whiplash and construction accidents, Quantitative Electroencephalography (qEEG), which can profiles deterioration in the brain’s electrical activity following traumatic brain injury, and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), showing brain changes demonstrating severe pain. Additionally, he is the first New York lawyer to put into evidence: diffusion tensor imaging, quantitative MRI analysis showing brain atrophy, electrical evidence of sleep disturbance as a consequence of traumatic brain injury, and fMRI to objectively demonstrate severe chronic pain by showing associated brain activation.

Saturday, April 9, 2022

8:00am - 9:00am
Registration and Breakfast

9:00am - 9:50am
e-FIling Changes for Notice of Appeal to 3rd Department (1 Skills Credit)
Robert C. Brucato, Esq., Counsel Press and Holly Schoenborn, Esq., Dolce Firm
A discussion of the new E-filing requirements for Workers Compensation cases at the Appellate Division,  Third Department.  We will discuss the process of fling a notice of appeal, as well as the steps that are necessary in order to initiate a case for e-filing with the appellate court. 

Robert C. Brucato, Esq. opened Counsel Press's Buffalo Office in 1992 and has managed it continuously since then. During his more than 25-year career, he has been personally involved with several thousand appeals, primarily to the N.Y.S. Appellate Courts and the U.S.C.A. for the Second Circuit. Prior to joining Counsel Press, Mr. Brucato worked for a short time with the U.S. Small Business Administration and was also in private practice. Mr. Brucato is a member of the Board of Directors of the MedLaw Cancer Partnership of Western New York.  Mr. Brucato is actively involved with multiple legal organizations and associations in the upstate NY region. He has presented CLEs on appellate topics to the Bar Association of Erie County, the Monroe County Bar Association, the Western New York Chapter of the Women's Bar Association of the State of New York (WBASNY), the Greater Rochester Association for Women Attorneys (GRAWA), SUNY Buffalo Law School Law Alumni GOLD Group, the Western New York Paralegal Association and the Paralegal Association of Rochester. Mr. Brucato is a member of the Bar Association of Erie County, the Monroe County Bar Association, the WNY Chapter of WBASNY and GRAWA.

Holly L. Schoenborn, Esq. is a proud life-long resident of Western New York. A first generation college graduate, she attended SUNY Binghamton.  Holly graduated in 1999 with dual Bachelor’s Degrees in Philosophy and Political Science, and then went on to the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School. Upon finishing law school in 2002, Holly went to work for Christopher Galasso Esq. doing general practice work, however in January 2005, she moved to Gielowski Federice & Caliguiri, LLP, starting a career in the area of Workers’ Compensation Law, representing both injured workers and insurance carriers. Working on both sides of the table gave Holly great experience, but she found working for clients who had been affected by workplace injuries to be the most fulfilling. As a result, in 2006, she went to the law firm of Lewis & Lewis where she focused exclusively on representing injured workers.  In 2013, Holly joined The Dolce Firm where she continues to assist hard working men and women who have suffered work place injuries.

9:50am - 10:00am
Break

10:00am-10:50am
Business Meeting (Members Only)

10:50am - 11:00am
Break

11:00am - 11:50am
Social Security Disability & Workers' Compensation (Areas of ProfessionalPractice)
Michael C. Panebianco, Esq., Lewis and Lewis, P.C.

Michael Panebianco, Esq. has returned to the Southern Tier, a place he has called home his entire life, to represent injured workers. Michael is passionate about counseling injured workers because his father suffered a career ending work injury many years ago. As a result, he has a keen understanding of the physical, emotional, and financial toll that a serious physical injury may have on a family.  Michael will also focus his practice on criminal defense. He understands the negative effect that a criminal conviction can have on a person’s life. In law school, he interned at The Center for Community Alternatives, where he counseled individuals in an effort to help them overcome the barriers to employment and education that they faced due to their prior criminal convictions.  Michael worked as a law clerk with Lewis and Lewis, P.C. during the Summer of 2015, and he is excited to return as an associate attorney.  In his free time, Michael enjoys golfing, fishing, and spending time with his friends and family.

11:50am
Closing

Attendee Information

• This event is being planned as a hybrid event, both in-person in Buffalo and virtually on Zoom.
• Registration is the same whether you attend in-person or virtually.
• Agenda subject to change.
• The content of this program is appropriate for experienced attorneys, as well as newly admitted attorneys.
• This continuing legal education program has been approved in accordance with the requirements of the Continuing Legal Education Board.
• Financial aid is available for this program.  Please click here for more information.
• If you register but find yourself unable to attend, you must cancel your registration by no later than noon on Monday, April 1st, or IWBA will be charged and, therefore, must then pass the cost along to you. If you cannot attend, please contact the office to have a substitute individual on your behalf.

Registration Information

Conference Registration Deadline: Friday, April 1, 2022 by noon.
If you already have an IWBA profile, please sign in and register under your profile.

 Register Here by April 1st

Hotel Reservations by March 15th

 Thank You to our 2022 Spring Sponsors!

Interested in being an IWBA Sponsor?

Deadline: Friday, March 11, 2022

Click Here for Sponsor Info