The Legal Education Institute (LEI) of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Education has initiated a new interagency seminar on information law designed for both attorneys and paralegals.
The new seminar, entitled Information Law for Attorneys and Paralegals, was developed by LEI with the assistance of information law experts from several federal agencies and in coordination with the Justice Department's Office of Information and Privacy.
Karen Sherman, director of LEI, said that the new course is designed to enhance participants' knowledge of information law and is not intended as an introduction to the area. She said that attorneys and paralegals work closely together on information law matters and can benefit from a joint training seminar.
The agenda for the two-day seminar includes overview lectures on both the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974, as well as lectures on administrative appeals practices, Vaughn indices, and recent litigation and policy developments. Additionally, several different workshops on various FOIA exemptions and procedures are included in the agenda and participants have the opportunity to select the workshop subjects which meet their particular needs.
LEI offered the new information law seminar for the first time in February and a second session has just been concluded. The demand for the course was so great that LEI has scheduled three additional seminars for 1982. The dates for these sessions, all to be held in Washington, D.C., are May 18-19, August 18-19, and Nov. 16-17. Nominations of participants must be submitted to LEI no later than three weeks prior to each session. As with all LEI courses, there is no tuition charge.
The faculty for the information law seminars is drawn from several federal agencies. It includes: Russell M. Roberts (Health and Human Services); Cecelia E. Wirtz (Office of Management and Budget); Edward C. Shomaker (Nuclear Regulatory Commission); Joseph M. Levine (Commerce); Bruce L. Moyer (Merit Systems Protection Board); L. Jeffrey Ross (Agriculture); Blair P. Hall (State); Cheri L. McCracken (Federal Emergency Management Agency); and Douglas S. Wood, John Oliver Birch, and Susan A. Nellor (Justice).
Also among the faculty are nine members of the Justice Department's Office of Information and Privacy: Kathryn M. Braeman, Phyllis L. Hubbell, Margaret A. Irving, Joan E. Smiley, Yvette P. Rhodes, Ana B. Montes, Miriam M. Nisbet, Charles J. Sheehan, and Daniel J. Metcalfe. Members of the LEI team, in addition to Ms. Sherman, are Pamela Maida, Yvonne Jones, and G. Michael Lennon, the course director.
LEI develops and conducts many other legal education programs for attorneys and other legal personnel in the executive branch of the federal government. Among the courses to be offered by LEI during 1982 are: Advocacy Skills: Direct, Cross and Expert Witness Examination; Defensive Litigation; Equal Employment Opportunity: Class Actions and Statistics; Ethics Considerations for the Government Attorney; Law of Federal Employment: The Agency Perspective; and Legal Research Refresher for Paralegals. Further information may be obtained by writing to the Legal Education Institute, Department of Justice, 521 12th St., N.W., Suite 406, Washington, D.C. 20530, or by calling the LEI Office at (202) 724-7827 or (202) 673-6372.
Go to: FOIA Update Home Page