LEGAL ETHICS: Illuminating Legal Limericks

Thursday, May 7, 2026 9:15 AM-11:15 AM Chopin Ballroom
Breakout Session
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Ethics education doesn’t have to be dry. Illuminating Legal Limericks is an interactive program that uses clever limericks, each ending with a word the audience must guess, to explore the ethical challenges lawyers face in their practices and firms. Through real-world scenarios and audience participation, the session translates complex rules into practical guidance you can apply immediately. Topics include unauthorized and multijurisdictional practice; law firm creation and naming; supervision of paralegals, fee sharing, and file ownership; and ethical marketing practices, including content limitations and intrusiveness. Leave with clearer insight into your professional responsibilities, practical strategies to manage risk, and memorable lessons that keep ethics top of mind. This course is intended to satisfy two hours of legal ethics CLE credit (subject to state approval).

Speakers

Introductions

  • Photo of Julie K. Kind
    Julie K. Kind

    Director, Program Development, Mortgage Bankers Association

    Julie Kind is the Director of Program Management, overseeing the development of compelling content for a variety of MBA’s member conferences. Before joining MBA, she was the Director of Marketing and Customer Outreach for Freddie Mac’s Single-Family division where she managed a large portfolio of conferences, advisory groups, committee meetings, and outreach and educational forums for 1200+ depositories, credit unions and independent mortgage banks. Kind’s prior experience also includes serving as the Vice President of Client Services for Paladin Life Care, an advocacy and life care consulting company serving a diverse, at-risk client base with financial management, housing, emotional stability, living conditions and health crisis remediation.

    • Speakers

  • Photo of Thomas E. Spahn
    Thomas E. Spahn

    Counsel, McGuireWoods LLP

    Thomas Spahn practices as a commercial litigator with McGuireWoods in Tysons Corner, Virginia. He was selected as the 2013 metro-Washington DC "Lawyer of the Year" for "Bet the Company Litigation" by The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward/White, Inc.). In 2018, Virginia Lawyers Weekly selected him for inclusion in the inaugural Virginia Lawyers Hall of Fame. Spahn has served on the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, and is a Member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He has spoken at over 1,800 CLE programs throughout the U.S. and in several foreign countries. Through links in his website bio, he has made his summaries of over 1,600 Virginia and ABA legal ethics opinions available to the public.

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