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• 03.17.26 SCCEPC MCLE Special Needs Trusts and ABLE Accounts

  • When
    17 Mar 2026
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  MCLE: Santa Cruz  County Estate Planning Council

  03.17.26

  Special Needs Trusts and ABLE accounts

  Please join attorney Ellen Cookman for a deep dive into the complex world of Specia lNeeds Trusts and ABLE accounts.  We will explore the following questions and more: 

  1.  If we don’t know whether the child will need a special needs trust in the future, how do we build in flexibility?

  2. In which circumstances might a SNT be funded “early” (i.e. while the parents are still alive)?

  3. How can an SNT and an ABLE account complement each other?

  4. Best practices for drafting and funding where a family has both neurotypical and neurodiverse children

  5. All of the professional roles that need to be defined and identified in the SNT for successful management

  About the Presenter:

  Ellen Cookman is the principal attorney of Cookman Law and a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law from the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization.

  She received her J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law and her LL.M. in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate from Golden Gate University. Ellen lives in East Palo Alto with her husband and their two boys (her older son has high-functioning autism), a Siberian husky mix named Rosie, and a kitty named Skittles. 

  MCLE fees are non-refundable unless a cancellation request is made
  

  at least three days before the event.

  MCLE credits:  The Santa Cruz County Bar Association has certified that this activity has been approved by the State Bar of California for one hour of MCLE credit.

  In order to receive full credit, you must complete an hour of attendance.

  
  

  Show details
• 03.18.26 Bench Bar Meeting via Zoom

  • When
    18 Mar 2026
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  Bench Bar Meeting

  03.18.26

  
  

  Santa Cruz Superior Court Administration is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

  The bench has indicated that they would like to know how best to help our legal community.

  As we move forward with this and subsequent bench-bar meetings, both the bar association and the bench officers will come up with topics for discussion. If you have a particular topic you would like to discuss at any of these meetings, please send your e-mails to lori@santacruzbar.org. We need to let the bench officers know the topic the Friday before the particular meeting.

  Also, if you have any questions at all that you would like to ask, you can do so anonymously by sending the questions to lori@santacruzbar.org to be shared with the bench officers before the meeting. As usual, participants will also be able to ask questions (on a topic or not) at the meeting.

  Thank you all for your participation in these meetings. Your Zoom link will be in your confirmation e-mail.

  Please send any questions in advance to lori@santacruzbar.org
  
  

  
  

  Show details
• MCLE 03.19.26 Effective Courtroom Persuasion

  • When
    19 Mar 2026
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  
  

  MCLE via Zoom
  

  03.19.26:   

  Effective Courtroom Persuasion

  Presenter: Ron Granberg, Esq.

  
  

  This program explores effective decision-making processes and the critical role emotion plays in judicial and jury decision-making. Participants will examine how cognitive and emotional responses influence perception, credibility assessments, and ultimate outcomes. The program will provide practical strategies for  incorporating emotional intelligence and affective framing into courtroom advocacy to enhance persuasive effectiveness

  
  

  MCLE fees are non-refundable unless a cancellation request is made

  at least three days before the event.

  MCLE credits:  The Santa Cruz County Bar Association has certified that this activity has been approved by the State Bar of California for one hour of MCLE credit.

  
  

  
  

  Show details
• 4.22.26 SCCEPC MCLE Tales of Title Underwriting

  • When
    22 Apr 2026
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  MCLE

  Santa Cruz  County Estate Planning Council

  4.22.26

  12:00-1:00 pm

  Tales of Title Underwriting, The Dark Side of Probate and Trusts
  

  The presenter is Scott Heisey with WFG National Title Insurance Company.  

  
  

  Title insurance companies see a lot of issues related to estates for a myriad of reasons.  This presentation will share what title insurance providers encounter and some of the curative processes.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Show details
• MCLE 05.06.26 Immigration Enforcement in the Central Coast

  • When
    5 May 2026
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  
  

  MCLE
  

  Wednesday, May 5, 2026

  Immigration Enforcement in the Central Coast: Legal Framework and Local Response

  Description: The presenters will discuss the legal framework by which immigrants are arrested and processed for removal (deportation), avenues for relief from removal, and how this framework has changed under the current administration.  The presenters will discuss municipal and state laws which restrict state and/or municipal cooperation with immigration enforcement operations, as well as regional and statewide initiatives to ensure representation for migrants in removal proceedings.

  Presenters:

  Michael K. Mehr, ESQ., Mr. Mehr is an attorney in private practice in Santa Cruz,. California who has practiced removal defense and post-conviction relief since 1979. He is coauthor of Defending Immigrants in the Ninth Circuit: Impact of Crimes Under California and Other State Laws (10^th ed 2008 ILRC) by Katherine A. Brady, Norton Tooby and Angie Junck and a co-author of “Representing the Noncitizen Criminal Defendant” in California Criminal Law Procedure and Practice (Cal CEB 2008-2019).

  Matthew Gilbert Weisner is an immigration lawyer in private practice in Santa Cruz, California. He previously worked as the Directing Attorney of the Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County's Immigration Project, Senior Immigration Attorney with the Central American Resource Center of Northern California (CARECEN SF), and Supervising Immigration Attorney at Catholic Charities of the East Bay.

  Qalim Cromer is an immigration attorney who represents immigrants in removal (deportation) proceedings, both in private practice as well as for Catholic Charities Diocese of Monterey (CCDOM).  He was the former Director of the Immigration Legal Services Program for CCDOM and presently works for the agency to coordinate Rapid Response legal services for migrants detained on the Central Coast.

  
  

  MCLE fees are non-refundable unless a cancellation request is made

  at least three days before the event.

  MCLE credits:  The Santa Cruz County Bar Association has certified that this activity has been approved by the State Bar of California for one hour of MCLE credit.

  To receive full credit, you must complete an hour of attendance.

  
  

  
  

  Show details
• 06.17.26 Bench Bar Meeting via Zoom

  • When
    17 Jun 2026
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Bench Bar Meeting

  06.17.26

  
  

  Santa Cruz Superior Court Administration is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

  The bench has indicated that they would like to know how best to help our legal community.

  As we move forward with this and subsequent bench-bar meetings, both the bar association and the bench officers will come up with topics for discussion. If you have a particular topic you would like to discuss at any of these meetings, please send your e-mails to lori@santacruzbar.org. We need to let the bench officers know the topic the Friday before the particular meeting.

  Also, if you have any questions at all that you would like to ask, you can do so anonymously by sending the questions to lori@santacruzbar.org to be shared with the bench officers before the meeting. As usual, participants will also be able to ask questions (on a topic or not) at the meeting.

  Thank you all for your participation in these meetings. Your Zoom link will be in your confirmation e-mail.

  Please send any questions in advance to lori@santacruzbar.org
  
  

  
  

  Show details
• 12.09.26 Bench Bar Meeting via Zoom

  • When
    9 Dec 2026
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Bench Bar Meeting

  12.09.26

  
  

  Santa Cruz Superior Court Administration is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

  The bench has indicated that they would like to know how best to help our legal community.

  As we move forward with this and subsequent bench-bar meetings, both the bar association and the bench officers will come up with topics for discussion. If you have a particular topic you would like to discuss at any of these meetings, please send your e-mails to lori@santacruzbar.org. We need to let the bench officers know the topic the Friday before the particular meeting.

  Also, if you have any questions at all that you would like to ask, you can do so anonymously by sending the questions to lori@santacruzbar.org to be shared with the bench officers before the meeting. As usual, participants will also be able to ask questions (on a topic or not) at the meeting.

  Thank you all for your participation in these meetings. Your Zoom link will be in your confirmation e-mail.

  Please send any questions in advance to lori@santacruzbar.org
  
  

  
  

  Show details