Consumer attorneys convention continues to grow

What began as a day and a half seminar with 300 plaintiffs' attorneys 36 years ago has ballooned to a legal parley drawing 3,000 attendees from across the nation.

The 37th annual Las Vegas convention for the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles takes place today through Sunday at the Wynn Resorts Las Vegas, and it continues to expand as the nation's largest trial advocacy event.

At its inception in 1983 the event featured just 30 presenters from the Los Angeles plaintiffs' bar, and it was unclear if there would be another one. But slowly the event grew. Today it includes not just plaintiffs' attorneys but judges and the defense bar.

This weekend there will be 120 panelists, 48 of them women, and a number of them from outside Southern California.

"Over the years the hardest part of CAALA is to throw this event each year but keep it fresh and keep it new. One of the ways we've done that is reach out to new speakers outside of the Los Angeles area," said the organization's president, Shawn McCann of Banafsheh, Danesh & Javid PC.

"We are trying to have our panels reflect our membership," he said.

At a time when other bar associations have struggled with declining membership, the consumer attorneys group has flourished, and its convention has been lucrative, making up half of the organization's revenue and allowing it to pass the benefits to its members.

This year looks to be no different.

Over the past four years the success of the event has allowed the association to offer members free services such as round tables, webinars and educational programs, according to the organization.

"It is our most financially successful event of the year, and it allows us to offer many educational programs that we offer at no cost to our members," said Stuart Zanville, the association's executive director.

He declined to say how much the event makes. Member fees range from free to $655 and up to $855 for non-members. Membership dues range from $55 to $360 a year and make up nearly the other half of the association's annual revenue.

Stuart Zanville, executive director of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles

Zanville said the mix of attorneys makes the convention a special event for the 3,000 attendees. It is open to any State Bar licensed attorney.

"The one thing that makes this event unique is the number of plaintiff attorneys and defense attorneys and judges who are in attendance," said Zanville. "It becomes an event for all trial attorneys, so we get a lot of city attorneys, district attorneys, anyone that is looking for trial advocacy."

Among the 13 Los Angeles County Superior Court judges who will speak are Presiding Judge Kevin C. Brazile and Assistant Presiding Judge Eric C. Taylor. A total of 30 Los Angeles judges will attend.

Panels will feature new formats. For example, the voir dire panel. which includes Brian Panish of Panish, Shea & Boyle LLP, will have pre-recorded voir dire with focus groups. Paralegals and legal secretaries can also refine their skills in a two-day track, said McCann.

A panel on opening statements will feature Christine Spagnoli of Greene, Broillet & Wheeler LLP and Seattle-based Richard H. Friedman of Washington-based Friedman Rubin PLLP, whose latest trial advocacy book is "Polarizing the Case: Exposing and Defeating the Malingering Myth." Robert Simon of the Simon Law Group will talk about examining witnesses.

These non-Los Angeles area attorneys will speak on a masters panel: Don Keenan of Atlanta-based Keenan Law Firm, known for his cases on foster care conditions; Betsy Greene, a Midwestern personal injury attorney with Greene & Schultz; and Seattle-based Karen Koehler of Stritmatter Kessler Koehler Moore, who says she is known as "The Velvet Hammer" for smiling sweetly while hammering opponents into the ground.

The convention will include eight yoga programs sponsored by Carpenter Zuckerman & Rowley LLP for those looking to debrief after a panel or recover from the previous night.

The annual kickoff party, set to a block party theme, will take place tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the Latour Ballroom.