The Federal Public Defender Office presents, in association with the Federal Bar Association Northern District of Ohio Chapter, the 2026 Federal Criminal Practice Seminar as a self-study course. This course includes the presentations of: Walt Pavlo and Shannon Race, from Prisonology, presenting all a wide variety of issues related to the service of a BOP sentence, programs offered by the BOP, and how to craft a presentence report to benefit your client; 2) Marisa Darden, Robert Kolansky, and Johanes Maliza, all of Benesch Law, to present on the Sixth Circuit and Supreme Court update; 3) Jill Ginstling, of National Sentencing Resource Counsel, to present on the upcoming Sentencing Guidelines amendments as well as issues related to fentanyl-analogue cases; and 4) Heather Zirke and Ben Cohen, of the University of Akron School of Law, who will be discussing Ethics and Professionalism. Additionally, for CJA panel members only, there will be a lunchtime presentation from Dumaka Shabazz, the Chief Federal Defender from the Middle District of Tennessee, on the ethical implication of using AI in practice.
This program has been approved by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio to satisfy the requirements of Local Rule 57.5(o) and the Criminal Justice Act Plan for CLE training in federal criminal law and procedure. The Ohio Supreme Court CLE Commission has approved this court for 5.00 hours of general CLE as well as 2.25 hours of Professionalism CLE.
The registration fee for this course is $150.00, however, all current CJA Panel members and County Public Defenders may attend for a reduced rate of $100.00. To register, please visit the Federal Bar Association Northern Ohio Chapter website at www.fba-ndohio.org and click on the “calendar” and search for the Federal Criminal Practice Seminar Video Self-Study Course. To register by check or money order, please complete the attached registration form and mail it to the address listed on the form.
Once registration is received, an e-mail will be sent to you which will include the video links to the YouTube videos, the course, agenda, the course examination and the evaluation form. The evaluation and exam (80% passing grade required for CLE credit) must be returned to Christine_Sason@fd.org before CLE credit will be awarded. The deadline to register for this event is December 23, 2026, and the deadline to receive CLE credit is December 31, 2026. Handout materials will be sent by e-mail after the program, along with a certificate of completion, once the exam and evaluation have been received and reviewed.
If you have any questions, please contact the program coordinators, Christine Sason at 216-861-3689, or by e-mail at Christine_Sason@fd.org
Please click here for the agenda and mail in registration form.
Please click here for invite and mail in registration.