Webinar: “Through a Glass, Darkly”: Navigating Conflicts of Interest in Criminal Cases

**Program hosted in (ET) Time Zone**

This presentation provides a practical and legally grounded exploration of how conflicts of interest arise and are managed in criminal proceedings. It examines key frameworks such as the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Supreme Court precedent, and the ABA Model Rules to illuminate common ethical issues arising from multiple representation and third-party fee arrangements. From both defense and prosecution perspectives, the program highlights the ethical duties, strategic considerations, and constitutional implications that accompany potential conflicts—emphasizing early identification, informed waivers, and the court’s ongoing responsibility to safeguard a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to conflict-free counsel. Designed for practitioners, the presentation offers real-world guidance to navigate these often subtle but critical issues while minimizing risks of reversal or ineffective assistance claims.

Presented by the FBA’s Professional Development Committee.

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Presenters

Hon. James E. Marner, United States District Court for the District of Arizona
Honorable James Marner is a United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Arizona, based in Tucson. Appointed to the federal bench on April 2, 2025, for an eight-year term, he previously served as a judge for the Pima County, Arizona Superior Court from 2012 to 2025. Before taking the bench, he was a trial attorney at the King County Prosecutor’s Office in Seattle and then spent 15 years as a civil trial attorney in Pima County.

Prof. Keith Swisher, The University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law
Professor Keith Swisher directs the Bachelor of Law and Master of Legal Studies Programs at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. Prof. Swisher teaches legal ethics and procedure, serves as ethics counsel and expert witness to lawyers, law firms, and judges, and represents indigent defendants in the Ninth Circuit. His scholarship is regularly published and cited in the areas of legal and judicial ethics and disqualification, and he previously founded and edited the first blogs on judicial ethics and lawyer disqualification. He is a former member of the ABA’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and the Editorial Board of ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct. In 2011, he received the ABA’s Rosner & Rosner Young Lawyer Professionalism Award, and in 2016, he received the AJC’s Learned Hand Emerging Leadership Award. Previously, Prof. Swisher clerked for the Ninth Circuit (Canby, J.) and practiced at Osborn Maledon in Phoenix.

Brian L. Tannebaum, Tannebaum Law
A newspaper reporter once wrote that “Brian Tannebaum is the lawyers that lawyers go to when they find themselves in hot water.” Now in his 30th year of practice, Brian represents lawyers, judges, law students, and law firms in ethics and criminal matters in state and federal courts. Brian is a former member of a Florida Bar Grievance Committee and former member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review, and Attorney Grievance for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Brian is listed in Best Lawyers in America and was named one of the top 100 lawyers in Miami by Super Lawyers. Brian is a Past Chair of the Innocence Project of Florida, Past President of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and currently serves on the Florida Bar’s Professional Ethics Committee and as an officer of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers. He authored the book The Practice: Brutal Truths about Lawyers and Lawyers, published by the ABA, and in his non-lawyer world, is a Certified Sommelier.

• Live Broadcast | FBA Member: $0
• Live Broadcast | Nonmember: $95
• On-Demand Broadcast | FBA Member: $50
• On-Demand Broadcast | Nonmember: $95