The Habeas Assistance and Training Counsel (HAT) and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) are pleased to announce the Sixteenth Annual National Federal Habeas Corpus Seminar, a program on habeas corpus law and procedure. The seminar will be held on August 18-21, 2011 in Charlotte, NC. This seminar is designed for, and attendance is limited to: federal defenders; Criminal Justice Act (CJA) panel attorneys; attorneys interested in representing a death-sentenced inmate in federal collateral review; state court practitioners who are currently appointed or seeking appointment in a federal capital habeas corpus proceeding; mitigation specialists and investigators providing services pursuant to the CJA. There will be no tuition, and materials will be provided to participants free of charge. The AO also will make available, to a limited number of applicants, funding to cover travel expenses (airfare and/or lodging only) as detailed in this memorandum. Continuing Legal Education (CLE) accreditation for this program will be sought in all applicable jurisdictions.

Program Description

This nationally-recognized program, the only one of its kind, focuses on representation in capital habeas cases in toto. Habeas experts discuss issue identification, investigation, factual and legal development and presentation of claims, the use of mitigation and mental health experts, and substantive and procedural habeas corpus jurisprudence. The program will also have sessions addressing the impact of recent and currently pending Supreme Court decisions on capital post-conviction practice as well as sessions addressing new developments in the other courts and new legislative initiatives.

Faculty

In addition to HAT attorneys John Blume, Mark Olive, Wendy Peoples, Keir Weyble, and Denise Young, and national mitigation coordinator Russ Stetler, we will be joined in Charlotte by many nationally-recognized experts on federal habeas corpus and other areas of capital litigation. In the past, the faculty has included Tony Amsterdam, Sandra Babcock, David Bruck, Dick Burr, Robert Dunham, Tim Ford, Ruth Friedman, Miriam Gohara, Scharlette Holdman, Sheri Johnson, George Kendall, Michael Laurence, Denise LeBoeuf, Jim Marcus, Trevor Morrison, Sean O’Brien, Rob Owen, Barry Scheck, Lis Semel, Bryan Stevenson, Kathy Wayland
and Michael Wiseman.

Register Today!

To register, please go to http://etrak.fd.org/Login.aspx.
You will need to Login in order to register. If you’ve attended a program in the past 2 years and haven’t created or updated your profile, your Login ID will be the email address you’ve provided to us and your password will be your last name with the first letter being capitalized. Example: Login ID: chastain_smith@ao.uscourts.gov, Password: Smith. If you have not attended a program in the past, you will need to create a Login ID. If assistance is needed, please email Lauren Billups at Lauren_Billups@ao.uscourts.gov . You will receive a confirmation email of your enrollment in the program and you will be provided information on how to make your hotel reservation. On site registration materials pick-up will begin at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 18th, and the program will begin at 5:00 p.m. The seminar is scheduled to conclude around 12:30 p.m.
on Sunday, August 21st, 2011.

Financial Assistance

Limited funds are available to cover airfare and/or lodging costs for individuals who require financial assistance to attend this seminar. You must be currently appointed to, or expect to soon be appointed to, a federal capital habeas case to be eligible for payment of your travel costs. To apply for financial assistance, you must complete the financial assistance application form that is attached to this email and submit it, along with the letter noted in the application. Requests will be prioritized by financial need and the extent of the applicant’s
involvement in federal capital habeas corpus representation. Please be sure you provide all required information and your application reaches us by July 6, 2011. Incomplete requests and those received after the deadline, will not be considered. If you apply for financial
assistance, please do not make airline or hotel reservations until you are notified about a decision on your application and furnished with information on how to secure those reservations. You should receive notification about your financial assistance request by July 19, 2011.

HOTEL

We are happy to inform you that a block of sleeping rooms has been set aside at The Weston Charlotte at the special rate of $ 95.00 per day single/double occupancy. Reservations can be made by clicking on the following link http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/Book/nfhc201 or calling 1-866-837-4148. When calling the 866 number, please be sure to give the group name “National Federal Habeas Corpus Seminar” in order to receive the special group rate of $95.00 per night. All hotel reservations must be made by Friday, July 15, 2011.

Thank you for your interest in this very important program. If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact Chastain Smith via email at Chastain_Smith@ao.uscourts.gov.