Upcoming HAT Seminars 

Fourteenth Capital Mitigation Skills Workshop
June 20-23, 2024
Austin, TX

The Fourteenth Capital Mitigation Skills Workshop will consist of a combination of lectures and interactive exercises designed to develop the basic skills required in the development of mitigation evidence in death penalty cases. Utilizing a case hypothetical, participants will brainstorm about potential mitigation themes and identify “red flags” requiring investigation. Life-history records will be reviewed to identify themes, hypotheses, questions, and investigative follow-up. Interviewing exercises in small groups will cover a variety of areas, including trauma, the signs and symptoms of mental disorders, and cognitive impairments and adaptive deficits. Other exercises will include working with mental health experts and drafting declarations. The seminar will also emphasize the importance of case organization and the basic mitigation tool kit (including genograms and chronologies).

PROGRAM DATES & LOCATION
Thursday, June 20 - Sunday, June 23, 2024
The University of Texas at Austin School of Law

LIMITED ENROLLMENT
Attendance will be limited to thirty-six participants, who will work in six small groups. Priority will be given to mitigation specialists and attorneys who are directly engaged in the mitigation function. We are also committed to increasing the diversity of the pool of professionals engaged in this work. If you have attended this program in the past, please do not attempt to register again. We need to reserve the limited number of spaces for people who have not had the opportunity to attend previously.

HOTEL INFORMATION
A block of rooms has been reserved at the Hyatt House Austin/Downtown. Once your registration has been confirmed, you will receive details on how to make lodging arrangements in our group block.

CLE (Please read before registering):
We have applied for CLE accreditation in states that have mandatory requirements. We regret that we cannot respond to telephone inquiries regarding the status of CLE approval prior to the workshop. All information related to CLE will be emailed to attendees within 15-30 days following the program.
• To minimize reporting fees per attorney/program, if you are barred in more than one of the following states NM, TN, PA, NE, attendance will be reported to one state only.
• The attorney is responsible for making sure the appropriate state and bar number is on file with the DSO Training Division.
• For applicable states, attendance will be reported using the bar number and state(s) listed on the registration form submitted for this program.
• Failure to provide the state and bar number may result in the Training Division not being able to report your attendance.
For us to report your attendance for CLE purposes, during online registration, you must provide the following information: Bar numbers, including their respective states. Only include those states where you are seeking credit.

FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER REGISTRANTS
If admitted into the program, there is no Conference Identification Number (CIN) for this event. However, if you reserve your lodging under the room block by the cut-off date, your lodging will be placed on our master account. The name used during registration must match the name used when reserving your hotel reservation, if the names do not exactly match, we will not be able to cover your lodging cost. Do not forget, you MUST also register using your fd.org email.

REGISTER TODAY!
Because of the nature of the program and its necessarily more “hands on” approach, attendance has been limited to 36 participants. We ask that you use your work email address for registration purposes and to help eliminate duplication. For registration, please use this Attendee Registration
Link. You will be placed in “pending” status until we have an opportunity to confirm your eligibility for the program, and we will notify you within one week about whether you have been accepted for the program. If you are accepted, 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.

**Those who register will have an opportunity to complete a voluntary self-identification questionnaire that helps us collect demographic data about the people we are reaching in advertising this program. Completion of the questionnaire is purely voluntary, and neither the completion of the questionnaire nor the information collected will affect who is selected to participate in the program.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Limited funds may be 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. Requests will be prioritized by financial need and the extent of the applicant’s involvement in federal capital habeas corpus representation. If you are accepted into the program and require financial assistance to attend, please send an email request for the financial assistance application to Chastain Smith at
Chastain_Smith@ao.uscourts.gov. If you apply for financial assistance, please do not make airline reservations until you are notified about a decision on your application and furnished with information on how to secure those reservations. Individuals who apply for financial assistance will be notified whether they have been granted a requested financial assistance award within 5-7 business days. Anyone seeking financial assistance for lodging should make their hotel reservations in the group block as soon as their attendance for the program has been confirmed. Financial assistance for lodging cannot be offered to anyone who does not have a reservation within the hotel room block. Those in Federal Defender offices are not eligible for financial assistance.

SCHEDULE
Check in for the seminar is 4:00-5:00 pm, Thursday, June 20, 2024. The program will begin promptly at 5:00 pm and will run until 8:00 pm on Thursday. It will continue with full days on Friday and Saturday. The workshop will conclude Sunday, June 23, 2024, at 12:00 noon.

FACULTY
Faculty will include lawyers, mitigation specialists, and mental health experts. 

If you have any questions regarding registration, or require additional logistical information, please contact Chastain Smith via email at Chastain_Smith@ao.uscourts.gov.

Twenty-Ninth Annual National Federal Habeas Corpus Seminar (NHS)
August 8-11, 2024
Hyatt Regency Louisville
Louisville, KY

Registration Will Open in May

Program Description: This nationally recognized program, the only one of its kind, focuses on representation in capital habeas cases in toto. Among other topics, experienced capital habeas litigators will address discuss the impact of recent Supreme Court decisions (and cases currently pending in the Court) on capital post-conviction and clemency practice, as well as sessions addressing new developments and trends in the federal courts of appeal and other state and federal courts.  There will also be sessions on emerging trends in capital cases where intellectual disability, competency or other aspects of a client’s mental health or cognitive abilities are at issue.  The program will also address new legislative initiatives and administrative actions that may affect capital habeas representation.  There will also be a track for those new to capital post-conviction practice.  Individual case consultations will also be available, upon request, to persons attending the seminar.