1. The Georgia Association
of Criminal Defense Lawyers
and Jeffrey Brickman
Present:
Crafting a
GREAT
Defense!
Brasstown Valley Resort
Young Harris, GA
For hotel room reservations
call 1-800-201-3205
GACDL FALL SEMINAR
November 4 & 5, 2016
TheGeorgiaAssociation
ofCriminalDefenseLawyers
P.O.Box29653
Atlanta,GA30359
Crafting a
GREAT
Defense!
GACDL FALL SEMINAR
November 4 & 5, 2016
To be sure that you have a seat, please register and pay online at www.gacdl.org.
If you register online, do not complete the payment process, and then do not show up
for the seminar, GACDL will bill you. Please call us if you need help, or have made
an error in online registration: 404-248-1777. No cancellations after October 4.
Substitutions are welcome. Preregistration closes on Wednesday November 2nd at
5:00 PM, we send out materials to pre-paid attendees that evening, and then the
office closes immediately afterwards for travel to the seminar venue.
Didn’t preregister in time? After November 2, the voicemail will tell callers
whether or not we can accept walk-in registrations (we typically can).
To receive your speaker materials, please be sure that your email address is correct
online at www.gacdl.org. Search for yourself using our “Lawyer Search.” If you do not
see an email with your materials after we send them out the night of the 2nd, please
check your junk mail folder, emails from us sometimes end up there. Attendees who
do not pre-pay in time will receive materials by email during or after the seminar.
Same for walk-ins.
If you wish to register by mail, please send this completed panel to: GACDL P.O. Box
29653 Atlanta, GA 30359. If you mail your registration to us during the same week
as the seminar, we will not receive it in time—even if you are mailing it from Atlanta.
Name:
Bar Number: Phone:
City: E-mail:
Please choose one option:
___ $360 I am a regular, contributing, substantial, associate, PD, or
life member (2005 or later) and I need CLE. ___$290 Same and I do
not need CLE.
___$0 I am a life (prior to 2005) or sustaining member and do not
need CLE. ___$70 Same and I need CLE.
___ $280 I am a federal, state, or county employed public defender
in the _______________ circuit and I need the CLE. Every attorney
in our circuit is a 2016 GACDL member. ___$210 Same, except I
do not need CLE. (Note: If all PDs in your office are not members,
please pay regular member rate if you are a member. The special PD
rates only applies to full time government employed PDs in offices
where every person is a GACDL member.)
___$0 I am a student member of GACDL (register by phone, space
permitting).
The seminar prices above are MEMBER PRICES. $650 is the non-
member price (please register by phone only). Need to pay dues?
___$185 Regular dues. I still need to pay my 2016 dues in order to
receive one of the member rates for this seminar, and I realize that
these dues expire at the end of November 2016.
___$115 PD dues. I still need to pay my 2016 dues in order to
receive one of the member rates for this seminar, and I realize that
these dues expire at the end of November 2016.
___SIGN ME UP FOR TRIVIA (limited to the first 50 people!)
This seminar offers 10 hours CLE including 1 hour ethics, 1 hour
professionalism, and 8 hours trial practice (applied for). No CLE will be
authorized without registration, proper payment, and seminar check in. The
GACDL office will be closed the day before the seminar for travel to the venue.
Questions? 404-248-1777

2. Jeff Brickman,seminar director (Atlanta), owns his
own firm and specializes in state and federal criminal defense.
Before entering private practice in 2005, Jeff served as an
assistant district attorney in DeKalb County, Georgia, from
1989 to 1997, during which time he exclusively prosecuted
major felonies, including high-profile homicide, rape, armed
robbery, child sexual and physical abuse, and fraud cases.
For two of those years, he served as the chief of the Crimes
Against Children Unit. From 1997 to 2004, he served as an
assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia,
where he investigated and prosecuted a wide range of federal
crimes including fraud, drug trafficking, child pornography, and
cyber-crime cases. In 2004, Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed Jeff as DeKalb County District
Attorney. In this role, he was responsible for supervising the investigation and prosecution of
over 6,000 felony cases. In 2005, Jeff entered private practice specializing in state and federal
criminal defense. Over his 25 year career, Jeff has dedicated a substantial amount of his time
to the training and teaching of law enforcement, prosecutors, and defense attorneys.
Mike Hawkins(Atlanta) credits much of his success in
defending Georgia DUI cases to his experience as a Georgia
DUI prosecutor and his commitment to out-preparing the
prosecution. Mike is a frequent lecturer at seminars for DUI
lawyers in Georgia and across the nation. His method of
cross-examination of police officers has been described as as
much science as it is art.His rise to teaching DUI Defense on
a national level actually began before he was a defense lawyer.
In 1994, just two years out of law school, Mike found himself
in the middle of the controversy over whether the courts could
suspend a person’s driver’s license before they were convicted
of the DUI charge. As a DUI prosecutor, he helped develop
the argument that the Supreme Court of Georgia ultimately used to decide the issue. Mike
left prosecution to enter private practice in 1996, it was not long before he was asked to
teach defense lawyers courtroom techniques that can win DUI cases.
Bob Keller (Dawsonville) was appointed to the State
Board of Pardons and Parole by Governor Sonny Perdue on
January 3, 2007. Bob served as Executive Counsel of the
Attorneys Council of Georgia. He is the former chairman of
that organization. Before joining the Prosecuting Attorneys
Council, he served as both Assistant District Attorney and
District Attorney of Clayton County. He also maintained a
private practice from 1974-1977. Bob served as a member
of the Georgia Board of Public Safety, the Board of Trustees
of the Georgia Judicial Retirement System, the Georgia
Code Revision Plan Committee and the Commission to
Assess Crime Laboratory Needs into the 21st Century.
He served as Vice-Chair of the Governor's Commission on Certainty in Sentencing.
Bob earned a bachelor's degree from Birmingham Southern College and a law degree
from Emory Law School. Bob brings a wealth of knowledge and understanding of
the criminal justice system, and his reputation and credibility among the judiciary and
prosecutors is highly admired.
Nicki Vaughan(Gainesville) is currently ChiefAssistant
Public Defender in charge of Juvenile Court representation in the
Northeastern Judicial Circuit. She is Chairperson of the Child
Protection andAdvocacy Section of the State Bar, Chair of the
Indigent Defense Committee, and serves on the Children and the
Courts Committees. Nicki has served on the Board of Governors
for ten years and has served on the Executive Committee of the
State Bar for the past three years. She has been involved in child
advocacy and juvenile justice issues for over forty years, having
begun her career as a Child Protective Services Caseworker
for Fulton County. Nicki is a founder, former co-director, and
Lifetime Board Member of the Georgia CASAProgram and was
instrumental in the establishment of CHRIS Kids, Inc. In 1982, she received the Governor’s
VolunteerAward for her child advocacy efforts. She was a stakeholder in the JUST GACoali-
tion’s successful effort to re-write the Juvenile Code, which took effect January 1, 2014. Nicki
is a former Vice-President of the GACDL, and previously served as Chairperson of the Indigent
Defense Committee. She is currently Chairperson of the GACDLJuvenile Law Committee.
Don Samuel (Atlanta) has practiced with Garland,
Samuel & Loeb since 1982. His practice is devoted
primarily to criminal defense and appeals in both the
state and federal courts. He has appeared in federal courts
throughout the country and participated in one United
States Supreme Court case, State of Georgia v. Scott Fitz
Randolph. He has an active trial practice, having tried
over 100 felony cases in the state and federal trial courts
in matters as diverse as tax evasion, money laundering,
mail fraud, murder, and public corruption cases. He teamed
up with his long-time partner, Ed Garland, in the defense
of Ray Lewis, Jamal Lewis, Dany Heatley, and Rapper
T.I. Don is ranked among the Top 100 Georgia Super Lawyers, has been listed in Best
Lawyers since 1991, and was recognized in Georgia Trend magazine's Legal Elite for
his work in criminal defense law. He is a past President of the GACDL, is a member of
the NACDL, was elected in 1999 to membership in the American Board of Criminal
Lawyers, and was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2000.
Nelson Tyrone (Atlanta) currently dovotes his
practice to Plantiff’s Personal Injury work. Before
opening that practice, Nelson was associated with
nationally-recognized law firms in both the areas of
Criminal Defense and Plaintiff’s Catastrophic Injury
work. He practiced for a number of years with the pre-
eminent criminal defense firm of Garland, Samuel &
Loeb, P.C., located in Atlanta, Georgia. During this period
of his career, Nelson defended clients in a wide variety
of major felony and white collar cases in both state and
federal court. Some of the more notable cases that he was
involved in were the defense of Ray Lewis, running back
for the Baltimore Ravens, as well as acting defense counsel for the Gold Club located
in Atlanta, Georgia, against prosecution by the United States Government.
Ashleigh Merchant (Marietta) has always
limited her practice to defending individuals that have
been charged with committing crimes. She is a strong
client advocate who firmly believes in protecting the
rights of the criminally accused, and protecting the
innocent from a miscarriage of justice. Ashleigh is the
co-chairperson for the Legislative Committee of the
Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and is
very active in the Cobb County Bar Association. In 2014,
she was named a Georgia Super Lawyers Rising Star.
Ashleigh is admitted to practice in all of Georgia's state
courts, the Georgia Court of Appeals, and the Georgia
Supreme Court. While defending a client recently, Ashleigh discovered that the
judge and the prosecutor had been conducting conversations without defense counsel
present. She works tirelessly to stop these types of unfair activities in our state.
Craig Gillen(Atlanta) has achieved sustained
success in federal courts throughout the country,
first as an Assistant United States Attorney in the
Northern District of Georgia, then as the Deputy
Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra, and subsequently
as a criminal defense attorney. In January 1990, Craig
joined the Office of the Independent Counsel for
Iran/Contra in Washington, D.C. Craig served as the
Deputy Independent Counsel and supervised all of the
investigations of the continuing investigation. He was
the lead counsel for the following Iran/Contra cases:
(1)U.S. v. Elliott Abrams (former Assistant Secretary
of State for Latin American Affairs); (2)U.S. v. Alan Fiers (former CIA Chief for
Central America; (3) the indictment of U.S. v. Casper Weinberger (former Secretary
of Defense); and the multi-week trial in U.S. v. Claire George (former CIA Chief
of Worldwide Operations). In 1993, following the Iran/Contra presidential pardons,
Craig started his own private practice in Atlanta, Georgia. As a criminal defense
attorney, Craig is well known for his success in defending his clients. He has not
guilty verdicts at trial for government agents, businessmen, and professionals, and
he obtained dismissals for businesses and corporate officers.
Friday 4 November 2016
11:30-Noon Sign in begins for pre-registered folks! Come early!
Noon: Walk in registrations begins (add $20)
12:30-12:55 PM How to Get all of Your Seminar information -
Keith Fitzgerald
GACDLApp Sponsored by Crawford, Shaney &
Rasco, Inc. - Investigator Cathy Crawford
12:55-1:00 Welcome GACDL President Bob Rubin and
Program Director Jeff Brickman
1:00-2:00 Drafting Your DUI Motions and Challenging
Blood and Breath Tests After the Williams and
Birchfield Decisions - Mike Hawkins
2:00-3:00 Ethics: Tapping Into the Judge’s Point of View -
Judge Brian Rickman
3:00-3:15 BREAK courtesy of Atticus
3:15-4:15 Strange Brew: Tips on Dealing with the Parole
Board - Abbi Taylor and Bob Keller
4:15-4:20 Inspirational 5! - TBA
4:20-5:20 Case (of beer?) Law Update - Don Samuel
5:20-5:25 When An Amicus Brief is Brewing -
Elizabeth Brandenburg
5:25-5:35 Defense Against the Dark Arts - a word from GACDL
5:35-5:45 A Word from Your Party Sponsor -
Free At Last Bail Bonds
5:45-6:00 GACDL President’s Awards - Bob Rubin
6:00-7:30 Cocktail Party - Drinks and appetizers in the lobby
courtesy of Free at Last Bail Bonds
8:30-10:30 PM Trivia in Brassies
Saturday 5 November 2016
8:45-9:45 AM Developing a Powerful Theme: Sometimes You
Have to Go Against the Grain - Nelson Tyrone
9:45-10:00 BREAK
10:00-11:00 The Bitter Truth: How to Be a Better Lawyer
(Professionalism) - Judge Ronnie Joe Lane
11:00-Noon Science and Shaken Baby Syndrome -
Dr. Waney Squier
Noon-12:10 Indigent Defense Award - Claudia Saari
12:10-1:15 LUNCH on your own. (GACDL Board Meets)
1:15-2:15 Juvenile Law: Ale You Need to Know -
Nicki Vaughan
2:15-2:20 Inspirational 5! - TBA
2:20-2:35 BREAK
2:35-3:35 Discovery: Blowing the Head off of the State’s Case
- Ashleigh Merchant
3:35-4:45 When a High Gravity Case is Brewing -
Craig Gillen
Please join us for the GACDL Technology Seminar at
Georgia State University’s College of Law on December 2 & 3, 2016