In collaboration with the Mecklenburg County Public Defender’s Office, IDS just completed its fifth consecutive year of offering FREE, regular continuing education to criminal defense attorneys, investigators and mitigation specialists across North Carolina.
In 2024, a total of 15 sessions of the IDS Forensic Science Education Series were offered. Participants who took advantage of each session in the program had the chance to earn up to 20 hours of CLE credits apiece. And on average, 87 professionals attended each live session.
Here’s what participants had to say about the content and presenters of 2024:
“This was an excellent program. It helped me to understand the nature of this type of science and how such an expert might be incorporated into case defense.” Randolph Lee
“Excellent job. I appreciate the practitioners translating the science to law.” Jacqueline Reynolds
“These programs are great, on point for what we need, and easy to attend.” Daniel Meier
“This was an excellent program, with great guidance from a top expert! Thank you.” Theresa Newman
“Excellent program. Great information. Useful for practicing attorneys.” Glenn Adams
“This was very helpful, and I used it today. Thank you.” Walter Schmidlin
“This was a very helpful presentation – the material was presented in an understandable and compelling manner.” Janine Fodor
Looking Ahead…
IDS is looking forward to another great year of professional development in 2025. Webinars will be monthly and will typically take place at 12:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month. Sessions will last approximately 90 minutes and are provided free of charge.
Join us in February for the 2025 series
The first five sessions of 2025 will focus on best practices to manage the voluminous digital discovery in our cases. The first webinar of 2025 (February) will be an opportunity to earn Ethics CLE; participants in the March, April, May and June sessions will receive Technology or General CLE.
The remaining sessions (those from July to December) will feature scientists from the State Crime Lab who will explain how each forensic discipline tests evidence there. Topics will include drug chemistry, toxicology, trace evidence, digital evidence, DNA, firearms, and latent evidence.
2025 Schedule to Date:
Feb. 6: The Ethics of AI and Digital Investigations (90 min ethics credit anticipated) – Jamie Lau, JD
Mar. 6: Working with Video Evidence – Jason Stepanek, Amanda Zimmer, JD, and Anthony Monaghan, JD
Apr. 3: Maximizing the Digital Tools We Already Have – Jamie Blackwell and Anthony Monaghan, JD
May 1: Using Cellebrite Reader Reports – Spencer McInvaille
June 5: Managing Digital Discovery
Note: Only one registration is needed for the entire series, unless specifically noted. And if you signed up for the webinars in 2024, you’ll keep receiving the links to attend in 2025!
For interested professionals who are not yet registered, Click HERE to register for 2025.