This year's Chief Legal Officers Forum will be held in conjunction with the IMLA Mid-Year Seminar and will include topical programming for chief legal officers representing jurisdictions with populations between 100,000-300,000. This is a half day program that is designed for those city and county attorneys who lead and manage public law offices.
At the forum, WilmerHale Partners Brent Gurney and Debo Adegbile will present "Policing in America: What Cities Can Do Right Now to Make it Better," discussing the following topics:
- assessing your approach to policing, training, uses of force and accountability;
- creating a strategic reform and response plan;
- adopting national best practices and examining trends;
- engaging the community to resist a trust gap;
- what every city lawyer should know to bridge any gaps between the police department and city hall'
- why DOJ civil rights investigations could be less frequent under the new administration;
- why it still makes sense to act like policing practices could be scrutinized or sources of liability; and
- crisis management: what to do if it all goes south.
Adegbile will also present "Sanctuary Cities," discussing Executive Order 13768, “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States,” which directs the Attorney General and DHS Secretary to ensure that sanctuary cities are not eligible to receive federal grants. This presentation will explore what it means to be a “sanctuary city” covered by the Order and provide an overview of the lawsuits brought by San Francisco and Santa Clara in California and Lawrence and Chelsea in Massachusetts seeking to enjoin the Order.