CLE Webinar

Friday, August 1, 2025

12:00-1:00pm ET / 9:00-10:00am PT

Whether you serve on a parish or diocesan/metropolis council, provide informal guidance to a parish, or simply want to be aware of issues that a church should know about, we welcome you to join OCAN for this free CLE webinar on top legal issues faced by churches. 

This introductory webinar will provide an overview of top legal issues all Orthodox parishes should be familiar with, including:

• Church Governance
• Parish Leader Fiduciary Obligations
• Youth Protection 
• Clergy-Penitent Privilege
• Insurance
• Copyright
• Property
• Liability protection

CLE credit anticipated in:  AL, AK, AZ, AR, CA, CT, DC, GA, IL, IN, KS, MD, MI, MN, MS, NV, NH, NY, NC, OH, PA, TN, TX, WA, WV, WI (FL attorneys can self-report)

Speaker:  

Dn. Kenneth Liu

Executive Director

Orthodox Christian Attorney Network

Deacon Ken has been an intellectual property and nonprofit law attorney serving churches, religious ministries, and other nonprofit organizations for over 25 years. He is currently Of Counsel with the firm of Gammon & Grange, PC  in northern Virginia, and also serves part-time as General Counsel & Senior Advisor of Orthodox Youth & Young Adult Ministries. He serves as a consultant to the Assembly of Bishops’ Legal Affairs Committee and founded the Orthodox Christian Attorney Network as an informal group in 2017 and which was formalized as a nonprofit corporation in February 2024. 

Dn. Ken is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Cornell Law School. He grew up in the Taiwanese Presbyterian Church and, after discovering the spiritual depth and beauty of Orthodoxy, was received into the Orthodox Church with his wife and two boys in 2009. He was ordained to the diaconate at St. Mary’s Romanian Orthodox Church (OCA) in northern Virginia in November 2024. He has served on St. Mary's Parish Council for over a decade, including for four years as Council President.

Thoughts from the Bench:

A "Fireside Chat" with Three Orthodox Judges

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Ever wonder what life and work is like on the other side of the bench? Join us for an informative discussion among three distinguished Orthodox judges at different stages of their judicial careers.  Among the topics to be addressed are:

• What are some of the biggest joys and challenges of serving as a judge?
• How does one prepare to become a judge?
• How does being a person of faith affect being a judge?
• Advice for litigators from the perspective of a judge
• Advice for anyone interested in becoming a judge

Panel of Judges:

Honorable Nada Kosanovich Sizemore

Connecticut Superior Court (retired)

Honorable Steven Counelis

Superior Court of the State of California, County of Riverside

Honorable Rose Marie Karadsheh Preddy 

Seventh Judicial Circuit Court of Florida

Thoughts on Humility

for Orthodox Christian Attorneys

Speaker: Lory Barsdate Easton

Thursday, April 10, 2025

In the Lenten prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian, we ask the Lord to give us the spirit of humility. What is humility, and what does it mean to be humble as a lawyer? This webinar will discuss the virtue of humility, touching on Orthodox teachings and recent psychological research, and will explore challenges for lawyers seeking to grow closer to Christ through humility.

We will discuss some of the specific pitfalls for lawyers, including:

• the competitive and adversarial aspects of the profession,
• the encouragement to be self-promoting as "marketing,"
• the temptations of specialized knowledge, prestige, and power, and
• the dangers of stress and burnout

We also will consider some examples of humility in action in legal practice. Entering Holy Week, Orthodox Christians are brought face-to-face with the icon depicting the Extreme Humility of Christ. Join us before Lent ends to consider how our Lord Himself tolerated shame and injustice – to the grave – and what that means for us as lawyers.