Total Credits: 3 CLE, 3 Ethics
Our experienced ethics panelists will cover topics such as:
Attorney competence;
Chair:
Meredith Vivona, Ethics Counsel, State Bar of Arizona
Faculty:
Steve Little, Bar Counsel, State Bar of Arizona
Matthew McGregor, A/CAP Bar Counsel, State Bar of Arizona
Patricia Sallen, Ethics at Law PLLC
Meredith Vivona, Ethics Counsel, State Bar of Arizona
Donald Wilson, Jr., General Counsel, Broening Oberg Woods & Wilson, PC
Meredith L. Vivona is the Ethics Counsel for the State Bar of Arizona, where she advises lawyers through the Ethics Hotline, presents ethics related CLE programs, acts as legal advisor to the Fee Arbitration Program, serves on the Ethics Advisory Group and acts as liaison to the Arizona Supreme Court’s Attorney Ethics Advisory Committee. Prior to becoming Ethics Counsel, Meredith served as Practice Management Attorney for Practice 2.0 and the Trust Account Helpline, the State Bar’s confidential practice management and trust account advice program. Before joining the State Bar of Arizona, Meredith served as Independent Bar Counsel, investigating and prosecuting misconduct allegations brought against attorneys, when the Lawyer Regulation Office had a conflict. Part of Meredith’s responsibilities included serving as Acting Disciplinary Counsel for the Commission on Judicial Conduct where she investigated and resolved judicial misconduct complaints. Before serving as IBC, Meredith enjoyed a varied career in private practice, with experience in civil litigation matters throughout the state. Meredith is admitted to practice in Arizona and the U.S. District Court for the State of Arizona. Meredith received her Juris Doctor from Wake Forest Law School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
is a senior member in the law firm of Broening Oberg Woods & Wilson, P.C., which he joined in 1981. Mr. Wilson is an experienced litigator, with substantial trial experience. He concentrates his practice on the defense of attorneys in malpractice and disciplinary matters. Mr. Wilson served as a Judge Pro Tem on the Maricopa County Superior Court bench for twenty years, and is a past president of the Arizona Association of Defense Counsel. He is also a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel and is certified in legal malpractice by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys. Mr. Wilson was selected by his peers as a Best Lawyer in legal malpractice in 2011-2019 and has been named Lawyer of the Year for legal malpractice defense by Best Lawyers in 2014, 2016 and 2019. He has also been nominated as a Southwest Superlawyer in legal malpractice for multiple years, including 2019. He is also a member of the Arizona Attorney Ethics Advisory Group. Mr. Wilson completed his undergraduate education and obtained his law degree at Arizona State University. In his leisure time, Mr. Wilson enjoys the company of his wife, Mary, and is an avid reader and archery hunter. Mr. Wilson can be reached at dwj@bowwlaw.com.
Matt McGregor is Bar Counsel with the State Bar of Arizona’s Intake department. Born and raised in the far suburbs of Chicago, IL., his first legal job was with the Maricopa County Attorney’s office, where he worked from 2002 – 2007. Matt worked in the Preliminary Hearing, Juvenile, and Family Violence Bureaus. Matt then moved over to the State Bar of Arizona’s Lawyer Regulation department in 2007, where he worked as a Litigation Bar Counsel, and then transitioned into a part of the Intake department. In 2011, Matt returned to the County Attorney’s office, where he worked in Charging / Grand Jury, Family Violence, Gangs, and as a Mentor for newer attorneys in the Preliminary Hearing bureau. Matt then returned to the State Bar’s Intake department in February 2016, and he also assists in conducting in-person law office assessments for the State Bar’s Law Office Management Assistance Program. Matt regularly teaches as part of the State Bar of Arizona’s Professionalism Course and other CLEs.
Patricia Sallen is a lawyer in private practice focusing on professional responsibility issues. She represents lawyers in discipline and admission matters, provides ethics advice to lawyers, serves as an expert witness on professional-responsibility issues, and consults on a myriad of other law-related topics. She regularly presents at CLE seminars and publishes articles about professional responsibility and writes the Eye on Ethics column for Arizona Attorney. She also has taught professional responsibility as an adjunct professor at the Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law for more than a decade. In addition to practicing in private law firms, she spent more than 15 years working for the State Bar of Arizona as both a bar counsel and ethics counsel and supervised programs such as the Fee Arbitration Program and Client Protection Fund. She served as expert consultant to the Arizona Supreme Court's 2014-15 comprehensive ethical rules review effort and to the Court's 2019-20 Task Force on the Delivery of Legal Services, which resulted in the groundbreaking rule changes allowing non-lawyer firm ownership and legal paraprofessionals. She currently serves on the State Bar's Ethics Advisory Group and the Supreme Court's Task Force on Ethics Rules Governing the State Attorney General, County Attorneys, and Other Public Lawyers.
is Senior Bar Counsel in the State Bar of Arizona's Lawyer Regulation Division and a Judge Pro Tempore for the Maricopa County Superior Court. Steve has prosecuted numerous Lawyer Regulation cases over the years, in addition to presenting substantive CLEs on legal ethics and professional responsibility. Steve also runs and oversees the State Bar's Law Office Management Assistance Program, which offers in-person law office management assistance to lawyers in need. Steve has previously worked as Assistant Ethics Counsel for the State Bar, as a prosecutor for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office in the Major Crimes Division, and has run his own legal practice, representing personal injury clients and defending lawyers from ethics and malpractice complaints.
