Civility Beyond Politeness, with Alexandra Hudson

Are you interested in civility? Or a specialty CLE in civility? Join us May 7, 2024 for lunch as we host Alexandra Hudson. Hudson's book, The Soul of Civility, argues that true civility—essential for both political and human flourishing—goes beyond politeness and conciliation. Instead, civility often requires uncomfortable conversations and delivering hard truths. 

In addition to exploring the timeless principles of civility, this program will address civility in the legal profession specifically — including the hard cases: dealing with bias, opposing counsel's incivility, and even incivility directed at the bench

"Tact," in a famous quote attributed (though possibly erroneously) to Churchill, "is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip." Join us as we discuss how to tell our interlocutors to "go to hell" but with a soul of civility. 

Arrive early! A free copy of Alexandra's The Soul of Civility will be available to the first 20 arrivals. 

When: Wednesday, May 7, 2025  at 11:45 a.m. (registration), 12:00 Noon (lunch)

Where: First Floor Conference Room, 2040 Main Street, 1st Floor, Irvine, CA.
(Please validate your parking ticket in the lobby before or after entering the venue.)

Cost: $30/members, $35/non-members, $20/students, for lunch and 1 hour of MCLE credit (the Federalist Society is a California State Bar approved provider of MCLE).

RSVP and Pay: To RSVP and pay by credit card, please visit the Federalist Society event page here.

To pay by cash or check at the door, please send an RSVP to Tim Kowal at OCFedSocPresident@gmail.com and make checks payable to “The Federalist Society.”

*** Please email us if you have any dietary concerns. ***

 

 About: Alexandra O. Hudson, Founder, Civic Renaissance; Adjunct Professor, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

ALEXANDRA O. HUDSON is a writer, popular speaker, and the founder of Civic Renaissance, a publication and intellectual community dedicated to beauty, goodness and truth. She was named the 2020 Novak Journalism Fellow, and contributes to Fox News, CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, TIME Magazine, POLITICO Magazine, and Newsweek. She earned a master's degree in public policy at the London School of Economics as a Rotary Scholar, and is an adjunct professor at the Indiana University Lilly School of Philanthropy. She is also the creator of a series for The Teaching Company called Storytelling and The Human Condition. Her first book, The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves, is forthcoming from St. Martin’s press this October. She lives in Indianapolis, IN with her husband and children.

March 13, 2025 Lawyer & Law Student Mixer

Join us for an evening of networking with fellow lawyers and law students at Hangar 24 in Irvine. Light refreshments will be provided.

When: Thursday, March 13, 2025 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Where: Hangar 2 17877 Von Karman Ave., Ste. 110 Irvine, CA

Cost: Members: Free, Non-Members: $15.

RSVP and Pay: To RSVP and pay by credit card, please visit the Federalist Society event page [here].

To pay by cash or check at the door, please send an RSVP to Tim Kowal at OCFedSocPresident@gmail.com and make checks payable to “The Federalist Society.”

*** Please email us if you have any dietary concerns. ***

The Right to Parody: Ted Frank on Free Speech and the Fight Against Election Speech Restrictions

Challenging California's "anti-parody" law, Ted Frank recently won a preliminary injunction against California's Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber, ruling that Assembly Bill 2839 and its prohibition on allegedly "deepfake" political advertisements have "no place" under the First Amendment. 

Join us for this lunch event as Mr. Frank takes us through the lawsuit, and what other challenges to the First Amendment are expected as "deepfakes" become more effective—both as means of parody, and as means of deception.  

When: Friday, March 21st at 11:45 a.m. (registration), 12:00 Noon (lunch)

Where: First Floor Conference Room, 2040 Main Street, 1st Floor, Irvine, CA.
(Please validate your parking ticket in the lobby before or after entering the venue.)

Cost: $30/members, $35/non-members, $20/students, for lunch and 1 hour of MCLE credit (the Federalist Society is a California State Bar approved provider of MCLE).

RSVP and Pay: To RSVP and pay by credit card, please visit the Federalist Society event page here.

To pay by cash or check at the door, please send an RSVP to Tim Kowal at OCFedSocPresident@gmail.com and make checks payable to “The Federalist Society.”

*** Please email us if you have any dietary concerns. ***

About: Theodore H. Frank is director at the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute and the Center for Class Action Fairness. Frank founded and ran CCAF as a non-profit, public interest law firm in 2009.

Frank has won several landmark appeals and tens of millions of dollars for consumers and other plaintiffs through his class action work. Adam Liptak of The New York Times calls Frank “the leading critic of abusive class action settlements” and the American Lawyer Litigation Daily referred to him as “the indefatigable scourge of underwhelming class action settlements.”

Previously, Frank clerked for the Honorable Frank H. Easterbrook on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and was a litigator at firms in Washington and Los Angeles and a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Frank is a frequent public speaker and has testified before Congress multiple times on legal issues. He has been profiled by The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, GQ, and the ABA Journal, among other publications.

In 2008, Frank was elected to membership in the American Law Institute. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society Litigation Practice Group. Frank graduated from The University of Chicago Law School in 1994 with high honors and as a member of the Order of the Coif and the Law Review. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the state bars of California and Illinois.