“Through a Glass, Darkly”: Navigating Conflicts of Interest in Criminal Cases (Presented by the Federal Bar Association’s Professional Development Committee)

Brian L. Tannebaum, Esq., Attorney | Tannebaum Law

Brian Tannebaum is the founder of Tannebaum Law in Miami, Florida, where he represents lawyers, judges, law students, and law firms in ethics and criminal matters in state and federal courts. Now in his 30th year of practice, Brian has been described in print as “the lawyer that lawyers go to when they find themselves in hot water” — a characterization that captures the trust and reputation he has built as one of Florida’s most prominent professional responsibility and criminal defense practitioners. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America, named one of the top 100 lawyers in Miami by Super Lawyers, and is the author of The Practice: Brutal Truths about Lawyers and Lawyering, published by the American Bar Association. He is a Certified Sommelier outside the courtroom.

• Education & Credentials

Brian is a graduate of Florida law who has spent his entire 30-year career in state and federal courts representing members of the legal profession in ethics, disciplinary, and criminal matters. He is a former member of a Florida Bar Grievance Committee and a former member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review, and Attorney Grievance for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida — committee appointments that reflect his standing within the professional responsibility infrastructure of both the Florida Bar and the federal bench. He currently serves on the Florida Bar’s Professional Ethics Committee.

• Recognition & Leadership

Brian is listed in Best Lawyers in America and was named one of the top 100 lawyers in Miami by Super Lawyers — peer-recognition designations that reflect sustained excellence in professional responsibility and criminal defense practice. His ABA-published book, The Practice: Brutal Truths about Lawyers and Lawyering, is widely read within the legal profession and reflects the candid, practitioner-grounded perspective that defines his public voice on the state of legal practice. He is a Past Chair of the Innocence Project of Florida, reflecting a commitment to criminal justice reform beyond his private practice.

• Professional Involvement

Brian currently serves on the Florida Bar’s Professional Ethics Committee and as an officer of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers — two of the most significant professional responsibility bodies in Florida and the national bar. He is a Past President of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a Past Chair of the Innocence Project of Florida. He speaks and writes regularly on legal ethics, professional responsibility, and the realities of law practice, and his ABA-published book extends his voice to practitioners across the country seeking an unvarnished perspective on the profession.

• Experience

Brian Tannebaum has built a 30-year practice on a singular and demanding specialty: representing members of the legal profession — lawyers, judges, law students, and law firms — when they face ethics investigations, disciplinary proceedings, and criminal charges. His work on both sides of the professional responsibility infrastructure — as a former Grievance Committee member and Ad Hoc Committee member for the Southern District, and now as a practitioner defending lawyers before those same bodies — gives him a depth of institutional knowledge that few attorneys in this field can match. His Past Presidency of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, his Past Chairmanship of the Innocence Project of Florida, his current Florida Bar Professional Ethics Committee service, and his officer role at the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers make him one of the most institutionally engaged figures in Florida’s professional responsibility community. His ABA book and his public advocacy for honest reckoning with the realities of law practice extend his influence far beyond his own clients.

Keith Swisher, Esq., Professor of Law & Director | University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law

Professor Keith Swisher directs the Bachelor of Law and Master of Legal Studies Programs at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, where he teaches legal ethics and procedure. In addition to his academic role, he serves as ethics counsel and expert witness to lawyers, law firms, and judges, and represents indigent defendants in the Ninth Circuit. His scholarship is regularly published and cited in the areas of legal and judicial ethics and disqualification, and he previously founded and edited the first blogs on judicial ethics and lawyer disqualification. He is a former member of the ABA’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and the Editorial Board of ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct. In 2011, he received the ABA’s Rosner & Rosner Young Lawyer Professionalism Award, and in 2016, he received the AJC’s Learned Hand Emerging Leadership Award. He previously clerked for the Ninth Circuit (Judge Canby) and practiced at Osborn Maledon in Phoenix.

• Education & Credentials

Professor Swisher clerked for the Honorable William C. Canby, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit before entering private practice at Osborn Maledon, a leading Arizona litigation firm. His academic credentials are reflected in his appointment at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, where he directs two degree programs while maintaining an active practice as ethics counsel and expert witness. His founding of the first blogs dedicated to judicial ethics and lawyer disqualification reflects a scholarly initiative that has informed the field’s online discourse from its earliest stages.

• Recognition & Leadership

Professor Swisher received the ABA’s Rosner & Rosner Young Lawyer Professionalism Award in 2011 — a national recognition of exceptional commitment to professionalism among emerging lawyers — and the AJC’s Learned Hand Emerging Leadership Award in 2016. He is a former member of the ABA’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, one of the most influential bodies in the development of American legal ethics standards, and a former member of the Editorial Board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct. His scholarship is regularly cited in the legal ethics and judicial disqualification literature, and his dual role as academic director and active ethics practitioner reflects a career that contributes to the field on both theoretical and applied levels.

• Professional Involvement

Professor Swisher is a former member of the ABA’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and a former member of the Editorial Board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct. He founded and edited the first online blogs dedicated to judicial ethics and lawyer disqualification, establishing early and influential digital resources in these areas. He continues to serve as ethics counsel and expert witness to lawyers, law firms, and judges, and represents indigent defendants in Ninth Circuit proceedings — combining scholarly, advisory, and advocacy roles in an unusually active career across all dimensions of legal ethics practice.

• Experience

Keith Swisher’s career spans the Ninth Circuit clerkroom, private practice at Osborn Maledon, and the University of Arizona law faculty — a trajectory that has produced one of the most comprehensively engaged legal ethics scholars and practitioners in the country. His ABA Standing Committee service, his ABA/BNA editorial board membership, his founding of the first judicial ethics and disqualification blogs, his expert witness practice serving lawyers and judges, and his Ninth Circuit indigent defense work together define a career that contributes to the legal ethics field across every dimension: doctrinal scholarship, institutional governance, online discourse, practical advisory work, and pro bono advocacy. His ABA Professionalism Award, his Learned Hand recognition, and his program directorship at Arizona Law reflect sustained excellence in a field that demands both rigorous scholarship and genuine practitioner credibility.

The Honorable James E. Marner, United States Magistrate Judge | U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona

The Honorable James E. Marner is a United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Arizona, based in Tucson, appointed to the federal bench on April 2, 2025, for an eight-year term. Before his federal appointment, Judge Marner served as a judge for the Pima County, Arizona Superior Court from 2012 to 2025 — a 13-year tenure on the state trial bench during which he presided over a broad range of civil and criminal matters. Prior to taking the bench, he served as a trial attorney at the King County Prosecutor’s Office in Seattle, Washington, and then spent 15 years as a civil trial attorney in Pima County, Arizona — building a litigation record on both the criminal prosecution and civil trial sides before transitioning to the judiciary.

• Education & Credentials

Judge Marner’s legal career began with criminal prosecution work at the King County Prosecutor’s Office in Seattle, followed by 15 years of civil trial practice in Pima County, Arizona — a dual background in criminal and civil litigation that informed his 13 years on the Pima County Superior Court bench. His 2025 appointment to the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona as a Magistrate Judge represents the culmination of a career built on trial experience and judicial service at the state and federal levels.

• Recognition & Leadership

Judge Marner’s recognition is grounded in his appointment to two courts of significant institutional standing: the Pima County Superior Court, where he served for 13 years presiding over complex civil and criminal matters, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, where he was appointed as a Magistrate Judge in April 2025. Federal magistrate judge appointments are competitive and reflect the confidence of the federal district court in the appointee’s legal ability, judicial temperament, and professional standing. His prior career as a King County prosecutor and 15-year Pima County civil trial attorney reflects a practitioner who brought extensive courtroom experience to the bench from both sides of the docket.

• Professional Involvement

Judge Marner engages with the legal community through his judicial role, presiding over matters in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in Tucson. His prior service on the Pima County Superior Court and his history as a practicing trial attorney — in both criminal prosecution and civil litigation — provide a practical foundation that informs his engagement with the bar and with the procedural and substantive legal issues that come before him as a federal magistrate judge.

• Experience

Judge Marner’s path to the federal bench reflects a career built entirely on trial experience: criminal prosecution in King County, Washington; 15 years of civil trial practice in Pima County, Arizona; 13 years presiding over the Pima County Superior Court; and now service as a United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Arizona. Each phase of his career has deepened his understanding of how courts work at the trial level — from the perspective of a prosecutor, a civil advocate, and a judge — making him a particularly well-rounded judicial voice on the practical realities of federal litigation, procedure, and the standards of conduct the federal courts expect from the lawyers who appear before them.

SESSION 1 – Ethical Foundations of Conflict-Free Representation | 1:00pm – 1:20pm

Panelists examine the ABA Model Rules governing criminal representation, exploring how core ethical duties—loyalty, confidentiality, and competence—form the constitutional foundation of a defendant’s right to conflict-free counsel.

SESSION 2 – Identifying Conflicts in Criminal Proceedings | 1:20pm – 1:40pm

Panelists identify how conflicts of interest emerge during criminal proceedings and outline the shared responsibilities of defense attorneys, prosecutors, and courts to recognize and address these issues before they compromise representation.

SESSION 3 – Resolving Conflicts and Securing Informed Consent | 1:40pm – 2:00pm

Panelists walk through proven conflict resolution strategies, including how to properly conduct ex parte hearings, document the process, and obtain meaningful informed consent from clients to preserve case integrity and judgment finality.