18th Annual TDLA Meeting

September 17 & 18, 2026

18th Annual TDLA Meeting

Earn 4 CLE, including 60 minutes Ethics.

Join us for TDLA’s 18^th Annual Meeting. The event begins on Thursday evening at 6pm with a networking reception followed by dinner and a speaker. Friday morning’s business meeting begins at 8am, followed by a full slate of CLE’s. The event concludes by noon.

Download the Program Brochure Here

(agenda, speaker bios, registration form)

Hilton Garden Inn Downtown

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Reserve Your Room Now

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Hilton Garden Inn, at the special rate of $279+.

Reserve by August 18, 2023

THE CLE PROGRAM

MICHAEL KENNEDY, ESQ.

Bar Counsel, The Vermont Judiciary

Mike Kennedy graduated from the University of Vermont and the George Washington University Law School. Mike has been Vermont Bar Counsel since 2012. As Bar Counsel, Mike focuses on assisting lawyers and judges to comply with the Rules of Professional Conduct and their professional obligations. From 2000-2012, Mike was Vermont’s Disciplinary Counsel, investigating and prosecuting lawyers who violated the Vermont Rules of Professional Conduct. He previously served as the president of the Vermont Bar Association and as an assistant attorney general for the Department of Corrections and Department of Health. In 2022, he received the prestigious American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Second Circuit. 

DRI Speaker

HENRY M. SNEATH

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Pittsburgh, PA

Defending the Algorithm®: A Lawyers Bayesian

Analysis of AI Litigation and Law

A 2-hour intensive, this topic will have a practical piece and a substantive piece.

View the full session description here.

Part I: The AI Daily Routine: AI Platform Demonstrations, AI Workflow Integration and Bayesian Probability Analysis 

In this practicum on AI Technology, see leading AI platforms in action, showing actual daily AI litigation workflows and the construction of a Bayesian approach to use of AI in the practice of law. This interactive and heavily demonstrative session showcases the coordinated use of multiple AI tools for legal research, litigation analytics, research verification, content/ image generation, database projects and writing assistance, document workflow, and large-scale  document review and production. Tools reviewed include Westlaw Advantage AI CoCounsel Premier, Google Gemini 3.1Pro, Claude Opus 5.0 and Fable 5.0 by Anthropic, and NetDocs with Legal AI Assistance.

Henry Sneath will demonstrate real defense use cases and some best practices for using AI to the benefit of clients. Learn integration strategies across systems to create seamless information flow, cost-benefit analysis frameworks, and how to build an "AI Daily Routine" for defense trial lawyers in Defending the Algorithm®.

Part II: Defending the Algorithm®: Insurers’ Use of Algorithmic Decision-Making Claims Handling Systems; Bad Faith Implications; and Current Bellwether AI Discovery Cases

In this session, Henry Sneath will review several pending and groundbreaking AI‑driven cases and analyze insurance coverage and potential bad‑faith issues for AI-related claims using the Defending the Algorithm® framework. Highlighted cases include the Estate of Lokken v. UnitedHealth Group, Kisting‑Leung v. Cigna, and Barrows v. Humana, each having implications for coverage interpretation and raising questions about algorithmic decision‑making and who or what is making the claims determination. He will cover expert‑witness strategies, discovery challenges around AI “black box” systems, and protective‑order issues, along with insights from the bellwether employment case of Mobley v. Workday, and its implications relating to alleged employment discrimination by a Workday AI Bot.

Henry Sneath is a Director/Shareholder Attorney at Houston Harbaugh, P.C. in Pittsburgh, where he Co-Chairs the Litigation Section, and is Chair of the IP Section.  He has tried over 95 civil jury trials to verdict. He specializes in Business Litigation, Intellectual Property, Patent, Trademark and Copyright Infringement, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Trade Secret Protection, DTSALaw®, Cybersecurity and Data Breach, Prevention, Mitigation and Litigation, Products Liability Defense, Employment, Non-Competes, Restrictive Covenants, Probate, Trusts and Estates Litigation and Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith Litigation. He also serves as a certified mediator, arbitrator and Federal Court Special Master.

He is a Past President of DRI (Defense Research Institute) and is the former Chair of its Commercial Litigation Committee and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. He received his J.D. degree from Duquesne University School of Law.

JAMES P. SPIZUOCO, Shareholder

Drummond Woodsum

Portland, Maine

Recent Trends in Medical Malpractice

James Spizuoco will analyze recent multi-million-dollar medical malpractice verdicts in Maine, as well as damages issues currently before the Maine Law Court that implicate the cap on wrongful death actions. He’ll also report on the state of attorney-directed voir dire and provide observations on how it was used at a recent jury trial. Finally, this session will include an essential overview of Perringer releases: what they are, how they are used, and how a defendant should elect between the offset and allocation methods.

James Spizuoco is a Shareholder at Drummond Woodsum who focuses his practice on civil litigation, insurance coverage and defense, and medical malpractice defense. He represents medical professionals of every level and specialty, as well as hospitals and health care systems. Known for his ability to quickly learn and understand complex medical concepts, James advises clients from the notice of a malpractice claim up to and including trial. At a trial in Maine this summer, he helped obtain a unanimous defense verdict in a case that featured an alleged failure to diagnose osteomyelitis in the jaw of a patient who was seeking more than $1 million in damages. James has been recognized by both New England Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers USA.

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