For decades, the lawyers who advise law enforcement have learned the job the hard way — by getting sued, by getting second-guessed in federal court, by reading the Supreme Court opinion after the use-of-force lawsuit had already been filed. Every other branch of the legal profession has a specialty program built for it. Police legal advisors did not. Until now.
PLAC — the Police Legal Advisor Certification Program — is the only training program in America built exclusively for the attorneys and legal professionals who counsel law enforcement. Two levels. Thirty-six CLE hours. Taught by practitioners who have actually done the work. Every topic was chosen because it directly affects how you advise the agency tomorrow morning — not what bar examiners want to ask.
Who PLAC is for
• Police Legal Advisors and General Counsel staff
• Prosecutors and Deputy Prosecutors
• City Attorneys and County Counsel
• Private attorneys providing legal services to police agencies
• Risk managers with law enforcement oversight
• Chiefs and command staff (welcome to attend)
Why PLAC isn’t another CLE
Most legal education was written for litigators trying cases years after the fact. PLAC is different. It is built around the situations you actually face: the 9 p.m. call from a sergeant about a search, the draft pursuit policy on your desk, the §1983 complaint that just landed at city hall, the union grievance over a Loudermill notice, the Brady disclosure question that came in this morning. Attendees leave with working frameworks they can use the day they get back, not just doctrine they can recite.
• Built exclusively for the lawyers who advise law enforcement — not general civil litigators
• Two-level certification path: Foundational (Level 1) and Advanced (Level 2), 36 CLE hours total
• Class size capped at 40 — discussion-driven and scenario-based, not death-by-PowerPoint
• Constitutional doctrine, civil liability strategy, employment law, and policy practice in one cohesivecurriculum
• Taught by attorneys who have stood in the legal-advisor seat and know what the job actually demands
Taught by the practitioners
PLAC is led by Anthony Bandiero (attorney and nationally recognized law enforcement legal trainer) alongside David Huckabee (former Police Legal Advisor for the Topeka Police Department and current prosecutor). The combination matters. Anthony has trained tens of thousands of officers and is one of the most sought-after speakers in law enforcement law in the country. David has actually held the chair. Between them, attendees get the national-trainer perspective and the from-the-trenches reality check on the same material.
What you walk away with
• A working framework for advising your agency on use-of-force, search and seizure, interrogations, and Miranda issues
• Practical tools — policy templates, bulletin-drafting techniques, and scenario-based training program design
• Up-to-date constitutional and civil liability doctrine, translated into plain language officers and command staff can use
• A national peer network of attorneys doing the same job, navigating the same agencies, facing the same questions
• Direct access to the faculty during the course and afterward
