Anytime of the year is a good time to be in San Francisco. April is really lovely. An added bonus, if you’re a criminal defense investigator, lawyer, mental health expert, jury consultant, journalist or anyone else concerned with the rights of the criminally accused, is The Return of the Maltese Falcon: Training for Sam Spade in the 21st Century, the National Defense Investigators Association conference, April 26-28, 2006.

For the price of one elegant dinner on the town you can attend this two day intensive of presentations by those who have honed their craft. Hear notables David Fechheimer speaking on International Investigation: How Do We Investigate in the Global Village and the former Director of the San Francisco Office of Citizen Complaints addressing Dirty Cop Investigations: Examining Police (Mis)Conduct. Other topical sessions explore wiretapping, gang and child pornography investigations.