Agenda Faculty CLE Pricing Register Online
LOCATION: LIVE Webinar via Zoom
DATE: Thursday, July 30, 2026
TIME: 11:00am - 2:30pm EST
CLE Credits: Approx. 3.0 Credits (where approved)
Program Description:
This 3-hour extensive training will equip you with the scientific foundation needed to critically evaluate and challenge forensic toxicology evidence. Participants will learn how drugs interact with the body, including pharmacokinetics (how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolizes, and excretes substances) and pharmacodynamics (how drugs produce their effects). Particular attention will be given to how route of administration, whether smoked, injected, ingested, or inhaled, affects the speed and intensity of drug effects, a critical factor in cases involving impairment timing and causation arguments.
The training will then then turn to the forensic testing process itself, walking attorneys through the two-stage analytical scheme used by forensic laboratories: preliminary screening (qualitative positive/negative results) followed by confirmatory testing (which identifies specific drugs and metabolites and quantifies amounts present). Defenders will gain insight into the standard operating procedures, validation requirements, reporting cutoffs, and accreditation standards that govern laboratory testing, and how variability between forensic labs, private labs, and hospitals can create openings for cross-examination and evidentiary challenges.
By the end of the training, you will be better positioned to question lab methodology, scrutinize toxicology reports, and effectively challenge the scientific basis of drug-related charges in court.
Agenda
This is a LIVE Webinar event. As such, the program agenda, faculty, and presentation times are subject to change throughout the day. All times are EST.
| Thursday, July 30, 2026 | |
|---|---|
| 11:00 am - 12:00 pm EST | Beyond the Toxicology Laboratory Report: Insights Into Reporting and Interpretation of Drug Results - Amanda M. Kogelschatz, M.S., D-ABFT-FT, Rimkus (Albany, NY) |
| 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm EST | Cross of Forensic Experts - Joseph P. St. Louis, St. Louis Huffman Law (Tucson, AZ) |
| 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm EST | From Chemistry to Courtroom: The Role of Toxicology in Alcohol and Drug Cases - Amanda M. Kogelschatz, M.S., D-ABFT-FT, Rimkus (Albany, NY) |
Faculty
Amanda M. Kogelschatz, M.S., D-ABFT-FT
Amanda M. Kogelschatz, M.S., D-ABFT-FT is a board-certified Toxicologist with over a decade of direct experience in evaluating drug and alcohol cases working for a state forensic laboratory before transferring into the private sector. She specializes in the pharmacology and interpretation of alcohol and drugs, including drugs of abuse, pharmaceuticals, emerging substances, and their effects on human performance and impairment. Her professional background includes supervising a state forensic laboratory, where she oversaw toxicology operations, case management, chain of custody, quality assurance, Discovery, and compliance with state and federal regulations. She has testified in multiple trials involving impairment, evidence handling, analytical methods, and laboratory practices. Her education background includes a Master of Science in Forensic and Investigative Science and dual bachelor’s degrees in Forensic and Investigative Science and Chemistry from West Virginia University. As part of the Rimkus Toxicology and Food Safety practice group, she specializes on forensic investigations involving general toxicology, DRAM shop, impairment, alternative causation, increased risk, and dose response relationships.
Joseph P. St. Louis *NACDL LIFE MEMBER
Joe St. Louis is the managing partner of St. Louis Huffman Law, a DUI and Criminal Defense Law Firm. Joe is the incoming Dean (Chairperson of the Board of Directors) of the National College for DUI Defense, a nationwide defense group with over sixteen hundred members. He is certified as a specialist in both criminal law (by the Arizona State Bar) and in DUI defense (by the National College for DUI Defense, recognized by the American Bar Association). Joe is a litigator, with a heavy pretrial motion and jury trial practice, defending people on charges involving everything but Rock n’ Roll – crimes involving alcohol, drugs, sex and violence. Joe likes to hear himself talk, and his vanity is easily appealed to, so he regularly speaks to State defense and State Bar groups, on a variety of topics. He has given presentations to groups in 20 states, and has been voted a top 10 national speaker for his presentations for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, twice. Joe’s accomplishments include convincing judges to dismiss first degree murder charges in two separate cases, and being one of four lawyers to convince a superior court judge to suppress the blood evidence in 11 consolidated felony cases, after a 17-day Daubert hearing. In 2024 he was the primary author on laboratory issues in an amicus brief for NCDD filed in the United States Supreme Court on the issue of surrogate analyst testimony in Smith v. Arizona. His greatest accomplishments, however, are convincing his wife Tania to stay with him for 29 years, his children Renee and Jack, and restraining himself from physically attacking a prosecutor or judge in 37 years of practice.
CLE Information
NACDL is an accredited provider of CLE in all states requiring mandatory CLE Training. Approval is not gauranteed in all states and jurisdictions. Some states, IL, GA, NE, NM, PA, SC, TN and UT require additional fees by the attendee in order to receive credit.
State approvals: Alaska (est. 3), Arizona (est. 3), Connecticut (est. 3), Hawaii (est. 3), Maryland (est. 3), Massachusetts (est. 3), Michigan (est. 3), New Hampshire (est. 3), New York (est. 3), South Dakota (est. 3), Vermont (est. 3).
Pricing
Members of NACDL enjoy exclusive registration rates for our seminars.
| Registration Fees | |
|---|---|
| NACDL MEMBERS | $99 |
| Non-Members | $129 |
NOTE: All registrations are final and non-refundable.
Code of Conduct
NACDL endeavors to foster a working, learning, and social environment free of harassment, discrimination, intimidation, and insult. To that end, NACDL has adopted a Code of Conduct for Affiliated Persons that applies to all attendees and participants of any kind at all NACDL sponsored events.
Learn More