ABA

‘I’d give anything to have the ABA work with the judiciary in Iraq,’ UK trade envoy says

The rule of law as embodied in the Magna Carta needs to be brought to the people who need it most, said Baroness Emma Nicholson during her luncheon speech at the ABA London Sessions. “People want freedom. People want the rule of law,” Nicholson said. “They want these two things…

Jun 13, 2015 10:10 AM CDT

Laws and regulators need get up to speed with high-frequency trading technology, panelists say

The world of insider trading and the laws needed to prosecute those illegal trades continues to evolve as new issues and technologies used for trading emerge, attorneys said at an ABA panel discussion Friday. The fast-changing landscape is best illustrated by the recent case of Navinder Singh Sarao, the British…

Jun 12, 2015 2:50 PM CDT

UK and US legal systems both sprung from the Magna Carta, but many jurisdictional differences exist

A major theme of the ABA London Sessions commemorating the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta is its effect in binding two of the leading common law jurisdictions in the world, the United States and the United Kingdom. But underneath that sheen of commonality lies a whole…

Jun 12, 2015 1:05 PM CDT

The Magna Carta is one of Britain’s best exports, Cherie Blair says

Cherie Blair marked the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta by proclaiming it to be one of Britain’s best exports. “The Magna Carta is one of Britain’s gifts to the world,” she said. “Although only three of its clauses remain on our statutes, it is still a…

Jun 12, 2015 12:45 PM CDT

How different would our world be today had the Magna Carta never been sealed?

Call it the “butterfly effect” from 800 years ago: What if King John had decided to stick it to his nobles and not affix his seal to the Magna Carta? That was the question a panel of judges and academics considered during the 2015 ABA London Sessions commemorating the 800th…

Jun 12, 2015 10:05 AM CDT

International laws complicate the hunt for data evidence

The ubiquity of information, coupled with conflicting international laws about privacy, data protection and national security laws, is making litigation a minefield of challenges, attorneys agreed at a panel discussion at the ABA London Sessions Friday. In simpler times, the question of where evidence was located usually was a straightforward…

Jun 12, 2015 9:05 AM CDT

Indiana Tech Law School denied provisional accreditation

Indiana Tech Law School has been denied its bid for provisional accreditation by the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. The two-year-old school was notified of the decision Tuesday, according to a statement on the school’s website. The news was also posted (PDF) on the section’s…

Jun 10, 2015 4:30 PM CDT

ABA’s Magna Carta anniversary celebrations kick off in London

The ABA’s celebration of the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta peaks with a five-day program in London beginning Thursday featuring pomp, circumstance and continuing legal education programs. The events culminate in a rededication of the ABA memorial to the Magna Carta at Runnymede, England, to be attended by Queen…

Jun 10, 2015 8:30 AM CDT

Proposal to allow academic credit for paid externships moves forward in ABA

A proposed change to law school accreditation standards eliminating the current ban on students receiving academic credit for paid externships has been approved for notice and comment by the governing council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. Under the proposal, a law school could…

Jun 8, 2015 3:03 PM CDT

ABA asks SCOTUS to overturn Florida law allowing divided juries to recommend death penalty

The American Bar Association filed an amicus brief (PDF) on Thursday asking the nation’s top court to overturn Florida law allowing a jury to recommend the death penalty by majority vote. The U.S. Supreme Court appeal concerns the case of Timothy Lee Hurst, a man his lawyers say has limited…

Jun 5, 2015 2:04 PM CDT

Queen Elizabeth II will attend Magna Carta anniversary ceremonies at Runnymede

For the past year, the ABA has used the upcoming 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta as an evocative teaching tool emphasizing the ancient roots of democratic principles and the rule of law. Those efforts will culminate in mid-June, when the association holds its London Sessions and participates with British organizations to commemorate the sealing of the Magna Carta by King John of England on June 15, 1215.

Jun 1, 2015 6:20 AM CDT

Attorney’s book recounts how he helped bring US military involvement in Vietnam to an end

In 2003, Richard Pena was on his second tour in Vietnam, leading a delegation from the People to People Ambassador Program, when he made a surprising discovery. During a visit to the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City (the former Saigon), Pena noticed a photo hanging on a wall over an inscription that read "Last plane out." The photo depicted a line of American troops walking between rows of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers to board an airplane. In the middle of the photo was a young American soldier carrying a briefcase. Pena immediately recognized that he was that soldier, and seeing the photo for the first time brought back vivid memories of that moment 30 years earlier, which essentially recorded the end of U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War.

Jun 1, 2015 6:10 AM CDT

America’s Magna Carta

During the weeks last summer that the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston hosted one of only four known original copies of the Magna Carta, the single sheet of faded sheepskin parchment might have been the plainest-looking object on display anywhere in the museum's vast array of galleries.

Jun 1, 2015 5:30 AM CDT

Bipartisan efforts seek to reform sentencing and post-conviction policies

Maurice Alexander, a 61-year-old resident of the District of Columbia, was caught up in a police roundup of some young men. As he described it to National Public Radio, “I became perturbed and I shook my finger at the police and said something to the effect of ‘Shame on you.’…

Jun 1, 2015 4:50 AM CDT

New Innovation Act, aimed at ‘patent trolls,’ would require more details in infringement complaints

It is a rare instance of bipartisan consensus. Democrats and Republicans in Congress agree that “patent trolls” are using dubious infringement claims to pressure others to purchase patent licenses, thus extorting millions of dollars annually from businesses large and small across the U.S. The trolls are a threat to both…

Jun 1, 2015 3:40 AM CDT