ABA

In Pro Bono Address, ABA President Says Independent Legal Profession, Judiciary Are Key to Democracy

ABA President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III kicked off the National Pro Bono Summit on Monday with an address expressing support for an independent judiciary and legal profession. Robinson applauded those at the meeting for their commitment to pro bono work and offered some thoughts about the importance of independence,…

Oct 25, 2011 1:36 PM CDT

Ex-President of Ohio State Bar Is Cooperating with Feds in Tax Fraud Case

A senior partner of Thompson Hine who formerly served as president of the Ohio State Bar Association is cooperating with federal prosecutors after being charged with tax fraud (PDF). Leslie W. “Les” Jacobs, 66, acknowledged in an interview that he had made fraudulent tax filings prior to 2008 and called…

Oct 17, 2011 11:15 PM CDT

ABA Legal Ed Section to Draft a Standard Specifying Penalties for Schools That Misrepresent Data

Updated: The ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is defending the way it manages the collection and reporting of law school placement data. The section also is reiterating its commitment to the clarity and accuracy of such data by vowing to vigorously enforce the standard requiring…

Oct 17, 2011 8:16 PM CDT

Senators Seek Decade of Detailed Law School Placement, Bar Passage and Student Debt Data

Two U.S. senators have asked federal educational officials to turn over detailed information about law school enrollment, tuition, finances, job placement, bar passage and student debt rates over the past 10 years. In a statement Friday, the two—Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK)—said they were acting in…

Oct 14, 2011 6:24 PM CDT

LSAC Considers Role Confirming Law School LSAT and Grade Stats

The Law School Admission Council is considering an auditing role after recent news reports revealed that two law schools reported inflated statistics about their incoming classes. LSAC president Dan Bernstine said in a statement (PDF) that some schools have asked the council to confirm statistics provided to the ABA on…

Oct 12, 2011 12:17 PM CDT

Sen. Barbara Boxer Accuses ABA of Taking ‘Half Measures’ to Collect Better Job Stats

The controversy over law school job statistics didn’t end when the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar decided to collect and disseminate more detailed data. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., announced today that she has written a letter to ABA President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III that…

Oct 6, 2011 6:55 PM CDT

ABA Brief Filed in Md. Supports Counsel for Indigents at Bail and Pretrial Release Hearings

The ABA has filed an amicus brief in Maryland’s highest court supporting the appointment of counsel for indigents at bail and pretrial release proceedings. The Maryland Court of Appeals is considering whether the Sixth Amendment, the state constitution or state statutes require appointment of counsel for indigent defendants before a…

Oct 5, 2011 10:30 AM CDT

Stephen Zack: Ignoring Obstacles

Also see: The Rise of the Latino Lawyer. In 1972, Stephen N. Zack was a recently minted lawyer in court in Miami with a Cuban-American friend. The judge was miffed at his friend’s heavy Cuban accent, Zack says, and dismissed him from the courtroom. “ ‘Get out of here until…

Oct 1, 2011 10:20 AM CDT

The Confession: Excerpt from John Grisham’s Winning Entry for Harper Lee Prize

John Grisham’s novel The Confession, chronicling the gut-wrenching politics of a last-ditch death penalty appeal in Texas, is the winner of the inaugural Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. The prize, created by the University of Alabama School of Law and the ABA Journal, honors Lee—a native of Alabama who…

Oct 1, 2011 10:00 AM CDT

Lawyers Do Well by Doing Good

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The time is always right to do what is right.” Now, as our nation faces economic uncertainty and anemic state court budgets threaten access to justice, it is important for us to do what is right as lawyers. Pro bono work helps our communities…

Oct 1, 2011 9:40 AM CDT

Into the Breach: Voluntary Compliance on Money Laundering Gets a Boost from the ABA and Treasury

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images It was early April 2006, and attorney Scott D. McCreary had an uneasy feeling about the $38.5 million sitting in his firm’s escrow account awaiting transfer to the seller of a long-range Gulfstream G-V jet. McCreary, who leads the aviation practice group for McAfee &…

Oct 1, 2011 6:50 AM CDT

Past ABA President Jerome Shestack Dies; Widely Known for Human Rights Work

Jerome J. Shestack, a lawyer recognized for his work in the human rights field who served as ABA president in 1997-98, died on Aug. 18. He was 88. Shestack was a past chair of the International League for Human Rights and was the U.S. representative on the U.N. Human Rights…

Oct 1, 2011 6:40 AM CDT

Letting Them Be: ABA Takes a Hands-Off Stance Toward Lawyer Ranking Services

Illustration by Sam Payne The ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 has concluded that the logical policy for the association to take toward companies that rank law firms and lawyers is to pretty much just leave them alone. And it appears that is what the ABA is going to do. The…

Oct 1, 2011 6:35 AM CDT

Readying for Trouble: Yearlong Initiative by TIPS Focuses on Disaster Preparedness and Response

The ABA’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section has launched a yearlong schedule of programs on disaster preparedness and response. Not surprisingly, given the section’s substantive orientation, much of the programming focuses on the key role that insurance plays in preparing for disasters—whether man-made or natural—and recovery efforts. “This is…

Oct 1, 2011 6:30 AM CDT

ABA Urges Congress to Bolster Legal Services Provisions in Older Americans Act

With the Older Americans Act of 1965 coming up for reauthorization this year, the ABA is working with other organizations to make sure that meeting the critical legal needs of the nation’s most vulnerable elderly citizens gets the attention of Congress. “Legal services can be a key access service that…

Oct 1, 2011 6:20 AM CDT