ABA

Lawyers Giving Back

Know someone in the legal field who gets a charge out of helping others? Snap a photo at their next event and please submit them to Julie Brown c/o Lawyers Giving Back. We welcome your “action” photographs of lawyers—whether ABA members or not—giving back to their communities. Send jpeg files…

Oct 1, 2011 6:10 AM CDT

ABA Announcements

NOTICE BY THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS REGARDING 2012 REGULAR STATE DELEGATE ELECTION The following jurisdictions will elect a State Delegate for a three-year term beginning at the adjournment of the 2012 Annual Meeting: Arkansas Colorado Delaware Georgia Idaho Indiana Louisiana Maryland Minnesota Nevada New Hampshire New York Ohio Oregon Rhode…

Oct 1, 2011 6:00 AM CDT

US News Won’t Recalibrate Law School Rankings Despite Word of More U of Illinois Data Errors

News of additional errors in some Law School Admission Test and grade point average data published in recent years by the University of Illinois isn’t going to make any difference in U.S. News & World Report’s annual law school rankings for those years. For one thing, it appears that the…

Sep 29, 2011 11:12 PM CDT

Court-Funding Crisis Is About Politics, Not Just Money, Erwin Chemerinsky Says

The growing financial crisis facing state court systems has coincided with the economic doldrums that have existed in the United States since at least 2008. But at least one expert in law and government warned today that politics may be having just as much impact on legislative funding decisions for…

Sep 23, 2011 10:46 PM CDT

$1M Gift to Law School Honors Former ABA Treasurer M. Peter Moser

The widow of lawyer M. Peter Moser is honoring her late husband with a $1 million gift to the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. The gift was made by Liz Moser through the Moser Family Philanthropic Fund, the National Law Journal reports. Moser, who died in…

Sep 22, 2011 6:32 PM CDT

ABA Opposes Proposed Labor Rule that Would Force Lawyers to Reveal Client Info and Fees

ABA President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III is urging the U.S. Department of Labor to reconsider a proposed reporting rule that would require lawyers to reveal sensitive client information. Currently the Labor Department interprets the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act to exempt lawyers from the law’s “persuader activities” reporting requirements…

Sep 22, 2011 2:20 PM CDT

Ethics 20/20 Commission Fine-Tunes Proposals on Technology, Outsourcing; Comments Due Nov. 30

As the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 approaches its target date for submitting a package of resolutions to the association’s House of Delegates, the nature of the draft proposals it’s circulating for comment are changing. Created in 2009 to consider the impact of technology and globalization on professional conduct rules…

Sep 20, 2011 2:13 PM CDT

University of Illinois Releases the Real Stats for Its Incoming Law Class

The University of Illinois has released corrected grade and test data for its incoming law class that is lower than the statistics previously reported on the school’s website and promotional materials. The median Law School Admission Test score for the class of 2014 is 163, not the 168 originally touted,…

Sep 20, 2011 11:53 AM CDT

UF Law School Names Building for Ex-ABA President Zack After $800K Gift

The University of Florida’s Levin College of Law will name a hall after immediate-past ABA President Stephen N. Zack, a law school alumnus. The dedication ceremony is today, report the Miami Herald and a press release. Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and former Florida Gov. Bob Graham will…

Sep 12, 2011 3:50 PM CDT

Ethics 20/20 Commission Proposes to Remove More Barriers to Cross-Border Practice

The ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 this week posted its latest series of draft proposals for comment. The four proposals largely focus on how ethics rules should be amended to make it easier for lawyers in the United States to engage in cross-border practice. Three of the preliminary recommendations would…

Sep 9, 2011 5:45 PM CDT

Is a Client Sending You Email on a Work Computer? Duty to Warn Could Apply, ABA Opinion Says

If a client is emailing his or her lawyer from a work computer or an employer’s electronic device, there’s a good chance that the communication could be intercepted by the employer. And, especially if the matter concerns a workplace issue, that may implicate a duty on the lawyer’s part to…

Sep 7, 2011 10:38 PM CDT

If Secret Email Surfaces, ABA Opinion Says Opponent Alert Isn’t a Must—But Local Rules May Differ

If you represent an employer who turns out to have copies of an employee’s email to counsel on a workplace computer or smartphone, the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct probably don’t require disclosure to the opposing side in litigation. However, rules of civil procedure or case law in that…

Sep 7, 2011 10:20 PM CDT

ABA Opinion Gives Guidance on Changing Legal Fee Arrangements During Representation

Lawyers aren’t expected to practice year after year without raising their fees. And circumstances, of course, can change unexpectedly. So it’s often permissible for an attorney to change legal fee arrangements during an ongoing representation, as long as the change is reasonable and consented to by the client. However, other…

Sep 7, 2011 9:38 PM CDT

Bernice Donald is Confirmed to the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals

A longtime federal judge in Memphis, Tenn., breezed through the U.S. Senate confirmation process today with bipartisan support for a seat on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. After 30 minutes of debate, U.S. District Judge Bernice Donald was approved by a 96-2 vote, reports the Commercial Appeal. She…

Sep 7, 2011 12:11 AM CDT

A Day of Days: ABA Members Recall How 9/11 Changed Their Lives and Their Work

Cynthia Weiss Antonucci was walking out the door of her Manhattan townhouse the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when the phone rang. It was her roofing contractor, who wanted to stop by to inspect a leak. Antonucci, an attorney at Harris Beach, had a court hearing scheduled for that morning…

Sep 1, 2011 9:16 AM CDT