ABA

New ABA President Robinson Pledges to Help State Courts Address Their Fiscal Trouble

A year ago, incoming ABA president Stephen N. Zack identified the funding crisis facing the state courts as one of the key issues he wanted to tackle during his one-year term. He created the Task Force on Preservation of the Justice System and gave it a year to identify the…

Aug 1, 2011 5:40 AM CDT

ABA Commission Focuses on Hispanics; Hearings to Cover Critical Issues

Cesar L. Alvarez fled Cuba with his family in 1960, at age 13. Unlike many political refugees who expected to return within months of the communist takeover, the Alvarez family moved to North Miami and sent him to a school that was mostly Jewish, Irish and Italian and strongly encouraged…

Aug 1, 2011 5:30 AM CDT

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…

Aug 1, 2011 5:20 AM CDT

ABA Announcements

NOTICE BY THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS Pursuant to § 6.3(e) of the ABA’s Constitution, Puerto Rico will elect a State Delegate to fill a vacancy due to the demise of Armando Lasa-Ferrer. The term commences immediately upon certification by the Board of Elections and expires at the conclusion of the…

Aug 1, 2011 5:15 AM CDT

ABA’s Legal Ed Section Approves Questionnaire Changes on Reporting of Graduates’ Employment

It’s official: The ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has approved changes to its annual law school questionnaire to include more employment and placement information about graduates. The changes, recommended last month by the council’s questionnaire committee, were announced in a press release by the section…

Jul 27, 2011 9:23 PM CDT

ABA Urges Supreme Court to Find a Right to Effective Assistance in Plea Bargains

The ABA is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to find that criminal defendants have a right to effective assistance of counsel at the plea bargain stage. The ABA filed its amicus brief in a pair of appeals by defendants who say they got bad lawyer advice, leading them to turn…

Jul 27, 2011 10:30 AM CDT

Zack, ABA Respond to Grassley Inquiry: Schools Aren’t Misleading Scholarship Students

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) got a response Wednesday to the 31 detailed questions he had raised last week about the ABA’s law school accreditation process. And then some. ABA President Stephen N. Zack, in a letter (PDF) to Grassley, said the ABA shares the senator’s concerns about the transparency…

Jul 21, 2011 5:34 PM CDT

9th Circuit Says Calif. Lawyer Must Be Allowed to Continue to Practice in Federal Court in Oregon

A California lawyer who apparently may not have been allowed to sit for the Oregon state bar exam because he didn’t graduate from a mainstream law school must nonetheless be allowed to practice in federal court in Oregon, a federal appeals court has ruled. Because Mark Corrinet was previously admitted…

Jul 20, 2011 8:54 PM CDT

Legal Services Corp. Faces Potential 26% Budget Cut; ABA President Voices Concern

Legal services programs are weighing some painful choices in light of a proposed 26 percent cut in federal funding. The proposal to cut $104 million in funding follows Congress’ decision in April to impose a 4 percent midyear cut in LSC funding, the National Law Journal reports. If the cuts…

Jul 19, 2011 2:50 PM CDT

Sen. Grassley Questions ABA’s Law School Accreditation Process

A second U.S. senator is raising questions about the quality of the ABA’s law school accreditation process. U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), in a letter (PDF) Monday to ABA President Stephen N. Zack, is seeking a written response to a detailed list of 31 questions about the ways in which…

Jul 13, 2011 5:57 PM CDT

ABA Committee Considers Changes in Terms and Conditions of Law School Employment Policies

Should law schools be required to offer tenure or other forms of security of position to all full-time faculty members? That is the question at the heart of two alternative proposals now being considered by an ABA committee that is working on a comprehensive review of law school accreditation standards.…

Jul 11, 2011 11:34 PM CDT

What Did Katrina Teach Us?

Lawyers say they’ve learned from New Orleans and they’re ready for the next disaster. Lawyers who were there say maybe not.

Jul 1, 2011 9:49 AM CDT

A Common Thread: Four Different ABA Entities Share Goal of Safeguarding Constitutional Democracy

One of the things the ABA should offer is a complete picture of key issues in the legal profession. Call it connecting the dots. And that’s why this year’s work by four different interconnected ABA entities is so important. In their own way, each is safeguarding our constitutional democracy for…

Jul 1, 2011 9:10 AM CDT

ABA Home Front Website Helps Service Members Deal with Legal Matters

Stephen T. Lynch was certain there was something wrong about the hospital debt being sought from a member of the U.S. Coast Guard. As far as Lynch could tell, the alleged debtor—a petty officer second class—didn’t owe anything, let alone the amount in question. But the collection agency wouldn’t budge…

Jul 1, 2011 6:30 AM CDT

Coalition Strives to Make Room for Solos and Small-Firm Lawyers at the Policy Table

The ABA has not been shy in recent years about showing its desire to attract more members from the ranks of lawyers who maintain solo practices or belong to small firms. That interest is easy to understand, given the demographics of the U.S. lawyer population. The ABA estimates that, of…

Jul 1, 2011 6:10 AM CDT