Legislation & Lobbying

3297 ABA Journal Legislation & Lobbying articles.

‘Seinfeld’ episode inspired new telemarketing law in New Jersey

Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill last week that that requires telemarketers to provide a callback number and to identify themselves and whom they represent within 30 seconds.

May 26, 2023 12:26 PM CDT

Florida courthouses are generally required to provide lactation spaces under new law

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill last week that requires county courthouses in the state to have private, clean lactation rooms with at least one electrical outlet.

May 26, 2023 8:39 AM CDT

Weekly Briefs: Infowars host Alex Jones’ lawyer appeals $97K sanction; judge removed for sexual comments

Lawyer for Infowars founder Alex Jones sanctioned $97K

F. Andino Reynal, the lawyer for conspiracy theorist and Infowars founder Alex Jones, told HuffPost that he is confident that…

May 12, 2023 3:02 PM CDT

Weekly Briefs: ‘State takeover’ of city policing challenged; lawyers sentenced in trip-and-fall scheme

NAACP sues over ‘state takeover’ of city policing, courts

The NAACP has filed a lawsuit challenging two state laws that “represent a state takeover of Jackson,” Mississippi, a predominantly Black…

Apr 28, 2023 2:49 PM CDT

Former Baker Donelson lobbyist pleads guilty for role in timber investment scheme

A former Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz lobbyist pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for participating in a scheme to defraud investors in timber investments.

Apr 28, 2023 8:40 AM CDT

Florida now has nation’s lowest death-penalty threshold; second bill allows execution of child rapists

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed a bill that allows juries to recommend capital punishment with an 8-4 vote.

Apr 20, 2023 12:02 PM CDT

ABA has a long history of advocating for indigent defense and public defenders

For more than a century, the ABA has advocated on issues related to indigent defense, primarily through its Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defense. In fact, SCLAID (when it was operating as the Standing Committee on Legal Aid Work) stated in its 1937 annual report: “We believe that every man accused of serious crime is absolutely entitled to counsel and that, if too poor to employ one, society must furnish him that lawyer.”

Apr 1, 2023 12:20 AM CDT

Morgan & Morgan won’t give ‘one single inch’ to insurance carriers on continuances and courtesies

Personal injury law firm Morgan & Morgan is drawing a line in the sand after Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping tort reform measure into law.

Mar 30, 2023 4:42 PM CDT

Members will return to Capitol Hill for in-person advocacy during ABA Day

For the first time since 2019, the ABA is convening on Capitol Hill for ABA Day. The annual advocacy event, which is scheduled for March 27-29, is an opportunity for Congress members to hear directly from their constituents about the association’s legislative priorities. Top of this year’s list: funding for the Legal Services Corp.

Mar 23, 2023 1:03 PM CDT

Daughter sues agency after DNA test IDs likely suspect in institutionalized mother’s rape

A woman who used AncestryDNA to find the man who likely raped her developmentally disabled mother in an institution has sued the New York agency that employed him as a caretaker.

Mar 15, 2023 9:00 AM CDT

States don’t have to ‘stand idly by and watch the carnage,’ 11th Circuit says in upholding age restriction on gun sales

Mar 9, 2023 3:21 PM CST

Law prof isn’t sure whether Florida blogger bill applies to him, says second bill would help cop defamation suits

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-dominated state legislature are “willing to take their chances in court” with performative legislation that goes beyond the law as it currently stands, according to a professor at the Florida International University College of Law.

Mar 7, 2023 9:36 AM CST

ABA task force issues 14 guiding principles to improve plea bargaining system

An ABA task force that spent three years examining problems in plea bargaining has released recommendations that judges, lawyers, lawmakers and other stakeholders can follow to create a fairer, more transparent process.

Feb 22, 2023 9:48 AM CST

Meet Holly Cook, director of the ABA Governmental Affairs Office

When Holly Cook joined the ABA in January 2012, she brought with her more than two decades of experience in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps. “I thought I was going to Afghanistan and deploying yet again. But I got a phone call one day saying they were looking for someone to come to the Governmental Affairs Office,” Cook says. “I loved working with the Hill. So I thought, ‘All right.’”

Feb 21, 2023 9:01 AM CST

Man who spent 28 years in prison is exonerated with help of pro bono lawyers

A 2021 Missouri law that allows prosecutors to ask courts to set aside wrongful convictions has resulted in the exoneration of a man who spent 28 years in prison for murder.

Feb 16, 2023 8:39 AM CST

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