The 16-Pager: How to avoid boredom in retirement with the greatest of ease

What are you going to do when you retire? That's usually the first question after the big announcement comes out. Everyone has plans, but retirees often discover that these were not as sustainable, lasting or rewarding as they'd thought, and they have empty hours to fill. At this point, developing meaningful alternatives can be overwhelming. Time passes, and opportunities are lost.

Apr 9, 2025 2:04 PM CDT

Sound Decisions: Meet the retired bankruptcy judge who rules Seattle’s ambient electronic music scene

When federal bankruptcy judge Marc Barreca retired in 2024, he ended both his legal career and his double life. For years, Barreca had been dividing his time, spending weekdays presiding over a courtroom and evenings and weekends in his studio, composing and recording ambient electronic music.

Apr 1, 2025 1:10 AM CDT

New York judge plans to retire after facing allegations of misconduct

A New York judge who was under investigation for allegedly engaging in discourteous behavior and other alleged misconduct has decided to step down from the bench.

Mar 18, 2025 8:59 AM CDT

Investing for retirement—is it luck?

Accumulating your desired retirement fund balance relies mostly on the amount that you have saved. But investing your savings is also an important aspect of achieving your retirement goals. To understand the importance of your savings habits, see this Sept. 11, 2024, article in the ABA Journal: "Getting ready for retirement is easier than you think."

Jan 28, 2025 3:31 PM CST

Retired Supreme Court Justice Breyer will hear cases with 1st Circuit

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is returning to the federal bench.

Jan 2, 2025 1:49 PM CST

Trump’s election sparks fight over judicial retirements, new judgeships

It is rare in the federal court system for judges to retract declarations of senior status, a form of semi-retirement that creates a vacancy on the court. Legal experts see the judges’ actions as part of the broader political jockeying over a federal court system whose judges have lifetime appointments and whose rulings can shape policy over multiple administrations.

Dec 24, 2024 10:30 AM CST

Top news stories of 2024

Every year, we like to give our readers a peek behind our analytics and share which of our stories got the most traffic. For 2024, we're sharing the top 10 news stories written for ABAJournal.com and the top five articles that also appeared in our magazine. The Second Amendment, law school rankings and retirement for lawyers all drew attention this year.

Dec 24, 2024 8:00 AM CST

Dive into our favorite long reads of 2024

The end of the year will hopefully bring you some downtime for leisure reading. We’ve curated a list of some of our favorite web and print long reads from 2024.

Dec 23, 2024 9:35 AM CST

Poll: Which ABA Journal magazine cover from 2024 was your favorite?

We covered a wide array of diverse, in-depth and hard-hitting legal topics at the ABA Journal this year.

Dec 20, 2024 10:35 AM CST

4th Circuit judge’s ‘unretired’ decision leads to ethics complaint by conservative group

A conservative group has filed a judicial misconduct complaint against a third judge who revoked plans to take senior status after it became clear that a successor would not be confirmed before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.

Dec 17, 2024 3:25 PM CST

2 federal judges have changed their minds about senior status; will 2 appeals judges follow suit?

After President-elect Donald Trump won a second term in the White House, two Democratic-appointed federal judges announced that they no longer plan to take senior status.

Dec 5, 2024 10:02 AM CST

Getting ready for retirement is easier than you think

Dec 1, 2024 1:40 AM CST