Hispanic Rights Commission to Ask ABA to Take Stand Against Efforts to Limit Birthright Citizenship

The ABA’s policy-making House of Delegates is being asked to take a stand opposing efforts to limit the right to U.S. citizenship for anyone born in this country, regardless of the status of their parents. The recommendation, submitted as a late report (PDF) by the Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights…

Aug 4, 2011 11:28 PM CDT

ABA Annual Meeting Gets Under Way in Toronto, Features Prominent Jurists

Not one, but two U.S. Supreme Court Justices will join the more than 5,000 lawyers gathered in Toronto this week for the ABA Annual Meeting. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer and retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will speak on the state of civil education in the nation’s schools…

Aug 3, 2011 7:22 PM CDT

ABA Plan to Collect Detailed Law School Employment Data Riles NALP

The ABA’s latest plan for collecting more detailed employment and placement information about law school graduates has created a rift with the National Association for Law Placement. Under the new plan, the ABA would collect the data directly from the schools rather than rely on NALP to collect and process…

Aug 2, 2011 8:39 PM CDT

Getting in the Way: It’s a Lawyer’s Job to Do Right, and Deter Wrong

Aug 1, 2011 8:20 AM CDT

Changing Times: Fee Agreements May Be Modified, But Only for Good Reasons

Aug 1, 2011 6:50 AM CDT

Meeting Miss Nelle: Ala. Lawyer Has a Rare Encounter with the Author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

Aug 1, 2011 5:50 AM CDT

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

Aug 1, 2011 5:40 AM CDT

ABA Commission Focuses on Hispanics; Hearings to Cover Critical Issues

Aug 1, 2011 5:30 AM CDT

Lawyers Giving Back

Aug 1, 2011 5:20 AM CDT

ABA Announcements

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