ABA

Int’l Law Section Hopes Nuclear Test Ban Proposal Doesn’t Bomb a Second Time in ABA House

What business does the ABA have taking a position on whether the United States should ratify a treaty that bans testing of nuclear weapons? The Section of International Law hopes to answer that question when the ABA House of Delegates convenes a two-day session on Monday during the association’s 2010…

Aug 9, 2010 12:50 AM CDT

ABA President: Tech & Globalization Offer Lawyers Promise & Peril

Changes in technology and an increasingly global market for legal services offer both opportunities and challenges to U.S. lawyers, ABA President Carolyn Lamm told an audience at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco on Sunday. Lamm, a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of international law firm White &…

Aug 8, 2010 11:37 PM CDT

Social Media Is New Norm, But Courts Still Grappling With Whether to Let Cameras In

Corrected: The explosive growth of social media in the form of digital networks such as Facebook and Twitter is quickly changing how information is disseminated in today’s society. But when it comes to American courts, the debate over how to accommodate social media still tends to focus on whether and…

Aug 8, 2010 9:36 PM CDT

ABA’s House of Delegates Taps Official Tweeter to Follow Debates

Twitter-savvy lawyers will have an official set of eyes and ears on the floor of the ABA’s House of Delegates Monday and Tuesday. Connecticut-based attorney Dan Schwartz has been tapped to report live on the reports presented, issues debated and resolutions passed, or passed-on, by the ABA’s policy-making body at…

Aug 8, 2010 9:01 PM CDT

David Boies Calls on Lawyers to Speak Out Against Personal Attacks on Judges in Controversial Cases

Only days after ruling that California’s Proposition 8 ban against same-sex marriages violates the U.S. Constitution, a U.S. district court judge in San Francisco already has been subjected to personal threats against him, said David Boies in his keynote speech to the Opening Assembly of the 2010 ABA Annual Meeting.…

Aug 8, 2010 3:00 AM CDT

Medical Marijuana Muddle Grows for State Law Enforcement, Pot Farms and Patients

As more states enact marijuana control laws that conflict with federal legislation, state law enforcement officials, lawyers and doctors are left in a quandary when it comes to regulating and advising clients, patients and dispensaries looking to cash in on a lucrative market for medicinal marijuana. While U.S. Supreme Court…

Aug 8, 2010 1:46 AM CDT

Lawyers: Get a Pedicure, Go to the Dentist and Don’t Give Away Free Consultations, Expert Says

Lawyers who want to build successful practices should first find more personal time. That was the advice given by estate lawyer-turned-business consultant Alexis Martin Neely at a program on ways solo and small-firm lawyers can boost revenue and please clients at the ABA’s 2010 Annual Meeting in San Francisco. “Look…

Aug 8, 2010 12:46 AM CDT

It Helps to Think Like a Player—Poker, That Is—When You Take Your Case to Trial

Pot odds. Bluffing. Tells. Slow play. Those are familiar terms to even the most casual poker player, but lawyers—even those who don’t know the difference between trips and a full boat—might be wise to learn how they can be applied effectively to litigation, as well. That was the lesson imparted…

Aug 7, 2010 9:58 PM CDT

After Results at Donor Drive, ABA Section May Be Out for More Blood Next Year

A handful of lawyers helped save more than 80 lives on Friday during the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. There was no particular drama in what they did to save all those lives, but that made their actions no less important. And the only thing they had to fear—or…

Aug 7, 2010 1:54 AM CDT

Slander or Satire? When Does Social Media Cross Legal Lines?

“When you post something to the Web, you have to ask yourself, ‘Is this defamatory, satire or just plain mean?” Blogger Heather Armstrong issued the warning to attendees at an event on legal issues that surround the social media explosion Friday at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Armstrong…

Aug 7, 2010 1:05 AM CDT

Chamber of Commerce Finds Common Ground with DOJ on Key Litigation

Charles Dickens opened his famous novel A Tale of Two Cities with “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” If Dickens were covering an ABA Annual Meeting program Friday that looked at where the civil division of the U.S. Justice Department stands in the eyes…

Aug 7, 2010 12:40 AM CDT

Gap Between Sci-Fi and Reality May Be Narrowing in Justice System

Is the Tom Cruise hit Minority Report the future of justice? It’s closer to reality than you might think, according to a panel that spoke Friday at the ABA’s 2010 Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Advances in artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and neuroscience were among the hot topics at the provocative,…

Aug 6, 2010 10:42 PM CDT

Incoming ABA Prez to Put Ted Olson and David Boies at Helm of Justice System Project

Among the new initiatives that the incoming president of the American Bar Association is to announce Monday will be a plan to appoint attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies as co-chairs of a new ABA Task Force on the Preservation of the Justice System. Stephen N. Zack will make the…

Aug 6, 2010 8:53 PM CDT

US News Blames High Law School Tuition Partly on Oversupply of Eager Students

Angry law grads fighting for jobs in a tight job market often fill blog comment sections with demands to clamp down on the number of law schools churning out lawyers. These critics complain of sky-high education debt and no prospect of paying it off. But the limited number of schools…

Aug 6, 2010 11:40 AM CDT

Want to Build the Perfect Practice? Start Talking, Burn Your Timesheet and Get a Hog

Get paid to speak. Forget hourly timesheets. And find clients that share your passion – particularly if that includes riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Those were among the top tips shared at the Legal Rebels 2010: 10 Ways to Build a Perfect Practice & Career program Thursday at the ABA’s Annual Meeting…

Aug 6, 2010 1:23 AM CDT