ABA Notices - October-November 2022

Oct 1, 2022 12:10 AM CDT

Dealing with Dobbs: ABA responds to the overruling of Roe with 6 resolutions

“We are setting policy on which the ABA can build to assure that ordinary acts of daily life are not criminalized,” former ABA president Laurel Bellows said. “This is criminalizing talking to your friend about her options. This is criminalizing and delaying very important medical response when a woman has suffered a miscarriage or is in a threat of harm or life because the people who would need to touch her at that moment don’t need to be worried about whether they, in fact, will be subjected to criminal charges.”

Oct 1, 2022 12:10 AM CDT

Utah’s reforms offer model for serving low-income and indigent people, report suggests

The Utah model of reform allowing nonlawyers to offer legal services could be “critical” to serving people who can’t afford them, according to a Stanford Law School study published Tuesday.

Sep 29, 2022 10:42 AM CDT

Pro se lawyers must follow ‘no-contact’ rule, new ABA ethics opinion says

Pro se lawyers may not directly contact an opposing litigant if that person is represented by counsel.

Sep 28, 2022 10:03 AM CDT

Working remotely is now a top priority, says new ABA report highlighting lasting shifts in practice of law

Young lawyers feel so strongly about remote work that 44% of them would leave their current jobs for a greater ability to work remotely elsewhere, according to a new report the ABA released Wednesday.

Sep 28, 2022 9:50 AM CDT

Black defendants make up more than 50% of exonerations since 1989, new report says

People who are Black comprise 13.6% of the population in the United States but 53% of exonerations from the past 33 years, according to a new report released Tuesday by the National Registry of Exonerations. The report shows Black people are overrepresented among exonerations for all serious crimes except white-collar crimes.

Sep 26, 2022 11:01 PM CDT

Former law school dean sues Texas university over loss of tenure

Alleging that she was stripped of tenure without cause and denied due process, the former law school dean of Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law has brought a federal lawsuit against the historically Black college.

Sep 22, 2022 1:49 PM CDT

California bill signed into law restricts state bar sandbox proposals

A State Bar of California proposal to explore law firm ownership by nonlawyers and allow paralegals to perform certain legal services was limited Sunday, when Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill requiring legislative approval for regulatory sandbox spending.

Sep 21, 2022 1:42 PM CDT

Nina Totenberg’s early life, NPR legacy and friendship with the Notorious RBG

A special two-part episode of the Modern Law Library podcast with Nina Totenberg speaking about her new book, “Dinners With Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships,” and Lisa Napoli, author of “Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie.”

Sep 21, 2022 8:41 AM CDT

Roula Allouch is leading efforts to stop cyberbullying and discrimination

Roula Allouch thinks about young people in her community whenever her civil rights work starts to feel daunting. “Working with youth helps refocus and recenter me on the reason that we’re doing it all: to make things better for the generation coming after us,” says Allouch. “I don’t want the next generation of Arab-American kids and Muslim youth to be dealing with those same challenges.”

Sep 20, 2022 10:10 AM CDT

Weekly Briefs: ABA supports marriage equality law; Stanford offers new model for legal ed loans

ABA president calls on Senate to support Respect for Marriage Act ABA President Deborah Enix-Ross is calling on members of the U.S. Senate to vote for the Respect for Marriage Act, which the U.S. House of Representatives passed with significant bipartisan support in July. In a letter sent to senators…

Sep 16, 2022 3:03 PM CDT

Advocates are helping Afghans apply for asylum and other immigration relief with ABA assistance

Freshta Kohgadai fled with her family from Kabul, Afghanistan, to the United States in the late 1980s. When she discovered the ABA Scholarship for Legal Advocates—a new program that aims to increase the culturally and linguistically competent pro bono services available to Afghan arrivals—she knew she had to apply.

Sep 8, 2022 3:30 PM CDT

Responses wanted: Motherhood penalty and caregiver bias will be evaluated in new ABA survey

The ABA Commission on Women in the Profession is launching a new survey to assess how the motherhood penalty and other caregiver bias impacts the careers of female lawyers.

Sep 8, 2022 2:00 PM CDT

Law school leaders make diversity argument in support of admissions tests

A proposal to cut an accreditation standard requiring law school admissions tests was criticized by 60 deans in a Sept. 1 letter sent to the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

Sep 2, 2022 10:32 AM CDT

Changes are proposed to Public Service Loan Forgiveness program as part of student-loan debt relief

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that his administration will cancel up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt and up to $20,000 in student debt for Pell Grant recipients.

Aug 25, 2022 9:50 AM CDT