Annual Meeting

Harvard Prof Sees Legal Profession in Turmoil

The legal profession is “seeing the acceleration of large-scale trends which were accentuated [by the recession]. They will have a profound impact on all lawyers’ practices and how we regulate, compensate and train lawyers,” Harvard Law School professor David B. Wilkins told the ABA House of Delegates on Monday. ABA…

Aug 9, 2010 10:15 PM CDT

ABA Backs Free Immigration Counsel for Indigent Defendants

Noncitizens charged with crimes should be entitled to free legal counsel on immigration matters if they cannot afford to hire their own lawyer, the ABA’s policy-making House of Delegates said Monday. The measure passed by an overwhelming voice vote. Resolution 100C (PDF) calls for federal, state and local governments “to…

Aug 9, 2010 9:43 PM CDT

ABA: More DOJ Misconduct Info Should Be Public

The ABA’s policy-making House of Delegates on Monday urged the U.S. Department of Justice to more fully report on its investigations into misconduct by DOJ attorneys. The measure passed by an overwhelming voice vote; no one spoke in opposition. Resolution 100A (PDF) calls on the Justice Department to “release as…

Aug 9, 2010 9:12 PM CDT

Justice Ginsburg: Confirmations Should Be Less Contentious

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, appearing Monday before the ABA House of Delegates, called for a return to the less contentious U.S. Supreme Court confirmations that she experienced 17 years ago. “May the Senate one day return to the collegial and bipartisan spirit that Justice [Stephen G.] Breyer and I had…

Aug 9, 2010 7:41 PM CDT

ABA President: Membership Growing in Key Areas

Looking back on her year in office, ABA President Carolyn Lamm told the ABA’s House of Delegates on Monday that the ABA is neither ahead nor behind the curve, but is “setting the curve” with its members. A key effort of her term has been to expand ABA membership. The…

Aug 9, 2010 5:44 PM CDT

Women Lawyers Celebrate Inroads, Denounce Vestiges of Inequality

The same weekend Elena Kagan was sworn in as the fourth female justice ever to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, five other female lawyers were honored at the ABA’s 2010 Annual Meeting for their commitment to the equal participation of women in the profession and justice system. Sunday’s celebration…

Aug 9, 2010 1:36 AM CDT

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