ABA President Paulette Brown: ‘A law degree is more than just a piece of paper. It is power’

It has been 189 days since Paulette Brown took the office of ABA president. At that time, she said, she promised the ABA would be “social engineers for justice.” On Monday morning, Brown, of Locke Lord in Morristown, New Jersey, told the House of Delegates about the many things the…

Feb 8, 2016 1:55 PM CST

Proposed rule that makes workplace bias an ethics violation not going far enough, ABA president says

The efforts of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility to add provisions that would make it misconduct for lawyers to knowingly discriminate or engage in harassment in conduct related to the practice of law received generally positive reviews from about a dozen speakers who testified at a…

Feb 8, 2016 8:31 AM CST

New roster of ABA officer nominees sends a message about the importance of diversity and inclusion

Corrected: At a time when the collective makeup of the legal profession is a matter of ongoing concern, the top leadership ranks of the ABA have never been more diverse than they are now as a result of actions taken Sunday morning by the Nominating Committee. This is one of…

Feb 7, 2016 5:00 PM CST

Spirit of Excellence Award recipients share stories of achievement over adversity

Despite concerted efforts to make the legal profession more diverse and inclusive, progress toward achieving that goal still can be frustratingly slow. But for two decades, the ABA has held an event at its midyear meetings that gives a jolt of inspiration to help energize efforts to achieve equality in…

Feb 7, 2016 1:15 PM CST

Younger lawyers are most at risk for substance abuse and mental health problems, a new study reports

A new study released just prior to the 2016 ABA Midyear Meeting in San Diego rejects the prevailing wisdom about substance abuse and mental health problems in the U.S. legal profession on two key points. First, the levels of problem drinking and mental health issues in the legal profession appear…

Feb 7, 2016 11:15 AM CST

Homeless services model aims to provide military veterans with housing and legal assistance

In 1981, five Vietnam veterans hatched a plan to mount an armed assault on the Veterans Administration building in San Diego. They were angry that the VA seemed indifferent to veterans’ physical and mental health, and concerned about increasing numbers of homeless Vietnam vets around the city. But before they…

Feb 7, 2016 10:10 AM CST

Lawyers get a peek at the struggles in life and law on the Mexican border

In the high desert east of San Diego, the international border between the United States and Mexico is sometimes a fence, sometimes a wall and sometimes no more than an imaginary line. Enrique Morones knows where those weak places are, and so do U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. On…

Feb 6, 2016 1:48 PM CST

Documentary makes ‘stand your ground’ laws personal

On Black Friday of 2012, four teenagers stopped at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida, to buy gum and cigarettes and got into an argument with a stranger about their music. Only three survived. That was the beginning of the story told by 3½ Minutes, 10 Bullets, a documentary that…

Feb 6, 2016 12:41 PM CST

How to interrupt bias in the workplace

There’s no shortage of discussion about lack of diversity in the workplace, especially the legal profession. But solutions to the diversity problems and ways to combat implicit bias are harder to come by. That’s where Joan C. Williams, a feminist legal scholar based at the University of California’s Hastings College…

Feb 6, 2016 12:03 PM CST

Sex traffickers use social media to research victims to groom

Images of prostitutes walking the streets and picking up johns are pervasive in popular culture. But the reality is that commercial sex is just a click away. These days, johns set up “dates” from the privacy and comfort of their homes. So do the pimps and predators who lure vulnerable…

Feb 6, 2016 11:17 AM CST

Too many students are being diverted from school into the criminal justice system, report says

Key segments of the U.S. student population that are most in need of support from schools instead are being siphoned off into the criminal justice system, says a report that was issued in preliminary form Friday in conjunction with a program at the 2016 ABA Midyear Meeting San Diego. The…

Feb 6, 2016 10:28 AM CST

Self-driving cars will soon be street-legal, and California is getting a jump on regulating them

As any fan of rock ‘n’ roll’s hot rod genre can attest, cars have been an essential element of California culture for more than a century. So it’s only fitting that California is at the center of the growing movement to give cars, trucks and other motor vehicles the technology…

Feb 5, 2016 8:30 AM CST

Diversity and inclusion will be major themes at 2016 ABA Midyear Meeting

After a year when race and bias have been important parts of the national conversation—and when a woman of color is serving as ABA president for the first time—diversity and inclusion will be major topics at the ABA Midyear Meeting. The meeting is slated to start Thursday in San Diego.…

Feb 4, 2016 8:15 AM CST

Workplace bias would be an ethics violation under proposed ABA model rule

Corrected: A proposed amendment to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct would make workplace discrimination an ethics violation. The proposed Model Rule 8.4(g) would prohibit harassing or discriminatory conduct “related to the practice of law,” according to the ABA BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct. A comment to the…

Jan 19, 2016 5:45 AM CST

3 candidates vie for treasurer post

Oct 1, 2015 7:05 AM CDT