ABA

NEW YORK CITY, Aug. 11, 2008 – The American Bar Association is launching a project that will allow civilian lawyers to represent active-duty military personnel in state and local courts.

Incoming ABA President H. Thomas Wells Jr. announced the ABA Military Pro Bono Project during his morning press conference at the Hilton New York today.    » read more »

NEW YORK, Aug. 12, 2008 –The American Bar Association’s House of Delegates approved recommendations relating to expanding military members’ access to the courts, encouraging bipartisan commissions to evaluate prospective judicial candidates and urging the U.S. government to expand its interaction with the International Criminal Court. The House, the ABA’s policy-making body, met during the final two days of the Association’s Annual Meeting in New York City.    » read more »

Stronger Rule of Law Is Key to Global Challenges, Leaders of Different Professions Say

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 20 — Prominent international leaders in business, government, nonprofit associations and the law have announced a historic gathering in Vienna, Austria, saying they must together build stronger institutions of law and justice, in order to defeat such ills as disease, hunger, environmental damage and human rights violations.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 28, 2008 – Saying that the capital trials of six Guantanamo detainees should comply with well-established guidelines for death penalty cases, American Bar Association President William H. Neukom has offered, in a letter to President Bush, to “engage the most able legal minds to ensure that these cases comport with the rule of law, so precious to our democracy."    » read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 12, 2008 – "The crack-powder disparity is simply wrong and the time to fix it is now," stated James E. Felman in his remarks on behalf of the American Bar Association before the Senate Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs Subcommittee, earlier today. The ABA is part of a broad consensus that finds disparity in sentences for crack and powder cocaine offenses "unjustifiable and plainly unjust."    » read more »

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2007 -- The following are prepared remarks of Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey at the American Bar Association National Security Law Breakfast:

Thank you Stewart for that introduction. It's a pleasure to be here with you today. I want to talk to you this morning about the need to put in place--permanently--the national security tools that we use for the war on terror--and in particular, about the need to modernize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or "FISA" as it's commonly called.    » read more »

November 15, 2007, WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the American Bar Association (ABA), on behalf of its Young Lawyers Division (YLD), announced today that a new Memorandum of Agreement was signed increasing the reach and array of legal services delivered to low-income victims of major disasters.    » read more »

Bar Association Offers Online Petition, Other Tools

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 14—An estimated 600 to 700 lawyers, most dressed in black, marched past the U.S. Supreme Court today to draw attention to their demand for an end to martial law in Pakistan, and to show their solidarity with Pakistani lawyers and judges targeted in the crackdown.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 14, 2007 - The U.S. House of Representatives took an immensely important step yesterday by approving H.R. 3013, the Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act of 2007.    » read more »

American Bar Association Applauds Biden’s Leadership on Sentencing Reform and Urges Senators to Support Biden Bill

November 5, 2007 -- Washington, DC – The American Bar Association recently announced its “strong support” for Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr.’s (D-DE) Drug Sentencing Reform and Cocaine Kingpin Trafficking Act of 2007 and “urge[d]” Senators to support the bill. Sen.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 20, 2007—The American Bar Association once again urged a key Senate panel to approve legislation barring the Department of Justice and other federal agencies from pressuring corporations to waive attorney-client privilege and work product protections, and to take punitive action against the corporation’s own employees, in exchange for leniency in prosecutions.    » read more »

August 13, 2007 -- SAN FRANCISCO – On Sunday, August 12, 2007, the American Bar Association (ABA) honored James Milkey, Chief of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley's Environmental Protection Division for distinguished achievement in environmental law and policy. The award was presented to Attorney Milkey at the ABA's annual awards banquet in San Francisco.    » read more »

CHICAGO August 6, 2007 -- The American Bar Association is deeply concerned that in passing revisions to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Congress has allowed a great expansion of the warrantless surveillance of American citizens, without adequate checks and balances to prevent invasions of privacy.    » read more »

CHICAGO July 2, 2007 -- The United States Supreme Court correctly halted the execution of Scott Panetti and remanded the case for further proceedings at the trial level.

The Court’s decision was grounded in an essential and important acknowledgement of the severity of some mental illnesses.

The ABA, which filed an amicus brief in this case, has called for a ban on the execution of death row prisoners who, for reason of mental disorder or disability, fail to understand the nature and purpose of their punishment, or to appreciate the reason for its imposition.    » read more »

CHICAGO, June 28, 2007 –- United States Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy has been chosen by the American Bar Association to receive its highest honor, the ABA Medal. He will receive the award during the opening assembly of the ABA’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco in August.    » read more »