ABA YLD Update

An Update on the ABA YLD Fall Conference
By: Chip Brooker and C.E. Rhodes

Approximately 200 young lawyers attended the ABA YLD’s Fall Conference held October 14-16, 2010 in Santa Fe, NM.

Council Meeting

The ABA YLD Council met on Thursday, October 14, 2010, to discuss the business of the organization. The highlights of the Council meeting included:

     • An update on this Year’s Initiatives. Please join us in implementing and/or promoting the following initiatives through your local affiliate:

          o Serving Our Seniors – Pro bono project to provide free basic estate planning to low-income senior citizens. You can get more information at www.abanet.org/yld/sos.

           o Law Day Video Contest – The public service project encourages high school students to submit a 2-3 minute video on this year’s Law Day theme of The Legacy of John Adams: from Boston to Guantanamo Bay. You can find more information at www.abanet.org/yld/lawday.

           o New Partner and In-House Counsel Conference – The conference will be held February 25-26, 2011 in Philadelphia, PA The coordinators have confirmed excellent speakers and dual-track CLEs for new partners and new in-house counsel participants. For more information about this conference, go to www.abanet.org/yld/newpartner/.

     • This April, the ABA YLD’s publication The Young Lawyer, will celebrate Earth Day by saving over 140,000 hard copies of this newsletter! To receive the paperless April TYL issue via e-mail, log on to www.abanet.org/myaba to make sure your e-mail address is updated and that you have opted in to receiving e-mail communications.

     • The ABA YLD is expanding the benefits to members on Facebook and other social media sites:
           o Members who “Like” the ABA YLD on Facebook will have access to member benefits, including articles, updates and information.

           o Council discussed whether to limit the ability to post information on Facebook. Currently, anyone who “Likes” the ABA YLD on Facebook can post comments on the page.

     • The Affiliate newsletter is always looking to highlight young lawyer groups, leaders, projects and programs.

          o If you have an idea for an article or if you or a member wants to submit an article about what your group is doing, please let me know or contact Maria Vittoria “Giugi” Carminati, this year’s editor, at Giugi.Carminati@weil.com.

          o If you’re not getting a copy of The Affiliate newsletter every other month, please let me know.

     • Disaster Legal Services are currently being provided in Texas, Iowa and Wisconsin. To help aid victims of a disaster, FEMA has authorized free disaster legal services (DLS) for low-income victims of the flooding and storms in these states.

          o As your District Representatives, we are the people responsible for coordinating DLS services in the event of a disaster in Texas.

     • The Membership Director gave a report concerning recent membership initiatives:

          o Touch 10,000 will be hosting several Meet and Greets across the nation. This is a member-to-member outreach program designed to increase ABA membership by informing young lawyers about the many benefits of membership. Touch 10,000 is always looking for more Ambassadors from each state. To learn more or to sign up as an Ambassador, go to http://www.abanow.org/2010/04/young-lawyers-launch-%E2%80%9Ctouch-10000%E2%80%9D-outreach-program/

          o Section Connect seeks to increase young lawyer involvement in sections of the ABA YLD. During the conference, the Section of Litigation was offering free membership to conference attendees as yet another benefit of involvement in the ABA YLD.

     • Council voted to create an Air and Space Law Committee.

     • Many reports from various committees of the ABA YLD were made. The YLD has dozens of committees that YLD members can join and become a leader. To learn about the YLD’s many committees, a full list can be found at: www.abanet.org/yld/committees.html.

During Council we also received reports from District and National Representatives about programs and events of local, state, and specialty young lawyer groups.

Conference Highlights

Santa Fe was beautiful, with warm days and cool nights. The conference kicked off with a morning plenary session where Chief Justice Charles W. Daniels of the New Mexico Supreme Court gave participants an entertaining overview of the history of New Mexico’s courts, from the days of Spanish occupation to when New Mexico finally became a state. After the plenary sessions, there were multiple classes of relevant programming. CLE classes included 101 Basics of Native American Law, Drafting and Using Written Discovery, Ethics, Election Law, and the Elected Official, Ethical Dilemmas in ADR, and the Legal Ramifications of the Gulf oil spill. There were also non-CLE workshops, including The Lawyer’s Role is Disaster Response, Developing Your Practice Through Speaking and Writing, Nontraditional Legal Practice, Valuing Diversity in the Legal Profession and Real Life Financial Strategies, among others.

Conference participants also got to see a Serving Our Seniors clinic firsthand. Young lawyers traveled to a local seniors center where attorney volunteers provided free basic estate planning to low income seniors.

The Affiliate Presidents and Presidents-Elect Roundtable was a great program for affiliate leaders to discuss challenges facing their young lawyer groups, including developing membership, promoting diversity, and implementing Public and Member Service projects. We strongly encourage your group to participate in the next roundtable at the Midyear Meeting in Atlanta. For more information, contact the Affiliate Assistance Team (see below).

As always, there were great networking events, including a Thursday evening First Timer’s Orientation and a Welcome Reception. The highlight was the Friday Night Gala at the Bonanza Creek Movie Ranch, which is a famous location for filming movies in New Mexico.

2011 ABA Midyear Meeting

Join us for our next in-person gathering at the ABA Midyear Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia on February 10-12. To learn more or to register for the Midyear Meeting, go to www.abanet.org/yld/midyear11/. Remember that we will be discussing ABA YLD policy and vote on resolutions during the ABA YLD Assembly at the Midyear Meeting. It is important that each state have a full roster of delegates.

     • Local affiliates, you have until December 1st to submit names of Assembly Delegates to TYLA.

     • State and Specialty YL Affiliates and Military Branches, you must submit the final names of Delegates for the Midyear meeting by December 15th. For more information, go to www.abanet.org/yld/assembly/

Upcoming Key Dates (visit www.abanet.org/yld/affiliate.shtml for more information):

November 1:          Law Day Video Contest Opens (ends March 1st)
December 1:          2011-2012 Appointment Process Opens and the deadline for local affiliates to submit names of Assembly Delegates to your state bar
December 7:           Resolutions Due for 2011 Midyear Meeting YLD Assembly
December 15:         Deadline for State and Specialty YL Affiliates and Military Branches to submit names of Assembly Delegates to the ABA YLD.
February 1:             Even-numbered Districts Select 2011-2012 Representative
February 10-12:     ABA Midyear Meeting–Atlanta, GA
February 15:          2011-2012 Appointment Application Deadline – Please let your members know that if they want to apply for an ABA YLD leadership position next year, they need to submit an application.
February 25 -26:    New Partner and In-House Counsel Conference
March 1:               YLD Subgrant Application Deadline – Each year, the ABA YLD gives subgrants to young lawyer groups for specific projects or programs. If you have a project you want to start or expand and you need additional funding, look to see whether a subgrant could provide the extra financial resources needed.

Affiliate Assistance

The ABA YLD and its Affiliate Assistance Team is here to provide affiliates with information and help when needed. We encourage you to utilize the ABA YLD’s webpage designed for affiliates: www.abanet.org/yld/affiliate.shtml
Also, the ABA YLD Affiliate Assistance Team is eager to work with affiliates for whatever they might need – from strategic planning to implementing a public service or CLE program. Whatever you need, feel free to ask the ABA Affiliate Assistance team what they can do to help. You can contact the Affiliate Assistance Team through the website above or you can let me know. Look the team up on Facebook as well and become a fan (ABA Young Lawyers Division Affiliates).