ABA YLD

ABA/YLD MIDYEAR MEETING
By:  Rusty O’Kane

The first weekend in February was an exciting time for the ABA Young Lawyers Division. The ABA Midyear Meeting took place in San Diego, California, and young lawyers from all over the country came together to discuss important issues facing the profession. In particular, the YLD Assembly discussed and passed resolutions pertaining to the provision of legal services by non-lawyers, mandatory diversity CLE credits, and ending privatized probation services. Candidates for leadership positions within the Young Lawyers Division were also introduced and presented their visions for the future.

Of particular interest, Resolution 105 created spirited debate about the future of legal services and whether non-lawyers should be allowed to provide simple legal services. The resolution’s purported aim is to address the “justice gap” by acknowledging that some states may want to let non-lawyers provide legal services. Opponents of the resolution include the ABA’s Litigation Section; the division for Solo, Small Firm and General Practice; and the bar associations of New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Nevada. The State Bar of Texas Board of Directors passed a resolution in January saying it would be premature for Texas lawyers to support the ABA resolution before the Texas Commission to Expand Civil Legal Services issued its final report. Groups that voiced support before the ABA’s vote included the ABA’s Business Law Section, the Bar Association of San Francisco, and the Washington State Bar Association. The YLD Delegates voted by a slim majority to support the resolution, with supporters saying that it gives states a framework to consider the regulation of “nontraditional legal service providers.” You can read the text of the resolution here.

The delegates also discussed and recommended passage of Resolution 107, which encourages all state, territorial, and tribal courts, bar associations and other licensing and regulatory authorities that have mandatory or minimum continuing legal education requirements (MCLE) to modify their rules to include a separate credit program regarding diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and require a designated minimum number of hours for this separate credit without increasing the total number of required MCLE hours. You can read the text of the resolution here. 

Finally, the YLD Assembly considered Resolution 3YL, which urges state legislatures to enact or reform legislation regarding probation to ensure the rights of indigent defendants are protected and to abolish “offender funded” systems of probation supervised by private, for-profit companies. Resolution 3YL garnered widespread support and passed without significant discussion. You can find the text of the resolution here.