ABA YLD

ABA/YLD Mid-year Meeting
By:  Rusty O’Kane

The first weekend in May was an exciting time for the ABA/Young Lawyers Division. The ABA Spring meeting took place in St. Louis, Missouri and young lawyers from all over the country came together to discuss important issues facing the profession while also enjoying their time networking and getting ideas for great projects to implement back home.

The YLD also opened the nominations process for its annual Awards of Achievement. The ABA/YLD Awards of Achievement Program is an opportunity for state and local young lawyer organizations affiliated with the YLD to submit their best projects for evaluation and recognition by a jury of their peers. It is designed to encourage project development by recognizing the time, effort, and skills expended by young lawyer organizations in implementing public service and bar service projects in their communities. Additional recognition is given to minority attorney involvement projects and Affiliate newsletter programs. The information acquired is ultimately disseminated throughout the Affiliate network, the national conferences, The Affiliate newsletter, and general YLD clearinghouse activities. The 2015-2016 deadline to submit your projects is Wednesday, June 15, 2016.  All submissions must be postmarked by this date.

Any ABA YLD Young Lawyer Affiliated Organization is eligible. Affiliates may submit one (1) project in each of the following categories: Single Project/Service to the Public; Single Project/Service to the Bar; Diversity and Newsletter projects for a maximum of four (4) submissions excluding the comprehensive category.

Last year, the 2014-2015 recipients included Special Recognition for the Texas Young Lawyers Association for the TYLA eNews program, while both the Dallas and Houston Young Lawyer organizations won awards for their respective newsletters.