ABA to host annual Criminal Justice Section Fall Institute, Nov. 1-2, in Washington
Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and Hilarie Bass, past president of the American Bar Association, will be keynote speakers at the ABA's 11th Annual Criminal Justice Section Fall Institute, Nov. 1-2, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.
A highlight of the conference will be the launch of a Women in Criminal Justice Task Force, which is being created to investigate the unique concerns and challenges faced by women in the criminal justice community and to highlight the challenges facing women attorneys practicing in the criminal legal system and the unfortunate trend of women leaving the profession.
Rakoff will deliver the opening address on Friday from 9:15-10:30 a.m. in the District Ballroom. He was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton in 1995. In December 2010, Rakoff assumed senior status, although he continues to take the full load of cases.
Bass, a co-president at Greenberg Traurig, will deliver the keynote address on Friday at 12:30 p.m. during the section's awards luncheon. She will share highlights from ABA's "Achieving Long-Term Careers for Women in Law" report.
The conference opens on Thursday with a White Collar Crime Town Hall from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. titled, "The Role of the Media in White Collar Criminal Investigations and the Mueller Probe." Panelists will include journalists Rebecca Ballhaus, reporter, The Wall Street Journal; Kevin Hall, Pulitzer Prize winner, chief economics correspondent and senior investigative reporter, McClatchy Newspapers; Michael Isikoff, chief investigative correspondent, Yahoo News; and professor Jessica Roth, Cardozo Law School, and reporter, ABA CJS Standards on Fair Trial and Public Discourse.
Friday's program highlights include:
-"Plenary Session A Fresh Look at Plea Bargaining in our Criminal Justice System" - Speakers include Judge Jed Rakoff and Rebecca Shaeffer, senior legal and policy officer, Fair Trials.
- "Prosecutors as Agents of Change" - A distinguished panel of prosecutors will discuss their role as change agents in the criminal justice system. Topics will include: Should prosecutors be case processors or should they go beyond their historical role in order to seek to create change in the criminal justice system? How do prosecutors act as agents of change? Are those with civil authority better positioned? Should prosecutors make strategic alliances? How do you fund innovative programs? Should forfeiture funds be used for these purposes? Speakers are: moderator Justin Bingham, Spokane City Prosecutor's Office, Spokane, Wash; John Blodgett, Essex District Attorney, Salem Mass; and Marilyn Mosby, Baltimore State's Attorney.
- "GITMO Twelve Years Later" - This panel of lawyers and activists will discuss Guantanamo under President Trump. Pardiss Kebriaei, senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, will discuss her ongoing representation of clients at Guantanamo, including recent habeas litigation filed on behalf of her clients. Richard Kammen, an Indianapolis criminal defense attorney, death penalty defense expert and a member of the USS Cole defense team, will discuss his reaction to learning the government was listening in on protected attorney-client communication and his decision to stop representing clients under these conditions. Carol Rosenberg, an award-winning journalist and military affairs reporter for the Miami Herald and McClatchy, will share her observations on how Guantanamo has changed under President Trump and the challenges she continues to face reporting from the base. James Rybicki, deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice's Criminal Division, will recount his time as former director James Comey's chief of staff and challenges the government faces in filing charges and securing convictions.
- "Plenary Session Enhancing Justice: Reducing Bias Strategies for Change in the Criminal Justice System" - This session will engage the audience in increasing awareness of implicit bias in the legal community and its manifestation, and how to become bias literate. The panel will also offer strategies for interruption of implicit bias and provide an opportunity for participants to help further shape the Criminal Justice Section's role in this critical work. Speakers are Judge Bernice B. Donald, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; and Sarah E. Redfield, University of New Hampshire School of Law.
Federal contracting highlighted at ABA Public Contract Law conference in Nashville
Legal experts will examine the current state of flux in government contracts during the American Bar Association Section of Public Contract Law 2018 Fall Educational Program, Nov. 1-2, at the DoubleTree Nashville Downtown Hotel in Nashville.
Program highlights include:
• “Cybersecurity: Knowing the Enemy and Responding to an Attack” – With all of the talk about the impacts of hostile cyberattacks and rules aimed at preventing security incidents, the nuts and bolts of such attacks and their aftermath sometimes get lost. This session will provide valuable insight into hackers, their most likely targets, and key data protection expectations. It will also include an interactive real-time “tabletop” demonstration focused on identifying, recovering and responding to a cyberattack.
• “The Thoughtful Contractor’s Approach to Subcontract Terms and Clauses” – Given the proliferation of complex contract clauses that impose obligations on not only the prime contractor but also multiple levels of subcontractors, the days of flowing down clauses by including them verbatim in subcontracts are over, at least for contractors who take contract performance and compliance seriously.
