By American Bar Association
The Amercan Bar Association House of Delegates will conclude the 2024 ABA Annual Meeting Aug. 5-6, with more than three dozen policy matters on the agenda, including resolutions challenging government actions that would require the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools and another that would interfere with medical access for gender-affirming care.
Additional resolutions focus on experiential opportunities for law students, the treatment of homeless people with mental disabilities and several that advocate for human rights in specific countries.
The yearly summer meeting opens in Chicago, the national headquarters of the ABA, on Wednesday, July 31. The policymaking House, known as the HOD, encompasses approximately 590 delegates from ABA entities and state, local and specialty bar associations. The in-person only HOD meeting begins at 9 a.m. CDT Monday, Aug. 5, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago and is
scheduled to continue for a half day Tuesday.
With the posted agenda set weeks in advance of the HOD meeting, late resolutions could be added under certain circumstances to reflect proposed ABA policy responses to national and other developments during the past few weeks.
Earlier this year, Louisiana became the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools. Resolution 503 would establish as ABA policy opposition to any legislation that permits or requires such a display and urges repeal of any existing laws. The resolution also opposes any moves by public schools “to employ, or accept as volunteers, chaplains to provide student support services when such individuals are not certified to provide such services.”
Laws restricting gender-affirming care typically target transgender, non-binary and gender-expansive youth and their access to age-appropriate, medically necessary care. Across the country, legislators have pushed aside recommendations of medical professions and introduced bills that would limit such care. Resolution 510 urges the enactment of laws that would protect access to medical treatment and allow health care professionals to provide such care.
The HOD will host two special programs. There will be a naturalization ceremony at 11 a.m. CDT on Monday, with the oath administered by Judge Virginia Kendall, who will become chief judge of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois on Aug. 1. At approximately at 2:30 p.m. CDT on opening day, a panel discussion, “ABA 150 and Beyond: Tradition, Values and Evolution,” will focus on how the legal profession is changing, what traditional aspects of the practice remain and what the future of the legal profession and the justice system holds.
The panel includes legal journalist David Lat, University of Virginia School of Law Dean Leslie Kendrick and moderator Carolyn Sawyer.
To underscore the evolving practice of law, two proposed resolutions are focused on the work environment itself. Resolution 521 asks all legal employers to adopt policies that encourage their lawyers to unplug at least one consecutive week per year without the need to reply to emails/calls or attend virtual meetings. It asks that 40 hours of billable time be credited. A second proposal, Resolution 522, urges all legal employers to adopt flexible work arrangements.
Other HOD proposals include:
* Two separate resolutions address the work and studies of law students outside of the classroom, such as law clinics and field placements. Resolution 301 amends a legal education standard to better clarify and streamline its language related to field placements. It recognizes that there are various forms of field placement and learning skills beyond coursework per se. Resolution 514 calls for law schools to enable students to receive monetary compensation for their field placements while also earning course credit.
* Several measures relate to criminal justice. Resolution 504 would repeal remaining provisions of the Comstock Act, which bans the mailing of things designed to produce abortion. Resolution 518 asks governments to adopt policies that more closely scrutinize companies that derive a significant percentage of their revenues from incarceration facilities; and Resolution 517 is aimed at prohibiting law enforcement from knowingly employing or relying upon falsification of facts or unauthorized promises of leniency to obtain incriminating responses.
• Resolution 516 urges establishment of a State Judicial Threat Intelligence and Resource Center providing technical assistance and training for heightened judicial security, monitoring threats, developing standardized incident reporting and creating a national database for reporting, tracking and the sharing of threat information.
• Resolution 607 asks governments to limit their criteria for involuntary civil commitment of people with mental health disabilities as a strategy to address homelessness and to increase funding for access to safe and affordable housing and non-coercive community-based supports and services for people with mental health disabilities.
• Resolution 512 urges Congress to create and fund a National Human Rights Institution. Other human rights resolutions focus on assisting the Hazara people in Afghanistan (501); promoting Taiwan as a member of the international system (700); and supporting inquiries on the question of genocide, crimes against humanity and other human rights violations in Tibet (502).
HOD proposals do not become ABA policy until approved by the House, which meets twice annually. The next HOD meeting is scheduled for early February 2025 in Phoenix.
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2024/07/annual-meeting-house-of-delegates-preview/)
The Amercan Bar Association House of Delegates will conclude the 2024 ABA Annual Meeting Aug. 5-6, with more than three dozen policy matters on the agenda, including resolutions challenging government actions that would require the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools and another that would interfere with medical access for gender-affirming care.
Additional resolutions focus on experiential opportunities for law students, the treatment of homeless people with mental disabilities and several that advocate for human rights in specific countries.
The yearly summer meeting opens in Chicago, the national headquarters of the ABA, on Wednesday, July 31. The policymaking House, known as the HOD, encompasses approximately 590 delegates from ABA entities and state, local and specialty bar associations. The in-person only HOD meeting begins at 9 a.m. CDT Monday, Aug. 5, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago and is
scheduled to continue for a half day Tuesday.
With the posted agenda set weeks in advance of the HOD meeting, late resolutions could be added under certain circumstances to reflect proposed ABA policy responses to national and other developments during the past few weeks.
Earlier this year, Louisiana became the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools. Resolution 503 would establish as ABA policy opposition to any legislation that permits or requires such a display and urges repeal of any existing laws. The resolution also opposes any moves by public schools “to employ, or accept as volunteers, chaplains to provide student support services when such individuals are not certified to provide such services.”
Laws restricting gender-affirming care typically target transgender, non-binary and gender-expansive youth and their access to age-appropriate, medically necessary care. Across the country, legislators have pushed aside recommendations of medical professions and introduced bills that would limit such care. Resolution 510 urges the enactment of laws that would protect access to medical treatment and allow health care professionals to provide such care.
The HOD will host two special programs. There will be a naturalization ceremony at 11 a.m. CDT on Monday, with the oath administered by Judge Virginia Kendall, who will become chief judge of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois on Aug. 1. At approximately at 2:30 p.m. CDT on opening day, a panel discussion, “ABA 150 and Beyond: Tradition, Values and Evolution,” will focus on how the legal profession is changing, what traditional aspects of the practice remain and what the future of the legal profession and the justice system holds.
The panel includes legal journalist David Lat, University of Virginia School of Law Dean Leslie Kendrick and moderator Carolyn Sawyer.
To underscore the evolving practice of law, two proposed resolutions are focused on the work environment itself. Resolution 521 asks all legal employers to adopt policies that encourage their lawyers to unplug at least one consecutive week per year without the need to reply to emails/calls or attend virtual meetings. It asks that 40 hours of billable time be credited. A second proposal, Resolution 522, urges all legal employers to adopt flexible work arrangements.
Other HOD proposals include:
* Two separate resolutions address the work and studies of law students outside of the classroom, such as law clinics and field placements. Resolution 301 amends a legal education standard to better clarify and streamline its language related to field placements. It recognizes that there are various forms of field placement and learning skills beyond coursework per se. Resolution 514 calls for law schools to enable students to receive monetary compensation for their field placements while also earning course credit.
* Several measures relate to criminal justice. Resolution 504 would repeal remaining provisions of the Comstock Act, which bans the mailing of things designed to produce abortion. Resolution 518 asks governments to adopt policies that more closely scrutinize companies that derive a significant percentage of their revenues from incarceration facilities; and Resolution 517 is aimed at prohibiting law enforcement from knowingly employing or relying upon falsification of facts or unauthorized promises of leniency to obtain incriminating responses.
• Resolution 516 urges establishment of a State Judicial Threat Intelligence and Resource Center providing technical assistance and training for heightened judicial security, monitoring threats, developing standardized incident reporting and creating a national database for reporting, tracking and the sharing of threat information.
• Resolution 607 asks governments to limit their criteria for involuntary civil commitment of people with mental health disabilities as a strategy to address homelessness and to increase funding for access to safe and affordable housing and non-coercive community-based supports and services for people with mental health disabilities.
• Resolution 512 urges Congress to create and fund a National Human Rights Institution. Other human rights resolutions focus on assisting the Hazara people in Afghanistan (501); promoting Taiwan as a member of the international system (700); and supporting inquiries on the question of genocide, crimes against humanity and other human rights violations in Tibet (502).
HOD proposals do not become ABA policy until approved by the House, which meets twice annually. The next HOD meeting is scheduled for early February 2025 in Phoenix.
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2024/07/annual-meeting-house-of-delegates-preview/)
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