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    Law Student Division Assembly

    About the Assembly

    The ABA Law Student Division Assembly is the voice of law students in the ABA. It is an opportunity for ABA Representatives, SBA Presidents, and Division Entity Liaisons to represent their law school by voting on resolutions that will help form the Division’s voice within the ABA for the coming year. 

    The Assembly meets once a year at the Division’s Annual meeting. The Assembly debates and votes on resolutions relating to legal education, student life, and Division governance. It also elects the Division’s three Delegates to the ABA House of Delegates and the Vice Chair.

    ABA Representatives and SBA Presidents will receive training about their roles as representatives, mingle with fellow leaders at other law schools, and vote for national representatives. Events begin on Thursday morning and culminate with the Assembly on Saturday afternoon.

    The Law Student Division Assembly is comprised of:

    2023 Annual Meeting Information

    View the agenda here.

    Consent Calendar

    Resolution 522 (passed; passed by the ABA House of Delegates)

    Law Student Division

    Urges law schools to include Indigenous People's Day as a recognized holiday in place of Columbus Day and to adopt calendars that reflect Indigenous People's Day as a holiday

    Resolution 523 (passed; passed by the ABA House of Delegates) 

    Law Student Division

    Urges legal employers to evaluate law students holistically during the On Campus Interview process by considering more than a student’s grade point average and class rank.

    Resolution 524 (passed; passed by the ABA House of Delegates)

    Law Student Division

    Urges federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments in the United States to condemn Islamophobia; urges Congress to enact legislation that combats and eliminates Islamophobia, such as H.R. 5665 117th Congress (2021-2022) and S. 3384 117th Congress (2021-2022); and urges the United States and all other United Nations Member States to adopt legislation and pursue policies and measures that combat and eliminate Islamophobia.

    Debate Calendar

    HOD Resolution 506 (passed)

    Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice
    Commission on Law and Aging
    Commission on Disability Rights
    Law Student Division
    Section Of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law
    Senior Lawyers Division
    Commission on Homelessness and Poverty
    Section of State and Local Government Law

    Urges national, state, local, territorial and tribal law and policy-making bodies to adopt the provisions of the Guardianship Bill of Rights, promulgated by the National Guardianship Network in 2022 and protect the right to Due Process in guardianship proceedings.

    HOD Resolution 513 (passed)

    Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice
    National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
    Section of State and Local Government Law
    Senior Lawyers Division
    Law Student Division

    Urges Congress and state, local, territorial and tribal legislatures to adopt or amend laws, regulations, and policies to prohibit discrimination on the basis of caste to protect Dalits and other caste-oppressed communities from discrimination based on caste.

    HOD Resolution 518 (passed)

    Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources
    Law Student Division
    Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice
    Section of State and Local Government Law

    Endorses the use of negotiation and settlement processes to resolve tribal reserved water right claims, provided the concerned tribes elect to pursue such processes, as well as the availability of adequate financial and technical resources as an important precondition for achieving successful settlements, and specifically urges Congress and the Administration to support these settlement processes.

    These resolutions have been passed by the Law Student Division Assembly, yet have not been been adopted by ABA House of Delegates.

    House of Delegates

    Listed below are Resolutions that were considered by the 2023 Annual House of Delegates. (see the 2023 Annual Summary of Resolutions, and the links below for full texts).

    • 522- Indigenous Peoples Day as Law School Holiday, Law Student Division. (adopted/passed by the House of Delegates)
    • 523 - Holistic On-Campus Interviewing, Law Student Division. (adopted/passed by the House of Delegates)
    • 524- Condemning Islamophobia, Law Student Division (adopted/passed by the House of Delegates)

    Key Assembly Documents and Links

    Assembly Voting Power

    All eligible Division Assembly members may vote. This includes:

    • ABA Representatives
    • SBA Presidents
    • Division Entity Liaisons

    Members of the Assembly decide important ABA Law Student Division legislation, and national student leadership elections. Assembly members vote on:

    • Matters before the Assembly, held during the ABA Annual Meeting in August.
    • Elected positions for the Law Student Division Council in March and then August.
    • Resolutions submitted at the discretion of the Council for an electronic vote throughout the year.

    You do not need to be present at ABA Annual Meeting in order to vote in elections for Law Student Council positions.

    If you can’t attend Annual Meeting, a proxy can cast your vote at Annual Assembly on resolutions. Please note that proxies only apply to the in-person Assembly; proxies are not allowed in the virtual Assembly. To be eligible to be a proxy, the student must:

    • Be an ABA member.
    • Attend your law school.
    • Be attending Annual Meeting.
    • Exception: Liaisons cannot proxy their vote.

    ABA Reps and SBA Presidents must use an approved form to certify their proxy.

    Assembly Requirements

    One of your most important responsibilities at Annual Meeting will be voting in the LSD Assembly. All voting members of the Assembly are required to complete the following steps to be eligible to vote:

    1. Register for the Assembly. You MUST be a current ABA Rep, SBA President, or Liaison to register.
    2. ABA Representatives and SBA Presidents, please check that you are properly identified in our records. If you are not listed report now via the Reporting Form.
    3. Register for Annual Meeting. This step is optional for law student leaders. Assembly is required.
    4. View the Robert’s Rules webinar. This is a guide to the parliamentary rules that govern the Assembly.
    5. Read all of the Resolutions that will be up for a vote at Assembly and prepare for debate.
    6. If you wish to speak for or against, or make a motion, fill out the Proponent/Opponent Speaker and Motions Sign-up Sheet.