ABA Announcements

New ABA Logo and Membership Model

On May 1, the ABA launched a new logo and a new membership model. The new model offers a suite of new benefits, more personalized content based on member preferences, better communications, and a streamlined dues structure for members.

New benefits include:
· Complimentary opportunity to join the Law Practice Division and GPSolo Division
· Access to materials developed by the Center for Professional Responsibility (CPR) on ethics standards for lawyers and judges, including more than 40 premier CLE offerings
· Online, on‐demand access to professional development and continuing legal education through a new CLE Member Benefit Library including access to more than 400 titles in the library
· Section members will have access to even more titles and premium content in their related practice areas

To learn more about the New Membership Model, click here. 

ABA Well-Being Pledge & Campaign

The ABA Well-Being Pledge & Campaign, developed by the ABA Working Group to Advance Well-Being in the Legal Profession, is designed to support lawyer well-being and address the profession’s troubling rates of alcohol and other substance-use disorders, as well as mental health issues. Based on a framework developed by working group member Patrick Krill, the campaign’s goals are to raise awareness, facilitate a reduction in the incidence of problematic substance-use and mental health distress and improve lawyer well-being. From education to policies to culture, the seven-point pledge identified in the Campaign reflects the core areas on which legal employers should focus and the concrete steps they should take as they seek to achieve those goals.

The Campaign Pledge calls upon legal employers (including law firms, law schools, corporate entities, government agencies and legal aid organizations) to first: (a) recognize that substance use and mental health problems represent a significant challenge for the legal profession and acknowledge that more can and should be done to improve the health and well-being of lawyers; and, (b) pledge to support the Campaign and work to adopt and prioritize its seven-point framework for building a better future.

If you're interested in learning more about the Campaign and Pledge or signing the Pledge, click here. 

The Path to Law Student Well-Being Podcast Series

This podcast series, sponsored by the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs, Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, and Law Student Division, sets out action items for the legal community, including specific steps law schools can take, to shift the culture of the legal profession towards one that is focused on well-being. 

View the Podcast Series

ABA Commission on Disability Rights Pledge for Change

The ABA-CDR has a voluntary Pledge for Change, which calls on law firms, corporate counsel, law schools, and bar associations to commit to fostering the recruitment, hiring, retention, and advancement of lawyers with disabilities.  At least one in every five adults in the US has a disability at any given time, and law students, lawyers, and other legal professionals are no exception; yet, disability is often a forgotten category in the discussion of diversity and inclusion. Especially with awareness of mental health and other disabilities increasing in the academic world, it is more important than ever for law students with disabilities to know that their schools and communities support them, and for the legal profession as a whole to see more schools making that statement.

To learn more or to join the list of signatories, click here.