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    2021 ABA YLD Annual Meeting Assembly

    The 2021 ABA Annual  YLD Assembly took place on Friday, August 6, 2021 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. CDT.

    To vote in the Assembly, you must have been certified as a Delegate.  Please note that delegates must be ABA members and registered for the ABA Annual Meeting.

    To help you better prepare for this virtual session here are some best practices to remember:

    You can also watch the Assembly on the YLD Facebook Page.

    Delegate Certification

    Delegate Registration is now closed.

    To vote in the YLD Assembly you must be certified as a delegate.  Young lawyer state and national bar organizations and military branches (YLD affiliates) choose  Assembly delegates to represent their organization at the Midyear and Annual Meeting Assemblies. If you are interested in serving as a delegate, contact the YLD affiliate organization you would like to represent to express your interest. The affiliate organization must approve your role as a YLD delegate for each meeting before you can be certified.

    If you have any questions regarding delegate certification, please contact [email protected] or YLD staff contact Bree Jones at [email protected].

    Delegate registration expires on July 23, 2021.

    Please note that delegates must be ABA members and registered for the ABA Meeting.

    Debate Calendar

    Any delegate who wishes to speak on a Debate Calendar resolution is strongly encouraged to email Speaker Jennison to indicate their speaking request via email at [email protected], no later than 10:00 pm CDT on Sunday, August 1, 2021. As a reminder, this deadline is before the Assembly Meeting. Individuals who indicate an interest to speak on a debate item during Assembly who have not previously indicated their intent to do so are not guaranteed speaking rights. Individuals who, during Assembly, wish to speak without previous notification, will only be allowed to speak if time allows and they are properly credentialed.

    21-22YL

    • Vote result: Adopted.
    • ABA YLD Assembly Operations Task Force
    • Amends YLD Bylaws such that delegates serving pursuant to sections 4.2(a)(2), (3), (4), and (5) shall serve for a one-year term which commences on September 1 and concludes on August 31 of the following year.
    • View the resolution.

    21-23YL

    • Vote result: Adopted.
    • ABA YLD Assembly Operations Task Force
    • Amends YLD Bylaws such that the affiliates in each state shall collectively be allocated delegates in an amount equal to the following, whichever is greater: (1) the total number of delegates the state is entitled to in the House of Delegates pursuant to Articles 6.4(a)-(b) and 6.9 of the ABA Constitution after the adjournment of the preceding annual meeting; or (2) three delegates. No state shall lose any delegates as a result of this amendment.
    • View the resolution.

    21-23YL

    • Vote result: Adopted.
    • ABA YLD Assembly Operations Task Force
    • Amends YLD Bylaws such that the affiliates in each state shall collectively be allocated delegates in an amount equal to the following, whichever is greater: (1) the total number of delegates the state is entitled to in the House of Delegates pursuant to Articles 6.4(a)-(b) and 6.9 of the ABA Constitution after the adjournment of the preceding annual meeting; or (2) three delegates. No state shall lose any delegates as a result of this amendment.
    • View the resolution.

    21-24YL

    • Vote result: Adopted.
    • Urges law firms to use financial institutions that fund or otherwise invest in infrastructure projects near tribal, low- income, and marginalized communities of color after project owners have obtained legal permits with proper consultations and feedback with tribes or communities in surrounding areas, including nation to nation consultations with tribal leaders, as required by appropriate federal laws; further urges law firms to conduct their banking with financial institutions that incorporate transparent procedures that review the environmental impacts of infrastructure projects, such as fossil fuel pipelines, on surrounding tribal communities, low-income, and marginalized communities of color.
    • View the resolution.

    21-25YL

    • Vote result: Adopted.
    • New Jersey State Bar Association YLD
    • Urges all legal employers to adopt policies and practices that encourage all of its employees to “unplug” at least one week per year without the need to reply to emails/calls or attend virtual meetings by: allowing employees who are taking time away from the office to designate a coworker to handle calls/emails/meetings; and requesting that the designated coworker only reach out to the employee on vacation if there was an emergency; and further urges all law firms to provide billable hour credit equal to 1/52 of the total yearly requirement for employees who take the one week of “unplug” time.
    • View the resolution.

    609

    • Vote result: Adopted.
    • Commission on Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity
    • Opposes any federal, state, local, territorial and tribal legislation, regulation, or policy that prohibits transgender students from participating in athletics in accordance with their gender identity.
    • View the resolution.

    Consent Calendar

    The Consent Calendar is assembled by the Resolutions Team and Speaker, and consists of resolutions that it does not expect substantial opposition. Any delegate who wished to remove an item from the Consent Calendar in order that it may be debated had to notify Speaker Jennison via email at [email protected], no later than 10:00 pm CDT on Sunday, August 1, 2021.

    As no resolutions were pulled from the Consent Calendar by that deadline, the Consent Calendar is adopted in full. 

    HOD Resolution 510

    • ABA Young Lawyers Division
    • Approves a revision to the previously-adopted resolution opposing the use of no knock warrants, to provide clarifications on the exigency rule as requested by the Criminal Justice Section.

    21-13YL-a (Bylaws)

    • ABA YLD Long Range Planning Board 
    • Provides consistency and technical cleanup changes to the Division’s bylaws to conform to current practices of the Division.

    21-13YL-b (Bylaws)

    • ABA YLD Long Range Planning Board 
    • Provides more substantive technical changes to the Division’s bylaws to conform to current practices of the Division.

    21-14YL (Bylaws)

    • ABA YLD Assembly Operations Task Force 
    • Provides consistency and technical cleanup changes to the Division’s bylaws to conform to current practices of the Division pertaining to Assembly operations.

    21-15YL

    • ABA YLD Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee
    • Resolves that the ABA YLD should, and urges the YLD’s affiliates to, use gender nonbinary language in all documents establishing policy and procedure; further urges affiliate organizations to use gender nonbinary language, including in governance documents; and further urges bar associations, legal employers, and law schools to use gender nonbinary language in all governance documents.

    21-16YL

    • New Jersey State Bar Association YLD
    • Urges all legal employers to adopt policies and practices that promote flexible work arrangements (“FWA”), by: establishing clear, equitable, and written policies about the availability and procedures for FWA;  requiring mandatory time off for employees to address personal and family needs; and providing employees with the tools and resources necessary for them to be successful with their FWA.

    21-17YL

    • New Jersey State Bar Association YLD
    • Urges all law firms to adopt policies and practices that provide its employees with meaningful opportunities to serve the profession through bar associations and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, including policies providing billable hour credit in the same manner as they some employers provide billable hour credit for completing pro bono assignments.

    21-18YL

    • YLD Disaster Legal Services Team
    • Urges Congress to amend the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), 7 U.S.C. Ch. 51, to afford States the ability to provide SNAP recipients nutritional preparedness in disasters through time specific purchases of shelf-stable food (“preparedness SNAP”); further urges the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to require “a preparedness SNAP” program as part of the each state’s SNAP plan.

    21-19YL

    • YLD Disaster Legal Services Team
    • Urges the Legal Service Corporation to expand eligibility requirements for Emergency Relief Grants under 81 C.F.R. 55495, to allow for availability of funds when there is not a nationally declared emergency in order to afford preparedness efforts through outreach, training and support services for and to marginalized communities to mitigate legal harm arising from disasters; further urges the Legal Service Corporation to incorporate Emergency Preparedness as a goal of the Corporation and as a subsequent priority for all LSC funded legal organizations.

    21-20YL

    • Megan Peterson (LA) / Maine State Bar Association
    • Urges all bar admissions authorities, law schools, bar associations, and legal employers to develop clear, specific, and uniform written policies that provide reasonable and accessible accommodations to lactating individuals, including: making such written policies publicly available and accessible online; providing reasonable and supportive accommodations to express milk; and in an examination context, permitting examinees to bring their pumping equipment and expressed milk into the examination room.

    21-21YL (Withdrawn)

    • Christopher Jennison (MD)
    • Encourages all states and jurisdictions to establish affirmative policies that a) require parental or guardian notification that a child is being detained and questioned and b) provides counsel for juveniles prior to any custodial interrogation.

    ABA House of Delegates Consent Calendar Resolutions

    • The following House of Delegates Resolutions have been added to the Consent Calendar: 11-3 (CON. AM.), 102, 300, 502, 503, 504, 506, 507, 513, 514, 515, 602, 603, and 606. 
    • The resolutions can be found in the House of Delegates’ eBook of Resolutions. 

    Assembly Drawing Rules

    Meeting and Assembly Rules

    Key Contacts

    Staff Leads