Urges the development and adoption of legal representation practices, approaches, and trainings that are trauma-informed, evidence-based, and created in collaboration with subject matter experts; urges requirement of competency CLE regarding trauma-informed representation; encourages awareness of secondary trauma.
Recognizing the economic barrier to accessing the legal profession created by the cost of tests used in law school admissions and encouraging the provision and promotion of affordable preparation courses.
Sponsors: FirstGen Initiative; Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Team
Proposes amendments to the Mission Statement of the Bylaws of the Young Lawyers Division, to be consistent with the Divisions 2021-2026 Strategic Plan.
Proposes amendments to Article II, Membership, of the Bylaws of the Young Lawyers Division, to clarify the qualification of Affiliate Professional members.
Proposes amendments to the Constitution of the American Bar Association to synchronize the eligibility of a young lawyer House of Delegates member and a young lawyer member-at-large on the Board of Governors with the more inclusive eligibility...
Urges certain extensions of the 2020 CARES Act (which provides tax-advantaged scenarios through employer driven educational assistance plans). Urges legislative expansions of the employer tax advantages related to employee student loan payments.
Encourages respectful use of pronouns and honorifics consistent with a persons gender identity within law schools, the bar admissions process, the legal profession, and the justice system.
Supports various efforts to ensure that bar admission is not denied based solely on immigration status, including urging specific actions by state and territorial legislative bodies, bar licensing entities vested with the authority to regulate...
Urges the Biden Administration to cancel student loan debt and Congress to adopt legislation that reduces all student loan debt and cancellation for public service borrowers.
Urges all national, state, and local bar associations to establish a professional advancement program for new and young lawyers to provide meaningful education surrounding wage negotiations and financial planning.
Urges federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to enact legislation to include Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history in the United States in school curricula.
Urges federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal courts, as well as attorneys, judges, legislators, governmental agencies, and other policymakers to take actions to address issues of racism in Americas civil and criminal justice systems.
Urges federal, state, local and territorial governments to prioritize tribal consultation and urges the passage of the RESPECT Act [H.R. 3587] or similar legislation in order to strengthen the United States government-to-government relationship with tribes and better effectuate its trust responsibility through cofifying tribal consultation processes.
Resolved, That the American Bar Association urges all federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to adopt policies that prohibit custodial interrogation of a child until the child has consulted with an attorney and the law enforcement officer has made an effort reasonably calculated to give actual notice to the parent, guardian, or custodian of the child that the child will be interrogated.
Resolved, That the American Bar Association urges all federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to adopt policies that prohibit custodial interrogation of an individual with intellectual disabilities unless the individual has consulted with an attorney and the law enforcement officer has made an effort reasonably calculated to give actual notice to the guardian or custodian of the individual who will be interrogated.
Resolved, That the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division urges all law firms to consider diversifying their hiring committees to include members from diverse classes related to race, gender, national origin, disability, age, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity/expression to participate in the recruiting, hiring, and retaining other lawyers from diverse backgrounds...
Resolved, that the American Bar Association urges federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial courts to adopt a policy supporting oral arguments made by junior attorneys, which are often new and young lawyers, specifically those that drafted or significantly contributed to the item presented to the court for adjudication, by allowing two attorneys for a party to participate in oral argument...
Resolved, That the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division recognizes that racism, in its systemic, cultural, interpersonal, and other forms, is a serious threat to public health.
Resolved, That the American Bar Association urges Congress to adopt legislation permitting and encouraging both Federal and private student loan borrowers to create more favorable terms for borrowers...
Adopts the recommendations of the Fourth National Guardianship summit and encourages incorporation of the recommendations by courts, legislatures, and policy makers in efforts to improve adult guardianship laws, policies and practices.
Sponsors: House of Delegates, Commission on Law and Aging, Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law, Senior Lawyers Division
Urges the adoption of laws to establish a legal presumption that children involved in dependency (child welfare) cases are present and actively engaged in their own court proceedings unless a child, in consultation with counsel, has waived the right to be present.
Sponsors: House of Delegates, Commission on Domestic Violence, Commission on Homelessness and Poverty, Commission on Mental and Physcial Disability Law, Commission on Youth at Risk, Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice, Section of Litigation
The American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, and each of its constituent entities, should use gender nonbinary language in all documents establishing policy and procedure, and in all programmatic materials and all other outputs.
Urges 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 some employers provide billable hour credit for completing pro bono assignments.
Urges Congress to amend the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) to afford States the ability to provide SNAP recipients nutritional preparedness in disasters through time specific purchases of shelf-stable food and other emergency necessities.
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 an emergency declaration.
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.
Urges lawyers to use financial institutions that fund or otherwise invest in infrastructure projects near tribal, low income, and marginalized communities of color.
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.
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.
Sponsors: Young Lawyers Division, Criminal Justice Section
The American Bar Association recognizes that fossil fuel pipelines negatively impact surrounding or adjacent tribal communities and other communities of people of color due to the path of construction or effects of imminent threat of oil spills in waterways and other natural resources or sites of cultural significance;
The American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, by and through its Assembly, hereby urges the bar admission authorities in each state and territory to permanently implement effective bar admission reform measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The American Bar Association urges federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial governments to enact legislation that bans the use of no-knock warrants, which generally permit law enforcement officers to enter a premises without first identifying their authority and purpose.
Amends 2.1 of the Divisions Bylaws to change the definition of a Young Lawyer to better reflect the changing practice of law, to include non-attorney practitioners.
Conforms the Divisions bylaws to reduce the number of required meetings other than the Annual and Midyear meeting from two to at least one, providing flexibility to the Division.
the American Bar Association urges the United States Trustee Program to amend the procedure of the section 341 Meeting of the Creditors so that they be held remotely either by telephonic means or other virtual methods on a permanent basis
The American Bar Association urges the highest court or bar admission authority of each jurisdiction to adopt rules that would allow attorneys in their jurisdiction to earn continuing education credit for service as a poll or election worker.
The American Bar Association urges elected prosecutors, or prosecutors seeking election, to not seek or accept political or financial support from law enforcement unions.
The American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division urges its members to encourage under-represented populations and younger lawyers in the legal community to take on speaking roles in the courtroom and to create opportunities for them to do so when appropriate
The American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, by and through its Assembly, hereby urges the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar to consider (a) amending Standards 306 and 311 to allow for potential accreditation of an all-online law school curriculum in a post-pandemic world and (b) amending the Standards for Approval of Law Schools6 to allow accreditation of an all-online law school curriculum.
The American Bar Association urges Congress to enact the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (H.R. 436, 116th Congress) or similar legislation requiring employers provide reasonable accommodations for pregnant employees along the lines of what is required for disabled employees under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The following sections of the Bylaws of the Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association be amended by striking and inserting language as indicated, to clarify the role of District Representatives and processes in place applicable to District Representatives.
The American Bar Association urges federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to enact legislation banning race discrimination on the basis of the texture, style, or appearance of a persons hair.
The American Bar Association urges the highest court or bar admission authority of each jurisdiction to cancel and to not administer any in-person bar examination during the COVID-19 pandemic until and unless public health authorities determine that the examination can be administered in a manner that ensures the health and safety of bar applicants, proctors, other staff, and local communities;
This resolution supports an interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fifth Amendment which would guarantee that all Americans residing in all United States territories who are otherwise eligible to receive federal benefits under the SSI program are entitled to receive them. It further supports the adoption of the Supplemental Security Income Equality Act (H.R. 947) and similar legislation to extend SSI benefits to all eligible persons in the fifty states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
This resolution urges federal, state, territorial and tribal governments, bar associations, and/or Commercial Lenders to develop and implement programs to assist law students, recent graduates, and young lawyers experiencing financial hardship due to postponed bar exams and/or deferred employment or unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The resolution reaffirms prior ABA policy supporting an amendment to the United States Constitution to provide for participation of citizens in American territories to vote in national elections.
The American Bar Association encourages respect of participants gender identities and pronouns within the legal profession and justice system, including the use of proper pronouns in filed pleadings, during mediations and court proceedings, and within judicial opinions.
The American Bar Association opposes the termination of judicial misconduct investigations upon the retirement, resignation, or certification of disability of a federal judge;
That the American Bar Association urges the Judicial Conference to amend the Code of Conduct for United States Judges to include United States Supreme Court Justices.
The following sections of the Bylaws of the Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association be amended by striking and inserting language as indicated, to reflect gender nonbinary pronouns, in promotion of ABA Goal III (Eliminate 4 Bias and Enhance Diversity).
Resolved, That the American Bar Association urges federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments, and their respective agencies and departments, to protect real property interests, including common law trespass and privacy rights, with respect to any statute, ordinance, regulation, administrative rule, order, or guidance pertaining to the development and usage of unmanned aircraft systems over private property.
Sponsors: House of Delegates, Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law
The American Bar Association encourages U.S. jurisdictions to consider innovative approaches to the access to justice crisis in order to help the more than 80% of people below the poverty line and the majority of middle-income Americans who lack meaningful access to legal services when facing critical civil legal issues, such as child custody, debt collection, eviction, and foreclosure
Sponsors: House of Delegates, Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility
The American Bar Association urges Congress to promptly amend and reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act as reflected in H.R. 1585 (as passed) and S. 2843 (as introduced), or similar legislation, that specifically provides funding to tribal governments and recognizes the inherent authority of American Indian and Alaska Native governments to prosecute non-Indian perpetrators of crimes
Sponsors: House of Delegates, Commission on Domestic Violence, Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice, National Native American Bar Association, National Conference of Specialized Court Judges
The American Bar Association urges Congress to collect data and prepare a report on how youth experiencing mental health problems as a result of racism, poverty, and living in high crime communities have access to, and are receiving, adequate mental health screenings, interventions, and evidence-based treatment from school based mental health service providers
That the American Bar Association supports an interpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution that recognizes all persons born in the territories, possessions, and commonwealths of the United States, and who are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, as natural-born citizens of the United States.
The American Bar Association urges federal executive authorities to develop and implement a redress procedure that permits individuals listed on the Watchlist subset of the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) to challenge their listing, consistent with constitutionally-sufficient procedural due process requirements, extending to those Watchlist-listed individuals a similar level of due process that has been developed for the No Fly List subset of the TSDB under the Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP).
That the American Bar Association supports the temporary expansion of Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) eligibility to include those borrowers who enroll in the Graduated Repayment Plan, Extended Repayment Plan, Consolidation Standard Repayment Plan, and Consolidation Graduated Repayment Plan.
The American Bar Association should discourage the use of mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts with employees and consumers by law firms, legal service providers and other employers in the legal community.
That the American Bar Association urges all employers in the legal profession to implement, maintain, and encourage the use of paid family leave policies for the birth or adoption of a child.
Urges agencies of the United States federal government to include in any exit interview with a departing employee a question about the impact of federal government shutdowns on the employees decision to leave the agency, and urges Congress to...
Amends the ABA YLDs bylaws to make each states designated young lawyer representative to the ABA House of Delegates pursuant to Article 6.4(a) of the ABA Constitution, or his or her proxy, a delegate to the ABA YLD Assembly.
Amends the definition of a young lawyer to mean a lawyer who has been admitted to practice in his or her first bar within the past ten years without regard to age.
Sponsors: Young Lawyers Division, Kansas Bar Association, New Jersey State Bar Association, New York State Bar Association
Urges state, territorial, tribal courts and law schools to explore the feasibility of implementing a Pro Bono Scholars-style program in their respective jurisdictions to allow law students, in the final semester of their third year of law school...
Sponsors: Young Lawyers Division, Law Student Division
Urges all legal employers to implement and maintain policies and practices toclose the compensation gap between similarly situated male and female lawyers.
Sponsors: Commission on Women in the Profession, Young Lawyers Division
Urges Congress, state, local, territorial, and tribal legislatures to enact legislation and appropriate adequate funding to ensure equal access to justice for Americans living in rural communities by assuring proper broadband access is provided...
Sponsors: Young Lawyers Division, Colorado Bar Association, Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
Urges the United States Government, state, territorial, and tribal governments to take a leadership role in addressing the issue of climate change and urges Congress to enact and the President to sign appropriate climate change legislation.
Sponsors: Young Lawyers Division, Environment Energy and Resources Section, Law Student Division, Section of Science and Technology
Urges legislatures and courts to define consent in sexual assault cases as the assent of a person who is competent to give consent to engage in a specific act of sexual penetration, oral sex, or sexual contact, to provide that consent is expressed...
Sponsors: Young Lawyers Division, Commission on Domestic Violence, Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice
Urges Congress to ensure that the health care delivered by the Indian Health Service (IHS) is exempt from government shutdowns and federal budget sequestrations on par with the exemptions provided to the Veterans Health Administration.
Sponsors: Young Lawyers Division, Commission on Homelessness and Poverty, National Native American Bar Association, Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice
Urges Congress, states, and territories to enact legislation that would provide stronger remedies and protections against pay discrimination on the basis of sex , race and ethnicity to help overcome the persistent barriers that continue to impede...
Sponsors: Young Lawyers Division, Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice
Urges the United States Congress, and local, state, territorial and tribal governments to enact legislation or regulations that require all law enforcement entities to meet training standards set by the Commission on Police Officer and Standard...
Sponsors: Young Lawyers Division, Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice
Urges federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to refrain from imposing upon reproductive healthcare providers requirements that are not medically necessary or have the purpose or effect of burdening womens access to such services.
Sponsors: Young Lawyers Division, Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice, Commission on Women in the Profession
Urges courts, as well as their respective bar associations, to carefully review theirpolicies on use and admittance of cellphones in courthouses, to ensure meaningful access to our judicial system, balancing the security risks posed by cellphone...
Sponsors: Section of Litigation, Young Lawyers Division
Emphasizes the right of parents and children to family integrity and family unity and the maintenance of family connectedness if a child does need to enter foster care.
Sponsors: Young Lawyers Division, Commission on Youth at Risk, Section of Litigation, Commission on Homelessness and Poverty
Resolved, That section 3.4 of the Bylaws of the Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association be amended by inserting the phrase and Puerto Rico after the phrase the Virgin Islands.
Resolved, that the Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association endorses the report entitled A Way Forward: Transparency in 2018, which calls for young attorney representation in the law school accreditation process, increased data transparency from law schools related to costs and diversity, and additional disclosures to prospective students at the time of admission.
Sponsors: Young Lawyers Division, Iowa State Bar Association
Resolved, that the American Bar Association urges state and territorial legislatures to enact laws that criminalize electronic grooming tactics that target children and make them vulnerable to victimization.
The American Bar Association urges Congress and the Department of Education to amend the laws governing the regulation of the Income Based Loan Repayment Program to include a regional cost of living adjustment in the formula used to calculate minimum monthly payments under the program.
Resolved, that the American Bar Association urges state legislatures to enact or reform legislation regarding probation to ensure the rights of indigent defendants are protected.
This resolution urges the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar to amend its Bylaws to provide for two young lawyersone a young practitioner, the other a junior law professor or other law school employeeto serve as voting members of its Council.
This resolution urges the Standing Committee on Continuing Legal Education (SCOCLE) to amend the Model Rule for Continuing Legal Education (MRCLE) to include requirements for new lawyer training focusing on practice skills, the business of law, career development, and health issues.
This resolution encourages all state and territorial-barring jurisdictions to enact rules that would permit in-house attorneys to practice law in pro bono matters in the jurisdiction where they work without being licensed to practice law in that particular jurisdiction.
Sponsors: Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service
This resolution asks Congress and the US Department of Education to establish various benchmarks to (1) slow the increase in law school tuition; (2) limit the debt burden of law school graduates; (3) enhance access to the legal profession, particularly for minorities and traditionally disadvantaged groups; and (4) better equip lawyers to provide quality legal services to the public.
This resolution urges the ABA to: (1) review its accreditation standards in order to remove barriers to innovation in legal education; and, (2) to encourage and facilitate ABA-accredited law schools to require all students to participate...
This resolution urges law schools to offer students access to foreign language (including sign language) classes as an elective and substantive law classes taught in a foreign language and urges law firms to provide employees with access...
This resolution urges ABA-accredited law schools to report accurate financial data to prospective law students so that each prospective law student can make a fully-informed decision as to whether or not he or she should attend law school.
This resolution encourages all state, local and specialty bar associations that currently have a section or division specifically dedicated to young or new lawyers to maintain that section or division.
This Resolution authorizes the ABA YLD Council to recognize the National Native American Bar Association (NNABA) as a national affiliate if it applies for such recognition.
The American Bar Association urges federal, state, territorial and local officials and school administrators, after analysis of reported data on incidents on bullying, to adopt a uniform definition of bullying...
This resolution urges the U.S. Congress to amend section 221 of the Internal Revenue Code to (1) require annual adjustment in the maximum annual deduction (currently set at $2500) based on the average increase in tuition at institutions of higher education; and (2) increase the maximum income allowance for this deduction from $75,000 to $125,000 (from $150,000 to $250,000 for joint returns).
This resolution urges all state, territorial, tribal and local legislative bodies and governmental agencies to adopt laws and policies that automatically restore voting rights, at minimum, upon completion of a felony sentence and promote awareness and exercise of those restored voting rights.
This resolution urges the federal government to follow the majority of the states and adopt English as an official language of the United States for the purpose of adjudicating Title VII language-based discrimination lawsuits throughout the United States.
This Resolution urges all jurisdictions with the death penalty to establish and enforce minimum requirements for defense counsel before they can be involved in a case where the death penalty is a potential sentence, and urges all jurisdictions to adopt the ABA Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases, as modified in February 2003.
This resolution urges that the American Bar Association adopt changes to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct to incorporate changes in technology and the use of social media within the practice of law.
This resolution urges that federal, state, local, and tribal courts to adopt the use of video conferencing and other means of remote communication where feasible and desirable for the litigants and where doing so would not have a negative impact on the administration of justice.
The Truth in Law School Education resolution urges all ABA-approved law schools to report employment data in a more accurate manner, including providing more employment information data in their responses to the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bars Annual Questionnaires.
This resolution urges Congress, the Executive Branch and/or commercial lenders to develop and implement programs to assist students or prior students that were not covered by the student loan overhaul law passed on March 30, 2010. The resolution further urges the development and implementation of programs to assist law students and recent graduates, including the creation of public legal service programs for graduates that would make them eligible for loan forgiveness, and encouraging Congress to raise or eliminate the income level associated with the federal income tax deduction.
This resolution urges law firms to enact and/or formalize flextime procedures and programs, to create flextime partnership tracks in order to provide the opportunity for advancement to flextime lawyers, and to encourage flextime programs by providing resources and programs which support the practice of flextime lawyers and their advancement within the profession.
This resolution urges State Bar Associations, attorneys, and the public to support the independence and impartiality of the judiciary and to halt politically motivated efforts to affect judicial decisions.
Resolved, That the American Bar Association urges Congress to ensure that funding for the John R. Justice Prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act of 2008 (Section 951 of PL 110-315) is expanded beyond its original authorization of $25 million to cover the actual national need.
Sponsors: Criminal Justice Section, Young Lawyers Division
This resolution urges the ABA to approve the Uniform Collaborative Law Act, which seeks to standardize collaborative law practice and encourages the development and growth of collaborative law as a form of alternative dispute resolution.
This resolution urges Congress to enact laws that provide for a Startup Visa, which would allow foreign citizens who form bona fide businesses that spur innovation and employment in the United States to obtain permanent residency.
This resolution urges Congress to amend the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 to create a safe-harbor provision from civil penalties when responsible reporting entities rely on a claimants verified representations regarding his or her receipt of Medicare benefits.