ABA YLD Midyear 2021 Assembly

    2021 Midyear Important Documents

    Meeting and Assembly Rules

    Delegate Certification

    Delegate Registration is now closed. The deadline was January 28, 2021.

    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 the YLD Credentials Board at yldassembly2021@gmail.com.

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

    For general information on delegates, read our YLD Assembly information.

    Adoption of Assembly Standing Rules

    Delegates will vote on the adoption of the Remote Assembly Standing Rules to address changes needed for remote meetings.

    Debate Calendar

    These resolutions are being considered only be the Young Lawyers Division at this Midyear Meeting, and not the House of Delegates. As such, if they are approved, they will be the position of the Division but not the policy of the Association, unless considered and adopted by the House of Delegates at a future meeting. YLD-authored resolutions that are adopted by the Assembly at the 2021 Midyear Meeting will be evaluated by YLD leadership for submission to a future House of Delegates meeting. 

     

    21-9YL (passed)

    Establishes a “National Young Lawyers Week,” an annual coordinated effort led by the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, its affiliates, including the national affiliates and their affiliates, to celebrate the contributions, importance, diversity, and leadership of the young lawyer within the legal profession and community.

    Sponsor

    • National Bar Association Young Lawyers Division

     

     

    21-10YL (withdrawn by sponsor)

     

    21-11YL (amended and passed)

    Urges the bar admission authorities in each state and territory to permanently implement effective bar admission reform measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic including but not limited to: (1) remote bar exams; (2) open book bar exams; and (3) more than two annual bar exams.

    Sponsor

    • Mathew Kerbis (IL)

     

    21-12YL (passed)

    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.

    Sponsor

    • Chicago Bar Association Young Lawyers Section

     

    These resolutions are being considered by the ABA’s House of Delegates at this Midyear Meeting; as such, if they are approved by the House, they will become policy of the Association. A negative vote by this Assembly does not mean that the resolutions will not be considered at the House. For more information, see our Assembly Standing Rules, § 7.8. Negative Result.

    HOD 107B (passed)

    Urges states to adopt certain principles in administering elections for President of the United States and urges that if a dispute arises as to the proper recipient of the electoral votes for a state, Congress should give controlling effect to the winner of the popular vote for that state (or, if the state allocates electoral votes by congressional district, to the winner of the popular vote in each congressional district), as provided by the law in effect before the election.

    Sponsors

    • Section Of Civil Rights And Social Justice 
    • Section Of State And Local Government Law 
    • Standing Committee On Election Law

     

    HOD 111 (passed)

    Urges federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to enact statutes, rules and regulations to prohibit the possession and display of firearms by civilians in and around locations critical to the functioning of the democratic process.

    Sponsors

    • Standing Committee On Gun Violence 
    • Commission On Hispanic Legal Rights And Responsibilities 
    • Commission On Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity 
    • Standing Committee On Election Law 
    • Section Of Civil Rights And Social Justice 
      Criminal Justice Section

    Consent Calendar

    The Consent Calendar is assembled by the Resolutions Team and Speaker, and consists of report that it does not expect substantial opposition. Any delegate who wishes to remove an item from the Consent Calendar in order that it may be debated, may do so by completing the Consent Calendar reply form, no later than 12:00 pm CDT on Friday, February 12, 2021.

    As a reminder, this deadline is before the Assembly Meeting. Submissions of reply forms prior to the deadline are strongly encouraged. If time allows, a resolution removed from the Consent Calendar will become a special order. Any resolution on the consent calendar to which timely objection is not made shall stand approved, and a motion to reconsider such a resolution shall take a two-thirds vote.

    These resolutions are being considered only by the Young Lawyers Division at this Midyear Meeting, and not the House of Delegates. As such, if they are approved, they will be the position of the Division but not the policy of the Association, unless considered and adopted by the House of Delegates at a future meeting. YLD-authored resolutions that are adopted by the Assembly at the 2021 Midyear Meeting will be evaluated by YLD leadership for submission to a future House of Delegates meeting. 

     

    21-1YL (Bylaws) (passed)

    Conforms the Division’s 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. 

    Sponsor

    • YLD Council

     

    21-2YL (passed)

    Urges the United States Trustee Program to amend the procedure of the 341 Meeting of the Creditors so that they be held remotely – either by telephonic means or other virtual methods – on a permanent basis.

    Sponsor

    • YLD Bankruptcy Committee

     

    21-3YL (passed)

    Urges the highest court or bar admission authority of each jurisdiction to adopt rules that would allow attorneys in their jurisdiction to earn credit toward their mandatory continuing education credit obligations for service as poll or election workers.

    Sponsor

    • Chris Brown (OH)

     

    21-4YL (passed)

    Urges elected prosecutors, or prosecutors seeking election, to not seek or accept political or financial support from law enforcement unions.

    Sponsor

    • Allison Parks (UT)

     

    21-5YL (passed)

    Encourage law firms to provide more in-court opportunities for female, minority, and younger attorneys in an attempt to provide more experience to these attorneys to counteract common objections to advancement, i.e., inexperience. The resolution further encourages courts to implement procedures to encourage younger attorneys to take on speaking roles in the courtroom. 

    Sponsor

    • YLD Litigation Committee, Practice Services Team

     

    21-6YL (passed)

    Urges the Section of Legal Education to the Bar consider permanent suspension of Standard 306 to allow for potential accreditation of all- online law school curriculum in a post-pandemic world.

    Sponsor

    • Mathew Kerbis (IL)


     

    21-8YL (passed)

    Urges Congress to pass the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) (H.R. 2694).

    Sponsor

    • Chris Jennison (MD)

     

    These resolutions are being considered by the ABA’s House of Delegates at this Midyear Meeting; as such, if they are approved by the House, they will become policy of the Association.. 

    HOD 10A (passed)

    Urges the highest court or bar admission authority of each jurisdiction that has adopted the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) to amend its bar admissions rules to provide that the minimum number of years an applicant must have been primarily engaged in the active practice of law to be eligible for admission by motion be equal to the maximum age of a transferred UBE score that the jurisdiction has adopted for purposes of admission by UBE score transfer.

    Sponsors

    • Virgin Islands Bar Association
    • Law Student Division

     

    HOD 10B (passed)

    Urges all federal, state, local and territorial courts, as well as all individual judicial officers with appointment authority, to consider diversity when making appointments to court commissions, committees, boards, task forces, and similar entities that serve as arms of the court.

    Sponsors

    • Virgin Islands Bar Association
    • Standing Committee on Paralegals

    HOD 10D (passed)

    Supports an interpretation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution which would preclude application of the border-search exception to travel to or from a United States territory as is provided for travel to and from the fifty states and the District of Columbia.

    Sponsors

    • Virgin Islands Bar Association

     

    HOD 10E (passed)

    Urges that Congress enact the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act of 2020, or similar legislation to prohibit the disclosure of personally identifiable information of active, senior, recalled, or retired federal judges, including magistrate judges, bankruptcy judges, administrative law judges, administrative judges, and immigration judges, and their immediate family who share their residence, including but not necessarily limited to home addresses or other personal contact or identifying information.

    Sponsors

    • Virgin Islands Bar Association
    • National Conference of The Administrative Law Judiciary

     

    HOD 10F (passed)

    Urges federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments and police commissions to establish officer training and implement guidelines to be used by officers in giving exit orders during discretionary traffic enforcement stops where the officer has safety concerns or a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.

    Sponsors

    • California Lawyers Association
    • Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice
    • Criminal Justice Section

     

    HOD 101A (passed)

    Urges all federal, state, local, territorial and tribal governments and foreign governments to enact laws permitting specially trained canines (known as facility dogs) to assist victims/vulnerable witnesses in their participation at any stage of the criminal justice system.

    Sponsors

    • International Law Section
    • Government Public Sector Lawyers Division

    HOD 101B (passed)

    Urges federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal legislative bodies and governmental agencies to enact, adopt or amend their information and data privacy laws, regulations or policies to consider the inclusion of certain privacy protections.

    Sponsors

    • International Law Section

     

    HOD 103A (passed)

    Urges protection for Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) beneficiaries from removal from the United States while they wait for a visa to become available, and further urges the granting of employment authorization while SIJ beneficiaries wait for a visa to become available.

    Sponsors

    • Commission on Immigration
    • Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities
    • Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence
    • Commission on Homelessness and Poverty
    • Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
    • Commission on Youth At Risk Section of Litigation

     

    HOD 105 (passed)

    Urges the highest court or bar admission authority of each jurisdiction to allow bar examinees to bring menstrual products into the bar exam.

    Sponsors

    • Law Student Division
    • Colorado Bar Association
    • Virgin Islands Bar Association
    • Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice

     

    HOD 106B (passed)

    Urges Congress to enact legislation to amend the U.S. bankruptcy code to permit student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy without proving “undue hardship”, as currently required by 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(8).

    Sponsors

    • Young Lawyers Division*
    • Law Student Division
    • Standing Committee on Paralegals

    *Note: This resolution was previously reviewed and approved by the YLD Council in November 2020, pursuant to YLD Bylaws § 5.1.

     

    HOD 106C (passed)

    Urges Congress and the Executive Branch to develop and implement programs to assist lawyers experiencing financial hardship due to their student loan obligations

    Sponsors

    • Young Lawyers Division*
    • Law Student Division
    • Standing Committee on Paralegals

    *Note: This resolution was previously reviewed and approved by the YLD Council in November 2020, pursuant to YLD Bylaws § 5.1.

     

    HOD 107C (passed)

    Urges the Department of Defense to recognize that: (a) HIV status alone has no impact on service members’ ability to fully execute their duties and is not a determinant of fitness for duty; and (b) HIV is not a medical condition that should disqualify a person from enlistment, appointment, commissioning, deployment or retention in the U.S. military.

    Sponsors

    • Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice
    • Commission on Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity
    • Center For Human Rights
    • Coalition on Racial and Ethnic Justice
    • Commission on Disability Rights
    • Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence
    • Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights & Responsibilities
    • Criminal Justice Section
    • Health Law Section
    • Section of State and Local Government
    • Law Student Division

     

    HOD 108C (passed)

    Approves the Uniform Pretrial Release and Detention Act promulgated by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws as an appropriate Act for those states desiring to adopt the specific substantive law suggested therein

    Sponsors

    • National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws

     

    HOD 112 (passed)

    Urges the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to void the Rule adopted on July 23, 2020, so as to reinstate the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule in full force and effect.

    Sponsors

    • Section of State & Local Government Law 
    • Coalition on Racial and Ethnic Justice 
    • Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice 
    • Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities 
    • Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity 
    • Forum on Affordable Housing 
    • Commission on Homelessness and Poverty

     

    HOD 113 (passed)

    Urges all federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal legislative bodies and governmental agencies to adopt laws and policies to use total population, including minors and non-citizens, as determined by the United States Census Bureau, in redrawing electoral district lines after the decennial census to achieve equality of population of districts as required by United States constitutional law.

    Sponsors

    • Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities
    • Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice

     

    HOD 300A (passed)

    Encourages federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal courts, bar associations, legal employers, and law schools to develop, assemble, disseminate, promote, and to collaborate to make resources accessible that advance well-being in the entire legal profession, including but not limited to, educational programming, mental health providers, screening, employee assistance programs, referrals to community support groups and state and local lawyer assistance programs; and further urges adoption of policies that encourage lawyers, judges, and law students to seek out these resources, taking into account the barriers of stigma, retribution, actual or perceived confidentiality challenges, and other negative effects on the reputation of legal professionals

    Sponsors

    • ABA Coordinating Group on Practice Forward
    • Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs
    • Law Practice Division

     

    HOD 300B (passed)

    Encourages Congress and state, local, territorial, and tribal legislatures to enact legislation and appropriate adequate funding to ensure access to fair, affordable and high-quality childcare and family care; and encourages bar associations, specialty bar associations, legal employers and law schools to develop policies and best practices regarding fair and affordable access to and support for high quality childcare and family care for all individuals working in the legal profession; including but not limited to (1) off-site or on-site childcare and family care services; (2) childcare and family care vouchers and stipends; and (3) back-up tutoring and home schooling resources.

    Sponsors

    • ABA Coordinating Group on Practice Forward
    • Commission on Women in the Profession

    2021 Assembly Contests

    The YLD is hosting a promotional prize drawing and a social media contest on Saturday, February 20, 2021 for delegates and the certification board.