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    January 23, 2023 Top Legal News of the Week

    ABA 2023 Midyear promises busy agenda in ‘The Big Easy’

    The American Bar Association’s 2023 Midyear Meeting kicks off Wednesday, Feb. 1, offering a host of timely legal programs and events in what will be the association’s first in-person winter meeting in three years due to previous pandemic concerns.

    Reproductive rights, democracy protection and immigration policies are among key legal issues on the agenda at the ABA Midyear Meeting in New Orleans.

    Reproductive rights, democracy protection and immigration policies are among key legal issues on the agenda at the ABA Midyear Meeting in New Orleans.

    The meeting, which will be in New Orleans, concludes Monday, Feb. 6, with the one-day session of the ABA House of Delegates, the association’s policy-making body.

    The Midyear Meeting also includes meetings of the Board of Governors and other ABA entities. One of the highlights, the “Present and Powerful Speaker Series: The Future is Now,” features a conversation with Donna Brazile, an American political strategist and television analyst, on Friday, Feb. 3, from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

    National and Louisiana-oriented programs are planned. Panels will explore the state of reproductive rights after the monumental U.S. Supreme Court decision last June overturning Roe v. Wade, as well as numerous programs on law practice issues, the role of the Fourth Estate in protecting democracy and critical challenges in U.S. immigration policies and laws.

    Other programs focus on Louisiana prison conditions for children, removal of Confederate monuments and gun violence in New Orleans.

    Additional noteworthy events include:

    • Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession’s 25th annual Spirit of Excellence Awards on Saturday, Feb. 4, from noon to 2 p.m. recognizing lawyers who promote a more racially and ethnically diverse legal profession. Honorees are Judge Goodwin H. Liu of the California Supreme Court; Judge Roger Gregory of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; ABA Immediate Past President Reginald M. Turner of Clark Hill; and General Council Diandra Benally of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation.
    • Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity’s 11th annual Stonewall Awards on Saturday, Feb. 4, from 5:30-7 p.m. recognizing lawyers and legal academia who champion diversity for the LGBTQ+ community. Recipients are Judge Pamela K. Chen of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York; Ellen Krug of Human Inspiration Works; and Jennifer C. Pizer of Lambda Legal.
    • Council for Diversity in the Educational Pipeline’s Alexander Awards on Friday, Feb. 3, from 6-8 p.m., which recognize commitment to law school and professional opportunities for underrepresented students. The recipient of the 2023 Alexander Award is the Colorado law school pipeline project, Law School…Yes We Can! Also, the Legal Education Access Pipeline, Inc. will be honored with the 2023 Alexander Rising Star Award, and Sunstein LLP is the recipient of the 2023 Alexander Legal Ambassador Award. The awards honor two Black legal pioneers from Philadelphia, Raymond Pace Alexander and his wife Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander.

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