Better reports

Alice Richmond, ABA Treasurer“History is full of surprises. It can only prepare us to be surprised again.” —Kurt VonnegutAfter several years of surprises, the ABA’s Fiscal Year ending Aug. 31, 2010, (FY2010) was one of progress, showing promising signs of stability. When compared with the Association’s FY2009, we stabilized overall total revenue, slightly decreased operating expenses and saw investments rebound.Past Treasurer’s Reports have focused on the ABA’s consolidated financial performance, which includes: the ABA; the Fund for Justice and Education (FJE), the ABA’s charitable or IRS 501(c)(3) entity; the James O. Broadhead Corporation, which owns and manages the ABA’s Washington, D.C., headquarters; and the inactive ABA Museum of Law. The outside audit of these entities has been completed and I am pleased to report that it was a completely “clean” audit without any suggested adjustments.The Association’s … [Read more...] about ABA Treasurer’s Report: Fiscal Year Ending Aug. 31, 2010

The consequences for Sewell, a middle school teacher, were considerable. “She basically lost her job,” says Sewell’s attorney, Harvey Mars. And “you can imagine that having something written on the Internet and sent to your family is awful.”Sewell believed that her ex-boyfriend, Phil Bernardin, was responsible. But Internet service provider records first led to his wife, Tara Bernardin. Sewell sued her for violations of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Stored Communications Act.Though Sewell had the wrong defendant, the original case against Tara led her to believe that Phil was the true culprit. But a federal court in New York dismissed her suit against him, saying the statute of limitations for both claims had run because more than two years had passed since the initial AOL breach.In a case of first impression, the Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, drawing a distinction between the AOL breach and the Facebook … [Read more...] about You can sue someone who broke into your email, but you’d better find proof fast

Lawyers consume enormous amounts of information. My earliest memories of lawyers’ offices include desks piled high with advance sheets and legal magazines waiting to be read and routed on to other lawyers. Add in email, blogs, podcasts, social media and more—available anytime and anywhere by mobile devices—and it’s no wonder that many lawyers are feeling overwhelmed.Developer Clay Johnson’s new book, The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption, strikes a chord with many people feeling overwhelmed and exhausted by the increasing amounts of information we receive and need to deal with.Johnson argues we should become much more conscious about what information we consume and how we do so. While his title suggests a reduction, it’s really the process of becoming more aware and thoughtful that should be our priority. We might want to reduce our intake, but we also want to improve the “nutrition” of what we do consume.Take a few … [Read more...] about Data Diet: Feed Your Head with a Better Info Balance

If, as Boris Pasternak, that great Russian writer, wrote “[s]urprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us,” then I have been gifted beyond my wildest expectations during my first six months as Treasurer of the American Bar Association.Throughout my candidacy and my term as Treasurer-elect, the economy was booming and, with the good stewardship of Bill Robinson, my predecessor as Treasurer and other Association leaders, as well as prudent financial management by our professional staff, the Association ended each year with a healthy surplus. We used this surplus to realize our mission of defending liberty and pursuing justice by supporting a broad spectrum of programs and services, both in the United States and abroad, benefiting both the public and our members. The Association’s activities will certainly be impacted by the economic turmoil of the past few months and my future reports to you will deal with our projections for the Association’s position in … [Read more...] about ABA Treasurer’s Report

“Civic education in the United States is not good enough.” —Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, August 2009Our country’s future as a democracy depends on the integrity of our legal institutions, our commitment to justice and our understanding of constitutional self-government. Our children must learn those values.Unfortunately, less than one-quarter of our nation’s eighth-graders were rated as “proficient” or better in civics and government, according to a recent National Assessment of Educational Progress. In many schools today civics is an elective or not taught at all.For these reasons, I have made enhancing civic education throughout our country one of my highest priorities. As Justice Souter suggested at the ABA Annual Meeting last year, it is just too important to ignore. Earlier this fall, I met with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to urge that civic education be seen as a national priority, and inform him of … [Read more...] about Better Civic Education Will Inform Our Children and Inspire Them to Participate