Legal Dilemmas in the Aftermath of Katrina, Rita Examined During ABA Midyear Meeting in Chicago
CHICAGO, Jan. 31, 2005 — New legal dilemmas brought on by hurricanes Katrina and Rita – ranging from government response to disasters, racial and ethnic equity for victims, and structural and environmental ramifications – are among the topics slated for the American Bar Association 2006 Midyear Meeting in Chicago.
The meeting will be held Feb. 8-13 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago with a Press Room for credentialed reporters in the Riverside Center, Purple Level, East Tower Room. The Press Room opens for on-site registration at noon on Thursday, Feb. 9.
On Friday, Feb. 10, ABA President Michael S. Greco of Boston will hold a 1 p.m. news conference to discuss domestic surveillance and other issues. The conference will be at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, Grand Suite 1, East Tower, Gold Level.
On Monday, Feb. 13, at 11 a.m. the association’s 549-member policy-making House of Delegates will convene a panel discussion of the legal issues faced by hurricane-affected states and the solutions found to critical problems left in the wake of the storms. The panel will feature bar leaders from those affected states. A media availability with those bar leaders will follow at noon at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, Grand Suite 1, East Tower, Gold Level.
Nearly 3,000 lawyers from across the county will gather in Chicago for the nation’s premier legal gathering to debate and discuss a wide range of pressing legal issues including:
- Efforts to combat sex trafficking and sexual exploitation of minors
- Government regulation of public and private corruption
- The court’s role in the creation/evolution debate
- Federal gun laws and their impact on nearly every area of law practice
- Health care in prisons and detention facilities
- Drug testing for athletes.
A complete list of meeting programs is available at www.abanews.org/meetings/midyear06.html.
Among the highlights are:
Friday, Feb. 10
“Pruning Politics from the Judicial Branch” In this roundtable discussion local bench and bar members will discuss improvements in the justice system in light of a bill in the Illinois legislature proposing public financing of appellate judicial elections. Featured speakers are Illinois state Sens. Kirk Dillard and Kwame Raoul.
11 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., American Bar Center, 321 N. Clark, 21st floor Boardroom
News Conference – ABA President Michael S. Greco of Boston
1 p.m., Hyatt Regency Chicago, Grand Suite 1, East Tower, Gold Level.
“The Perfect Storm: Katrina as Prologue to Pandemic” In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, questions and confusion about the government’s legal authority to act began to emerge. This panel will explore state, local and first responder issues, federalism and constitutional challenges, military involvement, and private sector integration. Featured speakers include Stewart Baker, Assistant Secretary for Policy, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Ernest Abbott, FEMA Law Associates and former FEMA General Counsel.
3:30 – 5:30 p.m., Hyatt Regency Chicago, Grand Ballroom A, East Tower, Gold Level.
“JD Merryman Play” The Merryman is a play that dramatizes a key law case in which the president’s power to suspend habeas corpus in wartime vs. that of the courts or the Congress is debated.
3:30 p.m. – 5 p.m., Hyatt Regency Chicago, Columbus Hall G, East Tower, Gold Level.
“Deference: Seventh Circuit Judges Talk About Reviewing Agency Determinations of Law, Fact and Discretion” How do Seventh Circuit judges decide such an important judicial review issue as how much deference is appropriate in particular cases? Speakers include Seventh Circuit judges Richard Cudahy, Frank Easterbrook and Diane P. Wood, and Chicago lawyer Barry Sullivan.
3:30 – 5 p.m., Hyatt Regency Chicago, Columbus Hall H, East Tower, Gold Level.
Saturday, Feb. 11
“Public Hearing on the ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct” The ABA Joint Commission to Evaluate the Model Code of Judicial Conduct will hold a public hearing seeking public comment on the association’s model ethics code for judges.
9 a.m. – Noon, Hyatt Regency Chicago, Grand Suite 5, East Tower, Gold Level.
“Dialogue Between Congress and the Judiciary” U.S. Rep. Judith Biggert (R-Ill.) and Judge D. Brock Hornby, U.S. District Court of Maine, will discuss and debate the role of the legislative and judicial branches and their role in the legal system.
10:30 a.m. – Noon, Hyatt Regency Chicago, Plaza Ballroom A, East Tower, Green Level
“International Perspectives on Lawyers’ Professionalism and Ethics” This presentation by John Hagan – a John D. MacArthur Professor of Sociology and Law at Northwestern University – is titled “Terror, Torture and the Normative Judgments of Iraqi Judges.”
2 – 4:30 p.m., Hyatt Regency Chicago, Columbus Hall C/D, East Tower, Gold Level.
“Lawyers as Civic Leaders: Answering the Call to Service” ABA President Michael S. Greco has issued a call to service, asking lawyers to recommit themselves to the ideals that define the legal profession: providing legal representation to the poor and performing public service for the common good. This program will explore how lawyers can bring about change in their practices and find greater fulfillment in their careers. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Theodore C. Sorensen, Special Counsel to President John F. Kennedy, are featured speakers.
2 – 4:50 p.m., Hyatt Regency Chicago, Grand Ballroom F, East Tower, Gold Level
“Annual Awards Banquet of The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation” New York University School of Law Prof. Noah Feldman, will give a keynote address titled, “Faiths and Founders: The Problem of Religion and Government in Comparative Perspective.” Feldman is an expert on constitutional issues involving the relationship between law and religion in Western and Middle Eastern contexts.
6 p.m., Hyatt Regency Chicago, Grand Ballroom, East Tower, Gold Level
Monday, Feb. 13
The 549-member ABA House of Delegates will meet to consider policy recommendations and vote on resolutions.
8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., Hyatt Regency Chicago, Grand Ballroom, Gold Level, East Tower.
“The Profession’s Response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita” N. Lee Cooper, former ABA president and chair of the ABA Task Force on Hurricane Katrina, will join bar leaders from hurricane-affected states to discuss the impact of the disaster and the role the legal profession continues to play in meeting this challenge. This panel discussion will be held during the House of Delegates meeting and will be followed by a noon media availability with the bar leaders.
11 a.m. – panel discussion, Hyatt Regency, Grand Ballroom, East Tower, Gold Level.
Noon – media availability, Hyatt Regency Chicago, Grand Suite 1, East Tower, Gold Level
“Electronic Eavesdropping: Security v. Privacy” Sponsored by the ABA Center for Human Rights, this luncheon will feature a keynote address by Morton H. Halperin, director of U.S. Advocacy, Open Society Institute, a private foundation that works to shape public policy on democratic governance, human rights and economic, legal, and social reform. Halperin will speak on “Electronic Eavesdropping: Security and Privacy.”
Noon – 2 p.m., Hyatt Regency, Columbus Ballroom, East Tower, Gold Level.
With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law in a democratic society.
