Government Corruption, Judicial Safety, Among Topics in Chicago Meeting of American Bar Association July 30-Aug. 4

CHICAGO, July 16, 2009 – Chicago newsmakers will play a major role in events during the American Bar Association 2009 Annual Meeting, July 30 – Aug. 4, headquartered at the Hyatt Regency Chicago hotel, while issues shaping Chicago news will lead policies to be debated by the association’s House of Delegates.
 
Patrick Collins, chair of the Illinois Reform Commission, and Abner Mikva, chair of a state commission investigating alleged “clout admissions” at the University of Illinois, will lead a program on Hot Topics and Recent Developments in Public Corruption Investigations and Government Ethics, 10:30 a.m. to noon, Aug. 2, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
 
Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, will join Abdon Pallasch of the Chicago Sun-Times and former U.S. drug czar Reggie Walton to debate the merits of a federal shield law in a panel moderated by former Wall Street Journal writer Steve Wermeil, now a professor at American University Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C.  “May the Source Be With You: The Debate Over Journalists and a Federal Shield Law,” is set for 10:30 a.m. to noon, Aug. 1, in the Hyatt Regency Chicago.  
 
In one of many programs targeting mortgage fraud, Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan will discuss legislative, enforcement and litigation strategies rising from the subprime mortgage crisis, 8:30 to 10 a.m., Aug. 1, in the Hyatt Regency Chicago, as part of a panel also including Robert Burson of Chicago.
 
U.S. District Court Judge Joan Lefkow of the Northern District of Illinois is among panelists for “Judicial Security:  Keeping You and Your Family Safe,” 3 to 5:30 p.m., Aug. 1, in The Drake Hotel.  Lefkow’s husband and mother were murdered in 2005 by a disgruntled litigant who had appeared in her courtroom.  Just last month, a New Jersey blogger was charged with posting threats to three other Chicago judges, Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook and Judges Richard Posner and William Bauer of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
 
With more than 1,500 top-quality legal programs and events, and presentations by the foremost law experts and speakers, including U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the ABA Annual Meeting is the nation’s premier gathering of legal professionals. 
 
The 555-member House of Delegates will meet on Aug. 3 and 4 in the Grand Ballroom, Gold Level, East Tower of the Hyatt Regency Chicago to consider policy recommendations and vote on resolutions.  During the Aug. 3 meeting, Holder will address the delegates and William H. Gates Sr., co-chair of the William and Melinda Gates Foundation, will receive the ABA Medal, the association’s highest honor.
 
Among policies to be debated by the House is a measure to facilitate corporate lawyers aiding consumers with problems related to mortgages, bankruptcies and consumer finance by permitting the corporations to waive conflicts of interest.  Others would address quality of education and safety in public schools; urge Congress to assure continued funding for state and local initiatives prompted by stimulus legislation; and urge a national study of the state of criminal justice aiming to reduce crime and incarceration, save tax dollars, enhance fairness and increase public confidence in criminal justice. 
 
Here is a sampling of more programming with special relevance to Chicago and Illinois:

• Judge George Leighton, retired from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, will preside over the insanity retrial of Mary Todd Lincoln, first tried in 1875 after she was widowed by the assassination of Pres. Abraham Lincoln.  This program is at 2 p.m., July 31, in the Swisshotel.
• Among Abraham Lincoln’s contributions to Americana, his 1849 patent for an innovation to lift boats over sandbars may be the least well known.  Lawyers dealing with inventions will debate whether Lincoln was a “patent troll” at 8:30 a.m., Aug. 2I, in the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
• Clarence Darrow is among the most famous lawyers in Chicago history.  His great, great granddaughter, Judith Besser, will share private Darrow letters never seen by biographers, as Gary Anderson portrays the controversial lawyer trying four of his most famous cases at 2 p.m., July 31, in The Drake Hotel.
• “When the People Decide:  The Ethics of Judicial Elections,” featuring Chicagoan Cynthia Gray among other judicial ethics experts discussing campaign finance and other ethics issues arising during election campaigns in Illinois and other states, 1 to 3 p.m., Aug 1, in The Drake.
• Mary Boland of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office will be among panelists addressing the role of lawyers representing child crime victims in “Beyond Best Interest:  Roles and Responsibilities of the Children’s Attorney,” 3 to 5 p.m., July 30, in the Swissotel.
• Chicago lawyer Larry Wojcik will join Pres. Obama’s advisor Charles Ogletree and others to look at life sentences for juveniles, and at collateral consequences for juveniles facing lesser sentences, in “Life Sentences:  Inside and Outside the Justice System,” at 11 a.m., July 31, at John Marshall Law School.  Wojcik heads a law firm pro bono project working on issues of juvenile justice and the Chicago public schools, representing children in juvenile courts and in school disciplinary cases.
• Other programs relevant to Chicago public schools also will convene July 31 at John Marshall Law School—at 1:30 p.m. “Dropping In:  Barriers and Solutions to Youth Re Enrollment in Education,” and at 3:15 p.m. “The Right to Quality Education in America:  What is It?  What Should It Look Like?”.
• Former Chicago newscaster Joel Daly, a Chicago lawyer, will moderate a program on “Government Litigators:  How Far Must They Go to Seek Justice,” 3:45 to 5:15 p.m., Aug. 1 in the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
• Chicago lawyer Christine Franklin will be among business lawyers addressing “Investigations in a Time of Financial Meltdown:  What is the New Normal,” 10:30 a.m. to noon, Aug. 2, in the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
• Chicago lawyers representing management and labor unions will explore the ramifications of an April finding by the Supreme Court of the United States that unions can agree to arbitration of statutory discrimination claims brought by individual employees.  Steve Adelman and Marvin Gittler will speak from 3:45 to 5:15 p.m., July 30, in the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
• “’Never Again’ for Real?  Genocide, Mass Atrocities and the Responsibility to Protect Doctrine,” will stack the failure of governments from around the world to meet the pledge to eradicate genocide after World War II and the Holocaust against the emerging doctrine of “responsibility to protect,” endorsed unanimously in 2005 by the United Nations General Assembly, 2 to 3:30 p.m., Aug. 2, in the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
• Juvenile justice in Lake County, Ind., will be front and center for “An Inside Look at Juvenile Justice Through the Voices of Youth – How Should Attorneys, Judges and Advocates Rehabilitate the System.”  The ABA Commission on Youth at Risk will host a special screening of a new MSNBC documentary series, “Lake County Juvenile Justice.”  A panel with juvenile court judges, experts and youth who have engaged the juvenile justice system, will follow the screening.  Panelists include Mary Beth Bonaventura of Lake County; Chicagoans Herschella Conyers, April Curtis and Curt Heaston; and Karen Grau of Indianapolis. 
• U.S. District Court Judge Joan Gottschall and Chicago plaintiff’s lawyer Robert A. Clifford will join others in a litigation skills program to demonstrate how to effectively make or oppose objections to introduction of evidence at trial, 3:45 to 5:15 p.m., July 30, in the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
• In another skills program, Prof. Steven Lubet of Chicago will share how a defense lawyer saved Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday from the gallows when they were charged with first degree murder after the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.  Lubet will analyze cross examination techniques used then, and present-day applications, at 3:45 to 5:15 p.m. Friday, July 31, in the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
• Presiding Judge James F. Holderman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois will be among judges sharing effective trial techniques, and revealing those that backfire, in “Trial by Jury:  The Judge’s Perspective,” at 8:30 a.m., Aug. 1, in the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
• U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Kendall of the Northern District of Illinois will join a panel offering corporate lawyers strategies to deal with anonymous Internet postings of false information, at 3:45 to 5:15 p.m. Aug. 1, in the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
• A foursome of Chicago area lawyers will join a panel on “Locally Unwanted Land Uses,“ looking at the balance between community needs, developer rights and local government regulation.  Speaking will be Charles Byrum, Victor Filippini and Danielle Meltzer Cassel of Chicago and Daniel Lauber of River Forest, 3:45 to 5:15 p.m., July 31, in the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

The meeting will culminate in policy debates by the ABA House of Delegates Aug. 3 and 4.  Here are several proposals relevant to Chicago and Illinois:

• Adopt a series of policies urging governments at every level to implement policies to secure the right of every child to a high quality education, promoting safe and supportive school environments, limiting exclusion from school as a disciplinary measure and supporting the right of youth who have left school to return to complete education in high quality, age appropriate programs
• Adopt a Model Act Governing the Representation of Children in Abuse, Neglect and Dependency Proceedings
• Support legislation authorizing annual appropriations of federal funds starting in 2011 to ensure continuity of state and local government activities launched under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
• Adopt guidelines for public defense responses to excessive caseloads
• Call for a national study of criminal justice in the United States to increase public confidence in the administration of criminal justice by considering ways to reduce crime, lower incarceration rates, save money, and enhance fairness and accuracy of criminal justice outcomes
• Support use of commercial arbitration to resolve international business disputes
• Amend ABA Election Administration Guidelines and commentary regarding provisional ballots to state poll workers should be required to direct voters to their assigned precincts when they attempt to vote at an incorrect polling place
• Adopt a model sustainability policy for law firms and other law organizations to encourage them toward social, economic and environmental responsibility
• Urge federal legislation directing federal agencies to establish uniform policies addressing conflicts of interest in human clinical trials.

For details and updates on these and nearly three dozen proposals for debate and vote by the House, check this site. 
 
Online registration for news reporters is easier than ever.  Credential guidelines are at www.abanews.org/credentials.html. 
 
During the Annual Meeting, a press room for working journalists will be set up at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, Riverside Center, Purple Level, East Tower, and will be open for on-site media registration at 8 a.m. on July 30.  Thereafter the press room will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and will close one hour after the adjournment of the House of Delegates on Aug. 4.
 
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.

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