When the American Bar Association Midyear Meeting takes place in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 4 – 9, ABA members will gather for hundreds of programs on such legal topics as immigration reform, court funding and diversity.  Additionally, the association’s House of Delegates will consider more than 35 new policy recommendations when it meets Feb. 8 – 9.

Headquarters for the 2010 ABA Midyear Meeting is the Walt Disney World Dolphin.

For reporters online registration is easier than ever.  Credential guidelines are at www.abanews.org/credentials.html.  Reporters also may stay updated before and during the Midyear Meeting by visiting ABANow.org.

The 555-member House of Delegates will meet on Monday and Tuesday, Feb, 8 and 9, in the Northern Hemisphere Ballroom, 5^th Level, Walt Disney World Dolphin, to consider policy recommendations and vote on resolutions, including legal policy issues ranging from child welfare to worker compensation benefits, from structural reforms in courts hearing immigration cases to criminal justice reforms, from equal pay for equal work to responses to violence against women.

For details of these proposals for debate and vote during the ABA House of Delegates meeting, click here.  Click on the recommendation number to read the full text and supporting report.

Among Midyear Meeting program highlights are:

Feb. 3 – 4

A special two-day conference, sponsored by the ABA’s AIDS Coordinating Committee and the Florida Department of Health-Bureau of HIV/AIDS, will examine developments in HIV law, policy, practice and advocacy during the Bush administration, and likely priorities of the Obama administration.  The conference also will provide information and training to health care professionals on the legal dimensions of care and treatment for people living with HIV or AIDS.

See all programs at the AIDS conference site: http://www.abanet.org/AIDS/conferences/2010/home.htm

Feb. 4

“Not Illegal to be Young: Using the Law to Protect, Not Punish, At-Risk and Homeless Youth”
Walt Disney World Dolphin, Europe 9, Lobby, 3^rd Level, 1 p.m.

“Alone Without an Attorney: Why Doesn’t Florida (and Some Other States) Provide Lawyers to Foster Children?”
Walt Disney World Dolphin, Europe 9, Lobby, 3^rd Level, 3:30 p.m.

Feb. 5

“More Responses to Court Funding Budget Cuts”
Walt Disney World Dolphin, Southern Hemisphere I/II, 5^th Level, 8:10 a.m.

“The Changing Face of Discrimination: From Where We’ve Been to Where We’re Going in Civil Rights”
Walt Disney World Dolphin, Asia 3, Lobby, 3^rd Level, 8:30 a.m.

“Smart Soloing: Effective Strategies for Diverse Lawyers”
Walt Disney World Dolphin, Northern Hemisphere, A3, 5^th Level, 12:30 p.m.

“B. B. Wolf vs. Curly Pig,” introduces the concept of the rule of law, giving the audience the opportunity to serve as the jury; children welcome; 4 p.m.
Walt Disney World Swan Hotel, Mockingbird 1, 1^st Leve

Feb. 6

Sixth Annual Summit on Indigent Defense Improvement offers a luncheon presentation, “Wrongful Convictions and Other Costs of Inadequate Representation,” by Barry Scheck, Co-Director of the Innocence Project at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law as well as two panels, one on “The Exonerated – Efforts in Texas and Florida to Right the Wrongs” and the other on “Collaboration to Restore Justice”
Walt Disney World Dolphin, Pacific Hall A, 1^st Level, 11a.m.

“Diversity on the Bench: Is the ‘Wise Latina’ a Myth?” asks whether judges can really check their individual identities at the courthouse door
Walt Disney World Dolphin, Northern Hemisphere A4, 5^th Level, 2:30 p.m.

Accredited reporters are welcome to attend and cover all sessions for free.  A press room for working journalists will be at the Walt Disney World Dolphin, Atlantic Hall C, 1^st Level, starting at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 4, and will remain open for on-site media registration daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.  The press room will close one hour after the adjournment of the ABA House of Delegates.  For more information, please contact 312/988-6171, or 407/939-2914, Feb. 3 – 9. Credential guidelines are at www.abanews.org/credentials.html.

With nearly 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.