James Felman, partner at the Tampa, Fla., law office of Kynes, Markman & Felman, P.A., will receive a 2011 American Bar Association Grassroots Advocacy Award for efforts in support of legislation that reduced the vast sentencing disparity between possession of crack and powder cocaine. Although crack and powder cocaine are two versions of the same drug, federal minimum sentencing guidelines treat individuals arrested with crack cocaine markedly differently from offenders caught with the same amount of powder cocaine.  Previously, possessing five grams of crack cocaine would mandate the same minimum sentence as possession of 500 grams of powder cocaine. Felman testified on the 100-to-1 sentencing disparity on behalf of the ABA at congressional hearings and before the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Retired Air Force Col. John Odom, a former judge advocate and a partner attorney with local law firm Jones, Odom and Politz in Shreveport, has been chosen to receive a 2011 American Bar Association Grassroots Advocacy Award. Other recipients of 2011 ABA Grassroots Advocacy Awards include James Felman of Kynes, Markman & Felman, P.A.; Martin Lybecker of Perkins Coie LLP; and the New York State Bar Association. The awards will be given Wednesday at ABA Day in Washington, D.C., where distinguished lawyers from 43 states are gathering to discuss issues such as funding for legal services for the poor and the impact of persistent judicial vacancies. Odom was cited for his work in two areas: enforcing servicemembers’ legal rights and protecting military families in custody disputes, according to a release from the American Bar Association.

The court room. It’s the last place that most people want to be. You don’t speak the language. You know little about the law and most of what you do know is wrong. The consequences of losing are steep—and in this game, there’s always a loser.  Imagine how much worse it is when you can’t afford an attorney, and your only option is to represent yourself. ‘If you can’t afford an attorney, the court will appoint one for you.’ How many times have you heard that in movies and television shows? And it’s true… in a criminal matter. But in a civil case (one where your adversary is not the government), there is no such relief. … According to the American Bar Association, around 40 percent of Americans who need an attorney cannot afford to pay one; that’s the main reason behind the rise in pro se (‘for oneself’ ‘on one’s own behalf’) or pro per (‘in one’s own person or character’) representation in courts, particularly in civil courts.

The mother from Cameroon came to immigration court bearing scars: She’d been imprisoned back home, she said, beaten with cables, burned with cigarettes and raped repeatedly, contracting HIV. Her husband had died behind bars; her three children she’d left behind were struggling to survive. … One of the most immediate changes is the addition of 38 judges and about 90 others, including clerks, in the past 18 months. They’ll help address a staggering backlog of nearly 268,000 cases at the end of last year … That’s far short of about 100 judges called for in an American Bar Association-commissioned study released last year. But Dana Leigh Marks, head of the union representing the judges, says ‘it’s a very important first step and we hope they’ll continue to follow through on the massive crisis that we face.’

Interior official to talk climate change: Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes is a keynote speaker at the American Law Institute-American Bar Association conference on ‘Global Warming: Climate Change and the Law.

The Hon. Joe Comuzzi, Canadian Co-chair of the International Joint Commission, will speak at the 2011 Spring Meeting of the American Bar Association Section of International Law. This event brings the world’s leading international practitioners, academics, and government officials from around the world for four days of programming and networking. Mr. Comuzzi will participate in a panel entitled Is Water the New Oil? Tales from the Battle Over Transboundary Water Resources in North America. The International Joint Commission prevents and resolves disputes between the United States of America and Canada under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty and pursues the common good of both countries as an independent and objective advisor to the two governments.

Every morning, they don their black robes, take their seats and listen to the pleas of a long line of immigrants desperate to stay in America. The pace is fast, the pressure intense, the stories sometimes haunting. The work, these judges say, is exhausting: ‘The volume is constant and unrelenting.’ … ‘There is not enough time to think.’ … ‘Nobody gives a damn about us!’ … ‘I know I couldn’t do this job if I were not on medication for depression or did not have access to competent psychological care myself.’ … ‘I cannot take this place anymore. What a dismal job this is!’’ These are the voices of immigration judges who determine the fate of tens of thousands of people every year illegal border crossers, visa violators, refugees who flee China, El Salvador, Iran and other countries, each making a case to remain here. … Judges handle, on average, more than 1,200 matters a year, leaving them so overwhelmed they mostly issue oral decisions ‘that sometimes are not fully researched or based in law or fact,’ according to a 2010 report commissioned by the American Bar Association.

Relationships with women peers and mentors are often critical in a successful law career. For Georgia women lawyers just three decades ago, success frequently depended on blending in as much as possible with the male majority. More women entered the profession — representing half of today’s law school graduates — bringing with them new interpersonal dynamics and begging the question: Should women count on one another for help? When (Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol) Hunstein spoke at the January American Bar Association Midyear Meeting, a familiar face approached her. ‘[Judge] Sara Doyle said she had heard me speak at another ABA panel, and that inspired her to run for the [Georgia] Court of Appeals,’ Hunstein said. ‘It really does encourage women and minorities when a woman or minority succeeds.’

For the first time, recent comments submitted to the government about abusive trademark litigation tactics and their effects on small businesses have been made available to the public, said Erik M. Pelton, managing partner of the trademark law firm Erik M. Pelton & Associates (or ‘EMP&A’).  … This week, EMP&A’s founder, Erik Pelton, will participate in a panel discussion with the Commissioner for Trademarks at the American Bar Association’s 26th Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference in Arlington, Virginia. EMP&A is a member of the National Small Business Association, and Mr. Pelton is on the board of directors of the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce.

Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III, President-Elect of the American Bar Association, visited Des Moines on March 25-26 to take part in Drake Law School’s Supreme Court Celebration week and deliver keynote remarks at the law school’s annual banquet… focusing on the need to maintain fair, impartial, and adequately funded courts:  ‘Like many of you here, I am concerned that the flow of money now going to selecting and electing judges is continuing to trend upward – while funds for our court systems are continuing to head in the opposite direction.’ ‘At the same time,’ he observed, ‘more and more Americans are either being denied access to the courts or waiting longer to get their day in court … This affects all citizens, and increasingly middle class Americans and small and medium-sized businesses.’

The University of Iowa College of Law and law schools around the country might have to divulge more about their graduates to prospective students. Members of the American Bar Association discussed proposals at their meeting last weekend that would require law schools to provide more specific information regarding employment of graduating students and average post-graduation salaries. … The proposal aims to ensure students are ‘fully informed about the school they’ve chosen to pursue their career,’ said Stephen Zack, the president of the American Bar Association, in a statement. Officials said the proposal is especially important because of the economic recession and concerns about law school’s high tuition costs.

Last week, Microsoft launched an anti-trust action against arch-rival Google. When Larry Page wakes up tomorrow morning in his 6,000 sq ft ecohouse in Palo Alto, California, it will be to assume the position at the top of the company he founded 13 years ago with Sergey Brin in that now famous Menlo Park garage. Page, one of the two co-founders of perhaps the most powerful technology company in the world, will become chief executive of Google tomorrow… Insiders close to the situation point out that it was little surprise that the filing came just ahead of Thursday’s meeting in Washington DC of the American Bar Association, a high-profile get- together of the US’s top lawyers and regulators.