Planning an annual meeting can be stressful for corporate secretaries and other members of a company’s law department. Margaret M. (Peggy) Foran, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary at Sara Lee, offered her suggestions for success.

ABA Day brings hundreds of state, local and specialty leaders to Washington D.C. each year for visits with members of Congress, legislative training and issues briefings. During the three-day event, held April 20 – 22, bar associations and individuals who have been active and effective in lobbying their congressional delegations throughout the year are honored in front of their peers with the ABA Day Grassroots Award.

Even with increased demands on their time, corporate law departments and their law firms are willing to make time to do pro bono work, according to a panel at the American Bar Association Business Law Section 2010 Spring Meeting in Denver on April 23.

The American Bar Association Section of Family Law joined with Parkway Partners during the section’s Spring Conference in New Orleans April 14 – 17 to contribute to the city’s ongoing revitalization efforts. Members of the section spent four hours on April 15 planting Bogalusa, or long-leaf pine, at the base of more than 100 trees along the Broad Street corridor.

The intersection of marriage, long-term care and the rights of those involved will be among the issues explored at the upcoming meeting of the American Bar Association Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities spring council meeting May 15-17 in New Orleans.

On April 12, members of the American Bar Association met with United Nations’ officials as part of the annual ABA Day at the U.N. For more than 15 years, ABA members have been meeting with U.N. officials to discuss how association members can assist in mobilizing various initiatives through reports, projects and policy endorsements of U.N. treaties.

Sonia Nazario, board member of Kids in Need of Defense and author of the book Enrique’s Journey, will deliver the keynote address at the opening plenary of the 2010 Equal Justice Conference on Thursday, May 13.

The 2010 Spring Meeting of the American Bar Association Business Law Section in Denver, April 22-24, will feature discussions on financial services reform, identity theft, working with troubled companies, managing online reputations and board influence on corporate culture, among other topics. The meeting will take place in the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel.

How are new technologies affecting patent and copyright law? What impact does the Google books settlement have on authors, publishers and online competitors? What are the issues and solutions to problems arising from biosimilar regulation in the United States and abroad?

When foster care youth reach the age of 18, too often their safety net falls out from under them. They may be left without a family, without a place to sleep at night, without a high school diploma and without access to health care. The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, signed in October 2008, for the first time provides federal resources to help states support transitioning foster youth beyond age 18.

Attendance at the 2010 Bar Leadership Institute March 10-11 exceeded expectations, as more than 320 bar association leaders came together for the annual event in Chicago. Bill Bay, chair of the Standing Committee on Bar Activities and Services, welcomed attendees, noting how coming together brings strength in numbers during these hard times.

American Bar Association public utility and energy lawyers met recently in Washington, D.C., to hear tips from U.S. Senate and House insiders as well as attorneys and policy experts from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Regulatory Commission and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.