As the American Bar Association met for its Midyear Meeting in Atlanta, House Appropriations Chair Hal Rogers called for cuts in LSC funding, cuts that would effectively cut Legal Service Corporation’s spending for the remainder of the year by a staggering 28 percent … or at least $10 million less a month to help struggling families around the country.

Six legal luminaries were honored last week during the 2011 Spirit of Excellence Awards Luncheon of the ABA Midyear Meeting in Atlanta. The award’s motto, “Ad Astra per Aspera – To the Stars through Difficulty,” embodies the struggles of the racially and ethnically diverse lawyers who personify excellence as they pave the way for others to reach new heights, both personally and professionally.

“Wow, you speak English so well!” is a comment that Hispanic lawyer Carlos Cruz-Abrams of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP has heard often throughout his life. While the statement is usually meant as a compliment, Cruz-Abrams said that it’s actually a subtle insult, coined by psychiatrist Chester M. Pierce during the seventies as a “microaggression.” At the Midyear Meeting program “Diversity in the Workplace: Microinsults,” Cruz-Abrams and other panelists shared how such slights can devalue individuals and negatively impact the workplace when they happen on the job.

Experts in tort, trial and insurance law shared their secrets of career success during the program, “I’m Getting My J.D. Now What? A Forum on How to Get Your First Job,” on Friday at the ABA Midyear Meeting. Panelists offered law school students tips on landing their first job in this tough and competitive legal market. They emphasized to law students that setting themselves apart from other applicants is key.

Women veterans seeking healthcare encounter unique challenges every day — because beneath a substance abuse problem, a PTSD diagnosis or physical health problem often lurks a history of past sexual assault, either before or during military service. Legal and healthcare experts who gathered at the American Bar Association Midyear Meeting yesterday outlined many of those challenges and made suggestions as to how judges can better serve these veterans when they appear in courts.

For young juvenile offenders, youth courts can be life savers. Stefan Campagna, now 24, told an audience yesterday at the American Bar Association Midyear Meeting in Atlanta about his teenage turnaround after he was sentenced by peers at a youth court trial. He was 16 at the time, had been accused of 27 felonies and had initially been turned down as a candidate for going to youth court for resolution.

The American Bar Association’s Commission on Civic Education in the Nation’s Schools is preparing to launch its flagship effort to bring lawyers, judges and law students into the classroom.

Lawyers met today to discuss how they can help prevent cyberbullying, a problem that has become increasingly frequent as an issue before the courts. Dr. Phil McGraw, who before his TV fame ran a legal consulting services company, recorded a statement played today at a meeting of the American Bar Association in Atlanta.

Students at Frank McClarin High School in College Park, Ga., heard about the Constitution from the lips of its interpreters as 15 judges visited the classrooms yesterday as part of the American Bar Association Midyear Meeting in Atlanta.

Lawyers from the Atlanta law firm of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP will be awarded the 2011 American Bar Association Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section Pursuit of Justice Award for their efforts in the historic class action lawsuit of Cobell v. Salazar. This class action remedied years of discrimination against American Indians.

The American Bar Association nominated a slate of new officers headed by William T. (Bill) Robinson III from Florence, Ky., who is in line to become president‑elect following the ABA 2010 Annual Meeting in San Francisco during August. The nominations were announced Feb. 8 at the ABA 2010 Midyear Meeting in Orlando, Fla.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida told the American Bar Association on Feb. 8 that he will ask Sen. Harry Reid to urge Pres. Barack Obama to make recess appointments to the federal bench during the one-week Presidents Day Congressional recess, by-passing Senate confirmation hearings.