This year’s Law Day theme – “Law in the 21st Century: Enduring Traditions, Emerging Challenges” – set its focus on the dramatic changes in the law as it seeks to shape and adapt to new conditions presented at the beginning of this second decade of the century.

The American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division and the General Practice, Solo & Small Firm Division, in conjunction with the Virgin Islands Bar Association, will host its Spring Conference beginning Thursday, May 13, and ending Saturday, May 15, in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. With headquarters at the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort & Spa, the conference will provide three days of networking, continuing legal education and community service opportunities.

The second annual Diversity Leadership Award was presented at the Section of Litigation welcome reception in April. This year’s recipients included Indiana Supreme Court Justice Frank Sullivan Jr. and the Coca-Cola Company Legal Division. “This year’s recipients have proven their commitment to diversity through long-standing efforts to make a difference in improving the opportunities for all,” said Section Chair Lorna Schofield of New York.

When it comes to defamation suits about online comments, no one wins, according to Laurence Wilson, general counsel of the San Francisco-based Yelp! Wilson told a panel, “Astroturfing, Take-Downs and Anonymous Commentary: Protecting (and Enhancing) Reputation,” during the American Bar Association Business Law Section 2010 Spring Meeting that defending against online defamation often ricochets back on the victim.

In its July 5, 1993, issue, The New Yorker ran a cartoon by Peter Steiner showing a dog at a computer saying to his canine friend, “On the Internet nobody knows you’re a dog.” While online anonymity may have been the case in 1993, the intervening years – with advances in data collection, biometric information and global positioning, as well as with surveillance cameras everywhere – have shown that anonymity is rapidly becoming extinct.

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.

With identity theft victims numbering more than 10 million annually, the American Bar Association Business Law Section took an in-depth look at the crime from the perspective of prevention, victim’s assistance, company response and the Federal Trade Commission.

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.

Community leaders, activists and local citizens will meet to discuss the rise in teen violence in Detroit and identify solutions during “Stop Teen Violence – Time to Deliver.” The town hall meeting will take place Monday, May 3, at YouthVille Detroit, 7375 Woodward Avenue. The day-long program, co-sponsored by Wayne County Juvenile Court and the American Bar Association Coalition on Racial and Ethnic Justice, begins at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m.

Among ABA Law Day events held in Washington, D.C., was an April 26 National Press Club luncheon seminar for high school teachers participating in programs by the Close Up Foundation, a nonprofit organization that educates and inspires young people to become informed and engaged citizens. Featured speaker at the luncheon was Jeffrey Rosen, professor of law at The George Washington University and the legal affairs editor of The New Republic.

The Google Library Project — a partnership between Google and several libraries whose purpose it was to make into digital format millions of books, giving libraries that provided books full digital copies for their own collections, and posting online small portions, or snippets of those works — raised many questions relating to copyright infringement and fair use under copyright law. Indeed, authors of many of the books being reproduced brought a class action suit against Google.