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.

With sales of the recently released iPad from Apple exceeding expectations comes news of a new app for those with an interest in news from the legal community. The first legal news app developed specifically for the iPad was released this week by the ABA Journal, the flagship magazine of the American Bar Association.

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.

The American Bar Association Business Law Section will recognize the Law Department at IBM and Ohio volunteer lawyer Douglas L. Rogers with its 2010 National Public Service Awards on April 23 during the section’s Spring Meeting in Denver.

A toolkit for lawyers working with lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender survivors of domestic violence has been developed by the American Bar Association Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, Commission on Domestic Violence and Criminal Justice Section, in collaboration will the National LGBT Bar Association.

Giving back to the Denver community was an important part of the 2010 Specialization Roundtable March 11-13. The project on March 13 involved doing outdoor work at Denver’s Karis Community.

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.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the ABA Judicial Clerkship Program has over the years acquainted about 500 minority law students from throughout the country with the opportunity and benefits of clerking, says Indiana Supreme Court Justice Frank Sullivan Jr.

“We are on the brink of the most comprehensive change in the American healthcare system since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965,” said Andrew J. Demetriou, chair of the ABA Health Law Section Task Force on Access to Healthcare, following President Barack Obama’s signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 23.

With the struggling economy shrinking law firm budgets, diversity programs are sometimes the first to go. Law firms may cut diversity-related initiatives without realizing the negative, long-term effects. A diverse bench and bar stimulates trust in the law from a public perspective. From a business standpoint, diversity can contribute to your firm’s bottom line.

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.