The ABA submitted its brief, which supports neither party, in response to a request from the Federal Circuit for briefing (including amici briefing) on questions concerning its standard for review of district court determinations of patent claim construction. In the brief, the ABA urges that, while the Federal Circuit should review de novo the ultimate issue of claim construction, a review under the clearly erroneous standard of the trial court’s underlying findings of fact would better account for the often fact-intensive complexities inherent in these cases.

ABA policy underlying the brief was developed by the association’s Section of Intellectual Property Law, whose 25,000 members represent patent owners, accused infringers, individual inventors, large and small corporations, research institutions, and public and private colleges and universities across a wide range of technologies and industries.

The ABA brief is available online here.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

These views are being presented only on behalf of the Sections of Antitrust Law and International Law. They have not been approved by the ABA House of Delegates or Board of Governors and should not be construed as representing the policy of the American Bar Association.

Please click on the link below for the cover letter and comments:

http://www.americanbar.org/content/aba/groups/antitrust_law/resources/comments_reports_amicus_briefs/2013_comments.html

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

These views are being presented only on behalf of the Sections of Antitrust Law, Intellectual Property Law, International Law and Science and Technology Law. They have not been approved by the ABA House of Delegates or Board of Governors and should not be construed as representing the policy of the American Bar Association.

Please click on the link below for the cover letter and comments:

http://www.americanbar.org/content/aba/groups/antitrust_law/resources/comments_reports_amicus_briefs/2013_comments.html

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

This distribution list is a service to the news media from the American Bar Association Communications and Media Relations Division.  Your email address will only be used within the ABA and its entities.  We do not sell or rent email addresses to anyone outside the ABA.  To change your email listing or to be removed from our distribution lists, please contact the CMR Division at 202-662-1090 or abanews@americanbar.org. To review our privacy statement, click here. Follow the latest ABA news and updates at www.abanow.org.

The ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division (GPSolo)will also provide free financial literacy training for teenage students of Nine Star Education and Employment Services in Anchorage from 1 to 2:30 p.m. May 23. This project will bring together lawyers and judges to foster awareness of budgeting, credit cards, school loans and other financial management issues.

Spring meeting program highlights include:

“Hunting and Fishing Law” — This program will examine the legal issues and policies related to wildlife conservation and outdoor recreation law, such as the Endangered Species Act and trophy importation. Discussion topics include the Rocky Mountain Wolf litigation, potential sage grouse listing, wild horse gathers and bear hunt challenges.
May 24, Voyager Room, 8 – 9 a.m.

“The Small Business Administration 8(a) Business Development Program” — This program will address how lawyers can help minority-owned businesses and federally recognized Native American groups to navigate the regulations governing access to the federal procurement market and to compete in the American economy.
May 24, Voyager Room, 9:15 – 10:15 a.m.

“Technical Revolution/Ethical Evolution” — This program will explore the ethical issues and compliance associated with the use of social media by lawyers and the code of professional conduct.
May 24, Voyager Room, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m.

What:
2013 Spring Leadership Meeting
Sponsored by the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division (GPSolo)When:     May 23-25

Where:
Hotel Captain Cook
939 W. Fifth Ave.
Anchorage, AK 99501

For a complete list of conference panels and speakers, please click here.

There is no charge for media covering this event. For media credentials and more information, please contact Maria Gutierrez at 202-662-1091 or Maria.Gutierrez@americanbar.org.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law. To review our privacy statement, click here. Follow the latest ABA news at www.abanow.org and on Twitter @ABANews.

The panel, sponsored by the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice, will provide an overview of:

• Issues encountered in the history of U.S. government contracting in Iraq (and the region);
• Host government and foreign policy implications;
• A comparison of best practices in U.S. government and private sector contracting;
• Relevant legislation in Congress and applicable regulations; and
• Legal issues encountered in a context of waste, fraud and corruption.

What:
“Beyond War-time Contracting: Implications for Rights and Responsibilities”
Sponsored by the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice

When:
Thursday, May 23
Noon – 1:30 p.m.

Who:
U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.)
Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen
Former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.)
U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Senior Counsel of Acquisition Policy Richard Beutel
Congressional Research Service Specialist in Defense Acquisition Policy, Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Division Moshe Schwartz

Where:
Greenberg Traurig
2101 L St. NW
Washington, DC 20037

The event will be moderated by Maria Constantinescu, member of the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice.

For media credentialing, please contact Kati Rutherford at Kati.Rutherford@americanbar.org. This event is free and open to members of the press.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law. To review our privacy statement, click here. Follow the latest ABA news at www.abanow.org and on Twitter @ABANews.

Featured programs include:

“Watch Your @#% Mouth! Race, LGBT and Other Four-Letter Words and the Difficult Conversations Around Them” — Legal professionals must tactfully manage difficult conversations with attorneys, staff, students/summer associates and colleagues on a regular basis to strengthen and build relationships that create an inclusive, safe environment. The program will discuss real-life “sticky” situations.
Friday, May 31, 4-5 p.m.

“Working in the Cloud — Legal, Ethical and Practical Considerations for Lawyers and Law Firms” — The legal profession has become increasingly mobile, and lawyers now use smartphones, tablets and other devices not only to communicate with their offices and their clients, but also to prepare for and go to trial. This program will provide practical information about cloud computing and identify the risks of using the latest technology.
Friday, May 31, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

What:
LPM Spring Meeting

When:
May 29-June 1

Where:
Four Seasons Resort
2800 S. Ocean Blvd.
Palm Beach, FL 33480

A complete agenda and updated list of speakers can be found online.

For media credentialing, please contact Ali Cybulski at Alisha.Cybulski@americanbar.org. This event is free and open to members of the press.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law. To review our privacy statement, click here. Follow the latest ABA news at www.abanow.org and on Twitter @ABANews.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law. To review our privacy statement, click here. Follow the latest ABA news at www.abanow.org and on Twitter @ABANews.

Highlights include:

“Navigating the Shoals of Merger Control on a Global-Scope Deal” — This panel will simulate a merger review matter regarding an international merger between producers of consumer products with global brands and valuable intellectual property.
June 6, 10:15-11:30 a.m.

“Corporate Counsel Perspectives: Mergers, Investigations and Compliance” — This program will seek to provide the in-house counsel perspective on dealing with antitrust issues running the gamut from merger reviews to conduct investigations to implementing effective compliance programs.
June 7, 9-10:15 a.m.

“Americas Enforcers Roundtable” — Enforcement leaders for Brazil, Mexico and Chile answer questions regarding their enforcement priorities, successes and challenges, as well as the prospects for coordination and collaboration with their counterparts across borders.
June 7, 11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m.

What:
Antitrust in the Americas II

When:
June 6-7

Where:
Renaissance Sao Paulo Hotel
Alameda Santos 2233
Sao Paulo, DF 01419-002
Brazil

A complete agenda and updated list of speakers can be found online.

For media credentialing, please contact Ali Cybulski at Alisha.Cybulski@americanbar.org. This event is free and open to members of the press.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law. To review our privacy statement, click here. Follow the latest ABA news at www.abanow.org and on Twitter @ABANews.

The ABA Justice Center established the John Marshall Award in 2001 to recognize individuals who have made a positive national impact on the justice system. Past recipients include Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the late U.S. Sen. Howell Heflin of Alabama and former Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania.

Over his 40-year legal career, Bell is one of very few judges to have served at all four levels of Maryland’s courts and is the first African-American to lead the Maryland judiciary. As chief judge, he oversees a court system that handles more than 2 million cases a year, with a budget of $450 million and a workforce of more than 4,000 employees.

Early in his tenure as head of the Maryland court system, Bell outlined what he termed his guiding judicial principles: fuller access to justice; improved case expedition and timeliness; equality, fairness and integrity in the judicial process; judicial branch independence and accountability; and restored public trust and confidence in the court system.

Bell’s innovative approach to the law is exemplified in his response to the housing foreclosure crisis. In 2008, he sent a letter to each attorney in Maryland asking for volunteers to help homeowners at risk. More than 200 attorneys accepted and signed up for the first in what has become a series of continuing legal education programs about foreclosure. The results included the Foreclosure Prevention Pro Bono Project and a hotline for troubled homeowners.

Raised in racially divided Baltimore, Bell participated in a sit-in at a Baltimore restaurant in 1960. He was convicted of a misdemeanor, a conviction later vacated by the court he would one day lead, the Maryland Court of Appeals. (Lawyers in the civil disobedience case included future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and Robert C. Murphy, who was to become Bell’s colleague on the Maryland Court of Appeals and the chief judge who Bell succeeded.)

After high school, Bell graduated from Morgan State College (now University) and Harvard Law School. After a brief stint in private practice, Bell was appointed to a series of increasingly higher level judicial positions: Baltimore City District Court, Baltimore City Circuit Court, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals and then the Maryland Court of Appeals, first as a judge and, starting in 1996, as chief judge.

Bell will accept the award at the ABA Annual Meeting in August in San Francisco.

Those eligible for the John Marshall Award include any individual responsible for extraordinary improvement to the administration of justice in the categories of judicial independence, justice system reform or public awareness about the justice system.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law. To review our privacy statement, click here. Follow the latest ABA news at www.abanow.org and on Twitter @ABANews.

A book about the laws of war in American history, a documentary telling the story of five Harlem teenagers falsely convicted of rape, a newspaper series about lax oversight of Michigan probationers and parolees, and a television program on voting in America all received the top honor.

The awards presentation will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. July 23 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.  ABA President Laurel G. Bellows will present the Gavel Awards to honorees.

The ABA presents four Silver Gavels and four Honorable Mentions from nearly 150 entries received in all eligible categories: books, commentary, documentaries, drama and literature, magazines, newspapers, radio, television and other media.

Selection criteria include: how the entry addresses the Gavel Awards’ purpose and objectives; educational value of legal information; impact on, or outreach to, the public; thoroughness and accuracy in presentation of issues; creativity and originality in approach to subject matter and effectiveness of presentation; and demonstrated technical skill in the entry’s production.

“The ABA engages in quite a rigorous review process for the Silver Gavel Awards,” said Cory M. Amron, the Gavel Awards committee chair. “We congratulate this year’s awardees for their truly exceptional efforts to further public understanding of legal issues.”
The association has presented these awards annually since 1958. The 18-member ABA Standing Committee on Gavel Awards makes final award decisions.

To learn more about the Silver Gavel Awards, go to www.ambar.org/gavelawards.

The following is a complete list of Silver Gavels and Honorable Mentions.

SILVER GAVEL AWARDS

BOOKS

Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History
John Fabian Witt, Author
Simon & Schuster/Free Press
http://books.simonandschuster.com/Lincoln’s-Code/John-Fabian-Witt/9781416569831

DOCUMENTARIES

The Central Park Five
Florentine Films
Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon, Directors/Writers/Producers
Michael Levine, Editor
Stephanie Jackson, Production Coordinator
http://www.florentinefilms.com/ffpages/BOS-frameset.html

NEWSPAPERS

Lax Controls Leave Ex-Cons Free to Kill
Detroit Free Press
L.L. Brasier and Gina Damron, Co-Authors and Staff Writers
Amalie Nash, Assistant Managing Editor
Andre J. Jackson, Staff Photographer
Elisha Anderson, Contributor and Staff Writer
http://www.freep.com/article/99999999/NEWS06/120928082

TELEVISION

Electoral Dysfunction
Trio Pictures in association with WTTW National Productions
David Deschamps, Leslie D. Farrell and Bennett Singer, Producers/Writers/Directors
Mo Rocca, Host
Jay Keuper, Editor
Joe Friedman, Cinematographer
http://electoraldysfunction.org/

HONORABLE MENTIONS

BOOKS

Stand Up That Mountain: The Battle to Save One Small Community in the Wilderness Along the Appalachian Trail
Jay Leutze, Author
Simon & Schuster/Scribner
http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Jay-Erskine-Leutze/402711770

DOCUMENTARIES

West of Memphis
Sony Pictures Classics
Amy Berg, Director/Producer
Damien Echols, Lorri Davis, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, Producers
http://www.sonyclassics.com/westofmemphis/

NEWSPAPERS

Loss of Trust
San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News
Karen de Sá, Staff Reporter
Dai Sugano and Pat Tehan, Photojournalists
http://www.mercurynews.com/trust

TELEVISION

The Real CSI
Frontline (WGBH Boston), ProPublica and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley
Lowell Bergman, Correspondent, Producer and Writer for Frontline
Andres Cediel, Producer and Writer
Leah Bartos, Reporter for ProPublica
Raney Aronson-Rath, Series Senior Producer
David Fanning, Executive Producer
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/real-csi/

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law. To review our privacy statement, click here. Follow the latest ABA news at www.abanow.org and on Twitter @ABANews.