The American Bar Association has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in the intellectual property case of Lighting Ballast Control LLC v. PhilipsElectronics North America Corp. and University Lighting Technologies Inc.

The American Bar Association announced today its selections for the 2013 Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts, which recognize outstanding work that fosters the American public’s understanding of law and the legal system. This is the ABA’s highest honor in recognition of this purpose, and no more than one Silver Gavel is presented in each category.

The American Bar Association National Task Force on Stand Your Ground Laws held its second regional public hearing recently at ABA headquarters in Chicago.

They descended on the 2013 American Bar Association Section of Litigation Annual Conference in Chicago without electric guitars or a phalanx of roadies, but they were called rock stars nonetheless. Headlining a session titled “Litigators Making a Difference” was a trio of litigation heavyweights who have, indeed, made a difference in the evolution of American jurisprudence.

The American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession has chosen five women lawyers to receive its 2013 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award. The award ceremony luncheon will take place Sunday, Aug. 11, at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco, during the ABA Annual Meeting.

Distinguished scholars joined American Bar Association leaders on Law Day 2013 to discuss gender equality in America, and ABA President Laurel G. Bellows framed the conversation by underscoring that the goal has not been achieved. “We have yet to fully realize equality for all,” she said at the Leon Jaworski Public Program in Washington, D.C.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg envisions a day when the U.S. Supreme Court is made up entirely of women.

“Sometimes I’m asked the question ‘When will there be enough?’ and I say, ‘Well, when there are nine. ’For most of the country’s existence, there were nine of the same sex and they were all men, and nobody thought that that was out of order,” Ginsburg said at the American Bar Association Section of International Law 2013 Spring Meeting.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told attendees at a recent American Bar Association meeting that addressing al-Qaida is among the top goals of his term.

The U.S. should have more transparency and accountability in its drone program, particularly the legal basis for the attacks, according to experts who spoke at the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law Spring Meeting.

What big issues are general counsel thinking about these days? And how can law firms lend a hand? A panel of powerhouse GCs counted the ways at the ABA Section of Litigation’s 2013 Annual Conference.

Has constitutional equality for women in the United States been realized? What are the appropriate roles of courts, legislatures and advocacy groups in advancing gender equality in our constitutional democracy? These questions and others will be the focus of the American Bar Association’s Law Day.

In February 2011, 14 heavily armed Somali pirates seized a U.S. sailboat — called the Quest — off the coast of Africa, took the crew hostage and killed four American citizens. Today, 11 of those pirates have been convicted of hijacking in U.S. federal court. Three pirates alleged to have shot and killed the Americans have been charged and could face the death penalty.