This Arbor Day celebrates the first anniversary of the American Bar Association One Million Trees Project, an ambitious multi-year effort to plant one million trees by the end of 2014. Organized by the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, the project aims to raise the nation’s awareness of the multiple benefits of trees and their role in helping to fight climate change.

ABA President Carolyn B. Lamm is urging Congress to repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” the federal statute subjecting gay, lesbian or bisexual servicemembers to discharge if they disclose their sexual orientation. In letters to the leadership of both the Senate and House of Representatives, Lamm said the harm the ABA anticipated when it opposed the legislation in 1993 has come to pass.

The American Bar Association today named Jack L. Rives, formerly the judge advocate general, United States Air Force, headquartered at the Pentagon, as its new executive director. The appointment is effective on Law Day, May 1, 2010.

With the May 1 approach of Law Day 2010—a day that marks the nation’s commitment to the rule of law—the American Bar Association once again will present a variety of educational programs as well as resources for bar associations, civic organizations, schools and other educators to conduct their own Law Day events.

The American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary will be evaluating the professional qualifications of the next U.S. Supreme Court nominee, who is expected to be announced shortly by President Barack Obama following Justice John Paul Stevens’ announcement April 9 that he is retiring.

The answer to the question of how lawyers can persuade courts to decide in their favor is the same as the answer given to musicians who want to get to Carnegie Hall — practice, practice, practice. Justice Antonin Scalia, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Bryan A. Garner, president of LawProse, Inc., brought their message of the need for consummate preparation in advocacy to the opening plenary of the ABA National Legal Malpractice Conference in Washington, D.C., on April 15.

Each year, hundreds of state, local and specialty bar leaders gather in Washington, D.C., on ABA Day to lobby on behalf of the legal profession. This year’s event is being held April 20 – 22, and is sponsored by the ABA Governmental Affairs Office and cosponsored by the National Conference of Bar Presidents, National Association of Bar Executives, the ABA Section Officers Conference and the ABAYoung Lawyers Division.

When Harry C. Alford, CEO and founder of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, speaks to attendees of the ABA Business Law Section Luncheon, he will say that the sky is the only limit to dreams. He will speak on Friday, April 23, during the ABA Business Law Section 2010 Spring Meeting in Denver.

ABANow.org has been named one of five finalists for Best Law Web Site in the 14th annual Webby Awards. Described by the New York Times as the “Internet’s highest honor,” the Webby is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, established in 1996 by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

“Innovation is the only sustainable source of business. Intellectual property is the instrument of innovation,” stated Director David Kappos of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Kappos delivered a keynote luncheon address at the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law’s 25th Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference on April 8 to a packed room.

Maryland’s House of Delegates this week tempered a proposal from the state Senate to cut funding for the environmental law clinic at the University of Maryland School of Law unless the clinic reported client names and data on expenditures and revenues.

As tax time once again rolls around, the Section of Taxation wants individuals, small business owners, managers of nonprofit organizations and others to have the latest information and tips for filing their returns. TaxTips4U is a Web site dedicated to helping individual taxpayers learn about their rights and responsibilities.