“How far have we come?” was the question explored March 8 by a panel of women lawyers at an International Women’s Day event held at Baker and McKenzie in Chicago. The resounding response from the conference room full of women lawyers was: “Not far enough!”

High unemployment in the wake of America’s financial crisis is one of the likely reasons that laws limiting employee background checks are gaining momentum, said Robert B. Stulberg, who practices employment law for Broach & Stulberg, LLP.

Leading virtual firms requires many of the same responsibilities and skills as do traditional firms, such as managing the financial aspects of the firm and focusing on client service, said Chad E. Burton in a recent Law Practice Magazine article.
“Regardless of any label placed on a law firm, every model must be based upon serving

Some Americans know they can protect themselves from self-incrimination during a police interview or in a courtroom if they “take the Fifth,” which provides due process as a result of the Fifth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. But we give little attention to the document that inspired these democratic ideals.

The respective leaders of the American Association for Justice, the American Bar Association, and DRI — The Voice of the Defense Bar warned in a joint statement released today that imminent budget cuts through sequestration will impinge access to justice at the state and federal levels and put court petitioners, staff and judges in harm’s way.

People traveling to New York, Chicago and San Francisco could experience 90-minute flight delays if the sequester (automatic cuts to the government’s budget) goes into effect Friday, said Michael P. Huerta, administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration.

American Bar Association President Laurel G. Bellows issued the following statement after the House of Representatives voted to approve S.47, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013. “The ABA applauds members of Congress for coming together to renew VAWA and the TVPA with broad bi-partisan support. VAWA is the most effective effort to address crimes of staking, dating and domestic violence, and sexual assault in our country. …”

Why shouldn’t Google and museums partner to bring 184 collections and more than 8,000 artists to your electronic tablet, cellphone or home computer? “We have a constitutional underpinning to our legal system in the country, and copyright falls squarely in that underpinning,” said Alexandra Darraby, principal at the Art Law Firm, during an American Bar Association webinar titled “The Picasso Problem: Copyright and the Google Art Project.”

Computer hackers have found their way into the news, and not just in the headlines. The New York Times recently reported that Chinese hackers had infiltrated its computers and stolen passwords for its employees. And the Wall Street Journal announced that it, too, had been attacked by Chinese hackers who had broken into its network through computers in its Beijing bureau.

Warren Hill, a death row prisoner diagnosed with mental retardation, is scheduled to be executed today by the state of Georgia in violation of clearly established federal law. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Atkins v. Virginia that defendants with mental retardation are ineligible for the death penalty pursuant to the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

American Bar Association President Laurel Bellows released a statement today calling President Barack Obama’s executive order on cybersecurity “a productive first step to address the serious threats posed by foreign nations, criminal syndicates and hackers to our national, corporate and individual security.”

The association’s House of Delegates met at the conclusion of the ABA’s Midyear Meeting to consider more than two dozen policy resolutions. In addition, the 560-member policymaking body heard from several ABA leaders and other luminaries in the legal profession on Feb. 11.