Podcasts about aba president

“These rewards are more than just Amex, Chase, Citi,” says Brian Kelly, founder of the popular travel site The Points Guy. “Well over half of Americans have some form of rewards, often through their community banks — and to a lot of people, cash back rewards.” This bonus episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by Alkami — features a conversation with Kelly and ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols from ABA's Washington Summit. In this episode, Kelly discusses his personal story of getting involved with reward travel, his opposition to efforts to cap interchange or impose routing mandates on credit cards and the value that all kinds of consumers get out of card rewards. Read more about taking action on interchange and routing on Secure American Opportunity.

This episode features Donata Stroink-Skillrud, Co-Founder and President of Termageddon, a software service that specializes in the identification of privacy laws applicable to an organization and the development of privacy policies, terms of service, and end user license agreements for that organization. Donata is an attorney who also represents the American Bar Association's Section of Science and Technology Law on the ABA President's Cybersecurity Legal Task Force (CLTF). In this episode, we discuss the CLTF, its purpose, topics and issue areas it addresses, and the cybersecurity resources the CLTF has created for attorneys and law firms (which are free and applicable to many other organizations). We also discuss recent Resolutions that CLTF has put forward for adoption by the ABA, including is AI Resolution. Links to CLTF resources are provided on the ADCG website for this episode.

The Qualified Immunity Debate The judicial doctrine of qualified immunity protects government officials from facing civillawsuits accusing them of violating a plaintiff's rights, if those rights are not “clearlyestablished” by the Constitution or statute. Mark and Vec discuss a new wrinkle in the qualified immunity debate. New ABA President Backs Free Speech at Law Schools The American Bar Association is considering making free speech protection a factor in lawschool accreditation. Mark and Vec discuss new ABA President Mary Smith's support for free speech at law schools.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Deborah Enix-Ross, Debevoise & Plimpton  President of the American Bar Association For Juneteenth 2023, we have a presidential visit.  ABA President Deborah Enix-Ross stops by the studio and shares her story of finding her passion for law, developing a career, and tips and advice for junior lawyers trying to find her way.  She also shares what its like to be ABA President as well as being involved in the evolution of international law in American practice and policy.  Its a great episode you won't want to miss!   ABAP Website is LIVE, Here!   Deborah Enix-Ross Firm Listing   TIME STAMPS: Opening Notes – :31 Episode Begins – 4:04 Personal Interest – 35:30 Closing Notes – 46:35   READING/PODCASTS: The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell   MUSIC: Best of R&B Best of Gopsel Best of MoTown Feedback and comments welcome to: TalesOfTheTribunal@Gmail.com None of the views shared today or any episode of Tales of the Tribunal is presented as legal advice nor advice of any kind.  No compensation was provided to any person or party for their appearance on the show nor do any of the statements made represent any particular organization, legal position or view point.  All interviewees appear on an arms-length basis and their appearance should not be construed as any bias or preferred affiliation with the host or host's employer.  All rights reserved.

American Bar Association (ABA) President Deborah Enix-Ross joins LSC President Ron Flagg to discuss her priorities in leading the ABA, the role of lawyers in preserving democracy and closing the justice gap on the latest episode of LSC's “Talk Justice” podcast.

American Bar Association (ABA) President Deborah Enix-Ross joins LSC President Ron Flagg to discuss her priorities in leading the ABA, the role of lawyers in preserving democracy and closing the justice gap on the latest episode of LSC's “Talk Justice” podcast.

(Part 2 of 2) – In honor of Law Day on May 1st, we bring you special opening remarks from ABA President, Reginald Turner, along with the second half of our interview with Russia-Eurasia expert, Professor Angela Stent. Together with Elisa, Professor Stent continues to unpack the tangled history between Russia and Ukraine, and the resulting conflict that has dominated the world stage. What role does corruption play in the Russian military? And what are the scenarios in which this conflict may end? Professor Angela Stent is Director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian & East European Studies at Georgetown University, and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution: https://gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/00336000014RWsfAAG/angela-stent Reginald Turner is President of the American Bar Association: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/leadership/aba_officers/turner-reginald/ References: Angela Stent, “Putin's World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest” Twelve, 2019: https://www.twelvebooks.com/titles/angela-stent/putins-world/9781455533015/ Angela Stent, “The Limits of Partnership: U.S.-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century” Princeton University Press, 2015: https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691165868/the-limits-of-partnership The 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances: https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%203007/Part/volume-3007-I-52241.pdf Law Day 2022 Resources: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/law-day/

Elizabeth Kelley is a criminal defense lawyer with a nationwide practice focused on representation and mitigation of people with mental disabilities. Elizabeth co-chairs the Criminal Justice Advisory Panel of The Arc's National Center on Criminal Justice and Disability.  She is the editor of Representing People with Mental Disabilities: A Practical Guide for Criminal Defense Lawyers (2018), Representing People with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Practical Guide for Criminal Defense Lawyers (2020), and Representing People with Dementia: A Practical Guide for Criminal Defense Lawyers (scheduled 2021) all published by the American Bar Association (ABA). She is active in the ABA, serving on the Council of the Criminal Justice Section, the Editorial Board of Criminal Justice Magazine, the Commission on Disability Rights, and the ABA President's Working Group on Building Trust in the American Justice System. She has regularly reviewed books for The Federal Lawyer since 2005. In this episode, we discuss: How Elizabeth's journey brought her to represent the underserved communities of the world The tremendous need is for knowledge of mental health in our criminal justice system The long game of networking for this very specialized niche The reasons that mental health continues to remain an invisible disability How we can better support our mental health community Why support, understanding, and empathy are what is needed in the mental health community Suicide rates in the criminal justice system, and how they were found Elizabeth's new book, “Suicide and Its Impact on the Criminal Justice System” The impactful work of mental health court Website:https://www.elizabethkelleylaw.com/ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-kelley-14110430 Twitter: https://twitter.com/MentalHealthEsq  

Susan Smith Blakely's ABA Journal article, "Are women lawyers paying enough attention to upward mobility?" has sparked widespread debate and criticism in the legal community. The ABA Journal quickly attached a disclaimer to the article while the present ABA President and 9 past presidents published a response discrediting the article. Susan Smith Blakely, Esq. has been largely silent until now. I had the opportunity to interview Susan and find out more from her about why she wrote this article, what she intended in writing the article, what she really thinks of women and "lawyer moms" and the legal profession today. Included in this conversation: Her reaction to the backlash Her intentions in writing the article Her response to whether the article is outdated Has she reconsidered? The systemic changes we need in the legal profession This article in the context of her prior work Some insight into her personal experience as a woman lawyer The ABA Journal's editorial process Her response to the public criticism of the article Mentioned in this interview is Susan's prior ABA Journal article "What is holding women lawyers back?" Susan's website where you can find other examples of her work, prior articles, and her blog: https://bestfriendsatthebar.com/ Please email me your comments or feedback here Christina@pnlawnj.com or DM me on social media. Find me on social media here: www.Instagram.com/wakeupcallthepodcast www.Instagram.com/theprev www.Facebook.com/wakeupcallthepodcast Did you miss the Wake Up Call LIVE! Roundtable discussion about Susan's article? Watch it on my YouTube channel here. If you liked this discussion, please RATE, REVIEW and SUBSCRIBE.

The Bank On movement for financial inclusion continues to accelerate. In July, the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund—which developed the Bank On standards and which certifies deposit accounts that meet them—announced that more than 100 depository institutions now offer Bank On-certified accounts. The number has nearly doubled since October 2020, when, at ABA's Annual Convention, ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols encouraged all banks to offer a certified account. But while Bank On accounts are available in every state and 99 of the nation's largest 100 metro areas, a list of 100 institutions still leaves lots of opportunity to expand Bank On participation, especially among the nation's midsize and community banks. With that in mind, what is the certification process like for banks? And what's motivating bank leaders to join the Bank On movement? On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, leaders from three banks representing different asset sizes share their perspectives on going through the Bank On certification process as well as providing tips for bankers contemplating their next steps with Bank On.

American Bar Association President, Patricia Lee Refo, sits down with Co-Dean Kim Mutcherson to discuss this year's Law Day theme "Advancing the Rule of Law Now". Click here to learn more about Law Day 2021! The Power of Attorney is produced by Rutgers Law School. With two locations minutes from Philadelphia and New York City, Rutgers Law offers the prestige and reputation of a large, nationally-known university combined with a personal, small campus experience. Learn more by visiting law.rutgers.edu. Series Producer and Editor: Kate Bianco --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rutgerslaw/message

We're honored to kick off the month of March with a conversation with former ABA President, and Locke Lorde LLP Partner, Paulette Brown. As a woman of color and a veteran in the legal industry, Paulette joins us to discuss her long career of advocating for diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. 

CHRIS NEWBOLD: Hello, and welcome to the National Taskforce on Lawyer Wellbeing Podcast Series, the Path to Wellbeing in Law. I'm your co-host, Chris Newbold, Executive Vice President of ALPS Malpractice Insurance. As you know, our goal here on the podcast is simple, to introduce you to interesting leaders doing incredible work in the space of wellbeing within the legal profession. In the process, build and nurture a national network of wellbeing advocates, intent on creating a culture shift within our profession.CHRIS: Once again, I'm joined by my friend, Bree Buchanan. Bree, we're 10 episodes into the podcast. They said it couldn't, it would never happen, but we are here, what a milestone. I'm curious what your impressions have been thus far within the podcast experience.BREE BUCHANAN: Yeah, hello, everybody. I think it's been great. One of the things I've enjoyed so much is being able to really get to know and dive with some of these people who are really leaders in the wellbeing space, and get to know them a little bit more. We get to interact with them by Zoom or email, but this is a really unique opportunity, so it's been great. I can't believe we already have 10 episodes in the can, so to speak. Time flies, so this has been great.CHRIS: It has, and like you, I like the fact that we get to have more in depth conversations with what I would call the movers and shakers of the wellbeing movement. It really allows us to delve into some issues a little bit deeper than we could probably do through CLEs or some other forums.CHRIS: So, well let's shift to our topic today. We shift the conversation a bit to one of the foundational bedrocks of the wellbeing movement, and that's our lawyers assistance programs. We're very excited to welcome our friend and fellow taskforce on lawyer wellbeing member, Terry Harrell, who resides in the Hoosier state of Indiana. Bree, I'm going to pass the baton to you because you've known Terry for a considerable amount of time and have worked with her on a variety of different issues. So if you could introduce Terry, we'll get the conversation started.BREE:I would love to. Terry occupies a very special place in my life because she was really the person who was responsible for getting me into this. I'll say a little bit more about that in just a minute, but Terry Harrow is a lawyer and a licensed therapist. She's been the Executive Director of the Indiana Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program, might refer to it as JLAP, for 20 years, following a decade of work in the mental health field.BREE:Terry is the past Chair of the ABA's commission on Lawyers' Assistance Program. She served in that role from 2014 to 27, and then at some point near the end of that, she snookered me into taking the reigns for the next three years. So yeah, she was really instrumental in getting me and she was, you are, Terry, the person who got me into this. So thank you.TERRY HARRELL: You're welcome, Bree. I do remember with the taskforce saying, "You've got to come do this, you have to come to this meeting. We're going to form this national taskforce."BREE:That's right.TERRY:I'm wondering whether you'd kill me later or thank me.BREE:Yeah, well here's the thank you. So as Terry became a leader in this space, that was certainly recognized in the ABA President at that time, appointed. It was Hillary Bass out of Florida, appointed Terry to lead the working group to advance wellbeing in the legal profession, which was an all-star group of people who were responsible for launching the ABA's Employer Wellbeing Pledge two years ago, which has been wildly successful. We have now about 200 signatories of some of the largest legal employers on the planet. Terry continues to be very involved in that. She's been a key partner within the national taskforce since its inception back in 2016.BREE:So, Terry, what did I miss? Welcome to the program.TERRY:You did a wonderful job, thank you, Bree. Happy to be here and I need to tell both you, I hadn't realized you'd done 10 already. I was aware of your podcast but I'm impressed, I'm impressed.BREE:So Terry I'm going to start off by asking you the question that we ask everybody is, what brought you to the lawyer wellbeing movement? What experiences in your life are behind your passion in this work? We found that people who really get involved and in the center of the circle of what we're doing, tend to have some real passion that's driving what they do. So, what's yours?TERRY:Yeah, that question makes you think back and I think it started young because my dad was a lawyer. I remember running with my dad and one of his partners in high school, I loved doing that. Of course we called it jogging, I won't tell you how old I am, but that gives it away. We'd go jogging and they would talk about how that helped them to stay more focused at work and improve their mood. As a child of a lawyer, I can testify that evenings when better when my dad went, stopped by the YMCA on his way home and exercised first before he came home. He was a trial lawyer, I think that I learned early that transition from work to home can be really helpful.TERRY:Then in high school, I had a friend who died by suicide, and then the father of a good friend also died by suicide. So I think that sparked my interest in mental health and my decision to major in psychology in undergrad. But then I went to law school, and actually, I loved law school. I'm probably a geek, there aren't many people who will say that but I made really good friends, I enjoyed it. Went to work in big law where I saw both some examples of probably good wellbeing practices and then some very bad practices, but I also learned that for me that work was not where my passion was. I learned what a burden it is to try and work that hard about something that you're not really passionate about.TERRY:Bree, I know you understand this, because you and I have spent our Christmas break working on policies before. You have spent I know, breaks working on tax documents and you only do that if you really, really care about what you're working on. To do that about something that isn't terribly meaningful to you is torture, to me at least.TERRY:So then I went back, after I worked in law for a couple of years, went back, got my MSW, worked in mental health in a variety of positions which was great. Loved it, but then I heard about this Lawyer Assistance Program and I thought, wow, I'd always wondered if I would get back to my legal roots somehow. Started working at the Lawyer Assistance Program, absolutely loved it. First as the Clinical Director, then as the... I became the Executive Director. Then it was really through the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs, that I started thinking more broadly about lawyer wellbeing. At the LAP we were already thinking, and we can talk more later, but we were thinking about ways to talk about prevention with lawyers a little bit. Didn't have a lot of capacity and bandwidth to do that. But it was really through the commission that I started thinking about structures, the fishbowl in which we are swimming, as opposed to just dealing with each individual lawyer himself or herself, if that makes sense.BREE:Absolutely, yeah. At some point you want to go, get tired of pulling people out of the stream and you want to go upstream and stop what the real problem is, yeah.TERRY:Yeah, exactly, exactly.CHRIS: Terry, many people attribute the start of the wellbeing movement around the report that the National Taskforce released back in, surprisingly, 2016. The 44 recommendations and that, but we all know that the forerunner to that was the work of the Lawyer Assistance Programs. So I was hoping that you could give our listeners some perspective of just that history of the Lawyer Assistance Programs and how wellbeing has played a role and what you do. While it's probably taken on a more prominent role of late, but still being a centerpiece of what ultimately the programs were designed to do.TERRY:Yeah, I would love to do that. Begins to make me feel like I'm an old timer, but when you've been doing it for 20 years that happens, I guess.TERRY:Yeah, the LAP idea of lawyers helping lawyers, which is originally what we called a lot of the LAPs. Lawyers helping lawyers has been around for many decades, at least since the '70s. I believe much earlier than that, but it was a very informal, just volunteer, and it was mostly lawyers in recovery from addictions trying to help other lawyers who were struggling with addictions, and primarily alcohol, that's what they were. But then in the '80s, staff programs starting popping up, people started realizing, this could be a lot more helpful if there was a phone number, one phone number to call, one person who is the point person because it was hit and miss with the volunteer network on who found them and who didn't find them.TERRY:So states around the country started creating Lawyer Assistance Programs where they'd have an office with a phone number and a person assigned there. At that time, the ABA formed a commission, it was called the Commission on Impaired Lawyers. Tells you how far we've come. It was about helping impaired lawyers. It was very basic and the primary goal was to help states create a formal program to do this work. I forget exactly when, somewhere in the '80s I believe or early '90s, we changed it to the Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs, which I think is a much better name. I don't know exactly the timing, but by 1997 when Indiana created our program, the stronger programs all over the country were what we called broad brushed, in that they dealt with mental health issues, including substance use issues but much broader. I think the earlier programs probably did assist a few lawyers with mental health problems, but that's not what they were known for.TERRY:Over the '90s I would say, and early 2000, almost I think all of the LAPs today are broad brushed, in that they will help lawyers with almost any problem that they come against, not just substance abuse problems but that myth still persists today. Even though Indiana, for an example, we've been a broad brushed program since 1997 and yet I will go out and speak and some lawyer will walk up to me and say, "Wow, I wish last year I'd known that you dealt with problems other than alcohol because Wilma Flintstone was grieving her husband's death and we thought she was really depressed, but because we know she didn't drink, we never thought to call the Lawyer Assistance Program." So that kills me and I want to get that word out there. I'm sure Bree has heard those stories as well.BREE:Absolutely, yeah.TERRY:So the LAP was doing our work, helping lawyers that were either brought to our attention or came to us voluntarily wanting help. All along, I kept thinking, we should also be doing some more prevention work. I'd like to offer some lawyer's running group or do some more education, get some more education out there. I couldn't believe how many years I've been doing JLAP 101 presentations.TERRY:One of our state bar presidents said, "Terry, what if we create a wellness committee at the state bar, will that upset the LAP? Would we be taking your turf?" I said, "Absolutely not. You can help us because you can do more of those proactive things, like have healthy eating seminar for lawyers or sponsor 5Ks and do some more of that front end work than what the LAP has the bandwidth to do." We work together very closely. I mean, I was a Co-Chair that first year, I'm back being Chair again, Co-Chair again this year. In fact, the way it works is the wellness committee supports a 5K run but you know who's there at 6:30 in the morning to organize the whole thing? It's always staff from the Lawyer Assistance Program. So we really worked hand-in-hand and we're still having discussions about, how do we work together to be able to do more and not duplicate efforts and not cause each other any hard but actually do more? Because there's certainly lots more work to do, tons more work.BREE:Yeah, and Terry, I'm interested in... because you've been so central in this space and know all the players and people. Particularly since the report has come out, what do you see in the area of, I think of it as prevention work, but a lot of times it comes under the heading of wellbeing or wellness. What are some of the things that you're seeing that the LAPs are doing now?TERRY:I think we're offering, we're increasing the breadth of our programming, which is good. We're focusing our marketing efforts, if you will, on those things. I know in our LAP, we found that our care for the caregivers support group is one of the more popular groups, that and our grief group have been more popular. They've helped people to understand that there are certain issues that may impact everyone or at least any one of us can encounter. By being part of some of these wellness efforts with the state bar, I think people started to perceive us more as wellbeing people and it's a good thing to be seen hanging out with those people, as opposed to in the past when they saw us as the alcohol police. They really didn't want to be seen with us, or I'd walk into a cocktail party and someone would put his drink behind his back. It's like, we're not the alcohol police, we're all about wellbeing. I think that has started to come through, and it's helped with collaborations.TERRY:With the report coming out with these very specific recommendations, I was able to talk to the state bar and the LAP and the state bar put on a symposium for legal employers talking specifically about the recommendations for legal employers and what they can do to improve wellbeing. That was fabulous, actually, we had wonderful speakers from a lot of the law firms and corporate council groups around the state. That was just great. We're still getting our normal referrals, and of course those remain confidential, but we're doing so much more that doesn't have to be confidential, like offering yoga and offering a mindfulness session, that I think we're more visible to. We're not this mysterious hidden group any longer.TERRY:With more emphasis on wellbeing and the taskforce report coming out, and the pledge from the ABA. Even my own supreme court decided to create a wellbeing committee specifically for supreme court employees. So we're a 250-person group ourselves, so we've added that. So I mean, I just think raising the visibility and the emphasis on wellbeing has had incredible results for us.CHRIS:Terry, as you think about... I mean I'm not as familiar with the Lawyer Assistance Programs, although being on the malpractice prevention side, we certainly have partnered with... I mean, we work a lot in rural states, so we were aware of certain states that still did not have a Lawyer Assistance Program. My sense is now that I think all 50 states actually have one. Not knowing when you started with the Indiana program, I would just love to hear your perspective on where we were then versus where we are now from an evolution perspective. You got to be pretty excited because this feels like there's a lot more with the innovations going on in the wellbeing side, I like to always think of the Lawyer Assistance Programs as, you guys are the heroes in the trenches every day. I think that there's a great appreciation for the work that you do but it's been a lot of work to get to the point where the issue has become back on the front burner as a national topic of discussion.TERRY:Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, I mean even when we created our program in '97, there was still a lot of states that did not have a program at all. Now, there were a lot that did. Indiana is rarely first, but we're rarely last. There were also states that only served lawyers, they didn't serve law students, they didn't serve judges. So I'll make a plug for my state, I was very proud of my state that they looked around and said, "Looks like the better programs serve law students, lawyers and judges, the entire legal community, and they're broad brushed." We made that decision but it took a while, into the 2000s I'd say. Now we're at the point where I think almost every state... let me phrase it this way. I think every state has a Lawyer Assistance Program, some are more robust than others. There's a fair number that still have only one employee and there might be one that's still voluntary, but there's definitely someone we could get a hold of at every state that is concerned with Lawyers' Assistance. So we've come so, so far.TERRY:I remember in the day when it was hard. I mean, we knocked on doors to get... we wanted to get our message out at various lawyer conferences, and we really had to work at that. Today, everyone wants a wellbeing program at their conference, whether it's prosecutors or defenders or trial attorneys, judges, everyone wants a wellbeing program. So now, I mean I talk to my staff about we may have to start to get selective because we're doing so many presentations throughout the year that we've got to make sure we have time to take care of our clients as well. That's the most important part of what a LAP does, but it's a great problem to have to work at. I think a lot of that credit goes to the wellbeing movement, that it's on people's radar. So organizations that I wasn't even aware of who never thought to contact are now contacting us.BREE:That's great.TERRY:That's huge.BREE:Yeah, that is.CHRIS: Yeah, and let's take a quick break because one of the things I'd love to come back and talk about is just how the demand has evolved over time, because I've got to think with COVID and other things, the demand was already high but we're at an even more interesting place with the pandemic.CHRIS: So, let's hear from one of our sponsors, take a quick break, and we'll be back.—Advertisement: Your law firm is worth protecting and so is your time. ALPS has the quickest online application for legal malpractice insurance out there. Apply, see rates, and find coverage all in about 20 minutes.Being a lawyer is hard. Our new online app is easy. Apply now at applyonline.alpsnet.com.—BREE:Welcome back, everybody. We are so honored today to have Terry Harrell, who is really a leader, the leader, one of the leaders in the Lawyers' Assistance Program world. She has worked at every level of that experience. Terry has been the Executive Director of the Indiana JLAP for the past 20 years, so brings a wealth of experience.BREE:So I'm guessing, Terry, that you have a finger on the pulse of how things are going with the LAPs during COVID? The level of demand and how they're meeting and what they're seeing. I mean, early on in the pandemic, what I knew in talking to the LAP programs is that they felt that people were hesitating to call. The demand went down at first, but I don't think that's the case now. What are you seeing?TERRY:I think you're right on spot, Bree. I think when... My experience, and I think I heard this echoed correct with the other LAPs is that last spring, calls dropped off. I think two reasons. One, all the law students got sent home from law school. We couldn't do our onsite support groups for law students any longer or meeting one-on-one with law students. Those calls, I mean they went dead silent. We heard nothing from the law students for months.TERRY:But the lawyers and judges also dropped off. I don't know, my thinking is, and this is just Terry Harrell speaking. I think the lawyers and judges were busy trying to help others, trying to help their firm or their court staff deal with what was going on at work, trying to help their families, trying to help their communities figure out what had to happen. As usual, as lawyers will do, they put themselves last and they just sucked it up and did the work they had to do because as the pandemic continued, and I think this is true for all the LAPs, I know it's true for us, the calls began to come back. Lawyers and judges are calling us, we're starting to have our normal calls again, as well as, it's funny, the COVID stress calls don't come in directly. Someone will call me, concerned about another person, say, another lawyer in the firm.TERRY:Then next thing I know, we're talking. Well, how is this isolation and the pandemic, how's that affecting you? Next thing I'm talking to that lawyer about their stressors. To where we've all noticed, they come in sideways because lawyers as usual, are busy trying to help other people, but they're getting to us now. I'm really pleased with that, that our normals are back up to normal.TERRY:What I would say, I hate to say there's a bright spot in a pandemic because there's nothing good about this pandemic, but one of the things, I guess a silver lining of a bad experience, has been our support groups. We had before pandemic, we had, I don't know, eight maybe support groups going around the state, but if you lived in a smaller community, there wasn't one close to you. We just couldn't justify having support groups in some of those communities that had few lawyers in them. Even if you go into Indianapolis, to get to the downtown support group, if you work on the north side to get done with your work day and drive 45 minutes to downtown Indianapolis for a support group wasn't real. Then 45 minutes home, wasn't realistic.TERRY:So when the pandemic hit, we moved everything to Zoom. We talked about it but we'd never done it. We just did it because we didn't have any choice. It's been great because we've been able to include people from more rural areas. It no longer matters geographically and so people have come to groups that normally wouldn't have. They've been much more effective than I would've guessed.TERRY:We also added a group, that just called our Connection Group. So everyone who is practicing law or going to law school or serving as a judge during the pandemic is eligible. We're all eligible, it's just to connect with other members of the legal community. It's robust and people get on there and talk about the challenges that they're facing. They also laugh as most support groups, they also laugh and have a good time.TERRY:So I think when it's over, we'll go back to having some in person, I mean because doggone it, sometimes there's nothing like a hug or an arm on your shoulder, but I think we'll continue with the Zoom support group meetings because they are more effective than I ever would've guessed. It allows us to get to those people in rural communities. I mean, this may be something, Chris, for those states like North Dakota and Montana, where you just don't have big populations of lawyers. If they can do things by Zoom, I have been shocked at how well that has gone.CHRIS:Yeah, I think you raise a good point, because I think that in some ways the legal profession is now more connected because of the necessity of having to utilize technology to connect with one another. One of the things that I've seen in the bar association world is that fairly significant rise in participation in CLE program. Obviously that all went virtual, but they're seeing, particularly in rural states, record numbers of people sitting in on getting their CLEs and connecting in an entirely different way. So that's going to be really interesting to see how that plays out from a support perspective in the longterm, but like you said, I'd be rather optimistic that we feel like people are not as far away even though we're physically not together. There's connection points that we can certainly rely on as we move forward.TERRY:Absolutely.BREE:Terry, I know the... and just to emphasize and reemphasize this as those in the LAP world always do, that everything is confidential about the calls, 100%. But of course abiding by confidentiality, can you talk about maybe any trends that you have seen in the kind of calls that you're getting? I mean since they've started to pick back up, do you see more extreme situations? Have the type of calls changed, or just going back to what they were before?TERRY:I would say it's really, it's amazing but I think they're going back to the mix we had before, which has tended to be more heavy on mental health recently than addiction, which is interesting. Although, sometimes we find out there's also an addiction issue there, of course, but it's in the same mix of lawyer with dementia, demeanor issues, depression, alcohol. We have had two... again, thinking about confidentiality, I have to think what I saw but we've had two pretty dramatic relapse situations and I don't know if those were due to COVID or not. It's too new but they were two people that we thought had a really solid recovery. So I will be over time I'm sure, we'll figure some of that out and see if that played into it or it was just the course of addiction itself.BREE:Sure.TERRY:But yeah, I haven't seen a big change in the type of calls we get, other than it's almost like the pandemic is just one more layer. It's one more stressor on top of everything else.CHRIS:Terry, I'm curious that the pandemic I think for a lot of people has been an opportunity to reflect on their current state of life. I'm just curious particularly with your social work background, just your perspective on... people are evaluating all parts of their family and their professional life, their relationships, and how that ultimately... I'm sure there will be books and book written post pandemic about the impacts of that as a reflection point. We're just curious on your perspective of lawyers in particular and as they had to work from home and not be as connected. I've heard some lawyers say, "I really never want to go back to an office again." So I'm just curious on that, on your perspective on that.TERRY:Yeah, I mean like you say, it'll be years before we know the total impact, but I definitely think it has caused people to think about, what do I really need to do? Do I need to be going this hard? Do I need to travel that much? Maybe I want to take a job where I can, if my employers let me continue to stay at home, maybe I'll quit that job and find a job that allows me to work from home. I'm aware of at least one retirement that was, not caused by the pandemic, but hastened by having that time to reflect on what's really important in life. The lawyer decided, you know what? I was going to wait two more years but why? Why am I doing that? I want to spend this time with my family, I'm going to go ahead and retire. So I think there'll be changes in workplace policies, and I don't know how that will all fold out.TERRY:Yeah, and I think there'll be some career changes because I think there will be some people who have decided what's most important to them, that there may be some shuffling around. People may make some career decisions because they've had time to sit with themselves and decide what's really meaningful and what works for them, instead of just jumping into the daily grind thoughtlessly every day. I think we'll see some changes.CHRIS:Yeah, and employers may need to adapt as well. Again, I think it's going to be very interesting to see that if nothing else, the work-life balance has been called into question. As we think about wellbeing as wanting people to feel like they've made a good decision in are professionally satisfied in the practice of law. Having a pandemic in the midst of a career has an opportunity for you to rethink your position in that world.TERRY:It really does. I mean, there's some dramatic instances. I've heard of lawyers who went into the courtroom and the judge said, "I won't let you go forward unless you take your mask off," where they thought it was... something like that can make you think, well, is this really worth risking my life to do big things? Then maybe employers will change. It's turned out there's some people who are very rigid about, I want you at your desk working 8:30 to 4:30 or whatever, very rigid hours. They may have learned that actually if you tell people, "This is the work you need to get done but you can be flexible about when you do it," and it still gets done, that may open up some possibilities for people. Yeah, it will be very interesting to see what happens.CHRIS:Terry, you've been very involved in the work to create systemic change in the legal profession, both as it relates to wellbeing and both in Indiana and on the national front. Could you talk with us about some of the projects that you're currently involved with? Again, both at home and on a national level?TERRY:I would love to. Bree mentioned earlier that Hillary Bass created the working group to advance wellbeing in the legal profession, but that was a working group that was sunset a couple years ago, but one of the major initiatives of that group was the ABA Wellbeing Pledge. That pledge was meant to continue and to continue to be there to encourage and support employers to make changes in the workplace to benefit lawyer wellbeing. So CoLAP took that under their umbrella and created a wellbeing committee at CoLAP, which I'm still involved in.TERRY:I'm particularly involved in our subcommittee that's working on that pledge. We have, I don't have a current number, it's approximately 200 people have signed the pledge. That's a very rough number, but more people are signing on. We're starting to get feedback on what the legal employers are doing. I want to stop, it's easy to say firm, we mean legal employers. This is for anyone who employs lawyers in their workplace, whether it's a government agency, law school, law firm, in-house council. It's broad, broader than just law firms, I want to be clear about that.TERRY:We've seen some big changes, we have seen law firms are updating their policies to be respectful of mental health and encourage people to get the help they need when they need it. I've seen law firms hire wellbeing directors and I've seen them go a different way and hire an actual in-house therapist to be available to their staff. There's just been explosion of wellbeing activities and programs in the law school, that go on and on about that. Now, I do think most of those are aimed at the students, which is great, but I think we need to circle back and remind the law schools that they also employ a whole lot of lawyers on staff and make sure that those wellbeing initiatives are also including their own employees, because I'm not sure it's been interpreted that way at the law schools.TERRY:Legal employers are doing things to reduce the emphasis on alcohol, either by having events that are not built around alcohol or by having more options available or limiting the amount of alcohol served. I think there's still a lot of thought going into how to do that by the legal employers. All legal employers are offering some sort of wellbeing training, whether that's learning about mindfulness, financial wellness, nutrition, learning about your Lawyer Assistance Program and your EAP. A fair number are offering some fitness coaching kind of alternatives, there's a lot of creative work being done. I know Bree's been following some of those signatories as well. She's also on that wellbeing committee. It's fun to see and I just can't wait to see what else comes out of those initiatives with the legal employers.TERRY:I'm going to talk about the policy committee briefly, but did you all have anything you wanted to say about the pledge? I know Bree, you've been really involved in that as well.BREE:No, but I think that it really is beginning to change the way things are done. It also, we're creating opportunities for these pledge signatories to come together and share information and strategies. So it's a great project and one that's just getting started.TERRY:Right, in fact I should mention, in March we're going to have a virtual event for those law firm signatories. So if anybody's thinking about joining, I would suggest you join before March so you can take part in the March virtual, of course, event.TERRY:I'm also on the ABA policy committee today, and that group is looking at the taskforce recommendations, particularly ones on what the regulators should do, because the taskforce report asked that regulators take action to communicate that lawyer wellbeing is a priority. I think that means getting it into written policies and rules so that it's there for the long term, not just something we talk about at one CLE and move on. So policy committees looking at the model rules of professional responsibility, with an eye on how can we emphasize wellbeing as an aspect of competence. I'm not going to go into more detail on that yet because I think there's a lot of moving parts there, but I hope that we will be able to make some change in the model rules that institutionalizes wellbeing so it doesn't go away. So that law professors can talk about it in their professional responsibility classes, so that CLE ethics can tie to it. I think there'll be all sorts of benefits to institutionalizing the idea in the model rules. We're watching other policies where there's an opportunity to add that in.BREE:Yep, so foundational. [crosstalk 00:35:23] about what's going on in Indiana. You guys have taken the lead in some initiatives. The character and fitness questions.TERRY:Yeah, in terms of systemic change, I think this is a really important one. For those who don't know, most bar examiners historically ask... years ago, they asked a really intrusive question about, have you ever been diagnosed with or treated for a variety of mental health conditions? I think the question had been narrowed by most states but it was still there. CoLAP has continued to push and I've not been directly involved in those efforts, but to tell states that the question needs to come off the bar application. It's okay to ask about misconduct or behavior that's concerning or problems with performance, but it's inappropriate to ask whether someone has a diagnosis or has sought treatment for something.TERRY:We went to our Chief Justice, I guess it was six months ago now maybe. Once we explained it to her, she said, "You're absolutely right, we should not be asking that question, period. Let's take it off starting today. Let's just remove it." We even had had a few applications come in and she said, "Just strike it from the few applications that have come in. We are not using that question anymore-BREE:Wow.TERRY:... starting today," which was fabulous.BREE:I didn't know that, that's great, Terry.TERRY:She did it, because we thought we'd have to wait until the next round because it had still been on the application. She's like, "No, we'll just mark it out on this one and then take it off the next one and we're done with that question right now." That was fabulous, and we're not the first state. I know New York for sure has done that. I think there's a couple others that I can't recall, but I'm hoping that the snowball is rolling and that more and more... because that's something that sends a message to law students, it sends a message to lawyers, that getting treatment is a good thing. That's a positive thing, not a weakness. It's so important.BREE:So essential before they join the legal profession. So Terry, this the capstone question. So, are you ready?TERRY:Okay.BREE:So pull out your crystal ball and tell us, I think you're one of the best people I the country to talk about this. What does the Lawyers' Assistance Program of the future look like? I mean, what would be ideal? Then talk about it if you can, what it takes to get there.TERRY:Well what's in my head is more of a picture, it may not have the details in it yet, maybe you two can help me flesh it out, but one of our volunteers for years has always said that her vision for JLAP, for our LAP, is that it's a coffee shop. It's this friendly, open coffee shop where lawyers can stop in, get a cup of coffee, connect to others, talk over their challenges. There's no stigma to coming in, it's a very welcoming and encouraging place. I really think that idea, that is the LAP's role, it's helping lawyers to connect, whether it's to a volunteer, another lawyer, a support group, or to professional treatment of some kind, or just reconnect with themselves. That's the key, I think, underlying LAPs.TERRY:Wellbeing is very individual, so it's maybe the LAPs are helping all lawyers to stay on track with their own wellbeing, whatever that means. Thriving and performing at their highest level. I can envision, what is LAPs, every lawyer did an annual checkup just like you do with your primary doctor?BREE:Great.TERRY:Let's pause, push the pause button, sit down with someone from LAP and just say, "Am I taking care of myself? Am I thriving, or am I merely getting by, or am I really sinking here?" Wouldn't that be great, to just pause once a year and meet with somebody and have that discussion? That would obviously probably take a few more staff, so maybe a little more funding, but that's my big vision.BREE:Great, and in the report, one of the recommendations under that, the LAP section, was to make sure that there adequate funding for the programs to be able to meet the need. A part of that need, it's the calls and it's also be able to get out and do all of this public education that is now being requested. We've seen some successes in that around the country, particularly we had the podcast from Virginia and how they got an increase in funding that, I don't know, tripled?CHRIS:Yes.BREE:What they were able to do and able to hire full-time professional staff, and that's really made all the difference. So there's always that piece too.TERRY:There really is. Two things about that. I need to give a shout out to my Supreme Court for supporting us, fully supporting us with funding, helping us with staff, but also during the pandemic with laptops and speaker or headsets and cameras and all that's necessary to do our work. The other piece is, yes, you have to have a LAP that's well funded because we have people that are out doing these presentations, which you can't just walk away in the middle of a presentation. We have calls coming in and we also have these crisis situations that come in where suddenly one or two staff people may have to just take off and go deal with a crisis situation. Whoever's left has to pick up whatever they were supposed to do that day. So the funding is a tricky... funding and staffing is a sticky, interesting issue.BREE:Yeah, absolutely.CHRIS:I think it's interesting, Terry, that first of all, I love your coffee shop analogy because I do think that we're ultimately trying to create a space that's a very welcoming space. I know how much you have been emboldened in your mission because of the support of your Supreme Court. I almost think of the judiciary as being the baristas in those coffee shops because if they are offering us a wide menu of options and also helping with the systemic change and being supportive, I think so much of what we've been able to achieve in the wellbeing movement has been because of the support of the judiciary. Most notably the state Supreme Courts.TERRY:Absolutely.CHRIS:... and the development of the taskforces. We struck a nerve with a group of individuals who, let's be honest, are the leaders in our profession. The more that they're sitting at the table in that coffee shop as our baristas, I think the more effective we will ultimately be, not just in the success of the Lawyer Assistance Programs but in engineering this culture shift that ultimately is our longterm goal.TERRY:That's absolutely right. We've had such good support institutionally from our court and from our Chief Justice. We also have two of our justices are actually JLAP volunteers. One justice in particular, he goes around and will speak with us and say flat out, "It is okay not to be okay. It happens to everyone from time to time, it is okay to ask for help. We don't expect perfection from you, we expect excellence and that means taking care of yourself." It's fabulous when lawyers here that from that level, that kind of leadership.BREE:What a great message, yeah.TERRY:It is, truly is.CHRIS:Well, this has been... this again, Terry, you are one of the pioneers in our space here, working in the trenches. You've been so giving of your time, talent, resources, expertise. We're thrilled to have you in our midst, we're thrilled to have you on the podcast. We just can't say enough.CHRIS:Bree and I both served on the ABA working group and the amount of work product that came out of that group under your leadership in that short period of time was really impressive.TERRY:Well, thank you to the two of you for taking that ball and then running with it. It's been fabulous and I'm really excited to see where we go in the future with the wellbeing.CHRIS:Awesome, Bree, any closing thoughts?BREE:Just to echo what you've said, Chris. We are so appreciative, Terry. It's great to spend some time with you.CHRIS:All right, so we will be back in a couple weeks with our next podcast. A lot of great things, I think, on the horizon, in the wellbeing movement. Bree and I think, as we think about the long term sustainability of our movement, there's some real exciting things happening. A considerable amount of outreach and conferences on the horizon. So there's just a lot of good stuff happening out there, both at the state level and the national level. So we certainly hope to be a part of being able to promote those things that are on the horizon because it just feels like more and more things are cropping up on the calendar and that's good for ultimately where we're trying to take it.CHRIS:So, for everyone out there, be good, be safe, be well. We will see you on the next podcast. Thanks for joining us. 

Seth Jones is a Senior Adviser at CSIS and terrorism researcher discusses the growing terror threat from domestic political extremists - a threat that played out in the assault of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 This episode references: The ABA President's Statement on the violence at the Capitol https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2021/01/statement-of-aba-president-patricia-lee-refo-re--violence-at-the/ "Pro-Trump mob storms US Capitol in bid to overturn election" AP, January 7, 2021 https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-elections-electoral-college-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818 Senate Hearing "Does Section 230’s Sweeping Immunity Enable Big Tech Bad Behavior?" October 28, 2020 https://www.commerce.senate.gov/2020/10/does-section-230-s-sweeping-immunity-enable-big-tech-bad-behavior Seth Jones "The War Comes Home: The Evolution of Domestic Terrorism in the United States" October 22, 2020 https://www.csis.org/analysis/war-comes-home-evolution-domestic-terrorism-united-states Hunting in the Shadows The Pursuit of Al Qa'ida Since 9/11 https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393081459 In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan https://www.amazon.com/Graveyard-Empires-Americas-War-Afghanistan/dp/0393338517 A Covert Action: Reagan, the CIA, and the Cold War Struggle in Poland https://www.amazon.com/Covert-Action-Reagan-Struggle-Poland/dp/0393247007 How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering al Qa'ida https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG741-1.html Seth Jones is the Director of the Transnational Threats Project and a Senior Adviser in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studied (CSIS) https://www.csis.org/people/seth-g-jones

Banking has a role to play in pushing back against systemic racism. As law enforcement and health care communities work on overcoming racial bias and disparity, Laurie challenges those of us in banking with some ideas and suggestions to do our part.   Topics discussed in this episode:   3:09 Understand that it's broken. 4:35 We have to be a little harder on ourselves. 7:43 Confirmation bias in lending and credit 10:27 Redlining and historical racism in lending 11:30 Redlining or lack of understanding? 13:03 A conversation of equals 14:12 Having the hard conversations in a safe environment 16:23 Recognize it is going to be hard, and then invest in it.   About Laurie Stewart:   Laura Lee (Laurie) Stewart, president and CEO of Seattle-based Sound Community Bank celebrates more than 30 years at the helm of Sound Community Bank. In that time, she led the conversion of the organization from a $38 million credit union to a commercial bank which grew to be more than $718 million in assets.   Stewart maintains a long history in community banking and participation in industry affairs. Stewart currently serves as the Chair of the American Bankers Association, representing the Nation's $18.6 trillion banking industry and the employment of more than two million workers. She also holds a position on the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco's Seattle Branch.   Previously, Stewart served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Washington Bankers Association (WBA), where she helped create the WBA's Executive Development Program. In addition, Stewart was one of 14 bankers selected to serve on the inaugural FDIC Advisory Board in 2009, and in 2012, she was named to the Community Bank Advisory Council of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.   In 2019, she was named Community Banker of the Year by American Banker and received an Executive Excellence award from Seattle Business Magazine. American Banker also named her as one of its Most Powerful Women in Banking in 2011, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019.   Sound Community Bank https://www.soundcb.com/     Resources:   From the American Bankers Association Call for Change: A message from the ABA President and the Chair https://www.aba.com/training-events/career-workforce-development/diversity-equity-inclusion/call-for-change#_ga=2.109573890.629892261.1592593155-1289401962.1592429151   Resources to help banks achieve Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Goals https://www.aba.com/training-events/career-workforce-development/diversity-equity-inclusion     Linda's recommended reading:   The Fragile Mind: How It Has Produced and Unwittingly Perpetuates America's Tragic Disparities by Dr. Jarik Conrad   In The Fragile Mind, Dr. Conrad not only provides insight into what daily life is like for African Americans and individuals who are poor, he offers as innovative approach to overcoming these challenges based on what scientists have uncovered about the human brain - its brilliance, as well as its fragility. He demonstrates how conscious and subconscious actions taken by Whites have maintained their social, political, and economic dominance, while conscious and subconscious actions taken by African Americans and poor people have contributed to the perpetuation of their subordinate status in America   https://www.amazon.com/Fragile-Mind-Unwittingly-Perpetuates-Disparities/dp/1628652462   The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley   This book may shatter your assumptions about who is, and who is not wealthy, by appearance alone. While not specifically about race, it is a great reminder to set aside our biases and evaluate borrower credit risk on objective factors.   https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Thomas-Stanley/dp/0671015206   Find out more about Linda Keith at: www.LindaKeithCPA.com www.LendersOnlineTraining.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindakeith/

Constipational Professor/Hack Alan Derschowitz says you have no Constitutional right to refuse vaccinations. ABA President says attacks on judges and prosecutors must cease. Mike Maharrey joins Jeff Johnson and me to mock, ridicule and attack all of them. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-wasatch-report/support

American Bar Association president Judy Perry Martinez joins us to discuss the results from their ABA 2020 Survey of Civic Literacy. What did people get right and what did they get wrong? The results may surprise you!

American Bar Association president Judy Perry Martinez joins us to discuss the results from their ABA 2020 Survey of Civic Literacy. What did people get right and what did they get wrong? The results may surprise you!

ABA’s banker-led Core Platforms Committee has released several new resources to help bankers navigate the core provider marketplace. In this episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, sponsored by Reich and Tang Deposit Solutions, Committee Chair Julieann Thurlow and ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols discuss how bankers can best use these new resources to understand the diverse core provider marketplace and discern core technology strategies. "There are more offerings that are in place right now and even coming to market very soon to create a lot more options for banks depending on what their strategies and plans are," Thurlow says. ABA unveiled fact sheets on the offerings and future plans of 19 core providers currently in the market or launching new platforms soon, as well as sample RFP and RFI templates that bankers can customize for their own market research. These resources complement previously shared information from Finastra, FIS, Fiserv and Jack Henry and Associates. ABA also shared a timeline of the Core Platforms Committee’s work to date. Thurlow, who is president and CEO of Reading Cooperative Bank in Reading, Massachusetts, announced a new webinar series on core platform topics. The first webinar, on May 13, will cover contract issues, while future events will explore open banking and the landscape of emerging core providers. This episode is sponsored by Reich and Tang Deposit Solutions. Additional resources: Access the resources at aba.com/core. Register for the May 13 webinar.

Judy Perry Martinez, President of the American Bar Association discusses the how the ABA has shaped her career with Co-Dean Kimberly Mutcherson. Ms. Perry Martinez also highlights the ABA's upcoming Law Day on May 1, 2020. Learn more about Law Day 2020 Your Vote, Your Voice, Our Democracy: The 19th Amendment at 100. Discover more about Judy Perry Martinez. The Power of Attorney is produced by Rutgers Law School. With two locations minutes from Philadelphia and New York City, Rutgers Law offers the prestige and reputation of a large, nationally-known university combined with a personal, small campus experience. Learn more by visiting law.rutgers.edu. Series Producer and Editor: Kate Bianco Series Creator: Emily Brennan --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rutgerslaw/message

This episode references: The Stand With Us Campaign https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/resources/rule-of-law/ The Breakfast Event: The Threat Disinformation and Deepfakes Pose to the Private Sector https://www.americanbar.org/events-cle/mtg/inperson/392071960/ Judy Perry Martinez is the President of the American Bar Association https://www.americanbar.org/groups/leadership/aba_officers/judy-perry-martinez/

Co-hosts Ralph Baxter and Laurence Colletti sit down with new ABA President-elect Patricia Lee Refo to hear about her many years of involvement in the association. They talk about the current state of the ABA and emphasize its work toward increasing diversity and inclusion in the profession. Patricia also talks about how she plans to support current efforts for innovation that will provide greater efficiency in the practice of law. Patricia Lee Refo, a partner with Snell & Wilmer in Phoenix, is the president-elect of the American Bar Association.

Missed ABA’s annual meeting this year? Don’t fret, On The Road has you covered. Host Laurence Colletti catches up with ABA President Bob Carlson about what’s new at this year’s ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California. ABA President Carlson gives an overview of the four primary topics talked about during the meeting: lawyer/law student wellness, immigration, pro bono, and membership benefits. He also discusses whether this will be the last annual meeting in SF.

Host Laurence Colletti sits down with ABA President-elect Judy Perry Martinez at the ABA Annual Meeting 2019 in San Francisco, California to talk about her involvement with the ABA and legal issues that the ABA plans to resolve. She also discusses how the ABA is involved with innovation and education, gun violence as well as immigration, and what she plans to do when she becomes the next president. To close it out, ABA President-elect Martinez touches on the subject of wellness with lawyers and encourages those who need help to not be afraid because the ABA will be there to support them every step of the way.

Judy Perry Martinez is a lawyer who has made public service a part of her career from the start. She continues that legacy in August as she assumes the presidency of the 400,000-member American Bar Association during its annual meeting in San Francisco. On this episode of LawNext, Martinez joins host Bob Ambrogi for a wide-ranging discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the ABA and the profession at large.  Over more than 30 years, Martinez has held various leadership positions at the ABA, including as chair of the ABA Presidential Commission on the Future of Legal Services, which three years ago released it seminal study on access to legal services, Report on the Future of Legal Services in the United States. Martinez also chaired the ABA’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which evaluates all prospective nominees to the federal bench.  Other roles in which she has served include as the ABA’s lead representative to the United Nations, a member of the ABA Task Force on Building Public Trust in the American Justice System, a member of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, a member of the Council of the ABA Center on Diversity, and a member of the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence. She spent much of her career at the law firm Simon, Peragine, Smith & Redfearn in New Orleans, where she is of counsel. In 2003, she joined Northrop Grumman Corporation as assistant general counsel-litigation, eventually rising to become vice president and chief compliance officer before leaving in 2015 to spend a year at the Advanced Leadership Institute at Harvard University. NEW: We are now on Patreon! Subscribe to our page to be able to access show transcripts, or to submit a question for our guests. Comment on this show: Record a voice comment on your mobile phone and send it to info@lawnext.com.

What is the American Bar Association (ABA) doing to ensure there is a national voice for, not just the legal profession, but for vulnerable people and communities that we serve, to make sure that the Constitution is protected? As his term comes to an end, current ABA President Bob Carlson sits down with ALPS Executive Vice President Chris Newbold to discuss the ABA's work to move the needle on tough topics like lawyer wellbeing, natural disaster relief, immigration, diversity and inclusion, and the vision of global stewardship. Transcript:   CHRIS NEWBOLD:              Good afternoon. This is Chris Newbold, executive vice president of ALPS. Welcome to ALPS in Brief podcast. I'm actually here today in Missoula, Montana. It's July 19, 2019, and I have a very special guest here in our offices. Current ABA president in America, attorney Bob Carlson. Bob Carlson is a former past president of the state bar of Montana and is the second Montanan to ever hold the post of ABA President. Bob, thank you for joining us today. BOB CARLSON:                       Well Chris, thanks for having me. And just to tell your viewers, we just completed another successful ALPS leadership retreat here in Missoula, and had bar leaders and executive directors from around the country. It was inspirational as always, so thank you. CHRIS:                 Yeah, obviously ALPS, in our malpractice insurance, one of the strong partnerships that we enjoy is our relationship with state bars and, and Bob was actually, back in his state bar is, was a major force in the creation of ALPS. And so we obviously appreciate his longtime support of ALPS. Bob, let's talk, I want to talk a little bit about ... Let's talk one year ago today, right? So you were on the cusp of going into the annual meeting in which you were going to be sworn in as president of the ABA, right? Talk to our listeners about just kind of what you were thinking about before you went into the post. Obviously, you went through a pretty long cycle of leadership positions in the ABA, but there's, there's probably nothing like kind of getting ready for the actual year itself. And so talk to us about your mindset, about what you were thinking about going into the year as ABA president. BOB:                          Well, a few things. First of all, my predecessor, Hilarie Bass had started some programs that we wanted the association to continue. Going back a couple of years before that with Linda Klein and Paula Brown, they had started some programs that as an association, we wanted to continue. What we didn't want to do is just start something new, start a fresh initiative that was Bob Carlson's initiative. And I think that Hilarie had a similar mindset and we had worked well together and an issue that was very, very important to both of us was attorney wellness and wellbeing. We were bound and determined to continue to spread the message about the work that the association and state local bars were doing in that area. The second thing was to try to continue to spread the message about what the ABA and its young lawyers division does in the area of disaster relief and disaster resiliency. In the last two years, we've had disasters, significant devastating disasters, whether it's hurricanes or tornadoes or wildfires or earthquakes from the US Virgin Islands to American Samoa. So literally one end of this country to the other, and we wanted to continue to focus on that. Immigration was a critical issue. The ABA has significant policy in this area to try to assist in making sure that, number one, the children that were removed from their families were reunited. We're still working on that. Number two, that unaccompanied minors got a fair hearing and got as much representation, whether direct representation or pro bono representation, that we could provide or at a minimum that they had been provided with some information about what their rights were and also to assist people seeking asylum. We continue to work on that even though the landscape seems to change on a regular basis. And finally we were rolling out a new website and a new membership model. I come from a very small firm in a rural state and I wanted to make sure that we had Hilarie and Judy and some other, Judy Perry Martinez, my successor, and others speaking for the larger firms. Hillary's firm was 2000 lawyers. At the start of my year, we had five or six. We're now three due to a couple of moves out of state of a couple of associates. But wanted to really show to lawyers in small firms around the country that the ABA was relevant to them. And that was a great value in terms of making them a better practitioner, providing them the right tools they needed to assist their clients, and to make it more affordable and accessible. On the eve last, almost what is a 49 weeks ago today? That was the thought. Had a lot of momentum going into the year from things that my predecessors had done, and I think we've kept the momentum up and, and moved the ball forward on a lot of areas. CHRIS:               That's a really interesting thing to kind of note because I think in the governance model of the ABA, there has been a little bit, what's the president's initiative? Best practices in nonprofit governance would tell you that, you know, there's a strategic plan, right? And there's a vision of a board and the president is just the steward of the vision, right? As opposed to, and it seems like there's been a lot of progress with the last couple of leaders of the ABA in terms of executing a coherent, sustainable vision for the organization. BOB:                        And that's been the goal. I grew up in the bar world in the state bar, Montana. When I first became a member of the board, we were just starting, this was back in the 80s, we were just starting our strategic planning process and when I became president we were five, six years into that process and the presidents were moving things forward. A strategic plan keeps getting evolved every year. You look at it every year. You've done retreats, the [inaudible 00:06:43] retreats for the state bar and others, that you know, what have you accomplished but needs more work? What new issues have arisen on the landscape? The legal profession is constantly evolving. Issues constantly evolve, so you have to figure out a way to meet that. Most of the state bars though don't have the turnover, complete turnover in leadership that the ABA does. So you have a board at the ABA that rolls over completely, is a new board every three years We have a strategic plan now for the board that Hilarie pushed through. We have done some reorganization internally, but the mindset has to be at the top. The leaders at the top have to say, listen, we support the association moving forward. This is not about the individuals that are the presidents. This is about the association. This is about the profession. This is about the independence of the judiciary, and diversity and inclusion. What are we going to do to move those things forward? And the way you do it is you sort of have a relay. It's not a sprint. It's not, I'm going to do as much as I can in one year. It is confident in the knowledge that you keep moving the baton forward. That I took it from Hilarie and I'm giving it to Judy and she's giving it to Patricia Refo from Arizona, and we're going to continue to move the association forward in a strategic way, and in an organized way. This gives you the flex. This allows you to meet the ongoing programs, to continue to expand and work on programs, but also meet the new things that happen in every presidency. Whether you're a state bar president or the president of the largest voluntary legal association in the world, every year there's going to be something that happens that you're going to have to react to on behalf of your members and on behalf of the profession. CHRIS:                 So you have those expectations, right? There's continuity in the goals one year later. How do feel like things at one? BOB:                    I actually feel really good. We have moved. We have made progress in a number of areas, and I think the association as a whole has strengthened. We did a lot of things last year to strengthen and we did a number of more to strengthen it, and we are positioned to really have a very strong national association for the future. I think for the listener that's critically important to the independence of the judiciary. It's critically important to due process and the rule of law that you have a national voice for, it's not just for the legal profession, it's for vulnerable people and communities that we serve to make sure that the message gets delivered, to make sure that the Constitution is protected. I feel like we really as an association have made a lot of progress, and one area that we've made significant progress in is the area of lawyer wellness and wellbeing. Thanks a lot in no small part to your work and assistance as the co-chair of the ABA working group on lawyer wellbeing in the profession. I'm sure I've totally messed up the title but we have really created a movement. Primarily my job is taking in as many groups as possible about the issues concerning lawyer wellbeing and lawyer wellness, whether it's a state bar, or a local bar, or law schools, or meetings of managing partners, or to regional bar associations. Not only what the ABA is doing, but how we can partner with all the other stakeholders, including companies like ALPS, who write legal malpractice insurance and have been big supporters of the organized bar since ALPS inception. So I feel really good. We created a pledge we have for legal employers to talk about and think about lawyer wellness and wellbeing for their employees. We've got 120 legal employers that have signed up both law schools, in-house counsel, some of the largest law firms in the country, and then a small firm like myself. So it's not just for big firms, and it's not a one size fits all. It's what can you do to make sure that the consciousness of the law firms and the employers are raised so that they are more aware of the issues that their employees are going through. So if somebody needs help, they know the resources they can get to, the toolkit on lawyer wellbeing with the 80 tips, a [inaudible 00:11:53] that you can download on your phone. I mean that's tremendous progress in an area where we needed something to say, listen, this is okay to talk about. It is okay to get help. It is imperative that you get help. And we're trying to make sure that publicly, every day, everywhere I've gone this year to every audience, those words come out of my mouth. If you need help, we have the resources to get you help. Because to be a good lawyer, you need to be a healthy lawyer. CHRIS:                Yeah. And how would you characterize the state of attorney wellbeing right now if you had to kind of step back and reflect a little bit? Because obviously, we have a long way to go. The numbers are not favorable, right? But education and discussion and as you say, the creation of a movement dedicated to the betterment of the profession is a noble direction for us to take. BOB:                        It is, and we've made progress. I do think we've made progress. The conversations over the past year, I sort of lost track of the count, but I think I spoke in 17, 18, 19 law schools primarily on the topic of lawyer and law student wellbeing, urging law schools to think about it. And there's a number of law schools that are doing great things. There's number of law schools that within an hour after leaving the lunch with the students, they created a working group to discuss how they could do things in their law school, which included faculty, interested faculty members and deans. So I think we've kept this as sort of a fear thing for so long. People were afraid that if they identified as having a problem, whether it's a mental disease problem, anxiety, depression, bipolar, whatever, or if it's a substance issue, they felt that if they sought help that they'd have to report themselves and that they would be stigmatized, and they would be penalized for that either in their admission to the law school or their admission to the bar. So we increased the bandwidth of the stakeholders where we have regular discussions with the conference of chief justices. So the 50 chief justices from every state who can basically oversee the practice of law and the admission to law and to practice in their states. We've had discussions in law schools. We've had discussions with managing partners of big firms, medium firms, and small firms. There was a national summit where educators, lawyers, legal malpractice insurance companies got together to talk about how to move this message forward. I'd say the most important thing we've done is we talked about it every day, and I think that's made a big difference. There's a lot of things, there's a lot of positive things that the legal profession is doing today. A lot of, whether it's volunteering a for pro-Bono in disaster relief areas, whether it's volunteering to assist people seeking asylum at the border or in their communities, whether it's volunteering to help people with their veterans benefits, or the elderly. Whether it's lobbying for legal services, adequate funding and the Legal Services Corporation or the public service loan forgiveness program. All things that the profession is doing, the great things. Those things provide you satisfaction as lawyers. Helping somebody pro bono, for free, provides satisfaction. So we're trying to provide as many opportunities to younger lawyers to do that, as well as more seasoned lawyers like myself. At the same time, it's sort of an individual decision about how you want your life as a legal practitioner to unfold. Do you want to be a professor? Do you want to work in government? Do you want to be in a big firm or small firm? When I taught in law school, since I come from a small firm, and Hilarie comes from a very large firm before me, and Judy comes from a medium-sized firm, I make that analysis. Here's the world's largest legal association. Here's three totally separate, 2000 lawyer firm from Miami, three to five lawyer firm at the time I started from Butte Montana, a few hundred lawyers from New Orleans, Louisiana. That's pretty diverse in terms of practice areas, in terms of scope. You lay that out to people saying these are things that you can do. You can choose to practice where you want, and you need to make part of that decision to make yourself feel like you're giving back. CHRIS:               In many respects, you know, the attorney wellbeing is a one attorney at a time progression. Right? And the more that we're raising the visibility of the issue, willing to have meaningful conversations, be vulnerable at times. Right? And be able to look out for one another. It's amazing how much impact you can have, one lawyer can have, on the people around them. BOB:                       Yeah. And I think for a long time, people were either embarrassed or didn't want to interfere. But if you look at it in terms of if you saw somebody that was stepping out in front of a bus, you know, you'd reach out and grab the person. And people that are suffering from either addiction or anxiety, depression, other mental diseases, that's that equipment. And do you have to at least say something, be willing to raise the issue, not to embarrass them, not to demean them, to treat it as a part of society. These things are in society. Unfortunately, the legal profession has way higher averages of people suffering from these issues than the average population and way more than the other professions. And so we need to be able to speak up. And I think part of it historically was, oh, that was a sign of honor to, I could party hard and then still get up and go to work and be a great a lawyer or I, you know, I feel bad so I'm not going to go help because that would make me seem weak. So I'm going to, you know, ignore it for self-medicate, which compounds the problem. And the more you can normalize this, or de-stigmatize it, the more you can say, this is part of life. We're here to help you. You need to get help and we are not going to judge you when you do it. CHRIS:              Yeah. And one of the things that also I think is interesting is that you know, there seems to be more willingness as a society for us to talk about these issues, right? I mean, you, you hear top 40 songs talking about suicide hotlineS, and you see a lot more stars coming out and being more vulnerable about things that are affecting them. And then you have generational change. Right? And so talk about what you see in terms of just, you know, you spent a lot of time in law schools. I mean, I think the generational shift in terms of the millennials are soon going to be, you know, the majority of lawyers out there. Right? And what that means in terms of the awareness of worK-life balance, professional satisfaction and willingness to talk about these issues more openly and honestly. BOB:                          Yeah, I think the trend is, I think we're seeing some positive results in the more experienced, the baby boomer generation, getting help and being willing to talk about it. But I really do see a great hope for the profession with our younger lawyers and with the law students coming out because they are more willing to seek help. They're more willing to seek fulfillment in both their day jobs, whatever they are, but also volunteering on issues of importance to them. And as an association, we're trying to provide as many opportunities for them as possible so they can volunteer their time and talents to the communities where they live. And I think that is going to pay dividends in terms of their self-fulfillment, their enjoyment of their job. I've practiced law now for, I graduated 40 years ago, and there's been some tough times. The practice of law is difficult, but I've always enjoyed doing this. I've always enjoyed being a lawyer, helping clients. But I think part of what's given me the fulfillment in this is this. I mean I've been active in the state and national bar, you know, since the early eighties, so not too long after I got a law school. And that sense of giving back to the profession, that sense of being around talented lawyers from all over the country, and having that experience has really been fulfilling in not only my life but my family's life. My wife and I have great friends all over the country, that but for doing this volunteer work, we would've never met these people. And I think that part of the thing is to, and I come from a small firm, we've always been a small firm and we've always been committed to giving back to both the bar and the community. But that sense of fulfillment is something that if we can convince more lawyers starting in law school and more young lawyers to participate in that, to take that time and provide more opportunities. You don't have to do this. I mean being the president of this association has been great, but you know, not everybody's going to do this. I do know that in every classroom, every group of young lawyers that I talk to, I say the same thing. There is somebody in this room that in the next 20 years is going to be standing up giving this set of remarks to the next generation of lawyers. Because I do believe that. I believe that you have to be open to the possibilities that one thing you do, one day, one volunteer effort somewhere, you have to be open to the possibility that that is not only going to change the person's life that you're helping, that it's going to change your life. And I think our generation has done a pretty good job. But this next generation I think is ready, willing and able to step up to the plate. And I have great confidence. Is it perfect yet? No, but are we making progress? Did we move the needle this year in a number of areas as an association of profession? Absolutely yes. CHRIS:             That's great. That's great. Tell me how has your small firm perspective been important in your leadership perspective? Not that it's unusual that a small firm lawyer becomes president of the ABA. But when you look at the numbers, right? 49% of, you know, the ABA statistics, 49% of lawyers in private practice are solo practitioners. Right? And then the next, you know, 24, 26% are in firms of two to five. Right? So it's fairly unusual to find somebody who has the capacity, the commitment to step forward and bring that perspective from a leadership perspective. And so I'm wondering how you reflect now about how that perspective has been part of your leadership journey. BOB:                    Well, I certainly think it's helped. It's helped keep me grounded. I've never taken myself too seriously, although I tried to learn something every day and lay awake at night thinking could I have done this better or differently. But I think that being from a smaller firm, when you're out talking to groups of lawyers, most of them are going to be in that category. And I know what they're going through. I mean, I know the day to day ups and downs, and joys and sort of a downside of being in a small firm and being part of the fabric of a community. And being from a rural state, that sort of amplifies that. Because lawyers volunteer everywhere, but if you're in a big city that shouldn't, but it sort of gets lost in the whole, there's a lot of people doing a lot of things. If you're in a small town or from a rural state, you see lawyers on every board. You see lawyers coaching soccer and baseball and refereeing and they're part of the fabric, the literal fabrics of their communities. And to be from that background, I think gives you a better voice when you're talking to those folks. I think the association as a whole and the leaders have always done a great job trying to assist solo and small firm lawyers be better lawyers. We've got great tools for that. We've worked hard over the last several years to expand that. And maybe it was in part because of comments or suggestions that I brought to the table being from that perspective. And so I think that it allows you to walk up and say, listen, I get it. Now the larger firm lawyers who have been president, they're empathetic. They do get it. They want to help everybody there. Their job, you're leading this association, you want to help all the members and you want to increase membership. You want to gain more people so you can help more people help more clients. And so they get it. But it's like when I walk into the room with 50 managing partners of these major law firms, I get it because I've been in those discussions, some of them I've known for a long time, but I don't know what it is they're going through managing 59 offices in 30 countries or whatever it is. I mean I empathize but they're like looking at me like what do you know? And I think that now there's a face because there's been this misperception that the ABA is only for big law firms and coastal law firms. And that's just not true. A vast number of our members are from solo and small firms and, but now they know that you can lead this. Now they know that number one, leadership is for everybody. It's very diverse across all categories. And they know that there's somebody here that they could pick up the phone and say, I'm having this issue, what programs are the ABA running or do you have to help me? And they know that I know what I'm talking about when I'm talking to them. It's just a matter of expanding the bandwidth and pushing the envelope that we have all sorts of people who've risen to the top and leadership of this association. This association is a big tent and it is for everybody, no matter where you come from, no matter what your practice, no matter what your firm size, no matter what your gender, race, social or sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, whatever. This association is for them. We have done I think a better job over the last several years of moving that message, in part because of who we've selected to be the president of this association. CHRIS:                 Well, you sit now in the home stretch of your tenure as president, just a few short weeks you'll be handing off the baton. Have you had any time to reflect on the year? You've, you've been go, go, go, go, go. I'm just curious about the personal side of this type of service, commitment to the profession. I'm sure you'll have a decompression time at some point here in the near future. But you've been in enough airplanes where you probably get some time to think as well. BOB:                         Yeah. I've been trying to take it one hour at a time, literally. Get to the next commitment, be in the moment for the people that I'm speaking to or having conversations with at the time, and then keep moving. I've done some reflection on the plains, but a lot of it is how can I do a better job and the time that's remaining in this term to deliver the message better. Trying to learn from every set of remarks, how could I make more of an impact on the audience? How can I make this work? How can we make a broader impact on other issues facing the profession and the judiciary in the United States and frankly the world? So what can you do to move that forward? And I've been very fortunate. My very small law firm has supported me. I have still practiced law this year, not as much as maybe I would have liked to help my partner out and help the law firm out in our clients, but I've done some, which is a little unusual for an ABA president. And I think I've had great support from my wife Cindy. Because we have two dogs who miss us and we miss them. We haven't traveled a lot together and plus this job is sort of like being on a rock band tour without the band. You're sometimes in multiple cities in a handful of days and she prefers to go to a location to sort of be there for a few days, three or four days at a time. And there's times when you're in a city for two hours. So it's been a little difficult at times. But she's been great. But we've been in this for the whole run. We're going to be 34 years of marriage, but we dated before that. So she's my entire career or bar service, my entire career at my law firm, which I started in 1981, she's been in the picture. And she's got a lot of friends in the state bars, and in the national bar, and people that she's met around the world. This has been a fabulous experience. I'll sit back and reflect later, but we still have three weeks give or take to go and there's still more stuff to do. We're still trying to every day look at things and say, how can we do good today and continue to move the association forward? CHRIS:               Well thank you Bob, obviously for your service. I think anybody who ultimately serves in a service capacity, in a leadership role, I think our ultimate goals that leave the organization better than we found it. Right? And I think that if that's the benchmark versus success, I think you should certainly be proud of what you've been able to achieve in your year as ABA President. And again, there's a lot of people around you. There's an incredible ABA staff, right? This is an organization that's committed to betterment. And you know, while you're the steward of the vision at this point, I know it's got to be fulfilling for you to begin to think about the fact that you've ideally move the needle forward and you're going to leave at a stronger organization than you found it. BOB:                          Yeah, you sort of stole my last set of comments. But yeah, we do have a great, not only a great staff, they're tremendous and they provide a great deal of support. But we have a tremendous number of volunteer members, volunteer lawyer leaders around the country that participate like yourself, on working groups, committees, task force commissions, the sections that provide the substantive practice. We have such a great wealth of talent in this association. We are definitely moving the needle in a number of areas. Do we have more work to do? Yes, but we will continue to do that. We'll continue to speak out where it's necessary in defense of, not only the profession, not only the judiciary, but in defense of due process and rule of law, both in this country and around the world. That's what the association has been doing. I am fortunate enough to be the 142nd president. We've been doing this for 142 years, three years, and we're going to keep doing it. So thanks for your time. I appreciate all that you've done and all that ALPS has done as a company to support the organized bar. CHRIS:                 Bob, it's been fun. I appreciate you taking a couple of minutes on a late Friday afternoon at the conclusion of our ALPS bar leaders retreat. Again, Bob's been a great friend of mine and our organization. We thank him for his service and leadership of this great profession. So thank you Bob. BOB:                        Thank you. Appreciate it. CHRIS:                 That will conclude our ALPS in Brief a podcast. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please let us know for future topics, and that's it. Have a great weekend. Thanks.  

The RTP network—the first new payment rail launched in the United States in four decades—is a bank-driven system for instant processing and settling of payments. Launched by the Clearing House and live since 2017, RTP is currently racing to connect as many U.S. depository institutions as possible. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, James Aramanda of the Clearing House and ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols discuss: How RTP works, including its messaging function that allows for real-time invoicing and other advances. RTP’s commitment to serve all financial institutions with flat pricing and no volume discounts. What RTP is doing to work with core processors—including underwriting banks’ core implementation fees—to accelerate RTP adoption and achieve ubiquity by the end of 2020. Why banks should consider joining RTP now, even if the Federal Reserve moves forward with its own 24/7/365 payments system.

In this edition of the ABA Law Student Podcast, host Kris Butler sits down with Hilarie Bass to discuss her career highlights and advice for today’s law students. Together, they explore her chosen path and what led her to become president of the American Bar Association. In addition, Hilarie reviews some of her notable cases, encourages young lawyers to pursue pro bono work, and offers insight into the issue of mental well-being in the legal profession. They end with a brief talk about her 2018 shift from lawyer to founder of the Bass Institute for Diversity and Inclusion, which works with C-Suite professionals to develop strategies for creating gender parity in the workplace. Hilarie Bass is the immediate past president of the American Bar Association and current president and founder of the Bass Institute for Diversity and Inclusion.

In this episode with ABA president Robert Carlson, we talk about what it means to lead a large and multifaceted legal organization in a time of technology change and innovation. We also cover the ABA’s new membership dues structure, what it hopes to achieve, and what a much-diminished ABA membership would mean for the practice of law. Lastly, we talk to Bob about some hot-button ethics issues like non-lawyer ownership and advertising regulations. You’ll also get a glimpse of Robert’s plans after his term as ABA president is over.

In this episode with ABA president Robert Carlson, we talk about what it means to lead a large and multifaceted legal organization in a time of technology change and innovation. We also cover the ABA's new membership dues structure, what it hopes to achieve, and what a much-diminished ABA membership would mean for the practice of law. Lastly, we talk to Bob about some hot-button ethics issues like non-lawyer ownership and advertising regulations. You'll also get a glimpse of Robert's plans after his term as ABA president is over.

In this On The Road episode from ABA Midyear Meeting, hosts Sharon Nelson and John Simek talk to Judy Perry Martinez, ABA president-elect, about current issues in focus for the ABA. They discuss a variety of topics including lawyer wellness, immigration, gun violence, legal education, and legal technology. Judy Perry Martinez of Simon, Peragine, Smith & Redfearn in New Orleans is president-elect of the American Bar Association.

Tune in for this update on the current happenings in the American Bar Association. In this On The Road episode from the ABA Midyear Meeting, Sharon Nelson and John Simek host an interview with ABA President Bob Carlson. They discuss many of the issues surrounding the immigration crisis and the effect the government shutdown has had on immigration courts. They also talk about a wide range of ABA-related topics including the new ABA membership fee model, ABA Law Day, changes coming to the ABA website, and more!

In a bonus episode recorded at ABA's Annual Convention in New York this morning, ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols discusses new numbers from Morning Consult showing that nearly nine in 10 Americans are satisfied or very satisfied with their banks -- and he digs deeper into a letter he sent this morning to the big three core processors, calling on them to empower banks with the modern, innovative tools they need to compete effectively in today’s marketplace.

As of this ABA Annual Meeting, Bob Carlson became president of the ABA. In this report from On The Road at ABA Annual Meeting 2018, host Laurence Colletti talks to new ABA President Bob Carlson about the projects he will be working on during his presidency. He plans to make a toolkit for firms and bar organizations that combats lawyer depression, addiction, and suicide. As president, he will also be working on content for solo, small, and medium sized firms that will help them run their businesses more effectively. Robert M. Carlson is a shareholder with the Butte, Montana, law firm of Corette Black Carlson & Mickelson, P.C., and is president of the American Bar Association.

Another ABA Annual Meeting means another president stepping up to head projects and programs for the next year. In this report from On The Road, host Laurence Colletti talks to new ABA President Hilarie Bass about handling criticism and the initiatives she’s taking on during her time as president. A couple of these initiatives include women in the legal profession, homeless youth, and Bar Exam passage rates. Hilarie Bass is the co-president of Greenberg Traurig and is currently the president of the American Bar Association for the 2017-18 year.

Before she steps down as ABA President, Linda Klein talks to host Laurence Colletti about the things she has achieved in the past year in this On The Road report. Together, they discuss CLE in the City, increasing access to justice for veterans, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness, just a few initiatives she addressed during her time as president.

Have you considered attending the 2017 ABA Annual Meeting in New York City this August? In this special episode of Asked and Answered, the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles and Molly McDonough hear about what special events and venues await attendees from ABA President Linda Klein and the associate executive director of Meetings and Travel, Marty Balogh. From a CLE lecture given by IBM Watson to a special behind-the-scenes tour of the Lincoln Center, Klein and Balogh share how this year’s meeting will offer entirely new educational and networking opportunities.

Have you considered attending the 2017 ABA Annual Meeting in New York City this August? In this special episode of Asked and Answered, the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles and Molly McDonough hear about what special events and venues await attendees from ABA President Linda Klein and the associate executive director of Meetings and Travel, Marty Balogh. From a CLE lecture given by IBM Watson to a special behind-the-scenes tour of the Lincoln Center, Klein and Balogh share how this year’s meeting will offer entirely new educational and networking opportunities.

This week on the Law School Insider, a podcast brought to you by Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, we are bringing you a special presentation of a talk given at WMU Cooley Law School by past ABA President, Paulette Brown. Paulette Brown shares her thoughts on law school and law career success and this is an interview that you will not want to miss.   Paulette Brown became the first African-American woman to lead the American Bar Association (ABA) in August 2015. She is partner and co-chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee at the international law firm, Locke Lord LLP. She has held many positions throughout her career including in-house counsel to a number of Fortune 500 companies and as a municipal court judge. In private practice, she has specialized in all aspects of labor and employment and commercial litigation. Brown has been recognized by the National Law Journal as one of “The 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America” and by the New Jersey Law Journal as one of the “prominent women and minority attorneys in the State of New Jersey.” She received the New Jersey Medal from the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and currently serves on its Board of Trustees. She has also repeatedly been named as a “New Jersey Super Lawyer” and by U.S. News as one of the Best Lawyers in America in the area of commercial litigation. In 2009, Brown was a recipient of the Spirit of Excellence Award from the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. In 2011, she was honored with the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award by the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession. Brown, who served as president of the National Bar Association from 1993-1994, received that group’s highest honor, The C. Francis Stradford Award, in 2015. Brown earned a J.D. at Seton Hall University School of Law and a B.A. at Howard University. Read more about Paulette Brown's visit to WMU-Cooley Law School on the WMU-Cooley Law School Blog.

Surviving law school is difficult enough, but law students also need to be thinking about how to best prepare themselves for the future. In this episode of the ABA Law Student Podcast, Fabiani Duarte and Madison Burke talk with Paulette Brown, current president of the American Bar Association, about her path through law school, advice she has for current law students, and legal initiatives she thinks might really interest young lawyers. Tune in to hear what qualities Ms. Brown would look for when hiring a lawyer who had just passed the bar.

Bill Ide’s resume is packed with impressive positions, not the least of which includes ABA President and general counsel of Monsanto. In this episode of In-House Legal, Randy Milch interviews Bill Ide about his career path, the decisions he made along the way, and what it truly takes to be a leader in the legal industry. In-house lawyers can gain insight from his experience with corporate governance and the future of the profession as a whole.

Paulette Brown will take the reigns as president of the American Bar Association on August 6th, 2015. Legal Talk Network producer Laurence Colletti sits down with her at the ABA National Summit on Innovation in Legal Services to discuss the innovative solutions presented at the conference and Brown’s plans for her year as ABA president. Tune in to hear about access to justice programs already in practice, Brown’s plans for diversity and inclusion, and increased benefits to ABA members.

Digital Detectives host Sharon Nelson interviews ABA President William C. Hubbard about current legal issues in the United States at the 2015 ABA Midyear Meeting. Hubbard discusses current and future ABA involvement with legal representation concerns in the areas of unaccompanied minor immigration, domestic violence, and criminal justice. He talks about the problems with overincarceration and non-violent felons reentering society. In addition to being the ABA President, William C. Hubbard is a partner with the Columbia, S.C., office of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough.