Summary of ABA 2021 Annual Meeting Molly Aspan, Tulsa County Bar Association Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates I was honored to serve as the Tulsa County Bar Association Delegate at the 2021 ABA Annual Meeting held this August. This was the first Hybrid Annual Meeting, as it was held in person in Chicago and virtually. I participated virtually in the one and a half days of meetings. ABA President Patricia Lee Refo presented remarks to the delegates, thanking delegates and ABA staff for their nimbleness during the pandemic. She also thanked legal services attorneys across the country and noted the importance of Legal Services Corporation in addressing the unmet need for civil legal assistance. She then highlighted some of the significant undertakings by the ABA in service of the profession and in service of its clients.
John G. Levi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Legal Services Corporation then addressed the House and shared some stories of the impact the COVID-19 crisis has had on communities in need of legal help. He noted that there was a “full-blown crisis in legal aid” even before the pandemic and spoke with respect to funding legal aid services. He then spoke about some of the work done to address specific issues in the delivery of legal services to low-income individuals, including addressing the opioid crisis, the eviction crisis, the legal needs of veterans, and technology in the legal aid sector. The Committee on Issues of Concern to the Legal Professions then hosted a panel discussion entitled, “What should be done to ensure that the public has confidence in the electoral process and accepts the outcome of the vote?”
ABA Executive Director Jack L. Rivas of Illinois also presented a written report and discussed the new membership model launched at the beginning of Fiscal Year 2020, which provides meaningful improvements including a lower dues structure, revitalized CLE Marketplace, improved paywall and content strategies, and other benefits.
In addition to these presentations and others, new policies were adopted by the ABA House of Delegates on an array of topics. The following is a summary of the major resolutions approved by the House of Delegates. If anyone would like further information on any of these resolutions or reports, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
President Refo also introduced and passed the gavel to President-Elect Reginald M. Turner, Jr. of Michigan. President-Elect Turner then addressed the House and spoke about the importance of the ABA and bar associations across the country on the rule of law. The Nominating Committee then introduced Deborah Enix-Ross of New York as President-Elect for the 202122 term. Incoming President-Elect Ross then addressed the delegates and shared her vision for the ABA under her leadership, reiterating her commitment to shining a light on three specific issues: civics, civility, and collaboration.
● Adopts the revised ABA Standards for the Provision of Civil Legal Aid, dated August 2021;
10 Tulsa Lawyer
● Urges members of the legal profession to devote at least 20 hours each year to efforts that advance and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession; ● Urges law schools to offer courses on the law of United States territories and to teach the Insular Cases as part of existing courses on constitutional law; ● Urges Congress to amend 28 U.S.C. §§ 331-32 or otherwise enact legislation to permit for the federal district judges appointed to serve on the
