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ABA Criminal Justice Announcements: August 28 Through October 14, 2024
Articles Posted in News from Organizations
Hackers on Planet Earth Conference, 2024
From July 12-14 2024 the 15th HOPE conference will be held at St John’s University in Queens NYC. H.O.P.E. stands for Hackers On Planet Earth, one of the most creative and diverse hacker events in the world. It’s been happening since 1994, and consists of 3 very full days of 3 tracks of highly diverse and interesting presentations and discussions. This year’s event will be streamed live via ISOC.LIVE.
SCHEDULE https://schedule.hope.net/hopexv/schedule/
LIVESTREAMS
Internet Shutdowns and How to Stop Them
ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE INTERNET SOCIETY-NY:
On Tuesday June 25 2024 at 09:00-10:30 EDT (13:00-14:30 UTC) the Internet Society Washington DC Chapter (ISOC-DC) and the Internet Society New York Chapter (ISOC-NY) in collaboration with Access Now hosted a webinar ‘Internet Shutdowns, and How to Stop Them‘.
It is an unfortunate fact that, in some regions of the world, our best efforts to make an ‘Internet for Everyone’ are all too often undercut by deliberate withdrawals of service, mandated by the powers that be.
CBO Monthly Federal Budget Review: May 2024
According to the Congressional Budget Office the federal budget deficit was $1.2 trillion in the first eight months of fiscal year 2024, CBO estimates—$38 billion more than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year.
SUMMARY:
The federal budget deficit was $1.2 trillion in the first eight months of fiscal year 2024, the Congressional Budget Office estimates—$38 billion more than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year. Revenues were $294 billion (or 10 percent) higher and outlays were $332 billion (or 8 percent) higher from October through May than during the same period in fiscal year 2023.
Responsible Generative AI Usage for Attorneys
From the ABA Science and Technology Section:
The Science and Technology Section will be holding a webinar, Responsible Generative AI Usage for Attorneys, on Tuesday July 9, 2024, 1-2pm E.T. the webinar is designed to introduce attorneys to one of the most powerful tools available to attorneys: generative artificial intelligence. We’re all aware of the opportunities and pitfalls that A.I. presents to attorneys. This discussion will help you understand how to responsibly use A.I. to further your practice, whether you work in transactional law or litigation, all while complying with your ethical obligations and avoiding mishaps.
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The Outlook for the U.S. Budget and Economy: 2024 and Beyond
A May 13, 2024 presentation at the American Enterprise Institute by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
In its work for the Congress, CBO regularly projects budgetary and economic outcomes over the 10-year budget window (the period used in the Congressional budget process) and for an additional 20 years. This presentation highlights key findings from two recent reports on those projections.
Click here to see presentation document.
Ethical Standards for Election Administration: A Report from the American Law Institute (ALI)
Election administrators and their staff, spread throughout thousands of voting jurisdictions in the United States, perform a core service dedicated to maintaining and preserving our democracy. Their work has become significantly more difficult, as our contentious politics have clouded much of what they do with misunderstanding and distrust. These challenges have made clear that election administrators may, and typically do, lack the full range of resources they need.
As election officials gain both increasing public visibility and scrutiny, it has become increasingly obvious that the time has come for identifying the ethical standards unique to the election administrator profession. It is essential to identify national standards for election officials that provide guidance in the administration of voting throughout the United States. It is therefore encouraging to learn that the American Law Institute (ALI) has provided a forum, released to the public on January 29, 2024, for a working group developing such standards, resulting in a report Ethical Standards for Election Administration
The report sets out seven principles, discussed in detail, along with the basis for each. It is the hope of the working group that these principles provide the professional election administration community with a common vocabulary for communicating the moral underpinning of their work; assist in the training of the next generation of officials; and help guide officials in carrying out their responsibilities when the law does not supply the answer and public scrutiny is keenest. These principles also supply the grounds for specific standards of conduct that reflect these principles and put them into practical effect.
ABA Survey: Most Think That U.S. Democracy is Weaker Than it was Five Years Ago
According to responses to the 2024 ABA Survey of Civic Literacy, 74% of individuals surveyed said that U.S. democracy is weaker than it was five years ago. Most blamed misinformation, disinformation, and political parties for contributing to this result. The survey is released each year to mark Law Day, observed annually on May 1. The responses are from a nationally representative telephone survey of 1,000 respondents from March 4-9. Here is an overview of some of the results as reported by the ABA on their website: followed by a link to the full text of the survey.
Elections
Google to Update Google One Subscriptions
We received the following message from Google regarding subscription updates to Google One scheduled to begin on May 15 and are forwarding it to our readers for their convenience:
“We’re writing to let you know about some updates coming to your Google One subscription starting on May 15. These changes are designed to streamline your benefits while ensuring you have a valuable subscription experience.
Key changes:
New ABA Ethics Opinion Guides Government Lawyers
The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility released Formal Opinion 509 on Feb. 28, 2024. According to the announcement, Formal Opinion 509 provides guidance on how disqualification rules apply to both current and former government lawyers under the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. “It specifically addresses issues raised when these lawyers know confidential government information about a third person.”
The model rules define confidential government information as “information that has been obtained under governmental authority and which, at the time this rule is applied, the government is prohibited by law from disclosing to the public or has a legal privilege not to disclose and which is not otherwise available to the public.”
For additional discussion of Formal Opinion 509, see the recent article in the ABA Journal, Government lawyers’ use of ‘confidential information’ in private practice clarified in new ABA ethics opinion, by David L Hudson Jr.