Report from governmental affairs. ABA Day 2021

• Pages: 68-69

REPORT FROM

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

ABA Day

2021

Advocate for important issues

by engaging Congress online

and at home

The ABA works hard to serve

as the voice of the legal

profession on Capitol Hill,

but the most important voice

members of Congress want to hear is

yours, their constituent’s. Senators and

representatives need to hear directly

from you to help shape their opinions

on developing policy issues.

That is why the ABA has been

hosting an annual advocacy conference

since 1997 called ABA Day, where

hundreds of ABA, state and local bar

leaders and members have gathered in

Washington, D.C., to talk to members

of Congress about issues important to

the legal profession.

For 2021, the ABA again had to

cancel the in-person portion of ABA

Day because of the ongoing corona-

virus pandemic. With congressional

ofces remaining closed to the public

for the last year, the ABA also has had

to adjust its advocacy strategy and

techniques. We now look forward to

hosting our second fully virtual event

in April, building on the successes and

lessons learned from last year and

helping ABA Day participants do the

same so that together we can advance

our issues in the digital space.

This year marks the 25th ABA Day.

The ABA Governmental Affairs Ofce

looks forward to hosting, on April

20 and 21, thousands of bar leaders,

attorneys, law students and other legal

professionals as they connect with

their members of Congress both online

and in their home districts where con-

ditions allow.

The importance of our constitu-

ent engagement with elected ofcials

cannot be overstated. Three years

ago, over 300 ABA Day participants

successfully lobbied Congress and

helped preserve the Legal Orientation

Program, which each year provides

legal rights presentations and self-

help workshops to more than 50,000

detained migrants nationwide.

Last year, instead of having more

than 300 ABA members in Washington,

D.C., thousands of legal professionals

engaged online through live panels,

Twitter takeovers, tweetstorms and vir-

tual meetings. The result? Three weeks

after our event, the House of Represen-

tatives passed the Heroes Act, a major

COVID-19 relief bill that contained

many of our advocacy issues, including

increased funding for legal services for

low-income Americans; student loan

debt relief; help for homeless veterans;

and more funding to expand internet

access to rural America.

This year, the ABA’s goal is to sup-

port the voices of the legal profession

even more. How? By learning from the

past and expanding for the future. We

will continue to provide the training,

issue papers for meetings, online com-

munication tools and panel discussions

on which our members rely. We have,

however, shortened the formal pro-

gramming to half-day schedules, added

congressional and nonlawyer leaders to

the agenda, reduced the number of ad-

ABA Insider | REPORT FROM GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

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ABA JOURNAL | APRIL–MAY 2021

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