Public Service Project and Joint Conference with the AIDS Coordinating Committee

Answering the Call
This year’s Public Service Project focuses on enhancing the delivery of legal services to people living with HIV/AIDS. In 2001, in a first-of-its-kind recommendation, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognized the critical role that lawyers have to play in combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic, indicating that a referral to legal services is among the very first things that should be provided to people when they learn that they are HIV+. Answering the Call is the Young Lawyers Division’s response to this call to action from the public health sector. The project features a video/DVD, written materials and programming that provides young lawyers with the background to reach out to individuals with HIV/AIDS, as well as
to HIV/AIDS organizations.
The Spring Conference will offer young lawyer attendees a rare opportunity to learn more about HIV/AIDS law from local and national experts in the field. Running concurrent with the YLD’s general programming will be the ABA HIV/AIDS Law and Practice Conference, organized by the ABA AIDS Coordinating Committee. Practitioners from around the country will participate in interactive sessions addressing cutting-edge issues such as Public Policy Advocacy; Social Security Practice; Litigation Strategies; Government and Private Insurance; HIV Discrimination in Health Care; HIV and Women, Minorities, and Youth; and The Future of HIV Legal Services.
All of the HIV/AIDS Conference programming is open to YLD attendees. For more information on the ABA HIV/AIDS Law and Practice Conference, please visit: www.abanet.org/AIDS/conferences/home.html.
In addition to introducing young lawyers to HIV/AIDS law, the joint conference will introduce HIV/AIDS law practitioners, many of whom are young lawyers, to the YLD.
All YLD programming is open to HIV/AIDS Conference Attendees. In addition, the Thursday Welcome Reception, Friday Plenary Session and Friday Dinner Dance are all joint events for both groups.

Member Service
Do It Yourself: Your Career-Building Toolkit
More than ever, young lawyers need to take charge of their own career development. The focus of the 2005-06 Member Service Project is providing young lawyers with the tools they need to create their own personal career plans. At the Spring Conference, the Project will offer programming that discusses steps young lawyers can take in the workplace to maximize their success. This will include a discussion of career development issues from the employer’s perspective.