When the National Bar Association meets in New York City today for the first time in 25 years for its mid-year conference, it will not only offer lawyers the opportunity to address cutting-edge legal issues affecting poor communities, but also the chance to network and receive continuing legal education credit (CLE). The mid-year conference will be held today through Sunday at the New York Marriott Brooklyn.
The National Bar Association — founded in 1925 at a time when the American Bar Association excluded blacks — is the oldest and largest national association of black lawyers, representing 17,000 attorneys, judges, law students and professors. Although its annual conference, which will be held in July in Philadelphia, focuses on a variety of legal topics, the mid-year event attempts to address larger social issues that plague minority communities, said John Crump, the bar’s executive director.