All members are invited to join the ACBA Young Lawyers Division for the Esquire Open pickleball tournament on Thursday, Oct. 9 at the Rivers Club in downtown Pittsburgh from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. No prior pickleball experience is required. 

In addition to the hard copy edition that is sent to members through the mail, the Oct. 3 edition of the Lawyers Journal — the ACBA’s flagship publication featuring substantive legal articles and stories of interest to the legal community — is available digitally on the ACBA website and at the button below.

Election Day is Nov. 4, and mail-in ballots will be arriving to homes in the weeks prior. When voting for judges, be sure to visit www.JudicialVote2025.org for important info. Ratings for judicial candidates are formulated by the ACBA Judiciary Committee.

ACBA members are invited to mingle with law students of diverse backgrounds at the annual “Diverse Law Student” reception on Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 5:30 p.m. at Revel and Roost. Enjoy food, beverages and networking, while talking with law students about all the ACBA has to offer. Thank you to Fox Rothschild for sponsoring this event.

ACBA members can save 15 percent off the newest American Bar Association book releases at Shop ABA with the discount code, ACBARI.

The ABA’s Science & Technology Law Section just published Demystifying AI through Due Diligence and Data Management: A Governance Guide. This book is written for lawyers, consultants, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and everyone else looking to understand what questions to ask to identity and manage the risks associated with AI technologies and applications. The book draws from researching publications from leading academic institutions such as MIT and Stanford, as well as books written by legal scholars and mathematicians, non-profit organizations focused on information security and AI, and private-sector technology companies such as IBM, OpenAI, Meta, and Google, among others. Additional new releases include:

• The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work-Product Doctrine, Seventh Edition
• Defense of Justice: Transformational Tales from the Trenches
• A Legal Strategist's Guide to Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Practice, Fifth Edition
• The Lawyer's Guide to Relocation: From File to Trial

If you have not renewed your ACBA membership for the 2025-26 bar year, the deadline to do so is next Friday, Oct. 10. The bar year started on July 1; if you’ve let your dues lapse, no worries. The ACBA has granted a grace period for members to renew, but that grace period ends soon. Don’t wait, or you’ll miss out on all that ACBA membership has to offer.

All ACBA members should have received an email containing a link where you can renew your membership for the 2025-26 bar year. For a snapshot of the benefits of becoming an ACBA member, click below.  If you do not receive the email or have questions, email staff@acba.org.

The ACBA 50/60 Year Practitioners Awards Ceremony is when the Pittsburgh Legal Community stops to recognize those pioneers who have paved the way in the profession. The event will be held on Monday, Oct. 27 at Hotel Monaco. Attorneys, firms, friends and families can congratulate honorees by purchasing an ad to show your appreciation.

Ads will appear in:

• The program booklet
• The ACBA Lawyers Journal
• ACBA social media channels

Including an ad in the ACBA Lawyers Journal ensures that all 5,000 members will see your message of congratulations, not only those members in attendance at the event.

Cost is $500 per ad. Graphic design assistance is available. For details, contact Jennifer Pulice at jpulice@acba.org.

For the full list of on honorees and additional details, click below.

Passkeys are a more secure and easy to use alternative to passwords. They are becoming increasingly available for tech services and websites, including Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft and more. Some of them are now prompting users to change to passkeys.

Passkey is a secret code created by your computer, with parts of the code stored on both your computer and the website. Your code is unique to that website; every time you set up a new Passkey for another new site, a new, unique code is created and then saved to your computer. 

When you save your code, you often have the option of saving it to your operating system, password manager, or browser. Once saved, the next time you visit that website, instead of logging in with a login and password, you will most likely be asked to unlock the secret code using something called biometrics. Biometrics are when you use yourself to authenticate, such as your fingerprint or facial recognition. No more passwords to remember or type, no more unique codes texted to you or generated on your phone, just use your finger or face. Users can also access passkeys with a PIN number that is used only on their local device.

For more information, see below.

The ACBA is presenting a free one-ethics-credit CLE – “[Dis]honesty in the Practice of Law: Working with Truth, Suspicion and Hallucinations” on Thursday, Oct. 23 at noon on Zoom. The latest the ACBA Sorg Forum Series, the seminar will cover the ethics of handling clients who lie, prevaricate, attempt to use you to commit fraud, and the technology that does the same.

Experiencing a Financial Hardship? Did you know there is a fund that could help? The Allegheny County Bar Foundation Lawyers’ Fund can provide confidential, need-based financial assistance to area lawyers and their families. Funds may be available to help those struggling to make ends meet, manage student loan debt, cover funeral expenses of a loved one, pay for substance abuse counseling and more. Contact ACBA Executive Director David Blaner at 412-402-6620 or click the button below.