The Canine First Aid program that was scheduled for Jan. 14 has been rescheduled for Tuesday, March 3 at 12:15 p.m. in the Koppers Building. In this non-CLE program, learn the essential skills needed to respond in an emergency and help save your dog from pain, suffering, or even death. Led by a former Special Prosecutor for Animal Cruelty with extensive experience in animal rescue and triage, attendees will learn practical techniques for stabilizing and treating an animal while quickly seeking veterinary care.

The Kennedy T. Friend Scholarship Fund was established by the will of Kennedy T. Friend, a distinguished member of the ACBA who passed in London, England in 1929. Any child of an attorney who is a member of the Allegheny County Bar and has an active practice in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, is eligible for this scholarship if they choose to attend Yale University or the successor schools of the University of Paris.

Wellness is crucial, especially for those battling the stresses and challenges that come with the legal profession. To recognize the importance of mental health and well-being in the legal profession, the ACBA has created “Wellness Circles” for members, a vision of ACBA President and cancer survivor Amy Coco. ACBA members can self-select and opt into wellness circles, providing a confidential, supportive space to connect with colleagues, share experiences and focus on well-being.

Currently there are five Wellness Circles, which are listed below. Members are welcome to suggest ideas for additional Wellness Circles. For more details, FAQs and other information, click the button below.

• Attorneys who Run
• Parenting Children with Disabilities
• Cancer Survivors
• Family Support – Mental Health/Addiction
• Sandwich Generation

The Pennsylvania Statewide High School Mock Trial Competition – presented by the ACBA and the Pa. Bar Association – is underway, and additional dates have been opened for volunteer participation for a weather makeup day, an elimination round to get to the final eight teams, a semi-final round for those eight teams, and finals that will determine the two teams which will represent Allegheny County at the state competition. ACBA members are asked to volunteer to be a scoring juror or a presiding judge for the competition. Volunteers do not need to be a litigation attorney to participate, and prior experience is not needed. Volunteers need to arrive at the City-County Building by 4:45 p.m. With enough volunteers on Feb. 26 and March 3, volunteers will only be needed to judge one trial (4:45 p.m. to 7 p.m.) rather than the typical back-to-back trials.

• Thursday, Feb.  19 – weather makeup day
• Thursday, Feb. 26 – elimination round
• Tuesday March 3 – Semifinals
• Thursday March 5 - Finals

For additional information, contact Julie Brennan at jbrennan@pionlaw.com.

The ACBA Knowledge Center is the premier resource library for legal professionals. Explore this library of content and resources from the ACBA, as well as experts and providers across the legal industry. These resources include timely, actionable research from the ACBA as well as third-party resources that are designed to be helpful to your organization.

ACBA members are invited to attend any of an upcoming series of open houses, presented by the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Civil Division, to learn more about the Division’s new case management system. The sessions will be held at 11 a.m. on the following dates at the City-County Building:

• Wednesday, Feb. 18
• Wednesday, Feb. 25

The sessions will start with a short presentation on the case management rules and the system followed by a 20-minute formal question and answer session. Following these sessions, attendees are free to come and go, pick up copies of the rules and ask questions of case management staff. To register or for more, click the button below.

If your firm is considering hiring an attorney, paralegal or legal secretary in 2026, be sure to check out the ACBA Job Board at jobs.acba.org. The Pittsburgh Legal Community’s top resource for legal job postings, the ACBA Job Board gets more than 3,000 pageviews each month, the vast majority from Pittsburgh-area legal professionals looking for jobs. For more information, contact Jennifer Pulice, the ACBA’s Director of Legal Employment Services, at jpulice@acba.org.

The Lawyer Referral Service (LRS) is a service designed to help Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania residents find the right lawyers for their specific types of legal matters. Each year, thousands of clients call the ACBA looking for an attorney, and the ACBA refers those cases to LRS panel attorneys. ACBA members may join the Lawyer Referral Service panel for a nominal fee – “test drive” the service for six months for just $150 – and have referrals sent directly to you from the bar association. Call 412-261-5555 for more information or download the application below.

The ACBA’s Member-to-Member Referral Guide is a printed and online resource that lists ACBA attorneys by areas of practice. The guide is published on the ACBA’s website and is updated and emailed to all members as a PDF four times each year. In addition, the M2M Guide will be printed in an April edition of the Lawyers Journal in a special section sponsored by ACBA partner AmeriServ Wealth & Capital Management.

Note that listings will no longer appear in the printed ACBA Legal Directory, as that publication has been discontinued. However, the areas of practice selected by members will now also appear next to their names in the online ACBA membership directory.

Any ACBA member who wishes to be included in the 2026–2027 M2M Guide — including those currently listed — must order or renew their listings. Listings are $25 each. To place your order, complete the form using the button below. The ACBA must receive both the completed form and payment by March 1.

As many people from Allegheny County continue to battle hunger, the ACBF Attorneys Against Hunger program continues to help. Volunteer attorneys are needed to help at the Allies for Health and Wellbeing Food Pantry in East Liberty on Wednesday, Feb. 18 from 9 a.m. to noon. For more info or to register, email Mya Thomasmeyer at the button below.