The Pittsburgh Legal Journal – the official legal journal of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas containing trial lists, legal notices, sheriff sales and more – is published five days per week and is available only to subscribers. It is delivered via email as an easy-to-print, 8.5x11-inch pdf. For an informational video on the PLJ, click here.

The Nov. 28 edition of Pittsburgh Legal Journal Opinions is available online. The Pittsburgh Legal Journal publishes timely, precedent-setting, full-text opinions from various divisions of the Court of Common Pleas. Opinions that appeared in past editions are available in a searchable database here; members must be logged in to the ACBA website to access this database.

In addition to the hard copy edition that is sent to members through the mail, the Nov. 28 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.

For the first time, the ACBA Insurance Program, powered by its endorsed broker USI Affinity and MassMutual, is offering members Group Whole Life Insurance benefit, a rarity for any trade association, but the deadline to submit an application is Wednesday, Dec. 10.

This program is not only exclusive to ACBA members, but it’s never been offered by other association groups and not currently offered outside of Pennsylvania, making it a truly rare and valuable opportunity.

This new benefit provides up to $250,000 of permanent Whole Life coverage per enrollment, every 6 months, up to an aggregate of $1,000,000 with guaranteed cash value accumulation, annual dividends, and you get it with simplified underwriting – no exams, just three questions asked. To get started, contact Mark LeFever at mark.lefever@usi.com.

The ACBA Health and Wellness Committee is forming a walking team for the annual Pittsburgh Marathon – scheduled for Sunday, May 3 – and all members are encouraged to participate. Participants will walk the 13.1-mile half marathon course. ACBA members get a 50 percent discount off of regular registration prices; members who choose not to walk can participate in other ways, such as in cheering sections along the course.

To register, use the code ACBADSGPM26 at the below link. For more information, email Mary Ann Fiorilli at mfiorilli@acba.org.

All members are invited to help make the holidays special for underprivileged children through the annual ACBA Young Lawyers Division Children’s Gift Drive and Holiday Party, which provides holiday gifts to hundreds of underprivileged children in area shelters and programs. Here’s how you can help:

• Stocking Stuffers – You can help stuff stockings for the children this Saturday, Dec. 6 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Koppers Building Conference Center. Click here to register. 
• Monetary Donations – The Children’s Gift Drive also accepts monetary donations to cover expenses such as dry cleaning for the Santa suits, cookie trays, juice boxes and other stocking stuffer items. To contribute, email acbayldtoydrive@gmail.com for more information.

The holiday season is here, and ACBA members are invited to celebrate with their fellow members. Join in the celebration as numerous Committees, Divisions and Sections are hosting holiday parties throughout the season.

Dec. 4 – Sole and Small Firm Practitioners Section – 5 p.m. – Aspen

Dec. 5 – Bankruptcy and Commercial Law Section – 5 p.m. – Westin (Follows Bankruptcy Symposium)

Dec. 9 – Family Law Section – 5 p.m. – Aspen

Dec. 9 – Young Lawyers Division – 5 p.m. – PA Market

Dec. 10 – Criminal Litigation Section – 4:30 p.m. – Mitchell’s Pub

Dec. 10 – Probate and Trust Law Section – 5 p.m. – Embassy Suites (Follows a CLE)

Dec. 10 – Workers’ Compensation Section – 5 p.m. – Rivers Club (Follows a CLE)

Dec. 11 – Taxation Section – 5 p.m. – Engineers’ Society of Western Pa. (Follows a CLE)

Dec. 11 – Women in the Law Division – 5 p.m. – Roost

Dec. 17 – Civil Litigation Section – 5 p.m. – Embassy Suites

Dec. 18 – Homer S. Brown Division – 6 p.m. – Emerald City

Jan. 15 – Real Property/Corporate, Banking and Business Law Sections – 5 p.m. – Tequila Cowboy

The Fount team has spent over 10 years building “Pearl,” an intelligent chat system that handles millions of legal conversations every year. Fount is now bringing this proven technology directly to law firms. By embedding Pearl on your firm’s website, you can automatically engage visitors, qualify leads, and streamline intake, all without moving a muscle. For a limited time, members of the Allegheny County Bar Association can receive Pearl completely free as part of an early-access program. It’s an effortless way to capture more leads, improve client experience, and show that your firm is embracing innovation in the legal space.

In today’s day and age, when a potential client calls, the expectation is they’ll get a live person or a return call almost instantly. If not, they’ll quickly move on to the next attorney. The ACBA partners at LawyerLine provide a third-party call center where highly trained receptionists field your calls and even perform intake; the goal is for clients/potential clients to feel like they’re talking to your receptionist, not a call center. ACBA members get a discount: enjoy LawyerLine’s gold platform for just $2.25 per minute, reduced from the regular price of $3 per minute.

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.