January 24, 2014
President’s Message by Nancy L. Heilman

I am pleased to announce that the ACBA staff recently made some important changes to the association’s website, which was completely redesigned within the past year. The changes will benefit both our members and the public.

Members can join the Lawyer Referral Service and the Pittsburgh Lawyer Finder by clicking on the link located at the left side of the home page immediately below the calendar. Beneath that link is one to assist the public in finding a lawyer either through the referral service or the Finder. A link to the newly designed website for the Allegheny County Bar Foundation is also provided, along with one that makes information about the association’s committees, divisions and sections more accessible.

The bottom far right of the home page is dedicated to information “For the Public” and now features direct links to the “That is No Joke!” book and the highly successful school program based on the book. Forms developed by the bar association, in cooperation with the Allegheny County Medical Society, for a living will and healthcare power of attorney are also provided.

A link to the “Resources” page provides easy access to important legal resources, listed alphabetically, that members can use to benefit their daily law practice. The link identifies businesses that have endorsement relationships with the bar association and whose sponsorships greatly enhance the activities in which members engage. These businesses include bit-x-bit–electronic discovery litigation support services; LexisNexis Total Practice Solutions; Law Pay law firm merchant account–credit card processing services; Office Depot; Plummer Slade–computer networking and business solutions services; PNC banking services; USI Affinity insurance services; video conferencing services; video deposition services; and Visual Evidence–trial presentation services.

Members have easy access to resources, such as court forms, court rules, and the Western Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas Judges Book. Also included are the Code of Professionalism and a listing of both the gender bias duty officers and the professional ethics duty officers. Readily available to members are the Disaster Legal Assistance Manual for Volunteer Attorneys, the Law Office Management Guide, forms for the living will and healthcare power of attorney, and materials about marketing your law firm.

Additionally, the ACBA staff added a feature to publish each issue of the Lawyers Journal in electronic format and to post each issue to http://www.acba.org/Lawyers-Journal. Members also will notice that commercial advertisements have been placed on the ACBA website. These ads have been sold through a recent contractual arrangement with ProShare Inc. to provide additional revenue for the bar association. Placement of the ads will not affect the speed or use of the ACBA’s website.

No changes have been made to the familiar and most popular pages, which include the career center website (http://jobs.acba.org); PLJ Opinions (http://www.acba.org/Pittsburgh-Legal-Journal-Opinions); the online membership directory (http://www.acba.org/Directory/Member-Directory); and the CLE/Events Registration page (http://www.acba.org/CLE-Events/Events-and-Programs).

I trust that the revisions will improve the use of the website by making it more convenient and beneficial to our members.