WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 15, 2012 — South Carolina Chief Justice Jean Toal and Associate Justice Costa Pleicones will speak about critical issues facing the legal profession and the role of civics in our society at the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division Fall Conference on Friday, Oct. 19, at the Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston, S.C.

Chief Justice Toal and Justice Pleicones have a combined 36 years of experience on the state’s Supreme Court.  In 2011, Chief Justice Toal was named the first recipient of the National Center for State Courts’ Sandra Day O’Connor Award for the Advancement of Civics Education. Under Justice Toal’s guidance, South Carolina was one of the first pilot states to use Justice O’Connor’s iCivics Web-based interactive civics education program for students.

Justice Pleicones has more than 30 years of active duty and reserve service in the United States Army and Army Reserve.

What: Perspectives from South Carolina’s High Court

When: October 19, 2012, from 12:30 – 2 p.m.

Where: Francis Marion Hotel Gold Ballroom, 2^nd Floor387 King St. Charleston, SC 29403

The full agenda for the Young Lawyers Division conference can be found here: www.ambar.org/yldfall.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

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