CHICAGO, May 10, 2010 – The American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division and the General Practice, Solo Small Firm Division, in conjunction with the Virgin Islands Bar Association, will host its Spring Conference beginning Thursday, May 13, and ending Saturday, May 15, in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. With headquarters at the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort Spa, the conference will provide three days of networking, continuing legal education and community service opportunities.

The theme of the conference, “Connect, Collaborate, Learn,” is indicative of the conference’s programming that focuses on bringing together lawyers at a variety of stages in their careers to learn from one another. The conference will address the needs of young lawyers struggling with securing employment as well as those of more seasoned professionals moving up the legal corporate ladder.

Related programming includes:

• Effective Cloud Gathering: A Young Lawyer’s Guide to True Rainmaking, May 14, 9:15 – 10:45 a.m.
• Secrets of a Superstar Senior Associate, May 14, 9:15 – 10:45 a.m.
• Nuts and Bolts of Starting and Running Your Own Practice, May 14, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
• Making Partner: Understanding the Partnership Agreement, May 14, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
• You Need Clients, They Need Lawyers: How to Build a Practice Working with Group Legal Services Plans, May 15, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m.

Other general programming, covering a variety of niche practice areas includes:

• Anatomy of Business Law: Understanding the Basics of International Business Transactions from a Tax Perspective, May 14, 9:15 – 10:45 a.m.
• Voting Rights in the U.S. Territories, May 14, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
• Smart Soloing: Keys to Building an Efficient, Ethical and Successful Practice, May 14, 1:15 – 2:15 p.m.
• What Every Young Lawyer Needs To Know About Intellectual Property, May 14, 2:30 – 4 p.m.
• Criminal Law 101, May 14, 4:15 – 5:45 p.m.

The conference also offers the unique opportunity to be sworn-in to the United States Supreme Court Bar. The swearing-in will take place Saturday, May 15, at 10 a.m. Details on the ceremony can be found here.

Additionally, there will be two community service projects: Members of GP Solo have volunteered to “Clean Up Coki Beach,” while the Young Lawyers Division will visit Ivanna Eudora Kean High School as  part of the division’s “They Had A Dream Too” project, which educates high school students on the struggles of young civil rights leaders.

Interested reporters may access the complete program here.

The American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division is the home for young lawyers. With more than 150,000 members and 300 affiliated groups, the ABA YLD is the largest young lawyer organization in the world.

The ABA General Practice, Solo Small Firm Division is the only ABA entity exclusively devoted to solo practitioners and small firm lawyers. The division, with approximately 20,000 members, serves as the voice of the “Main Street lawyer.”  Solo and small firm practitioners represent half of the nation’s lawyers, and the GPSolo division provides a community for them within the ABA.

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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Complimentary press passes are available to accredited reporters by contacting Tamiko Lee at 312/988-5237 or leet@staff.abanet.org. On-site registration is also available.