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AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION
CENTER FOR PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
EDITORIAL BOARD
ABA/BNA LAWYERS’ MANUAL ON PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
INFORMATIONAL REPORT TO THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES
During this fiscal year, the Association will receive contract and royalty payments totaling over
$600,000 from publication of the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct. The
Lawyers’ Manual, published in partnership with the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., is the
Association’s flagship publication in legal ethics. Its established reputation as the preeminent
authority in the field is evidenced by the frequency with which it is cited in court decisions at all
levels and in ethics opinions, law review articles, texts and periodicals, as well as by its
extraordinarily high renewal rate, approximately 95%.
The Lawyers’ Manual is available in electronic format to supplement the multi-volume looseleaf
“hard copy” version of the publication. It consists of the treatise; a compilation of digests of
ethics opinions; and the biweekly periodical Current Reports.
The treatise is updated continually and provides detailed analysis and discussion of
virtually all professional responsibility topics.
The ethics opinions volumes present indexed digests of thousands of opinions issued
since 1980 by more than 60 state and local ethics committees, along with full text of all
ABA ethics opinions. The Lawyers’ Manual is the major national clearinghouse for
ethics opinions.
Current Reports, the periodical component of the Lawyers’ Manual, is an invaluable
guide to newsworthy cases, legislative actions, disciplinary proceedings, conferences, and
significant events and trends in professional responsibility.
The Editorial Board of the Lawyers’ Manual consists of twelve distinguished lawyers in the legal
ethics field. Six members are appointed by the Association and six by the Bureau of National
Affairs, Inc., with the chairmanship alternating between the ABA side and the BNA side. The
Board meets with the editors annually to provide expertise and guidance, in an advisory capacity,
with respect to the content and marketing of the publication.
Respectfully submitted,
Melvin Hirshman, Chair, Editorial Board
ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct
February 2015