For Immediate Release

	April 22, 2006 NBA HONORS MEMPHIS LEGENDS & EXAMINES THE COVENANT WITH BLACK AMERICA The National Bar Association will hold its Twenty-Sixth Annual Mid-Year Conference and Gertrude E. Rush Award Dinner from April 26 - 30, 2006 at The Memphis Peabody, 101 West Fayette Street, Memphis, Tennessee. CLE seminars will address a variety of topics, such as: environmental, housing and insurance issues after major disasters; the social and legal implications that Hurricane Katrina directed attention to for businesses; Sarbanes-Oxley Act; and the legal responsibilities to protect the civil liberties of Black America. Panelists include (but are not limited to) Reginald M. Turner, Jr. (NBA President), Theodore M. Shaw (NAACP LDF), Jock M. Smith (The Cochran Firm USA), Hon. Cheryl A. Gray (D-LA), and Freida L. Wheaton (CitiMortgage). Attorneys and jurists will be honored at the Mid-Year Conference for their service and commitment to excellence. On April 29, 2006, at 12:00 noon, Presidential Achievement Awards will be presented at the Heman Marion Sweatt Luncheon. Honorees for the 2006 Presidential Achievement Awards include: Robert Belton, Esquire, Honorable Bernice B. Donald, Honorable Odell Horton (posthumously), and John W. Walker, Esquire. The Gertrude E. Rush Award Dinner, held on April 29, 2006 at 7:00 p.m., honors those with a proven record of leadership, humanitarianism, excellence in the legal field, and manifesting the pioneering spirit of Gertrude E. Rush. The Honorable Mablean Ephriam will serve as the Mistress of Ceremonies for this Black Tie affair. Honorees for the 2006 Gertrude E. Rush Award include: R. Larry Brown, Honorable Earnestine H. Dorse, Honorable Benjamin L. Hooks, Honorable H.T. Lockard, and Ruby R. Wharton, Esquire. In addition to the Gertrude E. Rush Award, a Legislative Leadership Award will be presented at the dinner to Congressman Harold E. Ford, Jr. (D-TN), in recognition of his political achievements and commitment to service. The Mid-Year Conference will also include a live performance at the Isaac Hayes Restaurant & Nightclub and test drives of any BMW floor model for the NBA Scholarship Fund. Founded in 1925, the National Bar Association is the oldest and largest bar association of color. With 84 chapters worldwide, the NBA represents a professional network of more than 20,000 attorneys.