OAKLAND, CALIF.—California Domestic Partnerships, a new publication from Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB), has received a 2006 award for Professional Excellence from the Association for Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA). CEB received the award, ACLEA's top honor, in the "Best Publication" category. It was one of only 15 of more than 300 entrants from several countries to receive ACLEA awards this year.

"We're pleased and honored to receive this award," said Jon Heywood, attorney-editor of California Domestic Partnerships. "Our thanks go to the outstanding group of authors-family law specialists, estate planners, and litigators, plus two sitting family law judicial officers-who contributed to this groundbreaking publication and to the CEB staff who helped put it together. The Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act opened up a totally new area of the law, and California Domestic Partnerships is the first book to explain it and guide attorneys in its use. We're extremely proud."

California Domestic Partnerships is the first comprehensive treatment of legal issues concerning California's Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act, operative January 2005. It includes full explanations of registration and termination procedures, important employee benefit issues, key tax issues, and a full range of other domestic partnership issues.

Some 23 authors contributed to the book. Seven additional attorneys acted as consultants. Authors include Roberta Bennett, Sandra Blair, Erwin Chemerinsky, Frederick Hertz, M. Jean Johnston, Virginia Palmer, Teresa Renaker, and Peter Walzer. These individuals, along with family law attorneys from CEB's Product Development Department, worked on an accelerated schedule to bring this important information to the legal community within a few months of the new law's introduction.

ACLEA members are professionals in the fields of continuing legal education and legal publishing. Its annual awards are highly competitive and winning projects represent the highest level of achievement for the staff and volunteers involved.

ACLEA will formally present the award to Continuing Education of the Bar at the Annual Meeting of ACLEA in the Kohala Coast, Hawaii, on July 29, 2006.

-30-