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American Bar Association

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American Bar Association
FormationAugust 21, 1878
TypeLegal Society
HeadquartersChicago, Illinois
Location
  • United States
President
Carolyn Lamm
Key people
Jack L. Rives, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer
WebsiteOfficial website

The American Bar Association (ABA), founded August 21, 1878,[1] is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation of model ethical codes related to the legal profession. The ABA has 410,000 members. Its national headquarters are in Chicago, Illinois; it also maintains a significant branch office in Washington, D.C.

History

The ABA was founded on August 21,1878, in Saratoga Springs, New York, by 100 lawyers from 21 states. According to the ABA website,

"The legal profession as we know it today barely existed at that time. Lawyers were generally sole practitioners who trained under a system of apprenticeship. There was no national code of ethics; there was no national organization to serve as a forum for discussion of the increasingly intricate issues involved in legal practice."

The purpose of the original organization, as set forth in is first constitution, was "the advancement of the science of jurisprudence, the promotion of the administration of justice and a uniformity of legislation throughout the country...."

Mission

The ABA mission, as stated in its 2008 mission statement, is "To serve equally our members, our profession and the public by defending liberty and delivering justice as the national representative of the legal profession."

The goals and objectives are:

  • Goal 1: Serve our members. (Objective: Provide benefits, programs and services which promote members’ professional growth and quality of life.)
  • Goal 2: Improve our profession. (Objectives: 1) Promote the highest quality legal education; 2) Promote competence, ethical conduct and professionalism; 3) Promote pro bono and public service by the legal profession.)
  • Goal 3: Eliminate bias and enhance diversity. (Objectives: 1) Promote full and equal participation in the association, our profession, and the justice system by all persons; 2) Eliminate bias in the legal profession and the justice system.)
  • Goal 4: Advance the rule of law. (Objectives: 1) Increase public understanding of and respect for the rule of law, the legal process, and the role of the legal profession at home and throughout the world; 2) Hold governments accountable under law; 3) Work for just laws, including human rights, and a fair legal process; 4)Assure meaningful access to justice for all persons; and 5) Preserve the independence of the legal profession and the judiciary.)

Leadership and governance

The ABA is governed by the Office of the President; the House of Delegates, which acts as the organization's primary body for adopting new policies and recommendations as part of the association's official position; and the Board of Governors.

In 1995 Roberta Cooper Ramo became the first woman president of the American Bar Association since its inception in 1878. Since 2009, Carolyn B. Lamm has served as the current president. Stephen N. Zack is the president elect, scheduled to replace Lamm at the end of her term. Zack will be the first Hispanic American to hold this office.

In 2010, Jack L. Rives, formerly the TJAG (The Judge Advocate General of the Air force), was appointed Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer.

Model ethical standards for lawyers

Union Trust Building, now home to the ABA's branch office at 740 15th Street NW in Washington, D.C.

The most important role of the ABA is its creation and maintenance of a code of ethical standards for lawyers. The Model Code of Professional Responsibility (1969) and/or the newer Model Rules of Professional Conduct (1983) have been adopted in 49 states and the District of Columbia. The lone exception is California, which has refused to adopt either (see State Bar of California for more information). However, a few sections of the California Rules of Professional Conduct were clearly drawn from the ABA models.

Accreditation of law schools

According to the ABA, it "provides law school accreditation, continuing legal education, information about the law, programs to assist lawyers and judges in their work, and initiatives to improve the legal system for the public. The Mission of the American Bar Association is to be the national representative of the legal profession, serving the public and the profession by promoting justice, professional excellence and respect for the law."[2]

Legal education in the United States
Stages
Exams and licensure
Organizations

ABA accreditation is important not only because it affects the recognition of the law schools involved, but it also affects a graduate's ability to practice law in a particular state. Specifically, in most U.S. jurisdictions, graduation from an ABA-accredited law school is expressly stated as a prerequisite towards being allowed to sit for that state's bar exam, and even for existing lawyers to be admitted to the bar of another state upon motion.[3] Even states which recognize unaccredited schools within their borders will generally not recognize such schools from other jurisdictions for purposes of bar admission.[4]

The United States has accused the ABA of violating Section 1 of the Sherman Act in its accreditation proceedings, resulting in a consent decree in 1995.[5]

For law students attending ABA-accredited schools, memberships are available at significantly reduced rates. Students attending non-ABA accredited law schools are only permitted to join the ABA as associate members.[6]

The ABA is changing its accreditation standard, where accreditation will be the result of what kind of lawyer an ABA law school produces as opposed to "input" measures such as faculty size, budget and physical plant.[7]

Russell Frisby, 2008–2009 Chair of the ABA's Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice section, at a Rappaport Center roundtable.

The American Bar Association Center for Continuing Legal Education (ABA-CLE) serves as the central CLE resource for the ABA by providing quality programs and products of national scope. ABA-CLE is overseen by the ABA Standing Committee on Continuing Legal Education and works closely with experts from the ABA Sections and the profession at large in developing programs and products in a variety of delivery formats. In addition to its own distribution, the ABA-CLE is also delivered via private, for-profit CLE organizations, such as West LegalEdCenter.

Publications

Association
Main article: ABA Journal

The Association publishes a monthly general magazine circulated to all members, the ABA Journal (since 1984, formerly American Bar Association Journal, 1915-1983), now also online.

Sections

ABA members may also join subject-specific "sections", and each section publishes a variety of newsletters and magazines for its members (such as Law Practice Magazine published by the Law Practice Management Section and GPSolo Magazine published by the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Division). The first such journal was the Annual Bulletin of the Comparative Law Bureau, the first comparative law journal in the U.S. (1908-1914). The sections also hold their own meetings.

Each section will normally have a publication program that includes (1) books, usually oriented toward practitioners; (2) scholarly journals, such as Administrative Law Review (published by the ABA Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice and The American University Washington College of Law) and The International Lawyer (published by the ABA Section of International Law and SMU Dedman School of Law); (3) newsletters, such as The International Law News (published by the ABA Section of International Law); (4) e-publications, such as a monthly message from the section chair, or updates on substantive law developments; and (5) committee publications, such as a committee newsletter published by one of the substantive law committees.

Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law

The Commission's mission is "to promote the ABA's commitment to justice and the rule of law for persons with mental, physical, and sensory disabilities and to promote their full and equal participation in the legal profession." The Commission consists of 15 members appointed by the ABA President-elect on an annual basis. It meets bi-annually at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. to map out future plans and to direct its current activities.

The ABA’s Commission on the Mentally Disabled was established in 1973 to respond to the advocacy needs of persons with mental disabilities. After the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the ABA broadened the Commission’s mission to serve all persons with disabilities and changed its name to the Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law (CMPDL). Today, the Commission carries out an array of projects and activities addressing disability-related public policy, disability law, and the professional needs of lawyers and law students with disabilities.

Professor of Law, Alex J. Hurder currently sits as Chair of the Commission, and John W. Parry is the Staff Director.

In 1995, DOJ Antitrust division filed a suit against the ABA, which was settled with a consent decree.[8] In 2006, the ABA acknowledged that it violated the consent decree and paid DOJ a $185,000 fine.[9]

Recent ABA Presidents

Martha Barnett
Main article: List of Presidents of the American Bar Association

Rating of judicial nominees

For decades, the ABA has participated in the federal judicial nomination process by vetting nominees and giving them a rating ranging from "not qualified" to "well qualified." The process has been accused by some (including the Federalist Society) of having a liberal bias.[10][11][12] For example, the ABA gave Ronald Reagan's judicial nominees Richard Posner and Frank H. Easterbrook low "qualified/not qualified" ratings; later, the ABA gave Bill Clinton judicial nominees with similar resumes "well qualified" ratings. [4] Meanwhile, Judges Posner and Easterbrook have gone on to become the two most highly-cited judges in the federal appellate judiciary.[13]

In 2001, the George W. Bush administration announced that it would cease cooperating with the ABA in advance of judicial nominations. The ABA continues to rate nominees. In 2005, the ABA gave John Roberts, George W. Bush's nomination for Chief Justice of the United States, a unanimous "well-qualified" rating. It also gave a unanimous "well qualified" rating to appellate court nominee Miguel Estrada, who never took his seat because his nomination was filibustered. However, it gave only a "qualified/not-qualified" rating to nominee Janice Rogers Brown.[14] In 2006, the ABA gave a unanimous "well-qualified" rating to Judge Samuel Alito, Bush's appointee for Sandra Day O'Connor's Associate Justice position.

Position on Signing Statements

In July 2006, an ABA task force under then President Michael S. Greco released a report that concluded that George W. Bush's use of "signing statements" violates the Constitution. These are documents attached by the President to bills he signs, in which he states that he will enforce the new law only to the extent that he feels the law conforms to his interpretation of the Constitution.[citation needed]

Criticisms of the ABA

The ABA has been criticized for its liberal bias in evaluating Supreme Court nominees. One study, conducted by several political scientists and published in the National Law Journal, found that the ABA’s evaluations of judicial candidates prior to their nominations are biased against more right-leaning candidates.[15] Additionally, the ABA has been criticized for its perceived elitism[16] and overrepresentation of white male corporate defense lawyers among its membership;[citation needed] in 1925, African-American lawyers formed the National Bar Association at a time when ABA would not allow them to be members.

However, since the 1960s, the ABA has made great strides in increasing the diversity of its membership. Its membership has grown from less than 11 percent of all American lawyers to roughly 50[citation needed] percent today[when?]. In recent years, the ABA has also drawn some criticism, mainly from the conservative side of the political spectrum, for taking positions on controversial public policy topics such as abortion, and gun control.[17] The ABA's official position in favor of abortion rights led to the formation of a (much smaller) alternative organization for lawyers, the National Lawyers Association. The Federalist Society sponsors a twice-a-year publication called "ABA Watch" that reports on the political activities of the ABA.

There are heated debates over requirements placed on law schools by the ABA. Many states and practitioners believe ABA requirements to be unnecessary, costly, outdated and lacking innovation.[18] Some legal professionals and academics feel these requirements promote the rising cost of tuition. In addition, the ABA has been criticized for requiring law schools to implement affirmative action programs to retain their accreditation.[19][20][21]

The more recent collision of attorney layoffs in 2009,[22][23] the glut of fresh non top-tier law graduates without work,[24] and the continued expansion of law schools[25][26] have raised questions on whether the ABA has been too lenient in its accreditation process.

Annual meeting

Each year, the ABA holds an annual meeting that consists of speeches, CLE classes, gatherings, and the ABA EXPO. The most recent convention was held in Chicago from July 31 to August 3, 2009. The next annual meeting will be held in San Francisco from August 5 to August 10, 2010.[27]

See also

References

  1. ^ ABA History; For a historical overview see Matzko, John A., "'The Best Men of the Bar': The Founding of the American Bar Association," in The New High Priests: Lawyers in Post-Civil War America, Gerard W. Gawalt (ed.), (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984), pp. 75-96.
  2. ^ ABA Website http://www.abanet.org/about/; retrieval date 2008.03.19.
  3. ^ National Conference of Bar Examiners. Comprehensive Guide to Bar Admission Requirements
  4. ^ See, e.g., Supreme Court Rule 7 (Tennessee), Rules Regarding Admission to Practice Law (California).
  5. ^ United States v. American Bar Association, U.S. District Court (D.C.), text of decree.
  6. ^ ABA Website http://www.abanet.org/join/; retrieval date 2008.04.27.
  7. ^ http://www.abajournal.com/news/review_of_accreditation_standards_likely_to_bring_sea_change_to_how_law_sch/
  8. ^ http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/press_releases/1995/0257.htm
  9. ^ http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/press_releases/2006/216804.htm
  10. ^ Batkins, Sam (2004-08-12). "ABA Retains Little Objectivity in Nomination Process". Center for Individual Freedom. Retrieved 2006-08-20.
  11. ^ Lindgren, James (2001-08-06). "Yes, the ABA Rankings Are Biased". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2006-08-21.
  12. ^ "ABA Ratings of Judicial Nominees". ABA Watch. Federalist Society. July 1996. Retrieved 2006-08-20.
  13. ^ Choi, Stephen (2003). "Who Would Win a Tournament of Judges (Draft)". Boalt Working Papers in Public Law (19). University of California: 96. Retrieved 2006-08-20. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ "Ratings of Article III Judicial Nominees: 108th Congress" (PDF) (Press release). American Bar Association. 2005-01-26. Retrieved 2006-08-20.
  15. ^ [1]
  16. ^ [2]
  17. ^ ABA Policy on Gun Violence - Special Committee On Gun Violence - American Bar Association
  18. ^ [3]
  19. ^ Wall Street Journal Critique of the ABA "blackmailing" law schools into affirmative action
  20. ^ Academic Mismatch I by Walter E. Williams
  21. ^ Academic Mismatch II by Walter E. Williams
  22. ^ http://lawshucks.com/layoff-tracker/
  23. ^ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123595619998905733.html
  24. ^ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123741745678277765.html
  25. ^ http://abajournal.com/news/up_to_10_new_law_schools_planned_how_many_are_too_many/
  26. ^ http://www.freep.com/article/20090609/NEWS06/90609004/1008/NEWS/Cooley+will+expand+into+Ave+Maria+site+
  27. ^ http://new.abanet.org/annual/pages/default.aspx
International American Bar Associations sites
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