American Bar Association Popular Books

American Bar Association Biography & Facts

The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students; it is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation of model ethical codes related to the legal profession. As of fiscal year 2017, the ABA had 194,000 dues-paying members, constituting approximately 14.4% of American attorneys. In 1979, half of all lawyers in the U.S. were members of the ABA. The organization's national headquarters are in Chicago, Illinois, and 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 75 lawyers from 20 states and the District of Columbia. 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 its 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...." In 1918, the first women were admitted to the ABA – Judge Mary Belle Grossman of Cleveland and Mary Florence Lathrop of Denver. The ABA did not have any African-American members and its discrimination led to the formation in 1937 of the National Lawyers Guild. The ABA denied admittance to Francis E. Rivers in 1943 and several prominent members threatened to quit as a result and the organization was finally integrated. The ABA appointed Jill Wine-Banks as its first woman executive director, who served from 1987 to 1990. Roberta Cooper Ramo was the first female president of the ABA from 1995 to 1996. In 2016 ABA introduced a new ethics rule prohibiting attorneys from using sexist, racist and condescending terms. The rule also prohibits attorneys from engaging in discrimination based on age in the conduct of bar association activities. On May 1, 2019, the ABA launched a new membership model aimed at reversing declining membership and revenue. As mentioned in "Criticisms", below, and despite ABA's own rule against age-discriminatory conduct, the "experience-based" component of the ABA dues structure is a proxy for age discrimination, imposing significantly higher dues on lawyers as their years in practice increase. Leadership and governance The ABA adopts "policy" (organizational positions) on certain legislative and national issues, as voted on by its elected, 589-member House of Delegates. Its board of governors, with 44 members, has the authority to act for the ABA, consistent with previous action of the House of Delegates, when the House is not in session. The ABA president, elected to a one-year term, is chief executive officer of the association, while the appointed, longer-serving executive director works as chief operating officer. The conclusion of the ABA annual meeting, in August, is when a new president takes office, as well as when the main sessions of the House of Delegates take place. The annual meeting also gives the general membership the opportunity to participate in educational programs and hear speakers address many issues. In 2010, Jack L. Rives, formerly TJAG (The Judge Advocate General of the Air Force), was appointed executive director and chief operating officer (COO). Alpha M. Brady was named ABA Executive Director/COO after Rives' retirement in March 2023. She joined the ABA staff in 1988 and rose through the ranks at the association before being named deputy executive director in 2022. Model ethical standards for lawyers One function of the ABA is its creation and maintenance of a code of ethical standards for lawyers. Its first ethics code was created in 1908, and the code has undergone substantial revisions since. This code, called the Model Rules of Professional Conduct (1983), — or, in its older form, the Model Code of Professional Responsibility (1969) — has been adopted in 49 states, along with the District of Columbia and four territories (Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the United States Virgin Islands). The one state that has not adopted the ABA's code is California, and Puerto Rico is the sole territory that has not adopted the ABA's code. However, parts of the State Bar of California's California Rules of Professional Conduct were drawn from the ABA models. Accreditation of U.S. law schools since 1923 The United States Department of Education recognises the Council of the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar as a professional accrediting agency for law schools in the U.S. American law schools that are accredited by the council are termed "approved" by the ABA, which indicates the law school was found to be in compliance with ABA accreditation standards. 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 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. Even states which recognize unaccredited schools within their borders will generally not recognize such schools from other jurisdictions for purposes of bar admission. For law students attending ABA-accredited schools, memberships are available for free. Students attending non-ABA accredited law schools are permitted to join the ABA as associate members. In November 2022, the ABA Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar Council voted to eliminate its accreditation requirement that law schools in the United States require prospective students submit results on the LSAT or an alternative valid and reliable standardized admissions test (while continuing to permit law schools to require them of their own accord). Accreditation process criticisms The ABA accreditation process has been widely criticized for failing to ensure that law schools are disclosing accurate post-graduate statistics which may mislead students regarding the post-graduate job market, especially in light of ever-growing student loan debt. 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. Some legal professionals and academics feel these requirements promote the rising cost of tuition. The collision of attorney layoffs in 2009, the glut of fresh non-top-tier law graduates without work, and the continued expansion of law schools raised questions on.... Discover the American Bar Association popular books. Find the top 100 most popular American Bar Association books.