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ABA Announces Nominations

April 1, 2009, 11:10 pm CDT

The nominating com­mi­ttee of the ABA House of Delegates announced in February its candidates for association president-elect and 12 seats on the Board of Governors.

The House of Delegates will vote on the nominees in August when it convenes at the 2009 ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago. The Nom­i­na­ting Committee’s selections are virtually assured of being elected by the House.

Under the ABA Constitution, nominees for president are never actually elected to that office itself. Rather, the House elects the choice of the Nominating Committee to the office of president-elect. After one year, the president-elect automatically becomes ABA president.

Accordingly, Stephen N. Zack of Miami will serve as president-elect after his election by the House in August. He will then serve a one-year term as president starting in August 2010 at the close of that year’s annual meeting in San Francisco.

Zack, a Cuban-American whose family came to the United States after Fidel Castro came to power, will be the ABA’s first president with a Hispanic background. He previously served as chair of the House of Del­egates, the second-highest elected position in the ABA. Zack has indicated that multiculturalism will be one of his issues of focus, and he plans to appoint a commission that will look at various aspects of His­panic legal rights, including immigration, voting and consumer law.

The nominees to the 38-member Board of Governors will serve three-year terms starting in August. Seven of the nominees will represent regional districts. Two nominees will represent sections, one will serve as a judicial member-at-large, one will serve as a minority member-at-large, and one will serve as a young lawyer member-at-large.

STEPHEN N. ZACK
PRESIDENT-ELECT

Administrative partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner in Miami. Served as special counsel to former Florida Gov. Bob Graham, and represented former Vice Pres­ident Al Gore in the trial of Bush v. Gore. Member of ABA House of Delegates since 1988 and served as chair in 2004-06. Member of Board of Gover­nors in 1992-95. Member of Advisory Com­mit­tee to the Chair of the House of Delegates, and the Center for Racial and Ethnic Di­versity. Council member of Section of International Law. Secretary of American Bar Endowment. Chaired planning committee for 2008 ABA Day in Washington. Past chair of Standing Committee on Bar Services and Activities, and Latin America and Caribbean Law Initiative Council. Past council member for Tort Trial and Insur­ance Practice Section and Young Lawyers Division. Past member of Commission on the World Justice Project, Hurricane Katrina Task Force and ABA Journal Board of Editors. President of the Florida Bar in 1988-89. Past president of National Conference of Bar Presidents. Member of Florida Constitution Revision Commission in 1998-99. Received J.D. in 1971 from University of Florida College of Law in Gainesville.

AMELIA H. BOSS
DISTRICT 3

Professor at Drexel University School of Law in Phila­delphia. Previously served as director of the Institute for International Law and Public Policy at Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia. Member of ABA House of Delegates since 2004 (currently represents Section of Business Law). Member of House Committee on Issues of Concern to the Legal Pro­fes­sion and Stan­ding Committee on Membership. Chaired Section of Business Law in 2000-01. Editor-in-chief of The Business Lawyer in 1998-99. Chaired Section Officers Conference in 2001-03. Member of Commission on Women in the Profession in 2003-06. Past member of Asia Law Initiative Council. Council member for American Law Institute. Received J.D. in 1975 from Rutgers University School of Law in Camden, N.J. (District 3 encompasses New Jersey and Pennsylvania.)

CHARLES E. ENGLISH
DISTRICT 5

Partner at English Lucas Priest & Owsley in Bowling Green, Ky. Member of ABA House of Delegates in 1984-2007. Special adviser to Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability. Member of Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary in 1992-98. President of Kentucky Bar Association in 1985-86. Received J.D. in 1960 from University of Kentucky College of Law in Lexington. (District 5 encompasses Alabama, Kentucky and North Carolina.)

FREDERICK E. FINCH
DISTRICT 9

Shareholder at Bassford Remele in Minneapolis. Member of ABA House of Delegates since 1991 (currently serves on Nomina­ting Committee as state delegate for Minnesota). Member of Standing Committee on Strategic Communications in 2005-08. President of Hen­nepin County Bar Association in 1988-89. Received J.D. in 1973 from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn. (District 9 encompasses Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin.)

MARK I. SCHICKMAN
DISTRICT 14

Partner at Freeland Cooper & Foreman in San Francisco. Member of ABA House of Dele­gates in 1985-87, and again since 1997 (cur­­­­rently represents Bar Association of San Francisco). Member of House Committee on Rules and Calendar. Chairs Standing Commit­tee on Pro Bono and Public Service, and planning committee for upcoming National Pro Bono Celebra­tion sponsored by ABA. Member of Standing Com­mittee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants in 1997-2000; Commission on Law and Aging in 2005-06; Commission on Second Season of Service in 2005-08; and Coalition for Justice in 2000-02. Council member for Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities in 1981-85. President of Bar Association of San Francisco in 1995-96. Received J.D. in 1974 from Columbia University School of Law in New York City. (District 14 encompasses California.)

STEVEN C. KRANE
DISTRICT 15

Partner at Proskauer Rose in New York City. Mem­ber of ABA House of Delegates since 2000 (currently represents New York State Bar Asso­ciation). Immediate-past chair of Standing Com­mittee on Ethics and Professional Respon­sibility. Past member of Task Force on Gramm-Leach-Bliley. President of New York State Bar As­sociation in 2001-02. Received J.D. in 1981 from New York University School of Law. (District 15 encompasses New York.)

G. NICHOLAS CASEY JR.
DISTRICT 16

Member of Lewis Glasser Casey & Rollins in Charleston, W.Va. Mem­ber of ABA House of Delegates in 1992-94, 1995-96 and again since 2003 (currently serves on Nominating Committee as state delegate for West Virginia). Member of Standing Committee on Governmental Affairs. President of West Virginia State Bar Association in 1992-93 and Kanawha County Bar Association in 1985-86. West Virginia Democratic Party chair since 2004. Received J.D. in 1977 from West Virginia University College of Law in Morgantown. (District 16 encompasses Delaware, Mississippi, South Carolina and West Virginia.)

C. TIMOTHY HOPKINS
DISTRICT 17

Senior partner and a founder of Hopkins Roden Crockett Hansen & Hoopes in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Member of ABA House of Delegates in 1992-2005. Chairs Stan­ding Committee on Con­stitution and Bylaws. Immediate-past chair of Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. President of Idaho State Bar in 1990-91. Received J.D. in 1963 from George Wash­ington University Law School in Washington, D.C. (District 17 encompasses Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada and Utah.)

NEAL R. SONNETT
CRIMINAL JUSTICE SECTION

Senior partner at Neal R. Sonnett, P.A., in Miami. Member of ABA House of Delegates since 1986 (currently represents Criminal Justice Section). Member of Steering Committee of Nominating Committee. Chairs Task Force on Treatment of Enemy Combatants; Task Force on Presidential Signing State­ments and the Separation of Powers Doctrine; and Task Force on Domestic Surveillance in the Fight Against Terrorism. ABA Observer for Guan­tanamo Military Commission trials. Chairs Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities. Chaired Criminal Justice Section in 1992-93. Past chair of Standing Committee on Governmental Affairs. Past president of American Judicature Society (2006-07); National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (1989-90); and Dade County Bar Association (1983-84). Received J.D. in 1967 from University of Miami School of Law in Coral Gables, Fla.

R. KINNAN GOLEMON
SECTION OF ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND RESOURCES

Founder and president of KG Strategies in Austin, Texas. Member of ABA House of Delegates since 2000 (currently represents Section of Environment, Energy and Resources). Past chair of Standing Committee on Environ­mental Law. Chaired Section of Environment, Energy and Resources in 1994-95. Received LL.B. in 1967 from University of Texas School of Law in Austin.

LESLIE MILLER
JUDICIAL MEMBER-AT-LARGE

Judge of the Superior Court of Pima County in Tucson, Ariz., since 1985. Member of ABA House of Delegates since 2001 (currently delegate-at-large). Member of House Com­mittee on Issues of Concern to the Legal Profession. Past chair of Judicial Division (2006-07) and National Conference of State Trial Judges (2000-01). Chairs division’s Ju­dicial Mentoring Program. Member of Commission on the World Justice Project. Member of Board of Directors for ALI-ABA Continuing Professional Edu­cation. President of Pima County Bar Association in 1989-90. Received J.D. in 1976 from St. Louis University School of Law.

MARY L. SMITH
MINORITY MEMBER-AT-LARGE

Partner in Chicago office of Schoeman Updike & Kaufman. Served in the Clinton White House as associate counsel to the president and associate director of policy planning. Member of ABA House of Delegates since 2007 (currently represents National Native American Bar Association). Member of Select Committee of the House. Member of Commission on Women in the Profession. Council member for Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities. Co-chairs Content Management Committee in Section of Liti­ga­tion. Enrolled member of Cherokee Nation. Received J.D. in 1991 from University of Chicago Law School.

KENDYL T. HANKS
YOUNG LAWYER MEMBER-AT-LARGE

Associate at Haynes and Boone in New York City. Becomes member of House of Delegates in Au­gust. Co-chaired appellate subcommittee of Sec­tion of Business Law in 2004-07. Communi­cations direc­tor of Young Lawyers Division in 2006-07. YLD district representative in 2005-06. Received J.D. in 2001 from University of Texas School of Law in Austin.