Next In Line
In October 1950, 7-year-old Michael S. Greco was awestruck as the ship bringing him from Italy passed the Statue of Liberty before docking at Ellis Island.
“I remember it vividly–and what it meant to me,” says Greco, whose selection as ABA president-elect was confirmed by the House of Delegates in August at the association’s annual meeting in Atlanta.
Greco will become the first immigrant to head the ABA when he begins his term as president in August 2005.
A former chair of the ABA Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, Greco served on the ABA Task Force on Terrorism and the Law after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. He says that he will continue to speak out on the need to strike an appropriate balance between national security concerns and civil liberties during the war on terrorism.
“As our vigilance grows in fighting terrorism, we need to be just as vigilant about protecting people’s constitutional rights,” Greco says.
Rather than play it careful on the task force while running for the ABA presidency–candidates often shy away from controversy–Greco took the lead in pushing others to be aware of concerns for core civil rights values and principles.
Greco, a litigation partner with the Boston office of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, says that he plans to promote a “renaissance of idealism” in the legal profession with a call for more public service by lawyers.
“There is a road marked ‘public service’ that is being, regrettably, less traveled by lawyers today under the burden of economic pressures and the demand of time,” said Greco in a speech to the House of Delegates in Atlanta.
“We must find balance in our lives. We must take time–we must find time–to pursue the core values of our profession.”
