Neukom Takes Office as ABA President
As William Neukom takes office today as the ABA’s new president, one of his main goals is promoting the rule of law in the U.S. and abroad.
The gavel was officially passed from outgoing President Karen Mathis to President-Elect Neukom at about 4:40 p.m. today at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, as reported by ABAJournal.com’s live blog. It is providing continuous coverage of the meeting in real time.
A key initiative for Neukom concerning the rule of law is the ABA World Justice Project, which will culminate next summer in a three-day World Justice Forum, now tentatively planned for Vienna, Austria, reports the ABA Journal. The project’s $7.5 million cost is to be funded entirely from contributions outside the ABA, and $6.5 million has already been raised.
“The best way to look at issues and opportunities is to invite a broad array of perspectives on those issues,” Neukom, who is a partner in Seattle’s K&L Gates and former general counsel of Microsoft, told the Journal. “The rule of law is not the rule of lawyers and judges. All elements of society are stakeholders in the rule of law.”
