Michigan Lawyer Alison R. Nelson is New Member of ABA Board of Governors

CHICAGO, Aug. 9, 2005 – Alison R. Nelson of Dearborn, Mich., managing counsel of Ford Motor Company’s Consumer Litigation, today took office for a three-year term as a member of the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association. Her term began at the close of the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Nelson will hold the Minority Member-at-Large seat on the board, which meets at least four times yearly to oversee administration and management of the association.

Nelson is Ford’s chief counsel on all consumer affair issues, and has responsibility for several thousand lawsuits. In addition, she handles some commercial litigation matters, including antitrust and contract disputes.

Nelson also serves as chair of Ford’s Outside Minority Counsel and Charitable Contributions committees. In 2002 Nelson worked closely with lawyers from GM and Comerica to organize a historical minority outside counsel conference, the first such conference sponsored by corporations. More than 400 outside minority counsel attended.

Nelson has served on various American Bar Association, National Bar Association and State Bar of Michigan committees. Within the ABA she has chaired the Commission on Homelessness and Poverty and served in the House of Delegates and as a member on the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. She also is a member of the ABA Gavel Awards Committee. In other legal organizations she is a member of the Legal Aid and Defenders Association of Michigan, the National Bar Institute Board of Directors (Grants Committee Chair) and the State Bar of Michigan Access to Justice – Corporate Committee. From 2000 to 2001 she served as president of the Wolverine Bar Association.

Active in her community, Nelson served as Assistant General Counsel for the Michigan State Council of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She has received several awards for her commitment to diversity, including the Wolverine Bar Association Trailblazer Award and the National Bar Association Presidential Award. Nelson is also an active member of the Word of Faith International Christian Center.

Nelson received her Juris Doctor from Michigan State University College of Law and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan State University.

With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law in a democratic society.