American Bar Association Nominates New Leadership

CHICAGO, Feb. 13, 2006 – The American Bar Association announced that Seattle lawyer William H. Neukom has been nominated to become president-elect of the American Bar Association. The ABA House of Delegates will vote on his nomination in August at the 2006 ABA Annual Meeting in Honolulu. If elected, Neukom will serve as ABA president-elect until the close of the ABA Annual Meeting in August 2007, at which time he will become president for a one-year term.

Also, Laurel G. Bellows of Chicago was nominated to become chair of the ABA House of Delegates, the association’s policy-making body. If elected by the House at the 2006 ABA Annual Meeting, she will serve from the close of that meeting until the close of the ABA Annual Meeting in August 2008.

Twelve people were nominated for membership on the ABA Board of Governors. The names of the board nominees will also be presented to the House of Delegates for election in August. Each is nominated to serve a three-year term on the 37-member board. The Board of Governors oversees administration and management of the association. Board of Governor nominees, and the representative capacities they are nominated to fulfill are:

• Wayne J. Positan of Roseland, N.J., District 3, composed of New Jersey and Pennsylvania;
• Larry S. McDevitt of Asheville, N.C., District 5, composed of Kentucky, Alabama and North Carolina;
• Charles A. Weiss of St. Louis, Mo., District 9, composed of Missouri, Minnesota and Wisconsin;
• Laurie D. Zelon of Los Angeles, District 14, composed of California;
• Bettina B. Plevan of New York, District 15, composed of New York;
• W. Scott Welch III of Jackson, Miss., District 16, composed of South Carolina, Delaware, Mississippi and West Virginia;
• William P. Curran of Las Vegas, District 17, composed of Utah, Hawaii, Nevada and Idaho;
• Louraine C. Arkfeld of Tempe, Ariz., to hold the Judicial Member-at-Large seat;
• Matthew L. Nelson of Santa Monica, Calif., to hold the Young Lawyer Member-at-Large seat;
• Anthony N. Upshaw of Miami, to hold the Minority Member-at-Large seat;
• E. Paul Herrington III of Louisville, Ky., to represent the ABA Section of Health Law; and
• Gary Munneke of White Plains, N.Y., to represent the ABA Section of Law Practice Management.

With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership 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.