New Mexico Bar President Nominated to American Bar Association Board of Governors

CHICAGO, March 17, 2008 – Craig A. Orraj was nominated to serve as a member of the American Bar Association’s Board of Governors during the ABA Midyear Meeting in Los Angeles last month. The election will be held in August by the policy-making ABA House of Delegates when it meets during the 2008 ABA Annual Meeting in New York City. If elected, Orraj will serve a three-year term for District 12, representing Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa and New Mexico, and will be one of the 40 representatives in charge of the administration and management of the association.

Orraj is the managing attorney for the Law Offices of Craig A. Orraj and staff counsel for Farmers Insurance Exchange and Affiliates. Orraj obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Justice Studies, graduating magna cum laude, from Arizona State University in 1985. He went on to earn a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Arizona in 1988. He is a licensed practitioner in both New Mexico and Texas.

Orraj has held the position of commissioner for the State Bar of New Mexico since 2002, and will be serving as its president in 2008. He is also a member of the ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, where he serves on the Staff Counsel Committee and Long Range Planning Committee. Orraj is a former chair of the New Mexico Young Lawyers Division and a former cabinet member of the ABA Young Lawyers Division.

With more than 413,000 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.