American Bar Association Nominates Stephen N. Zack to Become Association President in 2010
BOSTON, Feb. 16, 2009 – Miami lawyer Stephen N. Zack, a partner in the national law firm Boies, Schiller and Flexner, was nominated to become president-elect of the American Bar Association. The ABA’s House of Delegates will vote on the nomination in August. If elected, Zack will serve one year as president-elect before taking office as president in August 2010 at the ABA’s annual meeting in Chicago.
“In a nation guided by the rule of law, I am proud to work in a profession that pledges to uphold those laws. It is important to remember that our laws ensure justice not just for a few, but for all,” said Zack. “I am especially proud to be the first Hispanic American slated to become the president of the ABA.”
In his acceptance speech, Zack noted that, “In this country, in difficult times like the current days, we turn to our lawyers and judges, not our generals and guns, to solve the problems facing our citizens.”
In the coming year, Zack, who is Cuban-American and has practiced law for more than 35 years, will focus on issues of civic education, civil rights and multiculturalism.
Key among a series of initiatives he has identified for his term, Zack plans to convene a commission to focus on several areas of Hispanic legal rights, including immigration, voting and consumer law.
Prior to his nomination and selection as president-elect, Zack served from 2004-2006 as chair of the ABA’s House of Delegates, the 555-member body that debates and votes on issues that become official ABA policy. The chair of the House is the second highest elected office within the association.
More than three decades ago, Zack became an active ABA member not long after completing his law degree at the University of Florida. He is passionate about the mission of the ABA – serving the public and legal profession by “defending liberty and delivering justice as the national representative of the legal profession”– and believes that all lawyers have a special obligation to promote these goals and speak out against the repression of freedom.
At the ABA, Zack has a long record of service. Most recently, he was member-at-large of the Long Range Planning Committee of the Board of Governors, member of the Advisory Committee to the chair of the House of Delegates, member of the Center for Racial and Ethnic Diversity, member-at-large of the Section of International Law and secretary of the American Bar Endowment.
Zack has served as a member of the House of Delegates since 1988, and was Florida State delegate from 1997-2000. He is a former member of the ABA Board of Governors (1992-1995),
and was a board liaison to the Sections of Litigation and Dispute Resolution. In addition, Zack served as president of the National Conference of Bar Presidents, is a former chair of the Standing Committee on Bar Activities and Services, a former member of the Commission on the Judiciary in the 21st Century and a former chair of the ABA Latin American Council.
Zack is also a life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, which promotes justice through research on the law and its impact on society.
An active member of the Florida Bar Association, Zack has served as president of the association, president of the Young Lawyers Section and chair of the International Law Section. He was a member of the 11th Circuit (Miami-Dade County) Judicial Nominating Committee for the Southern District, the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission’s Board of Governors and a Florida Bar Fellow.
Zack’s civic activities in Florida include service as special counsel to Gov. Bob Graham, as chair of the State Ethics Commission of the State of Florida and as a member of the Florida Constitutional Revision Commission. He chaired the City of Miami Beach Charter Review Commission and the Environmental Commission for the City of Miami. He is a former legislative aide to Rep. Claude Pepper and a former member of the Orange Bowl Committee and of the Public Health Trust.
Zack received his B.A. from the University of Florida, where he was elected to its Hall of Fame. He has been admitted to practice in Florida, New York and Washington, D.C.; the Supreme Court of the United States; the Supreme Court of Florida; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit; and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Florida.
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.
