ABA President-Elect to Speak at Florida Law School Commencements

American Bar Association President-Elect Stephen N. Zack

Miami lawyer Stephen N. Zack, a partner in the national law firm Boies, Schiller and Flexner, will speak at law school commencements in Gainesville, Ft. Lauderdale and Jacksonville, Fla., May 14 – 16.  Zack, the association’s first Hispanic American president-elect, will challenge the graduating law students to fulfill their potential and right the wrongs they will inevitably encounter in their future legal careers.

In particular, Zack will focus on the challenge of providing access to justice for all people.

“Our examination of the concept of access to justice must be regularly examined.  Not only do we need to make sure that everyone who needs a lawyer has access to one,” said Zack,  “but also, we need to make sure that the legal profession is diverse enough so that we truly represent the people we are helping.”

Zack will deliver a commencement address May 14 at the University of Florida Levin College of Law in Gainesville (Zack’s alma mater), May 15 at Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville and May 16 at Nova Southeastern Shepard Broad Law Center in Ft. Lauderdale.

More than three decades ago, Zack became an active ABA member 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 unique obligation to promote these goals and to speak out against the repression of freedom.

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.  His 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 is also a founding member of the Cuban American Bar Association and a life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, which promotes justice through research on the law and its impact on society.