Miami's Zack becomes ABA president-elect
Miami’s Zack becomes ABA president-elect
Miami lawyer Stephen N. Zack, a former president of The Florida Bar and a partner in the national law firm Boies, Schiller and Flexner, was elected president-elect of the American Bar Association — the first Hispanic American to achieve that distinction. The ABA’s House of Delegates voted on August 4.
Zack will serve one year as president-elect before taking office as president in August 2010 at the ABA’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
He will serve as president-elect while Carolyn Lamm, an international arbitration, litigation, and trade lawyer from Washington, D.C., takes office as ABA president for the current year.
Lamm’s areas of focus for the coming year address several mega-trends within the legal profession. She has initiated a study relating to the impact of globalization and technology, and the increasingly global nature of law practice and its potential impact on lawyer regulation and. She is mobilizing the ABA to help the legal profession cope with and address the public’s need for legal services due to the. Lamm also is leading an effort to build membership in all segments of the association, including young lawyers, public interest lawyers, judges, and lawyers from both small and large firms. Additionally, Lamm will press for lawyers of color, women, disabled lawyers, lawyers of differing sexual orientations and gender identity.
Zack, the son of a Cuban mother and American father, is working on promoting the work of the ABA’s Commission on Immigration and other programs that advance access to justice for everyone in the United States.
“I am proud to be the first Hispanic American slated to become the president of the ABA. This country is still a land of opportunity. I want to work as an advocate for access to justice — and also for the possibilities that can exist for all young students from all backgrounds.”
In his speech to the House of Delegates, Zack stressed that the concept and reality of justice in modern America must regularly be reviewed.
“When we talk about ‘access to justice’ we need to expand our definition. It’s not only about making sure everyone who needs a lawyer has access to one,” said Zack. “If law schools are not accessible to students from every walk of life, we’re not going to have enough lawyers in this country to help the people who need it the most.”
In the coming year, Zack, who grew up in Cuba and has practiced law for more than 35 years, will focus on several areas, including Hispanic legal rights, civil rights, immigration, and civic education.
“I am hopeful that a renewed focus on the importance of civic education and diverse student populations will inspire more students to become the next generation of lawyers,” said Zack.
Another former Florida Bar president, James Fox Miller, now a law partner with Zack, said he is well prepared for the upcoming challenges.
“The fact that Steve Zack will be president of the American Bar Association is, on the one hand, a miracle because he is not in the mold of any other prior ABA president and, on the other hand, it is perfectly predictable,” Miller said. “If Steve sets out to do something, he almost always gets it done. He will do a great job and he will do it with great charm and aplomb. There is no one better on his feet, and he has the perfect skill set to be an outstanding ambassador for the legal profession, both nationally and internationally.”
Prior to his 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 to speak out against the repression of freedom.
At the ABA, Zack has a long record of service. In addition to serving as chair of the policymaking House of Delegates, recent activities have included being a 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 a 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 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.
An active member of The Florida Bar, Zack has served as president, 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 special counsel to Gov. Bob Graham, chair of the State Ethics Commission of the State of Florida, and member of the Florida Constitution 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.
When Zack is sworn in as president of the ABA in 2010, he will become the fifth Florida Bar member to hold that post after the late Chesterfield Smith, Wm. Reece Smith, Sandy D’Alemberte, and Martha Barnett.
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.
