ABA Announces Nominations
The nominating committee of the ABA House of Delegates has announced its candidates for president-elect and 10 seats on the Board of Governors.
The House will vote on the nominees when it convenes in August during the 2005 ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago. The Nominating Committee’s selections are virtually assured of being elected by the House.
In a quirk of the ABA Constitution, however, presidential candidates are never actually elected to that office itself. Rather, the House elects a nominee to the office of president-elect. After one year, the president-elect automatically becomes ABA president.
Under that formula, presidential nominee Karen J. Mathis of Denver will serve as president-elect for one year upon her election by the House in August. She will then serve a one-year term as president starting at the close of the 2006 annual meeting in Honolulu.
The nominees to the 39-member Board of Governors will serve three-year terms, starting in August at the close of the 2005 annual meeting and running through the end of the 2008 annual meeting. Board nominees will represent five of the Board’s 18 regional districts, two sections, one minority at-large seat (out of two), one woman at-large seat (out of two) and one young lawyer at-large seat (out of two).
Karen J. Mathis
President-Elect Nominee
WHO SHE IS: Partner in the Denver office of McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter. Member of the ABA House of Delegates since 1982, and chair of the House in 2000-02. Chaired the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section in 2002-03. Served on the council of the Section of State and Local Government Law in 1995-98 and 2003-04. Past chair of the Commission on Women in the Profession and the Standing Committee on Membership. Served on the ABA Journal Board of Editors. Received her J.D. in 1975 from the University of Colorado School of Law in Boulder.
Richard T. Cassidy
District 1
WHO HE IS: Shareholder in Hoff, Curtis, Pacht, Cassidy & Frame in Burlington, Vt. Member of the ABA House of Delegates since 2000. Chairs the Study Committee on Collateral Sanctions in Criminal Sentencing. Chaired the Vermont Board of Bar Examiners from 1995 to 2004. Vermont representative since 1994 on the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. Received his J.D. in 1978 from Albany Law School of Union University in Albany, N.Y.
Rosemary F. Giuliano
District 2
WHO SHE IS: Founding partner of Giuliano & Richardson in Woodbury, Conn. Member of the ABA House of Delegates since 1992. Served as president of the Connecticut Bar Association in 1994-95 and the New England Bar Association in 2003-04. Received her J.D. in 1978 from University of Connecticut School of Law in Hartford.
Harry S. Hardin III
District 6
WHO SHE IS: Senior partner at Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre in New Orleans. Member of the ABA House of Delegates in 1994-2003. Past member of the standing committees on Federal Judiciary and Membership. President of the Louisiana State Bar Association in 1993-94. Received his J.D. in 1971 from Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans.
Roderick B. Mathews
District 4
WHO HE IS: Retired partner at Troutman Sanders in Richmond, Va. Served previous term on the ABA Board of Governors in 1993-96, and chaired the Board’s Finance Committee in 1995-96. Member of the House of Delegates in 1988-96 and again since 1999. Served as council member for the Section of Litigation and the Young Lawyers Division. President of the Virginia State Bar in 1987-88. Received his LL.B. in 1966 from the University of Richmond School of Law.
David E. Funkhouser
District 12
WHO HE IS: Managing member of Brown, Kinsey & Funkhouser in Mason City, Iowa. Member of the ABA House of Delegates since 1996. Served on Standing Committee on Solo and Small Firm Practitioners. President of the Iowa State Bar Association in 1988-89. Received his J.D. in 1967 from University of Iowa College of Law in Iowa City.
Don S. De Amicis
Section Member-At-Large
WHO HE IS: Partner with Ropes & Gray in Boston. Member of the ABA House of Delegates. Past chair of the Section of International Law and Practice. Chairs the Task Force on GATT and serves on the council of the Latin America Law Initiative. Member of the ABA Iraq Initiative. He received his J.D. in 1979 from Harvard Law School.
Carol E. Dinkins
Woman Member-At-Large
WHO SHE IS: Partner with Vinson & Elkins in Houston. Served in the U.S. Department of Justice in 1981-85. Member of the ABA House of Delegates since 1992. Past chair of the sections of Environment, Energy and Resources, and State and Local Government Law. Past chair of the Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary, and current chair of the ABA Journal Board of Editors. Recipient of the ABA’s Margaret Brent Award for Women Lawyers of Achievement in 1999. Received her J.D. in 1971 from the University of Houston Law Center.
Raymond J. Werner
Section Member-At-Large
WHO HE IS: Chairman of the executive committee at Arnstein & Lehr in Chicago. Member of the ABA House of Delegates since 2002. Serves on the council of the Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law. Serves as ABA co-chair for the joint editorial board for uniform real property acts of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. Received his J.D. in 1971 from Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Suzanne E. Gilbert
Young Lawyer Member-At-Large
WHO SHE IS: Partner with Holland & Knight in Orlando, Fla. Committee director for the ABA Young Lawyers Division. Member of the ABA Standing Committee on Constitution and Bylaws. Served on the Committee for Research on the Future of the Legal Profession. Received her J.D. in 1996 from the University of Florida College of Law in Gainesville.
Alison R. Nelson
Minority Member-At-Large
WHO SHE IS: Managing counsel for consumer litigation at Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Mich. Member of the ABA House of Delegates in 1994-99. Chaired the Commission on Homelessness and Poverty in 1997-98. Served on the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession, the Standing Committee on Gavel Awards, and the Coalition for Justice. Received a J.D. in 1990 from Michigan State University College of Law in East Lansing.
