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Contact: Mark Mahoney
Associate Director, Media Services & Public Affairs
mmahoney@nysba.org
518-487-5532
August 7, 2012
STATE BAR PRESIDENT CONGRATULATES JAMES SILKENAT,
NEW PRESIDENT-ELECT OF AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION
Video of Silkenat's Address to the ABA House of
Delegates Upon Election Available Online
New York State Bar Association President Seymour W. James, Jr.
congratulated New York City attorney James R. Silkenat on his election
today as president-elect of the nearly 400,000-member American Bar
Association.
Silkenat (Sullivan & Worcester) was elected at the ABA's annual
meeting in Chicago, where he was escorted to the podium by members of
the New York delegation. He will serve one year as president-elect
before taking over as president next year. Silkenat will become the
first New Yorker to head the ABA in 25 years.
"Jim has demonstrated a strong commitment to the legal profession
through his extraordinary professional accomplishments and his many
contributions to the State Bar, the ABA and the legal community," said
State Bar Association President Seymour W. James, Jr. of New York City
(The Legal Aid Society). "We work closely with the ABA and hope that Jim
Silkenat's new position as president-elect will offer even more
opportunities for collaboration."
Silkenat said that as president-elect and then as president, he will
address existing ABA priorities, as well as devote attention to other
matters of concern as they arise.
"Those continuing priorities are funding for state courts; legal
education issues; diversity in the legal profession-making sure it looks
more like the public it serves; and access to justice issues," he said.
"Good work is being done, but good work is going to have to continue to
be done."
In addition, he said, he hopes to address newer issues such as
immigration, gun violence, court reform and the death penalty. He said
he will rely on legal experts from New York as well as from across the
country, in addressing the association's priorities.
"I'm hoping to draw on the talent of people here on everything from
legal education to cross-border issues," he said.
To watch a video of Mr. Silkenat's address to the ABA House of
Delegates upon his election as president-elect, click here.
The New York State Bar Association, with 77,000 members, is the
largest voluntary state bar association in the country. It was founded
in 1876.
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