As the 2012-2013 president of the American Bar Association, Laurel Bellows must take the baton from the previous leader, run her leg of the course and then hand the baton to the organization’s next head. In an interview with the Hamilton County Herald, the Chicago-based Bellows talks about what she aims to accomplish and the legacy she hopes to leave.
What would you like to accomplish during your term as president?
As ABA president, I have an extraordinary opportunity to harness the power of lawyers to work for change in the priorities of society.
During my term, the ABA will launch a multipronged attack on human trafficking. The new Task Force on Human Trafficking will propose business-conduct standards and best practices to eliminate slave labor in corporate supply chains; train police, prosecutors, defense counsel and judges to identify the perpetrators and recognize victims as victims, not defendants; and facilitate pro bono training to increase the number of lawyers available to represent victims of human trafficking. In addition, the task force will propose a uniform anti-trafficking state law. We will also mobilize people through a public awareness campaign to alert Americans that this is a huge problem within our borders. No place in the United States is untouched by this modern-day slavery.
Additionally, the ABA will look for ways to strengthen the security of the United States and private industry by addressing challenges from criminals, terrorists and hostile nations through the new ABA Task Force on National Cybersecurity.
The task force will focus on serious unanswered concerns, including cybersecurity threats to our country and intellectual property; national plans to confront these threats; the sharing of information between government and private industry; the legal framework for formulating cybersecurity legislation, policy and protocols at state and federal levels; and best practices for helping law firms and other businesses facing conflicting duties between protecting their clients and protecting national interests.
We will also focus on the improvement of workplace equity between men and women. Although women have made great strides in society, they remain grossly underrepresented in positions of real power, influence and leadership. Unequal treatment of women in the workplace is not as blatant as in the past — it is more hidden and more subtle — but it is just as damaging. To address these issues, the ABA Task Force on Gender Equity will spotlight gender inequity in society and look at long-standing inequities between female lawyers and their male counterparts.
Tell us about the people who will be serving with you.
I have the distinct privilege to work alongside great attorneys and public servants in the legal profession. I will draw upon the vast knowledge and expertise of ABA President-Elect James R. Silkenat and Robert M. Carlson, chair of the ABA House of Delegates, to accomplish the goals of this term.
The ABA will continue to aid in the fight to keep our right to a robust judicial system. It is my pleasure to have the support of ABA Past-President Stephen Zack; Immediate Past-President William T Robinson III; David Boies, chairman of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP; and Theodore B. Olson, partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, to help carry on the work of preserving the justice system. Together, we will continue to highlight the need for adequate funding of our courts.
Our Task Force on Cybersecurity is being co-chaired by Judith Miller, former senior vice president and general counsel of Bechtel Group and former general counsel of the Department of Defense, and Harvey Rishikof, former senior policy official in the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive. Through their guidance, the ABA will achieve the Task Force goals.
It is my honor to have Roberta Liebenberg, partner at Fine Kaplan and Black in Philadelphia, chair our Gender Equity Task Force. Liebenberg recently received the 2012 Florence K. Murray Award by the National Association of Women Judges for her work promoting gender equity and diversity in the legal profession.
I would also like to express my gratitude for our Task Force on Human Trafficking co-chairs, Jimmy Goodman, director at Crowe & Dunlevy, and Linda Hayman, of counsel for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Their expertise will shape the association’s endeavors to combat human trafficking in our nation.
I am fortunate to work closely with Mary Cranston, chair of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession and senior partner and immediate past chair of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman to further our objectives in helping women lawyers.
Much of our work this year could not be realized without the support of key ABA staff members. Holly Cook, principal deputy director of the ABA Government Affairs Office, and Holly McMahon, staff director of the Standing Committee on Law and National Security, will assist with the ABA Task Force on National Cybersecurity. Shawn Kaminski, director of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, has been working hard to help the commission accomplish its objectives. Vivian Huelgo, chief counsel of the ABA Task Force on Human Trafficking and the ABA Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence, is a former prosecutor who also represented trafficking victims.
How do you anticipate that being ABA president will affect your practice? How will you handle that challenge?
The dedication and commitment it takes to serve our country’s legal profession and to spearhead our efforts to address critical issues that affect the nation will reduce the amount of time I can allocate to my practice.
But the benefits of volunteering for such a wonderful organization, for my practice and the public good, will far outweigh any sacrifices I will make this year. I will handle challenges the same way I have always moved forward — with the strength and support of my husband, Joel Bellows, my family and my close group of friends.