Annual Assembly
Incoming ABA President Michelle Behnke to prioritize defending liberty, pursuing justice
August 13, 2025, 3:21 pm CDT
Michelle Behnke of Madison, Wisconsin took over as president of the ABA on the finish of this week’s annual assembly in Toronto. (Photograph by ABA Communications)
The American Bar Affiliation will redouble its efforts to defend liberty and pursue justice to advance the rule of legislation, stated Wisconsin legal professional Michelle Behnke, who grew to become ABA president Tuesday on the shut of affiliation’s annual assembly in Toronto.
Behnke cited advocating for the judiciary as a co-equal department of presidency, the bodily security of judges, the independence of the authorized career, and the significance of an inclusive and honest justice system and authorized career as persevering with priorities for the affiliation because it navigates unprecedented challenges to the rule of legislation and the career.
Behnke is a member of the Boardman Clark legislation agency in Madison, Wisconsin, and was previously the principal of the agency Michelle Behnke & Associates, the place her observe targeted on enterprise, actual property and property planning. Quick Previous President Invoice Bay, a associate with the St. Louis workplace of nationwide legislation agency Thompson Coburn, handed the gavel to Behnke. Choose Adrienne Nelson of the U.S. District Court docket, District of Oregon swore in Behnke.
Additionally in the course of the assembly, Barbara Howard, principal of the Barbara J. Howard legislation agency in Cincinnati, Ohio, assumed the function of ABA president-elect. Energetic in bar affiliation management since her involvement within the ABA Younger Attorneys Division, Howard additionally served as chair of the Cincinnati Bar Affiliation Younger Attorneys Part. She has been a member of the ABA Home of Delegates since 1986 and served as its chair from 2020 to 2022. She’s going to serve a one-year time period earlier than turning into president of the affiliation in August 2026 on the annual assembly in Chicago.
In her remarks to the Home of Delegates, Behnke stated the ABA has been steadfast in its response to challenges by the Trump administration to the rule of legislation, legislation companies and the career.
“I’m clear-eyed concerning the challenges forward, and I’m ready to work for the great of this affiliation,” Behnke stated. “Going ahead, it’s crucial that we not solely reply to assaults, however we should be proactive and fulfill our targets and strengthen our affiliation. As a result of when you’ve gotten a robust ABA, you’ve gotten sturdy legal professionals. And when you’ve gotten sturdy legal professionals, you’ve gotten a robust protection for the rule of legislation.”
Behnke reiterated the ABA’s enduring dedication to advancing range, fairness and inclusion within the authorized career and the justice system, reflecting on her dad and mom’ upbringing in Tupelo, Mississippi, when the U.S. Supreme Court docket determined Brown v. Board of Schooling and her personal candidacy many years later for president of the State Bar of Wisconsin.
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“With out the Brown resolution, and the range and inclusion work that adopted, I probably wouldn’t be standing right here in the present day,” Behnke stated.
“However progress on the trail doesn’t imply we’ve arrived on the vacation spot. We’ve got to make sure we don’t slip again and that the doorways stay open to all. Engaged on range, fairness and inclusion permits us to make progress in direction of that extra good union of which our Structure speaks.”
Behnke added: “We defend liberty and pursue justice after we work to eradicate bias and improve range within the career and the authorized system. It’s important that our authorized career displays the range of the purchasers and communities we serve.”
Offering high-quality skilled improvement, extra networking and management alternatives and assist of their observe, in addition to bettering the career by setting moral requirements and selling professionalism, additionally can be priorities this yr, Behnke stated.
In his last remarks to the Home as president, Bay on Monday stated regardless of the Trump administration’s “anti-ABA marketing campaign”—elimination of grants for work to assist the rule of legislation, termination of the ABA’s skill to present authorized help in disasters, threats to range initiatives, restrictions on the ABA’s skill to price judicial nominees and efforts to forestall authorities authorized professionals from being ABA members or attending ABA conferences—“we now have chosen a gentle and strategic course.”
“We’ll by no means give up within the struggle for the rule of legislation and due course of. As a result of there’s by no means a improper time to face up for what is correct,” Bay stated.
Outlining the lawsuits the ABA “introduced to guard our packages which have benefited generations of People, Bay added, “We additionally did one thing totally different. On behalf of our members, we filed swimsuit once more our personal authorities due to its ongoing efforts to intimidate legal professionals.
“We did that as a result of the rule of legislation doesn’t defend itself,” Bay stated. “Attorneys do.”
ABA Government Director Alpha Brady additionally addressed the Home of Delegates.
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