ALBANY, N.Y., Aug 7 (Reuters) - The American Bar Association
on Tuesday named Chicago attorney Laurel Bellows to a one-year
term as its president.
Also on Tuesday, the association's House of Delegates
elected New York attorney James Silkenat as its president-elect,
making him the first New Yorker to hold the post in 25 years.
During a speech at the association's annual conference in
Chicago, Bellows said her top priorities will be the abolishment
of human trafficking, promotion of gender equity and national
cybersecurity -- issues she said would make the ABA "more
relevant."
Bellows has already created ABA task forces to combat human
trafficking and analyze cybersecurity issues. She said
governments and private businesses, including law firms, remain
unprepared for "cyberwarfare" and espionage.
"The task force plans to examine laws in relation to the
cybersecurity threat, and the protection of civil rights in
confronting that threat," she said, according to a release from
the association.
Bellows has practiced law for 30 years and runs her own firm
with her husband, Joel Bellows. She counsels business executives
on employment contracts, executive compensation, severance
agreements and workplace disputes, according to the firm's
website.
Silkenat, a partner at Sullivan & Worcester in Manhattan,
will serve as president-elect until August 2013, when he will
replace Bellows.
Silkenat said in a statement that his top priorities will
include funding for state courts, legal education, diversity in
the legal profession and access to justice issues. He said he
also wants to tackle immigration, gun violence and the death
penalty.
According to his firm's website, Silkenat's primary focus is
on international joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions,
privatizations, project finance transactions and private equity
investment funds.
(Reporting by Dan Wiessner)
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