House
Internet First
Incoming ABA President Michelle Behnke to…
Annual Assembly
Incoming ABA President Michelle Behnke to prioritize defending liberty, pursuing justice
By ABA Communications Division
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. (Picture by ABA Communications)
The American Bar Affiliation will redouble its efforts to defend liberty and pursue justice to advance the rule of regulation, stated Wisconsin lawyer Michelle Behnke, who turned 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 occupation, and the significance of an inclusive and truthful justice system and authorized occupation as persevering with priorities for the affiliation because it navigates unprecedented challenges to the rule of regulation and the occupation.
Behnke is a member of the Boardman Clark regulation agency in Madison, Wisconsin, and was previously the principal of the agency Michelle Behnke & Associates, the place her follow centered on enterprise, actual property and property planning. Quick Previous President Invoice Bay, a companion with the St. Louis workplace of nationwide regulation agency Thompson Coburn, handed the gavel to Behnke. Decide Adrienne Nelson of the U.S. District Courtroom, District of Oregon swore in Behnke.
Additionally throughout the assembly, Barbara Howard, principal of the Barbara J. Howard regulation agency in Cincinnati, Ohio, assumed the position of ABA president-elect. Energetic in bar affiliation management since her involvement within the ABA Younger Legal professionals Division, Howard additionally served as chair of the Cincinnati Bar Affiliation Younger Legal professionals 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 regulation, regulation companies and the occupation.
“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 may have a robust ABA, you may have sturdy legal professionals. And when you may have sturdy legal professionals, you may have a robust protection for the rule of regulation.”
Behnke reiterated the ABA’s enduring dedication to advancing variety, fairness and inclusion within the authorized occupation and the justice system, reflecting on her mother and father’ upbringing in Tupelo, Mississippi, when the U.S. Supreme Courtroom determined Brown v. Board of Training and her personal candidacy a long time later for president of the State Bar of Wisconsin.
Observe together with the ABA Journal’s protection of the 2025 ABA Annual Assembly right here.
“With out the Brown choice, and the variety and inclusion work that adopted, I seemingly wouldn’t be standing right here immediately,” Behnke stated.
“However progress on the trail doesn’t imply we’ve arrived on the vacation spot. Now we have to make sure we don’t slip again and that the doorways stay open to all. Engaged on variety, fairness and inclusion permits us to make progress in the direction of that extra excellent union of which our Structure speaks.”
Behnke added: “We defend liberty and pursue justice after we work to get rid of bias and improve variety within the occupation and the authorized system. It is necessary that our authorized occupation displays the variety of the purchasers and communities we serve.”
Offering high-quality skilled growth, extra networking and management alternatives and help of their follow, in addition to enhancing the occupation by setting moral requirements and selling professionalism, additionally can be priorities this 12 months, Behnke stated.
In his remaining 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 help the rule of regulation, termination of the ABA’s means to offer authorized help in disasters, threats to variety initiatives, restrictions on the ABA’s means to charge judicial nominees and efforts to stop authorities authorized professionals from being ABA members or attending ABA conferences—“we’ve got chosen a gradual and strategic course.”
“We are going to by no means give up within the combat for the rule of regulation and due course of. As a result of there’s by no means a improper time to face up for what is true,” Bay stated.
Outlining the lawsuits the ABA “introduced to guard our applications which have benefited generations of People, Bay added, “We additionally did one thing totally different. On behalf of our members, we filed go well with once more our personal authorities due to its ongoing efforts to intimidate legal professionals.
“We did that as a result of the rule of regulation doesn’t defend itself,” Bay stated. “Legal professionals do.”
ABA Govt Director Alpha Brady additionally addressed the Home of Delegates.
Write a letter to the editor, share a narrative tip or replace, or report an error.
