American Bar Association

The American Bar Association ( ABA) is an association of lawyers, judges and law students in the United States. It was founded on August 21, 1878 in Saratoga Springs in upstate New York of approximately 100 lawyers and currently has about 410,000 members, representing about half of the U.S. licensed lawyers. Thus, the ABA is the largest voluntary membership -based professional association in the world. The headquarters of the organization is located in Chicago, in addition, it is provided with an office in Washington, DC represented.

Objectives and Activities

The objectives of the ABA, which sees itself as representing the interests of the profession of lawyers in the U.S., are the promotion and dissemination of justice, professional excellence and respect for the law. These activities include, among other things, the accreditation of legal education in American universities, the development of rules of professional conduct of lawyers, the provision of professional training of lawyers, to educate the public about the legal system and various initiatives to improve it.

The conclusion of a study at an ABA accredited university in the U.S., in most jurisdictions a formal prerequisite for participation in the bar examination for admission as a lawyer in another state. The activities developed by the ABA rules for professional conduct apply Attorney's in 48 American states. Only California and Maine have their own rules decided that however also partly based on the templates of the ABA. In addition, the organization involved in the occupation of judicial positions by publishing an assessment of the candidates, and maintains in Chicago since 1996, a museum on the history of the legal system and its role in society.

Structure and Organization

The American Bar Association is divided into specialized sections, where members can connect and hold their own conferences as well as publish their own journals and books. It also leads annual meetings by involving around 10,000 visitors attend, and gives the monthly members' magazine ABA Journal out. The organization employs approximately 750 full-time employees.

Supreme bodies are the since 1936 existing House of Delegates, whose approximately 540 members meet twice a year to meetings and determine the official position of the organization by the publication of new guidelines and recommendations, and the Board of Governors, whose 37 members usually five times per year come together and represent the organization between meetings of the House of Delegates to the outside. The highest representatives of the ABA, of ex officio members of the Board of Governors, are the one-year Acting for the duration president whose elected successor, chairman of the House of Delegates, the Secretary and the Treasurer.