The next leader of the American Bar Association says he wants the group to get behind an effort to teach American high school students about the role of government.
ABA President-Elect Stephen N. Zack vows to make civics education a hallmark of his tenure as head of the ABA, the largest voluntary professional organization in the world. Mr. Zack's comments came during an interview for the Legal Broadcast Network conducted by Dallas attorney Luis Bartolomei, a name partner in the Dallas-based Reyes Bartolomei Browne law firm.
In the interview, Mr. Zack outlines plans to create a cooperative pilot program with other bar associations and offer students from every high school in the United States the opportunity to participate in an educational course that would immerse them in civics. Half of the participants will be minority students. The goal, he says, is not only to create more awareness in the role of government, but also to increase interest in pursuing a legal career.
"Mr. Zack is a dynamic individual, with a very firm idea of what he intends to accomplish during his tenure at the ABA, primarily in the area of education and in regards to improving diversity, and that is evident in this interview," says Mr. Bartolomei, a native of Puerto Rico.
The 15-minute interview, the first Mr. Zack has conducted in Spanish since becoming the ABA's president-elect, can be found at the Justicia Para Todos blog, http://justiciaparatodos.squarespace.com/web-site-en-espaol/. Mr. Zack, a partner in the Miami office of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, also discusses his background as a Cuban-American attorney and the need to improve diversity efforts in the legal field. He is the first Hispanic elected to lead the ABA.