The National Bar Association (NBA) was founded in 1925 and is the nation's oldest and largest national network of predominantly African-American attorneys and judges. It represents the interests of approximately 67,000 lawyers, judges, law professors, and law students.[2]
The NBA is organized around 25 substantive law sections, 10 divisions, 12 regions, and numerous affiliate chapters throughout the United States and around the world.[3][4] The current and 80th president is Lonita Baker. She will be followed by president-elect Dominique D. Calhoun.[5]
Structure and activities
The National Bar Association (NBA) is governed by a Board of Governors, mostly elected from the membership but also including NBA's officers and representatives of groups such as the NBA's Divisions.[6]
The National Bar Institute (NBI) is the philanthropic arm of the NBA, founded in 1982. The association has established an annual award in honor of the late Louisiana State RepresentativePinkie C. Wilkerson of Grambling—the "Pinkie C. Wilkerson Outstanding State Legislator of the Year Award".[9] The NBA offers a job listing service as well as advertising in its magazine to assist employers seeking to conduct affirmative action outreach toward minority job applicants.[10]
The Women's Lawyers Division (WLD) of the National Bar Association (NBA) was established in 1972 as a dedicated group to address the unique issues and challenges faced by women in the legal profession. The division aims to support the professional development, mentorship, and networking of its members, primarily African-American women lawyers, judges, and law students.
The WLD provides various programs, including the "We Empower Mentoring Program," which pairs mentees with experienced mentors to help guide them through their legal careers.[11] This program also awards stipends to mentees for attending the NBA Annual Convention, highlighting its commitment to fostering the growth and success of women in the legal field.
In 2022, the WLD celebrated its 50th anniversary, marking five decades of service, impact, and transformation within the legal community. The division continues to advocate for gender and racial equality in the legal profession, providing a platform for women lawyers to connect, learn, and lead.
The National Bar Association Women Lawyers Division held its 2023 Annual Achievement Awards during the 98th NBA Annual Convention. Natasha Townes Robinson received the Outstanding Young Lawyer Award for her exceptional work in commercial,[12] regulatory, and white-collar criminal matters, as well as her role in the prosecution of Derek Chauvin. This year's awards celebrated the theme "Black Women Lawyers: UNERASABLE," recognizing the significant contributions of African-American women in the legal field. Tiega-Noel Varlack was nominated for Hidden Figure and was awarded Outstanding Solo Small Firm Attorney of the Year.[13]
In 1940, the NBA attempted to establish "free legal clinics in all cities with a colored population of 5,000 or more."[1] Its members supported litigation that achieved a US Supreme Court ruling that defendants had to be provided with legal counsel.
In 2010, the NBA partnered with the U.S. Census Bureau to work toward a complete and accurate count of the nation's population through various outreach activities.[17]
Charles Hamilton Houston was an American lawyer. He was the dean of Howard University Law School and NAACP first special counsel. A graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Law School, Houston played a significant role in dismantling Jim Crow laws, especially attacking segregation in schools and racial housing covenants. He earned the title "The Man Who Killed Jim Crow".
The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, commonly referred to as the New York City Bar Association, founded in 1870, is a voluntary association of lawyers and law students. Since 1896, the organization has been headquartered in a landmark building on 44th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Manhattan. Today the City Bar has more than 23,000 members. Its current president, Muhammad U. Faridi, began his two-year term in May 2024.
Howard University School of Law is the law school of Howard University, a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is one of the oldest law schools in the country and the oldest historically black law school in the United States.
Reading law was the primary method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the tutelage or mentoring of an experienced lawyer. The practice largely died out in the early 20th century. A few U.S. states still permit people to become lawyers by reading law instead of attending law school, although the practice is rare.
Dovey Mae Johnson Roundtree was an African-American civil rights activist, ordained minister, and attorney. Her 1955 victory before the Interstate Commerce Commission in the first bus desegregation case to be brought before the ICC resulted in the only explicit repudiation of the "separate but equal" doctrine in the field of interstate bus transportation by a court or federal administrative body. That case, Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company, which Dovey Roundtree brought before the ICC with her law partner and mentor Julius Winfield Robertson, was invoked by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy during the 1961 Freedom Riders' campaign in his successful battle to compel the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce its rulings and end Jim Crow laws in public transportation.
William Robert Ming Jr. was an American lawyer, attorney with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and law professor at University of Chicago Law School and Howard University School of Law. He presided over the Freeman Field mutiny courts-martial involving the Tuskegee Airmen. He is best remembered for being a member of the Brown v. Board of Education litigation team and for working on a number of the important cases leading to Brown, the decision in which the United States Supreme Court ruled de jure racial segregation a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Barbara Ruth Arnwine served as the executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law from 1989 until 2015. Born in southern California, Arnwine is a graduate of Scripps College and Duke University School of Law. After graduating from Duke Law School, she stayed in Durham and worked for the Durham Legal Assistance Program and as a Reginald Huber Smith fellow. She moved on to the legal service's head office in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1979, working on affirmative action policies, reviewing contracts, and legal aid programs. In the 1980s she served as executive director of the Boston Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights.
Violette Neatley Anderson became the first African-American woman to practice law before the United States Supreme Court on January 29, 1926. She was one of the most prominent advocates of a landmark piece of legislation that helped secure rights and economic mobility for sharecroppers in the South, the Bankhead-Jones Act.
Zuberi Bakari Williams is an American attorney and jurist serving as an associate judge of the District Court of Maryland, for Montgomery County. He was appointed by former Governor Martin O'Malley in December 2014. He was later confirmed by the Maryland Senate and sworn in on January 6, 2015. At the age of 36, Williams became one of the youngest judges to be appointed in Maryland history.
The Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia is a voluntary bar association in metropolitan Washington, D.C. The WBA has more than 800 members and was founded in 1917.
References
1 2 Our History, National Bar Association, retrieved 2023-07-21
↑ "NBA History". National Bar Association. 18 July 2023. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
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