Under ordinary course of things, Brown would be formally selected by the ABA Nominating Committee as the president-elect of the organization at the 2014 ABA Midyear Meeting scheduled in Chicago. After the formal declaration of her nomination, the House of Delegates would need to vote on her appointment at the Annual Meeting. If she manages to pass unscathed through the power moves, she may become the first woman of color beginning her term as president with the end of the 2015 Annual Meeting of the ABA.
Brown, who has a long career as a sole practitioner is currently a partner at Edwards Wildman Palmer in Madison, N.J. Currently she is a member of the law firm’s labor and employment group. She is a former member of the Board of Governors of ABA and has been in the House of Delegates since 1997. Currently, at the ABA, she co-chairs the Commission on Civic Education in the Nation’s Schools, besides serving on the Task Force on the Future of the Legal Profession. She is also a council member for the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.
Obviously, she is elated with the reaction from lawyers from her community. She told ABAJournal on her nomination, “…it has significance to the community of lawyers of color. When I tell people I’m running, one of their first reactions is, ‘I’ve got to join!’”
Prior to Brown, the first woman of color to hold an office of significance was Bernice Donald, who is a federal appeals court judge in Memphis, and served as ABA Secretary for 2008-11. Speaking on Brown’s nomination, Donald said it was “a signal moment which speaks to the ABA’s commitment to leadership in the legal profession, regardless of race or gender. If anyone feels excluded, we can’t lead the profession.”
