ABA Section of Business Law

The Business Law Section is committed to increasing the participation of lawyers of color in Section activities. Despite a number of outreach efforts, the Section continues to have few lawyers of color who are meaningful participants in Section activities for a number of reasons including (i) the negative perceptions of the American Bar Association stemming from its past exclusionary practices, and (ii) the cost of attending Section meetings combined with a perceived lack of opportunity to be an active participant in the substantive work of the Section.

The goal of the Program is to address these challenges by investing dollars in lawyers of color who are expected to participate actively in the substantive work of the Section and to progress into future leadership positions within the Section. The Program is designed not only to develop future leaders of the Section but also to enhance the image of the Section among members of the national bar organizations for lawyers of color in order to attract lawyers of color into Section membership. More...

CLEO, the Council on Legal Education Opportunity, is a non-profit project of the American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education, dedicated to diversifying the legal profession by expanding legal education opportunities for members of under represented groups. More...

The Diplomat program is sponsored by the Section's Committee on Diversity, and is intended as an outreach program to facilitate the full participation of lawyers with disabilities in Section activities, develop future leaders, and draw more lawyers with disabilities into active membership. More...

The Business Law Section is committed to increasing the participation of young lawyers in Section activities. The cost of attending Section meetings combined with a perceived lack of opportunity to be an active participant in the substantive work of the Section have been identified as major reasons why despite a number of outreach efforts the Section continues to have few young lawyers who are meaningful participants in Section activities.

The goal of the Program is to address these challenges by investing dollars in young lawyers who are expected to participate actively in the substantive work of the Section and to grow into future leadership positions within the Section. The Program is designed not only to develop future leaders of the Section but also to enhance the image of the Section among members of the Young Lawyers Division ("YLD") in order to attract young lawyers into Section membership. More...