Human Rights
Volume 24 Number 3 Summer 1997
The Pied Piper of Just CausesJerome Shestack Takes Over as ABA President
By Gina ChonJerome Shestack has struggled throughout his life to make people see things that are so clear to him.
Like the time when he appeared before Congress in 1969 as the chair of the ABA Section of Individual Rights & Responsibilities to support a bill to alleviate hunger. One leading member of the House of Representatives said the legislation was not germane.
Or when the ABA chose not to endorse various international human rights issues in the 1970s. "My biggest challenge has been trying to enlist other people to work for just causes," Shestack says.
These experiences will help him when he takes on new challenges as the 1997-98 ABA president, a post he assumes at the ABA's Annual Meeting in San Francisco. A founder of the IR&R Section and its second chair, Shestack, 71, is the first former chair of the IR&R section to become ABA president.
He is chair of the litigation department at Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen in Philadelphia.
Shestack's agenda will stress professionalism in the legal profession, which includes focusing on ethics, competency, civil respect for authority and independence. He also wants to stimulate more lawyers to do pro bono work.
There will also be a push to attract solo and small practitioners.
"Programs involving continuing legal education and technology will hopefully attract more solo lawyers and those working in small firms," he says. "The General Practice section also has a huge outreach program that should help."
Several politicians, most notably Bob Dole in the 1996 campaign, have accused the ABA of being a political organization. Shestack says this is a misconception and the ABA is an easy target because any issue can become politicized.
The ABA doesn't vote on policy and it doesn't make any political donations," Shestack says. "The ABA grades justice issues. To say that we're political, you can call anything political. Separation of powers can be labeled political, but it is a law issue."
Shestack has been active in the ABA for 30 years. He was Pennsylvania's delegate to the ABA for six years and was a member of the Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary for five years. He also served on the ABA's Board of Governors.
He wants to be remembered after his term as a president who helped advance the ABA toward professionalism and aided in improving the lack of access and underfunding in the justice system.
"I want to be remembered fondly," Shestack says with a smile. "I hope I will help make a limping legal structure walk a little straighter."
He also wants to instill a sense of continuity by working with the current ABA president N. Lee Cooper. And there is no doubt that another goal will be to continue to increase diversity in the bar and in the legal profession, a cause he has worked for during his entire career.
Shestack says he witnessed many instances of discrimination while growing up. Because his grandfather, who was a clergyman, taught him the importance of justice, he viewed discrimination as an act against decency. He became involved in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, which eventually led him to become involved in international human rights.
"His sensitivity to human rights is predicated on a very broad range of experience," says Jack Curtin, former president of the ABA and a member of IR&R Council.
During Jimmy Carter's administration, Shestack served as the U.S. ambassador for human rights to the United Nations and launched a U.N. working group to investigate disappearances under repressive regimes.
"After I got involved in civil rights, it seemed like a natural progression to turn to international human rights," Shestack says. "We are all born in the divine image. Everyone has a common father."
During George Bush's presidency, Shestack was named to a U.S. delegation to the Moscow conference on security and cooperation. He later served as a commissioner of the Presidential-Congressional Commission to Improve the Effectiveness of the United Nations.
"The U.N. is necessary as a peacekeeping instrument, but it needs to reform its inefficiency and waste," Shestack says. "But the U.S. has to do its part and should pay its dues."
He also was chair of the International Bar Association's Standing Committee on Human Rights and is chair of the International League for Human Rights. He serves on the executive council of the American Society of International Law.
"His whole life is a testament to the fact that law is a tool for doing good," says Leslie Harris, current IR&R section chair. "He is an activist at heart. He will be an engaging president with a forward-looking agenda."
Shestack leads by example and encourages lawyers to participate in public service. "One of the worst things a person can do it to see evil and do nothing about it," Shestack says. "The world is becoming increasingly complex so it's easy to be apathetic."
He says the U.S. policy on a whole is supportive of human rights, but points out that the country can always do more. "The current administration says all the right thing, but it's not doing as much as it can," Shestack says.
His biggest human rights concerns involves the ethnic fighting in Europe and the deterioration of human rights in Latin America and Southeast Asia.
"It's distressing because a lot of people expected that after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the world would be a much better place," Shestack says. "But there are still violations of humanitarian law, and war crimes."
That is why he feels the IR&R Section is vital to the ABA.
"In the 1970s, the proposals of the IR&R section were on the cutting edge, but now they are part of the mainstream, like due process and non-discrimination," Shestack says. "The section always focuses on the needs of society and helps bring issues into the mainstream."
When Shestack started in the legal profession, he thought he wanted to teach. Shestack graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in economics and received his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law School Record.
He has taught at Northwestern Law School, Louisiana State University Law School and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
After doing some trial work, Shestack decided he liked being in a courtroom better than being in a classroom. His clients have included Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the National Broadcasting Company and CBS Inc. Shestack also represented "20/20" reporter John Stossel in a libel suit.
"One can make a comfortable living being a lawyer and one can still help people while practicing law," Shestack says. "Making money and helping people--one does not preclude the other."
His work at Wolf, Block will not interfere with his duties as bar president, Shestack says. The firm has pledged its support to Shestack during his term.
Some of the lessons he has learned throughout his career will aid him during his presidency, like realizing how much you can accomplish when you give other people credit for it. "Good trial lawyers don't go into anything unprepared," Shestack says. "Preparation is always a worthy goal."
And Shestack is the first to admit that he is not without faults. He says he has regrets in his life, like most people, but he prefers to concentrate on the future.
"I'm sure my wife could give you a longer lists of faults," Shestack says with a laugh. "I know I take on too many things. No one can live an active life without having regrets. But it's important to look forward and avoid future potholes rather than focusing on the potholes of the past."
Shestack is married to Marciarose Shestack and they have two children. Although there are many problems he wants to tackle as the next ABA president, he says his confidence in the legal system and lawyers has never wavered.
"The rule of law is the glue of democracy," Shestack says. "Practicing law is a type of ministry. I have great faith in the bar and lawyers to be healers of society."
Gina Chon is a writer in Chicago.
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