Office of the President

Karen J. Mathis, a partner in the Denver office of McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP, is the president of the American Bar Association. She will serve as president for a one-year term, which begins in August 2006 at the adjournment of the association’s Annual Meeting in Honolulu.

Mathis is a business, commercial and estate planning lawyer with more than 30 years’ experience. Mathis earned her law degree from the University of Colorado School of Law in 1975 and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Denver in 1972, cum laude. She has received honorary degrees from Siena College, the University of Denver, Michigan State University College of Law and Southwestern Law School, and an honorary Order of the Coif from the University of Colorado. A member of the Colorado and International Women's Forums, she has been honored as an outstanding lawyer by the Denver and Colorado Bar Associations, the University of Colorado and the University of Albany School of Law .

An active member of the ABA for almost 30 years, Mathis served as the association's second highest elected officer, chair of its House of Delegates, from August 2000 until August 2002. She is the third woman to serve as an ABA president, and the first president from Colorado. She has served as a member of the House of Delegates since 1982. Mathis is also a member of the ABA Board of Governors, and has served on its Executive Committee, Operations Committee and Program and Planning Committee.

Mathis's extensive ABA involvement includes leadership of numerous ABA entities. She served as chair of the 30,000-member General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section (now a Division) in 2002 to 2003; as chair of the Commission on Women in the Profession from 1997 to 2000; and as chair of the Standing Committee on Membership from 1994 to 1997.

Mathis has also been active in the Denver Bar Association and Colorado Bar Association for many years. She has held offices in the Young Lawyers Section of both bar associations, and served as vice president of the CBA from 1992-1993.

Mathis has long been an advocate for our nation’s youth, serving on the Colorado Commission on Child Care and as a member of the Mile Hi Council of Girl Scouts. She has spoken on five continents about the future of the law and women’s place in the profession.

Her presidential initiatives are Youth at Risk, Second Season of Service, Direct Women Institute, and Rule of Law.