Montana lawyer Robert M. Carlson, nominated Feb. 5 as president-elect to become ABA president in August 2018, emphasized in his speech to the association’s House of Delegates that the ABA is more important than ever.
Carlson, who practices law in a small firm, said that the ABA has a proven track record of making a difference for practicing lawyers in their everyday work as well as advocating for access to justice, criminal justice reform and independence of the judiciary.
Carlson, a former chair of the House of Delegates, has been a member of that body since 1999 , during which he has been chair of the Drafting Committee and served on the Rules and Calendar Committee and the Select Committee of the House. He also was a member of the Board of Governors. In addition, he is a former chair of the Standing Committee on Meetings and Travel and served on the Standing Committee on Bar Activities and Services and the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. He is a former state chair of the American Bar Foundation.
In the area of governmental affairs, Carlson was the chair of the ABA Day in Washington Planning Committee from 2014-2016.
In Montana, he was president of the State Bar of Montana and served on the Montana Supreme Court Commission on Character and Fitness.
He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Montana.