2/10/04--Michael S. Greco (BC Law ’72), a long-time champion of legal needs of children and the poor, and of constitutional rights, has been nominated to become president-elect of the American Bar Association. The ABA House of Delegates will vote on the nomination in August, at the Annual Meeting in Atlanta. Greco will become ABA president in August 2005, at the close of the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago.

"At a time when the economy is struggling to recover, too many people are unemployed, and threats of terrorism continue to plague our country, legal issues are at the forefront of our public debate," said Greco. "I look forward to addressing those legal issues that define us as a nation. While we must put every effort into ensuring that our national security is strong, effective and efficient, we must also ensure that our civil liberties are protected and that the soul of this nation remains unchanged."

Greco, a partner in the Boston office of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, LLP, is a trial lawyer with more than 30 years of litigation experience in business, employment and real estate law. He has also served as mediator and arbitrator in complex business and other disputes on both the state and national levels. He joined Kirkpatrick & Lockhart in 2003, after 30 years as partner with Hill & Barlow of Boston.

"In this great country, more than 80 percent of the legal needs of the poor go unmet each year," said Greco. "This is simply unacceptable in a democracy. As lawyers, we have an obligation to help meet those needs, and to help make access to justice available to all. We are committed to redoubling our efforts to ensure that adequate funding for legal services is made available, and that other necessary resources are devoted to serving those who cannot protect themselves. To ensure that rights guaranteed by the constitution are protected, we cannot afford to do less."

Greco has long been active in working to ensure that the legal profession and federal government meet the legal needs of the underserved in America. As president of the Massachusetts Bar Association in 1985, Greco and the Governor jointly appointed a blue-ribbon Commission on the Unmet Legal Needs of Children, whose report and recommendations led to enactment of new statutes protecting the legal rights of children in the state.

Greco also chaired the first-in-the-nation Massachusetts Legal Needs for the Poor Assessment and Plan for Action, and co-founded Bar Leaders for Preservation of Legal Services for the Poor, a national grassroots organization that helped preserve the Legal Services Corporation in the 1980s. By appointment of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Greco also chaired the court's committee on Massachusetts lawyers' obligations to provide pro bono legal services.

Within the ABA, Greco has served in the House of Delegates since 1985 and as State Delegate from Massachusetts since 1993. He has chaired the association's Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary and Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Greco was appointed to the ABA Task Force on Terrorism and the Law, which provided analysis of legislation that resulted in the US Patriot Act, and he helped develop ABA policy regarding the use of military tribunals to try suspected terrorists. He also served on the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security. Greco is interested in the important balance between effective national security and the preservation of constitutional due process through an independent judiciary and independent legal profession, and will work on those issues during his year as president.

Greco earned his J.D. from Boston College Law School in 1972, and his B.A. in English from Princeton University in 1965. Raised in Hinsdale, Ill., Greco and his family have resided in Wellesley Hills, Mass., for the past 30 years.