Carolyn Lamm

Carolyn Lamm is the president of the American Bar Association. A specialist in international  arbitration, litigation, and trade, she is a partner with White and Case. She is past president of the District of Columbia Bar. She was named one of the 50 Most Influential Women in America by the National Law Journal in 2007, and one of Washington's Top 30 Lawyers by Washingtonian magazine in 2009..

Lamm has held a variety of leadership posts in the ABA. She was a member of the ABA House of Delegates from 1982 to 2008, and of the ABA Board of Governors from 2002 to 2005. She is former chair of the ABA Young Lawyers Division and of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. She has also served on numerous committees and in leadership positions with the ABA Sections of Litigation, International Law and Business Law.

Lamm is a council member of the American Law Institute, and a board member of the American Turkish Chamber of Commerce, the American Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and the American Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce.

With respect to criticism of U.S. Department of Justice attorneys for having, while in private practice, defended terrorism suspects on a pro bono basis, she said A fundamental tenet of our justice system is that any one who faces loss of liberty has a right to legal counsel. Lawyers have an ethical obligation to uphold that principle and provide representation to people who otherwise would stand alone against the power and resources of the government--even to those accused of heinous crimes against this nation in the name of causes that evoke our contempt. The American people understand this obligation, and the corollary principle that representing a client is a commitment to a legal system that requires justice, not to any one client's political, economic, social or moral views or activities. Impugning the character of lawyers who have sought to protect the fundamental rights of unpopular clients is a divisive and diversionary tactic."

Education

 * undergraduate degree from the State University of New York College at Buffalo
 * law degree from the University of Miami School of Law.