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Key Facts
- National overview: The ABA’s House of Delegates voted on August 4, 2009 to elect Stephen N. Zack as president-elect.
- National overview: An ABA Washington Letter issue reported that the House convened Aug. 3 and 4 in Chicago in 2009 before Zack became president-elect.
- National overview: Zack was scheduled to serve one year as president-elect before taking office as president in August 2010 at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
- National overview: The ABA later listed Stephen N. Zack as ABA President for 2010–2011.
- State level: The Florida Bar reported that Zack outlined his initiative priorities in an August 9 speech to the ABA House of Delegates.
- National overview: In that August 9 speech, Zack’s stated responsibilities included preservation of the justice system, civic education, protecting human rights, and preparing for disaster.
- National overview: ABA materials described Stephen N. Zack as the first Hispanic male ABA president (2010).
What this archive recovery documents
This archive recovery provides legal information about an internal ABA leadership selection in 2009 and the organization’s own description of the president-elect to president transition, rather than Federal or State lawmaking. It preserves the historical frame by relying on cited Sources that were published at the time (or maintained by the organizations that created them).
- What this archive recovery documents
- The 2009 vote and the House meeting timeline
- How the succession was described president elect to president
- What Zack said he would prioritize before taking office
- The historical milestone described by ABA materials
- Using ABA archive items in legal research
- A related archive recovery on ABA president elect reporting
- Sources
The 2009 vote and the House meeting timeline
The Florida Bar reported that the ABA’s House of Delegates voted on August 4, 2009 to elect Stephen N. Zack as president-elect (Miami’s Zack becomes ABA president-elect).
An ABA Washington Letter issue from September 2009 placed the outcome in the broader meeting context, reporting that the House convened in Chicago on Aug. 3 and 4 and that “Miami lawyer Stephen N. Zack became president-elect” (ABA Washington Letter September 2009).
How the succession was described president elect to president
The Florida Bar also described the planned transition structure around the president-elect role, stating that Zack would serve one year as president-elect before taking office as president in August 2010 at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco (Miami’s Zack becomes ABA president-elect).
Later ABA archive material aligned with that time frame by listing Stephen N. Zack as ABA President for 2010–2011 (Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy).
President elect versus president in this record
| Leadership role in this 2009 record | Timing described in the sources | What the sources emphasize |
|---|---|---|
| President-elect | Voted on August 4, 2009; “serve one year” before taking office in August 2010 | The formal election result and the planned transition window (Miami’s Zack becomes ABA president-elect) |
| ABA President | Listed as ABA President for 2010–2011 | The completed presidency time frame confirmed by a maintained ABA list (Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy) |
What Zack said he would prioritize before taking office
To preserve the historical leadership framing, the Florida Bar reported that Zack outlined his initiative themes in an August 9 speech to the ABA House of Delegates (Miami’s Zack becomes ABA president).
In that August 9 speech, the Florida Bar summarized four responsibility categories tied to the president-elect period: preservation of the justice system, civic education, protecting human rights, and preparing for disaster (Miami’s Zack becomes ABA president).
Why this election record mattered to many readers at the time
These sources connect the president-elect and president roles to specific leadership themes the ABA publicly highlighted for the coming term (for example, justice system preservation and civic education). Read as archive history, the record shows how the ABA communicated internal governance goals, rather than providing current Federal or State regulatory authority.
The historical milestone described by ABA materials
ABA materials also described Stephen N. Zack as the first Hispanic male ABA president (2010), using that descriptor as part of the ABA’s leadership history associated with his presidency year (About the American Bar Association).
Using ABA archive items in legal research
Some readers may encounter ABA leadership-elect reporting and treat it as if it were a source of Federal or State legal requirements, but this archive item describes an internal organizational election and the associated leadership framing. Pairing contemporaneous election reporting with later past-officer listings can help keep the historical election timing distinct from later uses of similar names and titles.
A related archive recovery on ABA president elect reporting
If you want another example of ABA president-elect coverage from the same archival theme, see ABA president-elect coverage from 2006.
