June 18, 2009, Washington, D.C.—Kareem Dale, special assistant to President Obama for disability policy, will keynote the American Bar Association Presidential Summit on Diversity in the Legal Profession:  The Next Steps?, Friday in the Gaylord Hotel, National Harbor, Md.

Dale will open the summit with a discussion of issues confronting lawyers with physical and mental disabilities, one of four key diversity themes of the summit.  Also on tap for discussions Friday through Saturday are race and ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation and gender identity. 

The summit aims to shake the legal profession from “diversity fatigue” and take a fresh look at strategies to advance the profession’s goal of broadening to reflect society, working on three fronts:  recruiting more diverse lawyers, retaining them as active members of the profession and recognizing their relevance and impact on society.

Who:     KAREEM DALE, special assistant to the president for diversity policy

What:    ABA Presidential Summit on Diversity in the Legal Profession:  The Next Steps?

When:   8:30 a.m. Friday, June 19

Where:  Gaylord Hotel, National Harbor, Md.

Other speakers include:

• Weldon H. Latham, senior partner, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Noon Friday (Luncheon)

• Rep. G. K. Butterfield, 5:45 p.m. Friday (Dinner)

• Cruz Reynoso, former justice, California Supreme Court, 9 a.m. Saturday

With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

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