A.B.A. Nominates New Jersey Lawyer as President

The American Bar Association, the 400,000-member group that establishes standards for law schools and formulates codes of conduct and ethics for lawyers, has nominated Paulette Brown as its president.

Ms. Brown, 62, is a partner specializing in labor and employment law and commercial litigation at Edwards Wildman Palmer in New Jersey. If her nomination is approved, she would be the first African-American woman to lead the association.

Ms. Brown has been a lawyer for 38 years and has been practicing at Edwards Wildman for eight years. Before that, she worked at the law firm Duane Morris. She practices in both federal and state courts and is a certified mediator for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Earlier in her career, she was in-house counsel for several companies and a former municipal court judge in Plainfield, N.J. She earned her law degree at Seton Hall University School of Law and her bachelor’s degree at Howard University.

Her nomination goes to the association’s House of Delegates for approval in August. She will be presiding over an association whose membership is facing technological, economic and other challenges in the way they operate. Two recent independent surveys of large and regional law firms found that revenues were almost flat last year in contrast to 2012 as firms struggled to attract and retain business during a turbulent economy.

Also, the group is straining to deal with declining enrollments in the more than 200 law schools in the nation, which the association regulates. A recent association task force that studied the situation suggested abolishing tenure for faculty but had few concrete recommendations to make law schools more innovative and affordable.

Ms. Brown, who is the chief diversity officer at her firm, said in a phone interview that she wanted “to cast a wider net to bring more diversity in minorities, the disabled, L.G.B.T., people of color and even generational diversity” to the association.

Its membership ranks are growing, she said, but the association needs “to respect and include lawyers in all practice areas and types, from solo practitioners to members of our largest international law firms, as well as public servants and in-house counsel.”

After her election, she will succeed James R. Silkenat, a partner in the corporate practice of Sullivan & Worcester in New York.