National Bar Association

The National Bar Association (NBA) is an alliance between African-American lawyers in the United States. The mission is to advance the science of jurisprudence, uphold the honor of the legal profession, promote legislation that will improve the economic condition of all Americans, and to protect the civil and political rights of citizens of the United States regardless of race.

When the National Bar Association was first assembled in 1925 there were less then 1,000 African-American lawyers in the United States. Only 120 of those attorneys were members of the NBA. Since its foundation, it has grown from a small, ineffective group to a powerful assembly of attorneys. Currently the NBA has 84 affiliate chapters throughout the United States and affiliations in Canada, the United Kingdom, Africa, and the Caribbean. It represents a professional network of over 20,000 lawyers, judges, educators, and law students.

Today, the NBA Board of Governors articulates the Association's policies. The Board consists officers, twelve regional directors, five former NBA presidents, seven at-large representatives, seven affiliated chapter representatives, one representative from each of the twenty-one substantive legal sections, and one from each of the nine special interest divisions. Between the regular meetings of the Board of Governors, the Executive Committee, which is composed of the NBA officers and seven board members, functions on behalf of the Board. The Board of Governors and the Executive Committee strive to accurately represent the needs of all the members of the NBA in order to fulfill the NBA’s mission.