Michael Spencer Greco (born November 22, 1942 in
Rende
Rende is a town, city and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza, Calabria, southern Italy, home to the headquarters of the University of Calabria. It has a population of about 35,000, or more than 60,000 if the university students living there ar ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
) is an American lawyer who served as president of the
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...
(2005–2006).
He is a retired partner in the Boston office of
K&L Gates
K&L Gates LLP is an American multinational corporation law firm based in the United States, with international offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. Its namesake firms are Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, a Pittsburgh-ba ...
, and a former partner at the now-defunct
Hill and Barlow
Hill & Barlow was a law firm in Boston, Massachusetts that was dissolved in 2002. Founded in 1895, the firm had been one of the city's oldest and most elite firms, and was also the 12th largest in Boston at the time of its dissolution, employing ...
.
He was a partner with Hill and Barlow from 1973 to 2002 and was a partner with K&L Gates from 2003 to 2017.
[MICHAEL GRECO - RETIRED PARTNER](_blank)
/ref>
ABA Presidency
As President of the American Bar Association, undertook a variety of projects including
*a Commission on a Renaissance of Idealism in the Legal Profession, co-chaired by US Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; ; March 15, 1933September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by President ...
and Theodore C. Sorensen
Theodore Chaikin Sorensen (May 8, 1928 – October 31, 2010) was an American lawyer, writer, and presidential adviser. He was a speechwriter for President John F. Kennedy, as well as one of his closest advisers. President Kennedy once called him ...
, intended to help re-invigorate lawyers' commitment to providing pro bono legal services.
*a Commission on Civic Education and the Separation of Powers, co-chaired by US Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is an American retired attorney and politician who served as the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was both the first woman nominated and the ...
and former US Senator Bill Bradley
William Warren Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American politician and former professional basketball player. He served three terms as a Democratic U.S. senator from New Jersey (1979–1997). He ran for the Democratic Party's nomination f ...
, sought to educate Americans about constitutional democracy.
*the ABA Task Force on Access to Civil Justice, chaired by Maine Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice Howard Dana, Jr., to consider providing legal services to millions of poor Americans.
*the ABA Task Force on Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
to help provide free legal services to victims of Katrina and other hurricanes that devastated the Gulf States in the fall of 2005.
In total, Greco created two commissions, five task forces, and several other special committees.
He appointed the ABA Executive Director Search Committee which conducted a year-long national search for the Association's new Executive Director, Henry F. White, Jr., who took office on September 1, 2006.
In addition to serving as its President, Mr. Greco has long been active in the American Bar Association, including serving on the Board of Governors, in the House of Delegates for more than twenty years, and as the elected ABA State Delegate from Massachusetts during 1993-2004. He chaired the Association's Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary, the Section of Individual Rights & Responsibilities, the Executive Committee of the Conference of State Delegates, the Steering Committee of the Nominating Committee, the ABA Day in Washington Planning Committee, and other committees. Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, he served on the ABA Task Force on Terrorism and the Law, and helped develop policies relating to the imperative of balancing national security and constitutional freedoms so that both are protected.
Mr. Greco is a member of the American Law Institute
The American Law Institute (ALI) is a research and advocacy group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and its adaptation to changing social needs. ...
.
Massachusetts/New England professional activities
Mr. Greco served as president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the New England Bar Association, the New England Bar Foundation and the Board of Trustees of Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education.
As MBA president, among other initiatives, he and Governor Michael S. Dukakis
Michael Stanley Dukakis (; born November 3, 1933) is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history a ...
appointed a blue-ribbon Commission on the Unmet Legal Needs of Children, whose report and recommendations led to enactment of new statutes protecting the legal rights of children.
By appointment of the Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court he chaired the Court's Special Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services in the late 1990s.
He served for eight years on Gov. William Weld
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
's Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Council, and in 1993-94 served on Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Senator John F. Kerry
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...
's Special Commission on Federal Judicial Appointments that recommended candidates for vacancies on the federal bench, US Attorney and US Marshal.
He also served as Vice-Chair of the Board of Bar Overseers of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the court of last resort, highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the di ...
, and on the Board of Overseers of Newton-Wellesley Hospital
Newton-Wellesley Hospital (NWH) is a community teaching medical center located in Newton, Massachusetts on Washington Street. It is affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. Founded in 1881, part of its ca ...
.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of the New England (Business) Council, and during 1998-2004 served as Chair of the ground breaking Creative Economy Initiative, a regional economic/cultural development effort designed to attract investment in New England’s Creative Economy.
Criticism of President George W. Bush for signing statements
In the spring of 2006, President Greco created a blue ribbon task force in order to address the issue that President Bush, instead of veto
A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...
ing bills passed by Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
that he finds objectionable, signs the bill, but attaches statements that indicates intentions not to follow certain provisions. Greco and the ABA responded to this by saying that the president's signing statement
A signing statement is a written pronouncement issued by the President of the United States upon the signing of a bill into law. They are usually printed along with the bill in ''United States Code Congressional and Administrative News'' (USCCAN). ...
s revoke Congress's constitutional authority to check and balance
Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...
the executive power. This is highly significant because all American presidents in office before President Bush have issued a combined total of 600 signing statements. Bush, however, has issued 800 signing statements over a 5½ year period during his term. Previous presidents, such as George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
and Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
, have issued signing statements as well; however, these presidents only expressed disapproval of certain provisions in a bill, but did not assert the right to ignore them. The report released by the task force declared, "The Constitution is not what the President says it is."
The task force that Greco created was bipartisan
Bipartisanship, sometimes referred to as nonpartisanship, is a political situation, usually in the context of a two-party system (especially those of the United States and some other western countries), in which opposing political parties find co ...
. The participants included William Sessions, Mickey Edwards
Marvin Henry "Mickey" Edwards (born July 12, 1937) is an American politician who was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, serving Oklahoma's 5th congressional district from 1977 to 1993.
Edwards was a founding trustee of T ...
, and Bruce Fein
Bruce Fein (born March 12, 1947) is an American lawyer who specializes in constitutional and international law. Fein has written numerous articles on constitutional issues for ''The Washington Times'', ''Slate.com'', ''The New York Times'', '' ...
.[ ]
Personal life and education
Michael Greco spent his youth in Hinsdale, Illinois
Hinsdale is a village in Cook and DuPage counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Hinsdale is a western suburb of Chicago. The population was 17,395 at the 2020 census, most of whom lived in DuPage County. The town's ZIP code is 60521. The town ...
, and has resided in Wellesley, Massachusetts
Wellesley () is a New England town, town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Wellesley is part of Greater Boston. The population was 29,550 at the time of the 2020 census. Wellesley College, Babson Col ...
, for the past forty years.
He obtained his Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
from Boston College Law School
Boston College Law School (BC Law) is the law school of Boston College. It is situated on a wooded campus in Newton, Massachusetts, about 1.5 miles from the university's main campus in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
With approximately 800 studen ...
in 1972. Here he served as editor in chief of the ''Boston College Law Review
The ''Boston College Law Review'' is an academic journal of legal scholarship and a student organization at Boston College Law School. It was established in 1959. Until 1977, it was known as the ''Boston College Industrial & Commercial Law Review'' ...
'' and as class president. He also clerked for Judge Leonard P. Moore
Leonard Page Moore (July 2, 1898 – December 7, 1982) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Early life and career
Born in Evanston, Illinois, Moore was in the United States Naval Reser ...
on the United States court of appeals
United may refer to:
Places
* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Arts and entertainment Films
* ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film
* ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...
for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate juris ...
. He earned his Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in English at Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
in 1965. Before he went to law school, he taught English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
at Phillips Exeter Academy
(not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God)
, location = 20 Main Street
, city = Exeter, New Hampshire
, zipcode ...
in Exeter, New Hampshire
Exeter is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 16,049 at the 2020 census, up from 14,306 at the 2010 census. Exeter was the county seat until 1997, when county offices were moved to neighboring Brentwood. ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greco, Michael S.
Presidents of the American Bar Association
People from Wellesley, Massachusetts
Phillips Exeter Academy faculty
1942 births
Living people
Princeton University alumni
Boston College Law School alumni
American lawyers and judges of Italian descent
People of Calabrian descent
20th-century American lawyers
21st-century American lawyers