Alfred Pershing “A.P.” Carlton Jr.
By Nancy Oates

hen Alfred Pershing "A.P." Carlton Jr. (BSBA '69) speaks, he speaks for the American lawyer. The Raleigh lawyer and president of the American Bar Association (ABA) is responsible for an agenda that includes judicial reform, the public's access to lawyers and repositioning the public perception of the ABA. To fulfill that agenda, Carlton is reaching out to mainstream America.

"The great American public is overlawyered and underrepresented," Carlton said in between phone calls from Bloomberg and USA Today seeking comment on a critical Securities and Exchange Commission decision.

Carlton, 55, is pleased with the progress he is making. Under his guidance, the ABA adopted a policy urging the states that elect judges to adopt nonpartisan elections and to consider public financing of judicial campaigns at the appellate level. North Carolina is the first state to enact both reforms, and he said several states are actively working to remove the perception that justice is for sale.

One of his key initiatives is to make legal representation more accessible to low- and middle-income Americans. A task force he created is looking for ways to connect underemployed lawyers with clients who need their services, and he is exploring the possibility of new products and services, such as prepaid legal insurance.

And the ABA, through its 540-lawyer House of Delegates, has the ear of Congress.

In any given Congress, the ABA weighs in on 30 to 40 matters addressed by legislation. Congress sides with the ABA about 80 percent of the time.

"That's remarkable for an organization that doesn't give money to anybody and has no political voice," Carlton said.

These days, he's more likely to be found in the ABA's Washington, D.C., office than in its Chicago headquarters, and he travels extensively on ABA business. But he still squeezes in an hour or two each day to help his longtime clients.

Carlton had his eye on a career in law early on. But when he completed his undergraduate degree in business at UNC Kenan-Flagler, the Vietnam War was at full throttle. He enlisted in the Air Force and received a commission as a medical service corps officer, and while stationed in Ohio, he earned a master's in public administration at the University of Dayton. Shortly thereafter, he began law school at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Carlton's business background has served him well in his specialization of corporate and public finance law in regulated industries.

"It often surprises clients to find a lawyer who can read a balance sheet," he said. "I felt the discipline and academic instruction I got was at a level that enabled me as a business lawyer to compete. I felt very comfortable dealing with clients in high-level management."

Sept. 11 and Enron centered the American thought processes on legal issues, Carlton said, and the ABA has been in the limelight. He hopes to cut through the hype to show the lawyerly side of the organization.

"If I could have one thing," he said, "I would hope that when people say, 'the ABA,' they'd say, 'the respected ABA,' not the liberal, left-leaning or whatever they put in the blank."