The American Bar Association has a new logo. Executive Director Jack L. Rives presented delegates with the new design, approved by the Board of Governors, during the 2019 ABA Midyear Meeting in Las Vegas. While the current ABA logo has existed for more than 40 years, Rives argued that the new logo can assist the association in communicating its value to both potential and current members, Rives said.“How do you change an iconic logo?” Rives said. “Carefully. You don’t need to make it a revolutionary change, you can do it evolutionarily.” The ABA worked with marketing agency Finn Partners, whose creative team has extensive experience designing for law firms and related organizations. Burkey Belser, managing partner of Finn Partners, told the Board of Governors that his team received a positive response to the new design from four focus groups. “It was received quite well, in fact, that all of the ideas behind it suggest a modern, contemporary association,” Belser said. Rives said in his address to the House of Delegates that the use of the new logo design will coincide with the launch of the new membership model. The new membership model is designed to address a decline in dues-paying memberships and revenues, Rives said. Between 2008 and 2018, dues revenue dropped from $86 million to $67 million.
