Linda A. Klein

Linda Klein is the senior managing shareholder at Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz and immediate past president of the American Bar Association.

Klein’s practice, based in Atlanta, includes most types of business dispute resolution, including contract law, employment law and professional liability, working extensively with clients in the construction, higher education and pharmaceutical industries.

As ABA president, Klein led the association’s efforts to expand legal services for veterans, preserve federal funding for legal aid for the poor, and provide civics education through community Law Day events nationwide. She also promoted loan forgiveness for public-service lawyers and spurred development of ABA Blueprint, an online suite of law practice management tools for solo and small-firm lawyers.

In June 1997, Klein became the first woman to serve as president of the State Bar of Georgia. During Klein's term, she devised a proposal and advocated for the state to allocate funding for Georgia Legal Services and Atlanta Legal Aid to hire lawyers to help indigent victims of domestic violence. She organized a statewide group of community organizations and local and minority bar associations that together convinced the General Assembly to appropriate $2 million. Since then, the annual appropriations have helped thousands in Georgia with legal issues related to domestic violence.

Klein was one of the first women to lead a prominent Georgia law firm. She served as managing partner of Gambrell & Stolz beginning in 2001 and led the firm's 2007 merger with Baker Donelson, becoming a Baker Donelson board member and Georgia managing shareholder.

She served as chair of the ABA's House of Delegates, the second highest office in the organization, from 2010−2012. She has also served as chair of the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, chair of the Committee on Rules and Calendar of the House of Delegates, chair of the Coalition for Justice, and chair of ABA Day, the Association's Congressional outreach effort. In addition, Klein was a member of the Council of the ABA Section of International Law and a columnist and member of the Board of Editors of Law Practice Management Magazine. In 2004, the American Bar Association honored Klein with the prestigious Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award.

She was an early member of the Board of Directors Network, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase diversity on corporate boards and general counsel positions. Her other community activities include leadership in Southface Energy Institute and the Buckhead Coalition. In June, Klein received the Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor bestowed by the State Bar of Georgia. In 2009, Klein was honored with the Randolph Thrower Award for Lifetime Achievement from the State Bar of Georgia and was named to the YWCA Academy of Women Achievers.

A member of the American Law Institute, Klein is listed in “The Best Lawyers in America”, “Who's Who in America” and “Chambers USA.” She is regularly named to the “Super Lawyers” top 100 lawyers in Georgia, an honor bestowed upon only nine women in 2014. She is also regularly named one of the top 50 female lawyers in Georgia by “Super Lawyers.” In 1998, “Georgia Trend Magazine” named her one of the 100 most powerful and influential Georgians.

Klein earned her J.D. at Washington & Lee Law School in Virginia and her B.A. at Union College in New York.