Imagine practicing law without sight or hearing. Haben Girma doesn’t have to imagine. Born Deafblind, she graduated Harvard Law School and then litigated before becoming a full-time advocate for inclusion. At her website, habengirma.com, you can see her global impact, as recognized by Presidents and leaders across many sectors.

I had the privilege of hearing Ms. Girma speak in December at the Fifth Third Bank Leadership Symposium, hosted by the Cincinnati Regional Chamber. Each year, scores of leaders from the Cincinnati business community attend the symposium to discuss inclusion and belonging as a driver of good business and regional progress. Cincinnati’s largest employers are in that room, looking for better ways to do business and improve where they and their workforce live. It is a serious exercise.

As I contemplated a topic for this, my final President’s Brief, Ms. Girma’s message resonated deeply. She spoke not of overcoming her disability, because she will always be Deafblind. That is not her barrier. Her barrier is the ableism that presumes her to be incompetent, or that fails to value her competencies because of her disability. It is the ableism that ignores what nondisabled people fail to do as well as she does, or the accommodations they need, simply because she presents differently. 

Let me add, on a more fundamental level, the barrier of not valuing people simply for the human beings they are, regardless of their abilities or whether they make a dime for anyone.

As a society, we can remove such barriers. Not doing so is a choice. We can also do our part as a profession. Later in these pages, we feature one example set by a law firm that stepped out of a typical comfort zone to hire someone with a disability, and the employee who rewards the firm for that choice every day. Progress begins at home. It is striking to contemplate the benefits missed by businesses not being bold enough to make similar decisions. 

In the same vein, we feature stories of access to justice through the lens of other local organizations. This is the notion that anyone with a legal problem deserves the help they need to participate fairly in our justice system. It is equally striking to contemplate the dignity and efficiency lost by not making such resources available more widely.

We could have written about many others. Recently, Harvard Law School spotlighted a groundbreaking collaboration between the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to reduce hospitalizations for children whose families receive legal consultation to resolve ongoing crises. Pro Bono Partnership of Ohio celebrated its tenth anniversary providing volunteer legal services to the nonprofits that help thousands in our region. And then there are the stories of individual lawyers who devote time to pro bono work through organizations like VLP or to their communities, only a few of whom we have time to honor at the CBA Annual Meeting.

These stories bring my year as your bar president full circle. I began by promoting the CBA as the one place lawyers from all practice areas engage with critical topics affecting our profession and society at large, and with each other. I’ve been gratified by your attention when shining a light on the particular aspects of those topics nearest to my heart, and am excited to go where our next president, Terry Coates, leads us. I can’t think of a better way to close than by featuring the good work you do, and can still do, for lawyers to lead the way to a stronger, more inclusive future.    

Alan Abes is a partner at Dinsmore and the 2025-2026 CBA president.