Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Ramo, Roberta Cooper

Roberta Cooper Ramo, the first woman to be elected president of the AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION (ABA), was a pathbreaker in many ways.

She was also the first ABA president with a technological bent, proselytizing for decades about the need for modern management techniques and computerization in running law firms.

Ramo, the daughter of a Western clothing retailer, was born August 8, 1942, in Denver, Colorado. She graduated from the University of Colorado magna cum laude in 1964. She then entered the University of Chicago Law School, and graduated in 1967.

Ramo and her husband, Barry W. Ramo, were already pursuing their careers in tandem, to balance work and family. They had married while they both were attending the University of Colorado. When she went to law school in Chicago, he took an internship there. When he took a position at a...