Roberta Cooper Ramo

Roberta Cooper Ramo is a shareholder in the law firm of Modrall Sperling, where she concentrates her practice in the areas of mediation, arbitration, business law, real estate, probate, and estate planning.  She has been a member of the Institute since 1991 and was elected to the Council in 1997. She served as ALI’s President from 2008 to 2017, the Institute's first woman president, and previously served as First Vice President from 2004 to 2008.

On August 1, 2015, Roberta received the American Bar Association's highest award, the ABA Medal. Roberta previously served as president of the American Bar Association from 1995 to 1996, the first woman in history to lead the largest nationwide organization of attorneys. In 2011, she was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, adding her name to a prestigious list of members including George Washington and Albert Einstein, among other notables.

A Fellow of both the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and the American Bar Foundation, Roberta also has served as a panel member for the American Arbitration Association. In 2013, Roberta was elected Board Chair of Think New Mexico, a non-partisan think tank, and she serves as a member of the Board of the Santa Fe Opera and Albuquerque Economic Development.

Roberta was appointed by the United States Senate and served as co-chair of a committee to review governance issues of the U. S. Olympic Committee in 2003. She was named an honorary member of the Bar of England and Wales, and of Gray's Inn in 2000. She served on the Board of Regents for the University of New Mexico from 1989 to 1995, and as President of the Board from 1991 to 1993. She also served on the New Mexico Board of Finance.