First Black president of the State Bar of Arizona

The State Bar of Arizona Board of Governors oversees the policy making and operations of the organization regulating lawyers practicing in the state.

Benjamin Taylor is the first Black president of the State Bar of Arizona. His practice focuses on personal injury, family law and criminal defense, including death penalty cases.

“I am the first, hopefully I’m not the last. I want to hopefully be a trailblazer that when other people see me know that they can be president also. Even though I’m the first African-American president, I represent the whole state of Arizona,” Taylor said.

An Arizona native, Taylor earned his law degree from the top-tier-ranked University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law and a degree in finance from Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University. He has worked for the Pima County Attorney’s Office, the Maricopa County Public Defender’s Office and the Arizona State Legislature. Taylor discussed his background and what the State Bar does.

“The state bar is a group of attorneys and judges, and our main thing is access to justice and to serve and protect the public. We train our attorneys to do pro-bono work out there in the community. We go out there to the community to make sure the community has access to justice meaning that no matter who you are, no matter what race or color, you have the ability to find a great attorney to represent you,” Taylor said.

Taylor said diversity is very important in the legal profession.

“It’s huge. You need to have people that look like the community, who represent the community and by doing that, the community can trust you as attorneys and judges,” Taylor said.

Taylor said his father was a U.S. Air Force veteran, and his mother was a school teacher. Service has always been a part of his family. As an attorney, Taylor focused on civil rights cases.

Taylor said he hopes to bring a new mindset and perspective as the president of the State Bar of Arizona.