For Immediate Release

	Janurary 13, 2004 NATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION TO PARTICIPATE IN 8TH ANNUAL WALL STREET PROJECT CONFERENCE NBA President Kim Keenan New York, NY- NBA President Kim M. Keenan will speak at the 8th Annual Rainbow/PUSH Wall Street Project Conference, which will be held on January 11-13, 2005 at the Hilton New York Hotel in New York City. The theme for this year's conference is "Beyond Diversity, Equity and Parity: A New Covenant." President Keenan will participate in the Legal Counsel Roundtable Discussion on how major corporations can work more closely with minority and women-owned law firms and lawyers. Additionally, Keenan will participate on the "How to Become a Person of Influence" panel with Marc H. Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League, and Terrie Williams, author and President of the Terrie Williams Agency. The mission of the Wall Street Project (WSP) is to challenge corporate America to end its multibillion-dollar trade deficit with minority vendors, consumers, and employees. It is a continuation of the work of the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., which started when the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. appointed him to run the SCLC's Operation Breadbasket in Chicago in the early 1960s. The WSP uses the Breadbasket model of research, education, negotiation and reconciliation to promote inclusion, opportunity and economic growth by encouraging public and private industries to improve hiring and promotion practices; name more minorities to corporate boards; allocate more business to minority companies; and increase the amount of business minority firms conduct with each other. The National Bar Association, founded in 1925, is the nation's oldest and largest association of attorney's of color, representing a professional network of over 20,000 lawyers, judges, educators and law students.