HARRISON FORD JOINS AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION IN PROMOTING JURY DUTY,
HELPING POTENTIAL JURORS SERVE

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 2, 2005 -- In the 1990 film Presumed Innocent, Harrison Ford’s character is falsely accused of killing his mistress and brought before a jury to stand trial for murder. Now, Ford is teaming up with the American Bar Association to promote jury duty during National Juror Appreciation Week, May 2-6, 2005, by lending his image to a national advertising campaign designed to encourage Americans to report for jury duty when called.

The centerpiece of the campaign is an advertisement featuring Ford that says, "In real life, the jury decides the ending. Answer the call to jury service. Harrison Ford did." The ad will appear in airports in more than a dozen major metropolitan areas across the country during National Juror Appreciation Week, May 2-6, as part of a larger effort to educate the public about jury duty.

"I am delighted that Mr. Ford has lent his support to this important cause," said ABA President Robert Grey Jr. "Together, I hope we can get the word out and help find a way to increase the percentage of people who view jury duty as a high calling of citizenship, and therefore increase the number of people who report when summoned."

Upon becoming ABA president in August 2004, Grey launched the American Jury Initiative, an effort to strengthen the jury as one of America’s most important democratic institutions and enhance public understanding of its vital role in our system of law and government. As part of that effort, Grey appointed the 21-member ABA Commission on the American Jury and charged it with outreach to the public, the legal profession, and the courts. The Commission's honorary chair is U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

"National Juror Appreciation Week is an important celebration of the role of juries in our great democracy and an urgent call to action," said Grey. "If we are to encourage more Americans to answer the call to service, we must restore this great institution to its rightful place in our society. We must make it easier for them to report for jury duty, make it more comfortable when they are there. For those selected, we must do whatever is required to help them successfully deliberate and reach fair verdicts."

For more information on National Juror Appreciation Week, visit www.abanet.org/jury/jurorkit.html. For a digital image of the advertisement featuring Harrison Ford, visit www.abavideonews.org/ABA301/index.htm.

With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law in a democratic society.

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