REUTERS — The American Bar Association’s top executive will step down in February after more than 12 years at its helm, the group said Thursday. Jack Rives in 2010 became executive director of the ABA, the nation’s largest voluntary bar association, overseeing an operation that now has 166,000 dues-paying members and a staff of more than 1,000. The ABA said deputy executive director Alpha Brady will take over temporarily from Rives while it seeks a permanent replacement.