American Bar Foundation

Please share with your communities! Just a few days remain to apply to be a doctoral or postdoctoral fellow at the American Bar Foundation with support from AccessLex Institute, Law and Society Association, National Science Foundation (NSF), University of Chicago, and Northwestern University. Join our community of scholars from diverse academic disciplines. ?? Deadline: Saturday, February 22 ?? Questions? Email fellowships@abfn.org.

Great conversation on Tuesday with California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu and ABF Research Professor Ajay K. Mehrotra discussing?A Portrait of Asian Americans in the Law 2.0. Moderated by?Joseph Sung, the conversation explored the study’s major findings, ongoing updates, and key considerations for the future. ? A big thank you to?Latham & Watkins?and?Asian American Bar Association of Greater Chicago (AABA Chicago)?for their continued support in uplifting this critical research. The Portrait Project’s impact continues to grow, shaping important conversations around representation and equity in the legal profession.

We were thrilled to host our event in the iconic Chase Field and are immensely grateful to the entire team for their hospitality—your dedication and attention to detail made the evening unforgettable! (An extra round of applause to Austin Blase Young—not just for his stellar event production but for his impressive detective work in reuniting a lost cellphone with its rightful owner. Truly a man of many talents.)

Phoenix was the perfect backdrop for an inspiring 2025 American Bar Association Midyear Meeting! ?? We tackled access to justice challenges in a CLE with ABF Research Prof. Emeritus Stephen Daniels, ABF Affiliated Scholar Michele Statz, Ph.D., and Rodolfo Sanchez of DNA-People's Legal Services, Inc., mod. by Don Bivens of Don Bivens, PLLC. We reconnected at the Fellows Opening Reception at the iconic Chase Field—and while touring Frank LLoyd Wright’s winter home, Taliesin West, in Scottsdale. We had the honor of celebrating Myles Lynk (Arizona State University), Erwin Chemerinsky (University of California, Berkeley - School of Law), and Julianne Blanch (Parsons Behle & Latimer)—three Fellows who have made lasting contributions. We heard a sobering but essential fireside chat between Natl. Chair of the Fellows Frank X. Neuner Jr. of NeunerPate and author, historian, and member of the Te-Moak tribe of Western Shoshone Ned Blackhawk. And we capped off the meeting with a celebratory toast at the Annual Fellows Sing-Along. Thank you to our Fellows and to the American Bar Endowment for continued support, as well as to gold-, silver-, and bronze-level sponsors for this weekend's events: Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Cohen Dowd Quigley, the Jie Ti Foundation, Greenberg Traurig, LLP, Snell & Wilmer, Arizona State University, DC Bar Litigation Community, Immediate Past Chair of the Fellows Laura Farber, NeunerPate, McLane Middleton, and Perkins Coie. Next stop: Toronto for the 2025 ABA Annual Meeting!

The Access to Justice Research Initiative at the American Bar Foundation, led by Director of Research and Programs?Matthew Burnett, is at the forefront of examining AI's impact on civil and criminal justice. A recent conference with ASU Law, Stanford University Law School, and Georgetown University Law Center explored opportunities and risks.

The American Bar Foundation is now accepting applications for doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships in: ? Law and Inequality ? Law and Social Science ? Access and Affordability in Legal or Higher Education Engage with our vibrant interdisciplinary community as part of a cohort, receive mentorship from leading ABF researchers, and build professional networks to prepare for an impactful career as a professor, researcher, or legal professional. ?? Applications open through 2/22. Please share with your communities! https://lnkd.in/gueFvjnA The American Bar Foundation thanks the following partners in the Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships Program: National Science Foundation (NSF), AccessLex Institute, Law and Society Association, University of Chicago, and Northwestern University.

As the U.S. presidential election nears, ABF Research Professor and Northwestern Political Science Prof. Traci Burch spoke with ABF Executive Director Mark Suchman about how barriers to participation, including voter registration and ID, affect voter turnout. Learn more ahead of the 2024 election here:?????https://lnkd.in/gRsSFMRJ?

Don’t miss the opportunity 10/18 to engage in critical discussions about inclusion, "bleached out" identity, and ethics at “Widening the Lens of Justice,” a 20th-anniversary #NewLegalRealism conference cosponsored by the ABF and the HLS Center on the Legal Profession. Register today!? bit.ly/NewLegalRealism

The ABF has elected four new members to its Board of Directors. Hon. Eileen A. Kato (Ret.), Hon. Dolly M. Gee, Darrell Mottley, and Paul M. Smith were elected to serve a five-year term, beginning September 1. Visit our website to learn more about our new board members. https://lnkd.in/gqZHJZMj

The ABF Welcomes John M. Eason as the 2024-25 William H. Neukom Fellows Research Chair in Diversity and Law. “I am incredibly excited to be a Neukom Chair at the ABF for 2024-25,” said Eason. “I'm looking forward to engaging with and learning from ABF scholars whose work spans the criminal legal system.”