Make Your 2015 Contribution Online
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First Chairs at Trial: More Women Need Seats at the Table
The study, First Chairs at Trial: More Women Need Seats at the Table, a joint project of the American Bar Foundation and the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession, was recently featured in several articles across the country.
The ABF partnered with the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession to study the participation of men and women as lead trial lawyers, and in lead counsel positions. ABF Director Emeritus, Robert L. Nelson, consulted on the research design and provided substantive comments on the report drafted by the authors, Stephanie A. Sharf and Pennsylvania Life Fellow Roberta D. Liebenberg, both of the ABA Commission on Women, and also worked with Chair of the Commission on Women in the Profession
Michele Coleman Mayes.
Former ABF doctoral Fellow, Jennifer Woodward, preformed the data collection and preliminary data analysis. The study found that, although men and women graduate law school at nearly equal rates, women are still underrepresented in lead counsel positions.
The full study can be found
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Fellows in the News Spotlight
Congratulations to the following Fellows for their outstanding achievements!
Illinois Fellow, has been honored with
the National Prosecutorial Award by the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association
Minnesota Fellow, named the Interim Officer for Diversity and Inclusion University of St. Thomas. She also recently released a book,
The Leader's Journey: A Guide to Discovering the Leader Within
Robert Clifford, Illinois State Co-Chair and Life Benefactor Fellow, Craig Martin, Illinois Life Fellow, and James Franczek, Illinois Fellow, were included in Chicago Magazine's 2015 Power 100 list
Have you won an award or received an honor lately? Published a book? Have you done a Ted Talk? Have you had a recent law-related op-ed published by the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, etc.?
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Event Spotlight
The New York Fellows Luncheon
The first Fellows' event of this fiscal year was the
New York Fellows Luncheon on September 9th. Hosted and sponsored by Wachtelll, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the New York State Co-Chairs,
Kenneth G. Standard and
Judge Elizabeth Snow Stong planned an amazing event for New York Fellows!
The event featured Chief Justice Leo E. Strine, Jr. of the Supreme Court of Delaware. His remarks, entitled "Having It... Saner," focused on work life balance and ideas to make our lives saner.
The whole speech can be read here.
Thank you to those who were able to attend! For more Fellows Events, visit our website! ________________
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Recent and Upcoming Events
September 9
New York Fellows Luncheon
Featuring Chief Justice Leo Strine, Jr. Hosted by State Co-Chairs Judge Elizabeth Snow Stong and Kenneth G. Standard. Special thanks to Wachtell, Lipton Rosen & Katz for sponsoring!
September 29
Seventh Annual Maryland Fellows Reception
Featuring the Honorable Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Mayor of Baltimore City, and Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel, NAACP Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. Hosted by State Co-Chairs Ava E. Lias-Booker and Kevin L. Shepherd
October 1
New York Fellows Luncheon
Featuring Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman.
Hosted by State Co-Chairs
Judge Elizabeth
Snow Stong and Kenneth G. Standard. Special thanks to Wachtell, Lipton Rosen & Katz for sponsoring
October 3
Featuring ABF Faculty Fellow Rebecca Sandefur. Hosted by Rhode Island State Chair
Tom Lyons.
October 7
Nebraska Fellows Breakfast
Hosted by Nebraska State Chair Marsha E. Fangmeyer
October 9
Missouri Fellows Breakfast
Hosted by Missouri State Co-Chairs Dale C. Doerhoff, Theresa L. F. Levings, and Reuben A. Shelton
October 20
Arizona Fellows Presentation & Reception
Featuring the presentation "Deliberations of Real Juries" with ABF Researcher
Shari Diamond.
Hosted by Arizona State Co-Chairs C. Bradley Vynalek and Janet E. Belkin
October 28
Washington Fellows Dinner
Featuring John McKay, Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law. Hosted by Washington State Co-Chairs Judge Eileen A. Kato and Salvador Mungia
November 3
New York Fellows Reception
Featuring Linda Klein, incoming ABA President-Elect. Hosted by State Co-Chairs Judge Elizabeth Snow Stong and Kenneth G. Standard. Special thanks for Wachtell, Lipton Rosen & Katz for sponsoring.
February 3-8, 2016
Fellows Events at the 2016 ABA Midyear Meeting
San Diego, CA
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Fellows Roster: Hard Copy Opt-Out
Each member of The Fellows will receive a hard copy of the 2015 Fellows Roster (complete listing of members) later this year. But did you know that all of the information in the roster is available online via our website! The 2015 Roster will be available online this winter. To access the 2014 Roster online, click here. If you would like to opt out of receiving a hard copy of the
2015 Fellows Roster, please send an email to
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Fellows Online Profiles and Directory
We are please to announce our new Fellows online community!
Your online Fellows profile now includes updated and new features to help keep you up to date on Fellows news and events, your giving history, and more. You may also access a searchable directory of all current Fellows.
If you have any questions or comments regarding our site, or if you have forgotten your user ID and/or password, please contact The Fellows office at (800) 292-5065 or fellows@abfn.org.
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Please be sure to connect with us on Social Media!
You can stay current with Fellows and ABF updates, network with other Fellows, view photos from events, read research highlights, and much more!
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The ABF's primary funding is provided by the
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Fellows Emblem
We are delighted to share with you our Fellows emblem, ready to display on your firm or personal website!
Please email the Fellows Staff with the subject line "ABF Emblem" to receive a copy of the image and display instructions.
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The Fellows of the
American Bar Foundation
750 N. Lake Shore Drive
Fourth Floor
Chicago, IL 60611
fellows@abfn.org(800) 292-5065
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Introducing the 2015-2016 Fellows Chair:
The Honorable Cara Lee T. Neville
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The Honorable Cara Lee T. Neville
Chair of the Fellows
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How did you become a Fellow?
I actually don't know who nominated me, but I do recall that after we finished a Board of Governors meeting of the Minnesota State Bar Association, one of the stalwarts of the bar asked me if I intended to join The Fellows. I thought he meant for lunch. I demurred saying I had a new baby at home so I would have to take a rain check. The next morning I received the most impressive invitation to join The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation. I was totally embarrassed.
Can you share with us your favorite Fellows Event?
The Fellows dinners at the ABA Midyear Meeting used to be a black tie affair. It was always impressive to see all the important people walking around in tuxes and beautiful dresses. When I became State Chair of the Fellows in Minnesota, my first meeting was at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and it was a black tie event. Everyone loved it. It was so much fun and everyone felt and looked very special. It was a huge success and great fun.
What are you most looking forward to this year as Chair of the Fellows of the ABF?
I am really excited about this year! We have a great group of officers, and although we will miss our long time successful director, Robert Nelson, we are all excited about our new director Ajay Mehrotra. There is a palpable excitement. The Fellows are going to do something different this year starting with a Strategic Planning Committee. In addition to our officers, Michael Byowitz, Rew Goodenow, and Kathleen Hopkins, we are honored to add Reggie Turner, Judy Martinez, Herb Dixon, and Josh Markus to our Strategic Planning Committee. Each member of this "dream team" will then chair a subcommittee of very impressive members of the Fellows to look at what we do, how we do it and to see how we can do it even better. You will hear more about them and their work later. It is very exciting and we are grateful for their time and energy!
You have had a lengthy and varied career in the law. What practice area did you enjoy most?
I am one of those lucky people who always likes whatever I am doing at the time that I'm doing it. I loved trying cases. I loved the court room. I love the law and lawyers. I loved being a judge. It was intellectually interesting every day. Now, I love serving as a special master, arbitrator, and mediator because I still work with the law and lawyers. What could be better? I guess they are all an extension of one another. I still look forward to my work every day. My two sons are lawyers now too, which makes for very interesting dinner conversations.
What would you have done if you hadn't become a lawyer?
I cannot imagine not being a lawyer. I wrote my first paper on wanting to become a lawyer in 9th grade! My father, a businessman, was very competent. The only time I saw him in need of anyone else's help was when he worked with his lawyer. I always thought I would take over the business so I figured I would short cut the process and become a lawyer myself. That was very unusual for a girl in those days. My teacher asked me to come up with a second choice. I don't think I had one.
What do you do for fun? Do you have any hobbies?
I ride and show American Saddlebred horses, Five-Gaited. I started showing when I was 5, and at 12, Walt Disney made a film about me that they used to show on the Mickey Mouse Club TV show. Last year, I was surprised and thrilled to win the Tristate and the
Minnesota Saddlebred Horse Association's Year End High Point Trophies in the Five-Gaited Amateur and Open divisions. My horse goes really fast and it's very exciting.
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The ABF Welcomes Ajay K. Mehrotra as new Director!
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| Ajay K. Mehrotra
Director of the American Bar Foundation
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The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation (ABF) are pleased to welcome Ajay K. Mehrotra as the new Director of the ABF as of September 1, 2015! In addition to ABF Director, he has also been appointed a full Research Professor at the ABF and a professor of law at Northwestern University School of Law. Mehrotra succeeds Robert L. Nelson, Director Emeritus and MacCrate Chair in the Legal Profession and Professor of Sociology and Law at Northwestern University, who will return to full-time research and teaching.
Mehrotra's ties to the American Bar Foundation reach back to the beginning of his career. He completed his doctoral dissertation at the American Bar Foundation and received his Ph.D. in history from University of Chicago. He received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and his B.A. from the University of Michigan.
Prior to his ABF Directorship, Ajay Mehrotra was Professor of Law and Louis F. Niezer Faculty Fellow at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. From 2012-2015, he also served as the school's associate dean for research. He was also an adjunct Professor of History at Indiana University and an Affiliated Faculty member of the Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Workshop on Political Theory and Policy Analysis. From 2007-2011, he was co-director (with Michael Grossberg) of the Indiana University Center for Law, Society & Culture.
Ajay Mehrotra is the ninth director in the ABF's 63-year history. Read more here!
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Rachel F. Moran to Hold Inaugural Neukom Chair
The Neukom Fellows Research Chair was established in 2014 by the ABF to spearhead empirical research on law and legal processes centered on issues of diversity and inequality that women, people of color, people with disabilities, and persons from the LGBTQ community face in legal practice and before the law.
Moran, who stepped down from her position at UCLA this past August, has accepted the offer to be a visiting professor in 2015-2016. In addition, she has also agreed to act as co-director of an ABF Special Project on the Future of Latinos in the United States: Law, Opportunity, and Mobility. She will also begin a new research project on U.S. inequality, diversity, and the future of legal education and the legal profession
Rachel F. Moran is Dean Emerita and Michael J. Connell Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law. Prior to her appointment at UCLA, Professor Moran was the Robert D. and Leslie-Kay Raven Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law. From July 2008 to June 2010, Moran served as a founding faculty member of the UC Irvine Law School.
Read more about Rachel F. Moran, here! |
Thank you to all who attended the Fellows Events at the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago!
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Pictured left to right: Kathleen Wilkinson, Life Fellow Cynthia Nance, ABF Director Ajay Mehrotra, and Fellow Carthenia Jefferson enjoying the Fellows Opening Reception at the Crown at the Tribune Tower!
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Thank you to everyone who attended the Fellows Events at the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago! We would also like to thank Sidley Austin, LLP for generously sponsoring The Fellows Opening Reception and The Fellows Annual Business Breakfast!
We kicked off our events on Friday with our CLE Research Seminar - Perspectives on Race, Communities, and Policing in Twenty-First Century America, anchored with a research presentation by Yale Law School Professor Tracey Meares. Fellows also saw a beautiful view of Chicago at The Fellows Opening Reception at The Crown at the Tribune Tower.
We also held two events for our State Chairs. The Fellows State Chair Workshop provided an excellent opportunity for State Chairs to interact with Fellows Staff and Officers, and share ideas with other State Chairs. We also hosted a Fellows State Chair Luncheon to recognize Fellows State, International, and Territorial Chairs.
Saturday morning, at the Fellows Annual Business Breakfast, Fellows enjoyed a talk entitled "The Law and the Presidential Televised Debates" given by Newton N. Minow, former Chairman of the FCC.
On Sunday, we honored our Life Fellows with the Life Fellows Champagne Toast. Our final scheduled event at the Annual Meeting was the Fellows Sing-Along!
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Save the Date for the 2016 Midyear Meeting
San Diego, California
We hope to see you at The Fellows Events at the 2016 ABA Midyear Meeting in San Diego, California!
Our preliminary schedule can be found here. Please be sure to check back for updates!
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San Diego Natural History Museum
Site of the 60th Annual Fellows Awards Reception and Banquet
Saturday, February 6th
(Ticketed Event)
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CLE Research Seminar:
"Perspectives on Race, Communities, and Policing in Twenty-first Century America"
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Panelists, left to right: Craig Futterman, Brittany Packnett, Garry McCarthy, Sean Smoot, Tracey Meares, and Moderator Peggy Davis
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The seminar brought together scholars, activists, and law enforcement to discuss and examine the roots of the problems with these relations in the aftermath of violence in communities such as Ferguson, MO and Baltimore, MD. Tracey Meares, Yale Law School Professor, Former ABF research professor, and a member of the Presidential Commission on Twenty-First Century Policing, anchored the program with a research presentation, and Peggy Davis, Chief Officer of Programs and Strategic Integration at the Chicago Community Trust, served as the Moderator. The panel also included Craig Futterman, Garry McCarthy, Brittany Packnett, and Sean Smoot, and offered a discussion from a variety of different perspectives from police officials, to community activists, and academics who litigate cases of alleged police misconduct.
Please visit our multi-media webpage of the CLE for pictures, more information about the panelists, and to listen to a full audio recording of the program!
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American Bar Endowment presented Grant to the ABF
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| | Martha Barnett, Life Fellow and American Bar Endowment President, and Renee Leskiw, American Bar Endowment Executive Director, presenting the ABF with a grant |
A special thank you to the American Bar Endowment (ABE)! This summer at the Fellows Business Breakfast at the ABA Annual Meeting , the ABE presented the ABF with a grant for $3,338,594.00! This grant will provide vital annual funding of research and programming to the American Bar Foundation. The check was officially presented at the meeting of the ABA House of Delegates during the American Bar Association Annual Meeting on August 4, 2015. The ABF is grateful to the Endowment for their generosity and support in making our work possible!
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Life Leadership Fellows
We would like to thank our Life Leadership Fellows for their generosity and dedication to support the work of the American Bar Foundation! Life Leadership Fellows, our highest giving society, are Life Fellows who have contributed an aggregate of $25,000.
Jacqueline Allee, Coral Gables, FL
Mortimer M. Caplin, Washington, DC
David A. Collins, Beverly Hills, MI
John J. Creedon, Larchmont, NY
Ellen J. Flannery, Washington, DC
David S. Houghton, Omaha, NE
Robert MacCrate, New York, NY
William H. Neukom, Seattle, WA
Wm. T. Robinson III, Florence, KY
David K.Y. Tang, Seattle WA
William F. Womble, Winston Salem, NC
To learn more about Life Leadership Fellows and our other Life Fellow Giving Societies, click here. |
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Welcome to the New Members in our Life Fellow Giving Societies
Welcome to the newest members of our Life Patron and
Life Benefactor Fellow Giving Societies since June 29, 2015! We greatly appreciate their continued support and contributions to the Foundation.
Life Benefactor Fellows
Contributed an aggregate of $10,000
Miriam Shearing, Las Vegas, NV
Life Patron Fellows
Contributed an aggregate of $5,000
K.A. Day, Jacksonville, FL
Carmine A. Rubino, New York, NY
We would also like to thank our recent Sustaining Life Fellows for their support and continued generosity! Sustaining Life Fellows are Life Fellows who contribute a minimum of $250 annually. To view a list of new Sustaining Life Fellows since June 29, 2015, please click here.
We also want to welcome our newest Life Fellows. Life Fellows are Fellows who have completed their initial Fellows pledge. We truly appreciate their generous support! To view a list of new Life Fellows since June 29, 2015, please click here.
For a complete list of all Life Fellow Giving Society Members, please click here!
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Welcome New Fellows!
Please join us in welcoming the newest members of The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation! For a complete list of new Fellows inducted since June 29, 2015 please click here.
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