@abfresearch.bsky.social
The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is a sociolegal research institute. We conduct rigorous, empirical research that explores the intersection of law and society—creating insights that underpin today’s most pressing issues.
This Wed., 10/8, ABF Speaker Series will be led by ABF/AccessLex Institute Postdoctoral Fellow in Legal and Higher Education, Ellie Frazier—on, "Pathways to Justice Work: Nonlawyer Educational Choices, Identities, and Professionalization in the U.S."
🔗: www.americanbarfoundation.org/event/speake...
We are pleased to announce that we are now accepting applications for the 2026 cohort of Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows!
Open to current college sophomores and juniors, applications will be open until January 16, 2026.
Learn more!
🔗: american-bar-foundation.breezy.hr/p/cf1b8602f9...
On Law Next: "Justice Workers — Reimagining Access to Justice as Democracy Work"
The ABF's Rebecca L. Sandefur & Matthew Burnett argue that the justice gap is a "crisis of democracy," and that trained community justice workers may hold the solution.
🎙️ Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eofZ...
Next Wed., 10/1, ABF Speaker Series will be led by ABF/LSA Doctoral Fellow in Law & Inequality Christopher Robertson, and ABF/AccessLex Institute Doctoral Fellow in Legal & Higher Education Jane Y. Jeong.
🔗: www.americanbarfoundation.org/event/speake...
In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, ABF Research Prof. and @uchicagolaw.bsky.social's @tomginsburg.bsky.social urges universities to do more than stay neutral — they must actively promote First Amendment principles and ideological diversity.
Read more from: @usatoday.com
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Next Wed., 9/24, ABF Speaker Series will be led by @gabrielwinant.bsky.social, Associate Professor of History at the University of Chicago. Winant will discuss the "brittleness of the institutions of the welfare state constructed during the New Deal."
🔗: www.americanbarfoundation.org/event/speake...
ABF Research Professor @tomginsburg.bsky.social and @thefireorg.bsky.social's @sarahemclaugh.bsky.social will discuss the "Constitutionality of government restraints on higher education in the US." Don't miss out!
17.09.2025 14:43 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Constitution Day! Join the Illinois Conference of the American Association of University Professors, @projectcensored.bsky.social, and the Park Center for Independent Media for a free webinar on academic freedom and the higher ed. crisis — Today from 3-4pm CT.
🔗: www.facebook.com/events/19165...
Tomorrow, 9/16, our ABF Speaker Series is led by Prof. of Sociology and Co-Dir. of the Appalachian Justice Research Center @profmichellebrown.bsky.social. Brown will discuss tribal sovereignty amidst carceral expansion and raises key questions about sovereignty granted by the settler state.
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ABF Faculty Fellow Rebecca Sandefur and Director of Research and Programs Matthew Burnett discuss resolutions made by the Conference of Chief Justices, Conference of State Court Administrators, and ABA––for studying and implementing community justice worker programs.
www.law360.com/articles/238...
This Wed., 9/16, the ABF Speaker Series returns with Zhandarka Kurti, Assistant Prof. of Criminal Justice and Criminology at @loyolachicago.bsky.social and Jarrod Shanahan, Associate Prof. of Criminal Justice at Governors State University.
🔗 www.americanbarfoundation.org/event/speake...
The ABF welcomes seven Visiting Scholars to our 2025–26 cohort: Portia Jin Xiong, Rashmee Singh, William Darwall, Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Joachim Savelsberg, Kasey Henricks, and Katheryn Birks Harvey.
www.americanbarfoundation.org/the-abf-anno...
The ABF welcomes @swethaa.bsky.social as the 2025–26 William H. Neukom Fellows Research Chair in Diversity and Law. Ballakrishnen previously served as an AccessLex Visiting Scholar on Legal Education at the ABF, from 2017 to 2018.
Learn more:
www.americanbarfoundation.org/the-abf-welc...
“Law, Anthropology, and Their Languages,” a new article by ABF Research Prof. Elizabeth Mertz and Faculty Fellow Justin Richland, uses linguistic anthropology and outsider scholarship to explore the discourses of law and anthropology.
Read more:
www.americanbarfoundation.org/wp-content/u...
Check out this week’s episode of The Lawyerist Podcast, in which host Zack Glaser speaks with ABF Faculty Fellow Rebecca L. Sandefur and Dir. of Research and Programs Matthew Burnett about their research on community justice workers.
Watch here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7siI...
The ABF announces the 2025-26 doctoral and postdoctoral fellows. The ABF’s incoming doc fellows are Anna Fox, Jane Y. Jeong, Christopher E. Robertson, and Kris Rosentel.
The ABF’s postdoc fellows are Ellie Frazier and Grigory Gorbun.
Learn more:
www.americanbarfoundation.org/the-american...
Join the ABF's Access to Justice Research Initiative and FGV Law School São Paulo: Monday, August 25, 7:20 AM–3:30 PM CT for "Envisioning a People-Centered Justice Research and Data Agenda for Latin America"— a one-day conference available via livestream.
☑️ RSVP for livestream:
lnkd.in/dyWTZAYR
Thank you to all who joined us in Toronto! The Fellows of the ABF hosted several memorable events during the @americanbar.org's #ABAAnnual — from the CLE Program: "Safeguarding Democracy" to the Fellows Business Breakfast.
We look forward to next year's #ABAMidyear in San Antonio Texas!
“We want our students to be prepared to succeed professionally in the intersecting space of AI and the law, which is only going to keep growing,” says ABF Research Prof. and chair of @uchicagolaw.bsky.social's AI Committee, @williamhjhubbard.bsky.social—on the school's new AI Lab coming this fall.
13.08.2025 16:40 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Deborah Enix-Ross, ABA Past President and Senior Adviser to the International Dispute Resolution Group of Debevoise & Plimpton, closes the Fellows CLE at ABA Annual 2025 in Toronto.
Concluding the panel, Deborah Enix-Ross urges the audience, “It’s important for us to pull together on this fundamental aspect of the legal profession. . . . to consider the things we, in the profession, can—and should—be doing now.” #ABAAnnual @americanbar.org
08.08.2025 14:01 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
David Driesen, author of Specter of Dictatorship (Syracuse University Press), discusses how presidentialism threatens our democracy and what to do about it at the Fellows CLE Program at the ABA Annual Meeting in Toronto on August 8, 2025.
Huq and past ABA President Deborah Enix-Ross are joined by @syracuselaw.bsky.social's David Driesen, who argues an insufficiently constrained presidency is one of the biggest systemic threats to democracy. Driesen urges the US to learn from the mistakes of Hungary, Poland, and Turkey. #ABAAnnual
08.08.2025 13:24 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Fellows CLE Program at ABA Annual Meeting 2025, “Safeguarding Democracy, a panel moderated by Deborah Enix-Ross, Senior Advisor to the International Dispute Resolution Group of Debevoise & Plimpton and the Past President of the American Bar Association and including Aziz Z. Huq, ABF Collaborating Scholar and Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law at The University of Chicago Law School and David M. Driesen, University Professor at the College of Law, Syracuse University
“Looking across backsliding democracies, you see a distinctive pattern in which law is deployed as an instrument to unravel democratic institutions.”
At the Fellows CLE at #ABAAnnual, ABF Affil. Scholar Aziz Huq opens a talk on evolving tactics and efforts to defend rule of law. @americanbar.org
Welcome, ABF Fellows, to #ABAAnnual in Toronto!
Visit Fellows registration for ribbons and details on the weekend line-up, from a CLE w/ ABF Affil. Scholar Aziz Huq and @daviddriesen.bsky.social to an Oscar-worthy opening reception. 🎬 @americanbar.org www.americanbarfoundation.org/event/fellow...
"This kind of agreement ends the Northwestern that so many people in Chicago land are so proud of." ABF Research Professor @lbthatsme.bsky.social in a recent @abc7chicago.bsky.social article on a potential deal with the Trump Administration.
Read more:
abc7chicago.com/post/northwe...
A new article by ABF Director of Research and Programs Matthew Burnett and Faculty Fellow Rebecca L. Sandefur explores—"the role of access to justice in building and enlivening democracy through a critical mechanism to demonopolize and democratize the law: justice workers."
Learn more:
“It really is a peculiar feature that these two federal judges are striking down the will of the people as well as the will of the California legislature,” says ABF Affiliated Research Prof. John Donohue — @cbsnews.com discussing California’s recently struck ammo background check law.
Read more:
The American Bar Foundation has announced the reappointment of ABF Affiliated Research Professor and University of California-Irvine School of Law Distinguished Professor Emeritus Bryant Garth as Interim Executive Director, effective September 2, 2025.
Learn more:
"Like a delicate hand-blown sculpture, “rule of law” is valued for its artistry, but we now know it requires a high level of care and protection if we want it to survive." Former ABF Board Member Paula Boggs writes in a new @bloomberglaw.com article.
Read more:
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...
"We’ve lost a lion for justice.”
The American Bar Foundation is deeply saddened to share news of the passing of William H. “Bill” Neukom, esteemed Philanthropist Fellow, former ABF Board Member, and tireless advocate for the rule of law.
www.americanbarfoundation.org/william-h-ne...
"Our democratic survival requires that the presidency be brought back under the system of checks and balances that the Founders envisaged. They would ask no less of us." ABF Research Prof. @tomginsburg.bsky.social examines the dangers of “Hyper-Presidency” in a new piece for Persuasion.
Read more:
