Speaker Series: Deepa Das Acevedo - ABF As academia increasingly comes under attack in the United States, The War on Tenure steps in to demystify what professors do and to explain the importance of tenure for their work.

This Wed., 4/22, legal anthropologist and associate professor of law at Emory University Deepa Das Acevedo will lead the ABF Speaker Series on "The War on Tenure." Acevedo examines tenure-stream academia to reveal hidden dynamics and obstacles.

🔗: www.americanbarfoundation.org/event/speake...

William H. J. Hubbard Explores Markets and Technology to Promote Access to Justice - ABF Can market forces can be used to make civil justice systems work more fairly and efficiently, asks William H. J. Hubbard?

Nearly a century of accumulated civil procedural rules—however well-intentioned—has produced mounting costs, delays, and complexity. ABF Research Prof. and Deputy Dean of the University of Chicago Law School, William Hubbard calls this the "paradox of procedure."

Watch the new ABF video:

This Wed., 4/1, Assistant. Prof. of Anthropology Soledad Álvarez Velasco, of The University of Illinois Chicago will lead ABF Speaker Series on "Inhabiting Transit: Migrant Struggles from Global South America to the U.S. and Back Again."

🔗: www.americanbarfoundation.org/event/speake...

In a new episode of the NLR podcast, Professor Shauhin Talesh discusses his new book, Insuring Cyberinsecurity: Insurance Companies as Symbolic Regulators. Talesh is a Professor of Law and Professor of Sociology and Criminology at @ucirvinelaw.bsky.social.

🔗: newlegalrealism.org/2026/03/02/a...

Why the Access to Justice Field Needs Better Theories of Change We have promising ideas about how to serve more people, in better ways. We just don’t know how to make these ideas stick and scale.

"The access to justice field has no shortage of good ideas—and yet, the justice gap persists." ABF Affiliated Scholar Margaret Hagan interviewed eleven civil justice professionals, to better identify theories of change that might become a reality.

Read more:
medium.com/legal-design...

Law and Social Inquiry - American Bar Foundation - ABF The ABF sponsors Law & Social Inquiry (LSI), a publication of original research that analyze law, legal institutions, and the legal profession.

📢 The 2026 Law & Social Inquiry Graduate Student Paper Competition is open!

Graduate and law students (or faculty on their behalf) may submit a journal-length paper for the LSI Graduate Student Paper Competition by April 11 for a chance to be published and win $500.

Learn More:

Citi’s security unit was meant to probe misconduct. Employees say it protected the bank instead Internal team staffed by ex-law enforcement ‘operates as HR’s internal hit squad’, former executive says

In a recent @financialtimes.com article, ABF Research Professor @lbthatsme.bsky.social described Citi’s approach as "an extreme example" of how corporations use internal investigations to protect themselves.

Read More: www.ft.com/content/dddf...

Justice for All: Tackling Legal Barriers of Poverty Podcast Episode · Oklahoma Justice Exchange · January 28 · 33m

The ABF's Rebecca Sandefur is featured in the first episode of the Oklahoma Justice Exchange, a podcast from the Oklahoma Access to Justice Foundation.

Sandefur joins a conversation on legal barriers faced by people living in poverty in the US.

Listen Here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/j...

Speaker Series: Natasha Strassfeld - ABF This talk will offer a comprehensive overview of the laws that govern service delivery to juvenile youth within the juvenile legal system, while also exploring the limitations of these established…

This Wednesday, 3/11, Associate Prof. Natasha Strassfeld, of The University of Texas at Austin will lead ABF Speaker Series on "Special Education and the Juvenile Legal System: Connecting Policy, Research, and Practice to Address the School-to-Prison Pipeline."

Speaker Series: Atinuke Adediran - ABF In 2020, when it was economically beneficial to do so, companies proclaimed the importance of equity and diversity. But as Fordham Law Professor Atinuke Adediran shows in her book DISCLOSURELAND: How…

Tomorrow, 3/4, Law Professor Atinuke Adediran, Fordham School of Law, will lead the ABF Speaker Series on “Disclosureland: How Corporate Words Constrain Racial Progress." Adediran examines why companies have softened or eliminated promises of equity and diversity.
🔗:

ABF Fellows CLE Explores Past and Future of SCOTUS - ABF A recent ABF Fellows CLE sought to explore the Court’s position as both a provoker of controversy and a protector of democracy.

A recent ABF Fellows CLE program sought to explore the Supreme Court’s complicated position as both a provoker of controversy and a protector of democracy, and to consider where this moment fits into the Court’s history.

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“The Joy in Learning Together” ft. the Global Faculty Initiative’s Terence C. Halliday’s I S3 Ep.23 YouTube video by Christian Scholar's Review

ABF Research Professor Emeritus Terence C. Halliday was recently featured on the podcast "Saturdays at Seven," discussing the opportunities that led to the creation of the Global Faculty Initiative (GFI).

🔗: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tfB...

Speaker Series: Jill Horwitz - ABF Recent crises—the pandemic, natural disasters, and political targeting—have caused enormous suffering, sparing no one, including charities. Even over the past few years, they have faced extreme…

Tomorrow, 2/18, Law and Emergency Medicine professor, @jillh.bsky.social of Northwestern University, will lead the ABF Speaker Series on “Is the Endowment for Us?” Horwitz discusses legal restrictions of endowment funds for charities during a crisis.

🔗: www.americanbarfoundation.org/event/speake...

Speaker Series: katrina quisumbing king - ABF In 1898 the United States became a formal overseas empire and claimed sovereignty over the Philippine islands, justifying its rule in explicitly racial terms. Less than fifty years later, in 1946…

This Wednesday, 2/11, Assistant Professor Katrina Quisumbing King, of Northwestern University will lead the ABF Speaker Series on "Enduring Empire: U.S. Statecraft and Race-Making in the Philippines."

🔗: www.americanbarfoundation.org/event/speake...

Fellows Events at the 2026 Midyear Meeting in San Antonio - ABF A $30 registration fee is required and helps cover administrative costs associated with the Midyear Meeting Early registration: Tickets are discounted through January 16 ABF Fellows On-Site…

Congrats to the 2026 Fellows of the American Bar Foundation Award recipients! 🎉 Rachel Moran (Outstanding Scholar); Stephen Bain and Joi Kush (Outstanding State Chairs); and William C. Hubbard (Outstanding Service) will be honored tonight at the Fellows Awards Reception at #ABAMidyear San Antonio!

Read more of Schmidt's work on how the Supreme Court—once a relatively quiet institution operating far from public view—has come to command daily headlines and intense public scrutiny in this recent issue of ABF's newsletter, Researching Law: www.americanbarfoundation.org/wp-content/u... #ABAMidyear

Happening today! 📅 If you’re at #ABAMidyear in San Antonio, a reminder to join us 2:00 PM for this year's Fellows CLE w/ ABF Research Prof. Christopher Schmidt, Mario Barnes of @ucirvinelaw.bsky.social, and Paul Smith of @campaignlegal.org on "The Supreme Court and the Second Trump Administration."

Speaker Series: Stephanie Holmes Didwania - ABF Asset forfeiture laws allow law enforcement agencies to permanently take property that is thought to be connected to criminal activity. Every year, federal and state governments acquire billions of…

Tomorrow, 1/28, Stephanie Holmes Didwania of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, will lead the ABF Speaker Series on, "Perceived Fairness and Excess in Asset Forfeiture."
Discussing asset forfeiture laws and public perception.
🔗: www.americanbarfoundation.org/event/speake...

Speaker Series: Jessica Greenberg - ABF This talk draws from Greenberg’s recent ethnographic monograph: Justice in the Balance: Democracy, Rule of Law and the European Court of Human Rights. Greenberg will discuss the practices…

Tomorrow, 1/21, Jessica Greenberg of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, will lead the ABF Speaker Series on, "What is the Rule of Law and Can it be saved: Lessons from the European Court of Human Rights"

🔗: www.americanbarfoundation.org/event/speake...

Congratulations to Mariano-Florentino who will return to Stanford University to serve as CASBS director.

Florentino served on the ABF Board of Directors from 2013 to 2015, before which he was a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow in 1992.

One week left to apply!

Applications are closing soon for the 2026 ABF Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows program. Open to current sophomores & juniors interested in sociolegal research.

📍 Chicago (hybrid) | June 8 – July 31, 2026
35 hrs/week | $6,000 stipend

🗓 Deadline: Jan. 16, 2026

African Film Institute: Amelia Umuhire, Natacha Nsabimana, and Christian Nyampeta YouTube video by e-flux Videos

Listen in on ABF Research Prof. Natacha Nsabimana's conversation with Rwandan filmmaker Amelia Umuhire on a new episode of the @eflux.bsky.social podcast. Highlighting two works by Umuhire.

Listen here
🔗: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x-Y...

Thank you to NAPABA for welcoming ABF to its 2025 convention, where we hosted a reception for Portrait Project 2.0 w/ remarks by ABF Research Prof. Ajay Mehrotra and Hon. Goodwin Liu on why Asian Americans remain underrepresented in the legal profession.
www.americanbarfoundation.org/projects/por...

What to read and watch over winter break 2025 Add these picks from UChicago award winners to your list

"The film’s feminist themes, which include misogyny in the criminal legal system and reproductive autonomy, are remarkably nuanced and compassionate, especially for its time."

ABF Doctoral Fellow Anna Fox on what to watch over the 2025 winter break.

🔗: news.uchicago.edu/story/what-r...

Global Reflections on Positionality in Rural Access to Justice Research This book offers a unique look at rural access to justice through a series of personal and professional reflections by leading scholars in the field. Engaging a…

"Global Reflections on Positionality in Rural Access to Justice Research" — edited by ABF Affiliated Scholar Michele Statz — examines rural access to justice through reflections from leading scholars, including several ABF Research Professors.

🔗: www.bloomsbury.com/us/global-re...

What Northwestern accepted from the Trump administration to get back $790M in research funds Northwestern’s president argues that the school didn’t cross any “red lines” in an agreement that closed multiple federal investigations and terminated a deal with students to end a pro-Palestinian en...

ABF Research Prof. @lbthatsme.bsky.social offers insight on what Northwestern's regained $790M in research funds from the Trump administration might mean — raising concerns about academic freedom and institutional independence.

🔗: www.nprillinois.org/education-de...

Speaker Series: Jose Atiles - ABF Crisis by Design offers an interdisciplinary sociolegal analysis of the role of law, emergency powers, and anticorruption mobilizations in Puerto Rico’s ongoing multilayered crisis.

Tomorrow, 12/3, @joseatiles.bsky.social, of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, will lead the ABF Speaker Series on "Crisis by Design: Emergency Powers and Colonial Legality in Puerto Rico."

🔗: www.americanbarfoundation.org/event/speake...

Speaker Series: Gino Pauselli - ABF How does institutional design affect non-state actors’ preferences for international organizations (IOs)? We develop a theory of strategic forum shopping, where non-state actors choose the most…

This Wednesday, 11/19, Assistant Professor @ginopauselli.bsky.social, of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, will lead the ABF Speaker Series on "Finding the Right Forum: Non-State Actor Engagement in International Organizations."

🔗: www.americanbarfoundation.org/event/speake...

Speaker Series: Shauhin Talesh - ABF Despite the massive costs associated with data breaches, ransomware, viruses, and cyberattacks, most organizations remain thoroughly unprepared to safeguard consumer data. Over the past two decades…

On Wednesday, 11/12, @ucirvinelaw.bsky.social Prof. Shauhin Talesh will lead the ABF Speaker Series on 'Insuring Cyberinsecurity: Insurance Companies as Symbolic Regulators.'

November 12 at 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm CST

🔗: www.americanbarfoundation.org/event/speake...

🚨In a new @entitledpodcast.bsky.social, ABF Research Prof. @tomginsburg.bsky.social discusses how sanctions are being used and abused by the Trump administration, and how other UN members are responding to the sanctioning of their colleagues for speaking out.