American Bar Foundation

Knowledge powers the pursuit of justice.

News

The American Bar Foundation Welcomes Patty A. Ferguson-Bohnee and Judge Peter M. Reyes, Jr. To its Board of Directors

September 15, 2023

The American Bar Foundation (ABF) has elected two new board members to its Board of Directors. Patty A. Ferguson–Bohnee and the… Read More

We conduct research that explores the intersection of
law and society—to expand knowledge and advance justice.

Our groundbreaking research is used to:

Spark conversationsabout the world's

most pressing issues

Shape law and policyby informing lawmakers, 

practitioners, and the judiciary

Influence societiesin the U.S. and 

across the world

Featured Research

Articles

The Role of States in U.S. Immigration: A Study of Population Dynamics and Subnational Immigration Laws

Anadon explores state-level omnibus immigration laws in the U.S. to uncover the effects on undocumented, foreign-born, and Hispanic/Latino populations. Read More

Isabel Anadon

In the News

News

The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation Select the 2023-24 Fellows Officers

September 15, 2023

The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation (ABF) have selected their new Fellows Officers for the 2023-24 fiscal year. Laura V. Farber (left) and Jennifer L. Parent (right) The Fellows of the ABF is an honorary organization of attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars whose… Read More

News

The ABF Welcomes the 2023-24 Cohort of Visiting Scholars

August 1, 2023

The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is pleased to welcome the 2023-24 Visiting Scholars cohort to the ABF research community. This year’s scholars are Leslie Abramson, Michelle Brown (University of Tennessee), Daniel L. Chen (Toulouse School of Economics), Kate Masur (Northwestern University), and Willa Sachs (Yale University). … Read More

News

The ABF Welcomes the 2023 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows

May 23, 2023

The American Bar Foundation (ABF) has chosen five outstanding undergraduate scholars to take part in the 2023 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship… Read More

Featured Researcher

Sonya Rao

ABF/ National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Law and Inequality

Sonya Rao is a linguistic and legal anthropologist who examines working conditions in multilingual legal spaces. At the ABF, she is investigating the current state of training to communicate across languages in clinical legal education. In this feature, Rao discusses inadequate language services in legal settings, the unequal distribution of work among bilingual law students in legal clinics, and proposes ways to improve collaboration between legal and language professionals.