The American Bar Foundation (ABF) welcomes Seattle-based litigator Mason Ji to its Board of Directors following his election at the ABA Annual Meeting in Toronto in August 2025. Ji will serve through 2030 and fills a board seat earmarked for a Fellow under the age of 36 at the time of joining the Board.
Ji is an accomplished litigator at Perkins Coie, where he is widely recognized for navigating high-stakes commercial litigation and complex cross-border regulatory and trade matters. Drawing on his international relations expertise, he regularly advises clients on international dispute resolution and national security issues. Bilingual in English and Chinese, Ji leverages his language skills and cultural insight to assist clients with China-related matters and also serves as a lecturer on international law at the University of Washington School of Law.
Ji has also previously served as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, where he negotiated treaties on nuclear disarmament, climate change, and human rights, and as a White House Ambassador for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Board President Sandra Chan commented, “Mason Ji’s combination of global perspective, legal experience, and public service background is exactly the type of leadership the ABF values. At a time of rapid change and complex challenges, his perspective will be a tremendous asset.”
Ji himself said, “Research on the law, legal processes, and legal institutions is vital—and more important than ever. I am honored to serve on the ABF Board of Directors to advance this critical mission.”
Joining Ji are three new Ex Officio Board Members:
Zachary Clopton, Interim Dean of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, is a leading scholar of civil procedure, complex litigation, and transnational legal systems. His work explores how federal and state courts can respond to global disputes, and he is widely published on the role of litigation in shaping public policy.
ABA President-Elect Barbara J. Howard, a Cincinnati-based family law attorney and mediator, has decades of leadership at both state and national levels. A past president of the Ohio State Bar Association, she has also chaired the ABA Standing Committee on Membership and is a frequent lecturer on family law and professional ethics.
Howard T. Wall III, Chair of the ABA Fund for Justice and Education, is Senior Counsel at Epstein Becker Green and has more than four decades of experience advising healthcare providers, academic medical centers, and health systems. A former health system executive, he brings both legal and operational insight to issues of governance, compliance, and strategy.
September also brings a new slate of Fellows Officers, who will serve as Board Members in an ex officio capacity.
ABF Interim Executive Director Bryant Garth remarked, “We are thrilled to welcome Mason Ji and our new Ex Officio members to the ABF Board of Directors. Their combined experience, leadership, and perspective position the Board exceptionally well to advance the ABF’s mission and deepen the impact of our research.”
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About the American Bar Foundation
The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is the world’s leading research institute for the empirical and interdisciplinary study of law. The ABF seeks to expand knowledge and advance justice through innovative, interdisciplinary, and rigorous empirical research on law, legal processes, and legal institutions. To further this mission the ABF will produce timely, cutting-edge research of the highest quality to inform and guide the legal profession, the academy, and society in the United States and internationally. The ABF’s primary funding is provided by the American Bar Endowment and the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation.