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The ABF Receives over $3.5 Million Grant from the American Bar Endowment

September 21, 2018, Press releases

CHICAGO, September 21, 2018  The American Bar Endowment (ABE) has awarded a grant of over $3.5 million to the American Bar Foundation (ABF), one of the world’s leading research institutes for the empirical and interdisciplinary study of law. The grant will support the ABF’s acclaimed interdisciplinary empirical research that advances justice through the examination of urgent questions on law and society.

Pictured on Aug. 6, 2018 (left to right): incoming President of the ABF Board of Directors, David S. Houghton; ABF Executive Director, Ajay Mehrotra; Member of the ABE Board of Directors, Jonathan Cole; and ABE President, J. Anthony "Tony" Patterson, Jr. hold a check for $3.5 million from the ABE to the ABF. 

“As the nation's leading independent research institute for the empirical study of law, the American Bar Foundation advances justice and increases the understanding of the law through research projects focused on the most pressing legal issues in the U.S. and the world," said Ajay Mehrotra, Executive Director of the ABF. "The ABE's annual grant is critical to the advancement of our research, and we are incredibly grateful to them and their generous members for their ongoing support."

The ABE is a not-for-profit corporate public charity that sponsors high quality, affordable life and disability insurance for American Bar Association (ABA) members. The ABE’s mission is to generate funds for the support of law-related research, educational, and public service projects through its insurance program and other programs that encourage charitable giving. 

The ABF has received annual grants from the ABE since its founding in 1952. The ABF’s current research projects include a joint initiative with the ABA to better understand the unique career dynamics facing women in the legal field, a long-term, empirical study of career satisfaction and occupational mobility in the legal profession, an initiative to promote opportunity and mobility through law and policy within the U.S. Latino population, an evaluation of access to justice and civil legal needs, and an assessment of the effects of parental incarceration on children. Over the past 60 years, the ABE has granted over $275 million to the ABF and the ABA Fund for Justice and Education.

About the American Bar Foundation

The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is among the world’s leading research institutes 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.

 Please find a PDF of this press release here


Posted by Danielle Gensburg

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