Ajay K. Mehrotra Stepping Down as ABF Executive Director

CHICAGO, Sept. 16, 2021 – The American Bar Foundation (ABF) has announced that Ajay K. Mehrotra has decided to step down from his position as Executive Director, effective August 31, 2022. After stepping down, Mehrotra will remain with the ABF in his position as Research Professor and will continue to teach at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.  

Mehrotra has served as Executive Director since 2015 and has guided the ABF to success through challenging times, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Mehrotra has led the ABF in hiring five Research Professors and appointing six visiting Neukom Chairs. He has championed innovative, forward-looking projects and programs, such as Portrait Project 2.0: Asian Americans in the Legal Profession, the endowment supporting the William C. Hubbard Law & Education Conferences, and the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Endowed Fund for Civil Rights and Gender Equality.

Under Mehrotra’s leadership, the ABF saw support from the American Bar Endowment increase steadily. During his tenure, the ABF had record-breaking years in third-party grant funding, nurturing strong relationships with the National Science Foundation and AccessLex while seeking new giving streams from organizations such as The JPB Foundation. He also helped sustain Fellows giving, which led to $2.3million in donations in the past year alone. “Ajay Mehrotra has been an energetic and inspired leader for the American Bar Foundation,” said ABF Board President Tom Sullivan. “We are immensely grateful for his wisdom, vision, and outstanding leadership at the helm of the ABF, and we are delighted that he will stay with the ABF as Research Professor.” 

A national search is currently underway for a new ABF Executive Director. The posting is available here.  

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.