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The American Bar Foundation Receives $3.2 Million Grant from the American Bar Endowment

September 4, 2019, Press releases

CHICAGO, Sept. 5, 2019 — The American Bar Endowment (ABE) has awarded a $3.2 million grant to the American Bar Foundation (ABF), which will be used to support the ABF’s mission to expand knowledge and advance justice by understanding and improving law through interdisciplinary and empirical research.

ABF President David S. Houghton is presented with a check by ABE board members Lucian Pera and Gene Vance during the ABA Annual Meeting on August 12, 2019.

"The ABE's annual grant is critical to the advancement of our innovative and influential research,” said ABF Executive Director Ajay K. Mehrotra. “We are incredibly grateful to the ABE for their longstanding and ongoing support."

 The ABF has received annual grants from the ABE since its founding in 1952. Over more than 65 years, the ABE has awarded over $280 million to the ABF and the ABA Fund for Justice and Education. The $3.2 million will support the ABF’s research projects during the 2019-20 fiscal year.

In the past year, the ABF celebrated the release of two books by ABF Research Professors. Professor Susan Shapiro explored surrogate decision making at the end of life in Speaking for the Dying: Life-and-Death Decisions in Intensive Care, and Professor Tom Ginsburg examined legal defenses against democratic decline in How to Save a Constitutional Democracy.                                                          

Other recent research has examined the, access to justice, science and the legal system, an analysis of workplace discrimination law, and a legal history of the sit-in movement.

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. Through the ABE, ABA members can donate dividends to help fund over 200 legal research and public service projects. Over 80 percent of ABE-insured members donate their available dividends annually.

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 is an independent, non-profit that seeks to expand knowledge and advance justice through innovative, interdisciplinary, and rigorous empirical research on law, legal processes, and legal institutions.  The ABF produces timely, cutting-edge research to inform and guide the legal profession, the academy, and society in the United States and worldwide. 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 Debby Hernandez

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