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Fellows of the American Bar Foundation Will Present CLE Program on the ‘After the JD’ Study of Lawyer Careers

February 21, 2014, Press releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:              Kathryn Harris

E-mail:            kharris@abfn.org

Phone:             312.988.6515

Fax:                  312.988.6579

Online:             www.americanbarfoundation.org

Twitter:           @ABFResearch 

ABF Research Team will present early results from latest wave of study at ABA Midyear meeting in February

CHICAGO, January 21, 2014 – The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation will host a CLE program in which experts from the worlds of practice and legal education will discuss the implications of the results of the ABF’s seminal ‘After the JD’ longitudinal study of lawyers’ careers.

The AJD research team, led by ABF Director and co-principal investigator Robert L. Nelson, will present the research seminar, “A Profession in Crisis? New Results from the After the JD Study of Lawyer Careers,” on Saturday, February 8 from 2:00pm – 4:30pm at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. The research seminar is one of several events being hosted by The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation during the Midyear Meeting of the American Bar Association.  

The panel will be moderated by Kathleen J. Hopkins, Seattle, WA, Chair-Elect of The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation. Participating on the panel will be Daniel B. Rodriguez, Dean and Harold Washington Professor, Northwestern University Law School, Tommy D. Preston, Jr., Columbia, South Carolina, and other practitioner-leaders.

The After the JD Study has been following a national sample of lawyers who passed the bar in the year 2000, interviewing participants in 2003, 2007, and 2012. The panel presents some of the first results from the 2012 survey, including data on respondents’ life course in 12 years into their careers, whether they are still satisfied with their decision to become a lawyer, and whether women and minorities are achieving professional success and satisfaction at the same rate as their peers.

“After the JD is a unique study of lawyer careers and offers important insights into current debates about the future of legal education, the fate of diversity in legal profession, and the career satisfaction of lawyers,” said Robert Nelson. He continued, “The systematic data provided by this study may provide important corrections to inaccurate claims based on anecdotal reporting.”

Results will be presented by the AJD research team, including David Wilkins, Vice Dean, Global Initiatives on the Legal Profession, Director, Program on the Legal Profession, Lester Kissel Professor of Law at Harvard Law School; Bryant Garth, ABF Director Emeritus and Chancellor’s Professor of Law at the School of Law at University of California at Irvine; Joyce Sterling, Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver;  Ronit Dinovitzer, ABF Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor of Sociology at University  of Toronto;  Gabriele Plickert, ABF Research Social Scientist; and Robert L. Nelson, ABF Director and MacCrate Research Chair in the Legal Profession, and Professor of Sociology and Law, Northwestern University. The AJD study has been supported in grants from the NALP Foundation and the National Science Foundation.

This CLE program is free for anyone registered for the ABA Midyear Meeting.

Event details:

WHAT: Fellows CLE Research Seminar: “A Profession in Crisis? New Results from the ‘After the JD’ Study of Lawyer Careers”

WHEN: Saturday, February 8, 2:00pm – 4:30pm

WHERE: Hyatt Regency Chicago, Columbus Hall EF, Gold Level, East Tower,151 E. Upper Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60601

For event information contact fellows@abfn.org or call 800-292-5065.

The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation is an honorary organization of lawyers, judges, and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of their communities and to the highest principles of the legal profession.

 The American Bar Foundation is the nation's leading research institute for the empirical study of law. An independent, nonprofit organization for more than 60 years, ABF seeks to advance the understanding and improvement of law through research projects of unmatched scale and quality on the most pressing issues facing the legal system in the United States and the world. The ABF’s primary funding is provided by the American Bar Endowment.

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