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The American Bar Foundation Welcomes New Members to its Board of Directors

September 8, 2017, Press releases

The American Bar Foundation (ABF) announced the election and re-election of four members to its board of directors on Tuesday. Jennifer Chacón, a law professor from California, Michael H. Byowitz, an attorney from New York, Doreen D. Dodson, a retired attorney from Missouri, and Lauren K. Robel, a university provost from Indiana, have been elected or re-elected to five-year terms that end in August 2022.

Jennifer Chacón

Jennifer Chacón is a professor of law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. She teaches courses on criminal procedure, immigration law and policy, constitutional analysis, critical identity theory, and statutory analysis. Chacón’s research focuses on immigration law, constitutional law, criminal procedure and criminal law. She has written extensively in those fields and has been awarded prestigious research grants from the National Science Foundation and Russell Sage Foundation.

Michael H. Byowitz

Michael H. Byowitz is the Immediate Past Chair of the Fellows of the ABF. He is of counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (where he was partner for more than 30 years) specializing in antitrust and competition law. Byowitz advises multinational corporations on major domestic and international mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate takeovers. He has represented several major corporations before the U.S. Department of JusticeFederal Trade Commission, and states attorneys general in the United States. Byowitz has consulted on investigations by antitrust authorities around the world. He frequently speaks on antitrust law and compliance, and has written extensively on antitrust issues. 

Doreen D. Dodson

Doreen D. Dodson is recently retired from Polsinelli, where she counseled nonprofit and for-profit clients in developing policies, investigating complaints and employee misconduct, and discipline and termination matters. She also provided comprehensive immigration assistance, helping employers obtain and keep their foreign national employees. Dodson is a past chair of the Fellows of the ABF, and has received several distinctions including The Missouri Bar President's Award and the Missouri Lawyers’ Weekly Woman of the Year Award.

Lauren K. Robel

Lauren K. Robel was named provost of Indiana University Bloomington and executive vice president of Indiana University (IU) in 2012. She is also the Val Nolan Professor of Law at IU Maurer School of Law, where she served as dean from 2002 to 2011 and as associate dean from 1991 to 2002. In fall 2013, Robel initiated a strategic planning process aimed at reimagining and invigorating academic programs in anticipation of IU’s Bicentennial in 2020. In 2011, she oversaw the implementation of the New Academic Directions initiative, which led to formation of The Media School, the School of Informatics and Computing, School of Public Health, School of Global and International Studies, Integrated Program in the Environment, and the Office of Scholarly Publishing.


Please find a PDF of this press release here.

Posted by: Cheyenne Blount

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