The American Bar Foundation is pleased to welcome six Visiting Scholars to the ABF research community. The scholars of the 2026–27 cohort are: Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Kathryn Birks Harvey, Jennifer Carlson, Sharese King, Stephen Engel, and Nick Cheesman.
The ABF’s Visiting Scholar Program invites scholars from around the world to join the ABF’s intellectual community on a temporary basis. The program provides scholars on leave or sabbatical, as well as early-career scholars, with an opportunity to take advantage of the ABF’s diverse sociolegal community and excellent facilities. Scholars participate in community activities, including a weekly seminar that brings together researchers across the ABF. Former Visiting Scholars represent the wide range of areas of expertise, research approaches, academic backgrounds, and experiences which characterize participants in the program.
The scholars in this year’s cohort specialize in many areas of sociolegal scholarship. Their research has addressed personal injury law, gun regulation, linguistic bias in the legal system, LGBTQ+ legal mobilization, state violence, and more. The cohort includes scholars at all stages of their careers who have taught, studied, and researched at a wide variety of institutions.
Meet the ABF’s 2026–27 Visiting Scholars:
Winnifred Fallers Sullivan is a Visiting Scholar at the American Bar Foundation. She is the Provost Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. Sullivan is also an Affiliate Professor of Law Emeritus at Mauer School of Law, and the Former Director of the IU Center for Religion and the Human. Drawing on her academic training in both religious studies and the law, Sullivan’s research focuses on the phenomenology of religion under the modern rule of law, with particular focus on the intersection of religion and law in the US within a broader comparative field. Sullivan is in residence at the ABF from September 2026 to August 2027.Read more about Winnifred Fallers Sullivan here.
Kathryn Birks Harvey is a Visiting Scholar at the American Bar Foundation. She holds a PhD in History from Northwestern University and a JD from Vanderbilt Law School. Her dissertation traces the history of the personal injury bar in the twentieth century and how the advertising regulations placed on attorneys intersect with tort reform. Before she earned her PhD, Harvey practiced law for six years. Harvey is in residence at the ABF from September 2026 to August 2027. Read more about Katheryn Birks Harvey here.
Jennifer Carlson is a Professor of Sociology at Arizona State University and a 2022 MacArthur Fellow. She is also the Founding Director of ASU’s BRIDGS Initiative: Bringing Research and Innovation into the Debate on Guns in Society. Her research examines the politics of guns in American life, including gun ownership and regulation, the experiences of gun violence survivors and law enforcement, and the role of gun sellers and retailers. Her scholarship has appeared in leading sociology and law and society journals, including American Journal of Sociology and Law & Society Review. Carlson also contributes to public conversations about guns through outlets such as NPR, PBS, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. She is currently the principal investigator on a Russell Sage Foundation-funded project examining the American gun experience. Her current book project, under contract with Liveright/Norton, is entitled “Loaded Conversations: How We End the Gun Debate.” Carlson is in residence at the ABF from November 2026 to February 2027. Read more about Jennifer Carlson here.
Sharese King is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Chicago. She received her PhD in 2018 from Stanford University. Her previous research has drawn on phonetic, ethnographic, and experimental techniques to explore how African Americans’ speech is constructed and racialized and the implications for racialized voices within the judicial system in the US. King is an expert on various topics in the study of African American Language, including race and place, identity, and linguistic bias. King’s work has been published in venues such as American Speech, Journal of Sociolinguistics, Language, and Nature. King is in residence at the ABF from October 2026 through May 2027. Read more about Sharese King here.
Stephen M. Engel is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Politics at Bates College. His research and teaching focus on American political development, constitutional law, and social movements, particularly LGBTQ+ political and legal mobilization. His articles have appeared in leading journals, including Studies in American Political Development, Perspectives on Politics, Constitutional Studies, and Law & Social Inquiry. He is also the author or coauthor of four books, including, most recently, Disrupting Dignity: Rethinking Power and Progress in LGBTQ Lives (with coauthor Timothy Lyle, NYU Press). Engel’s research has been supported by grants and fellowships from institutions including the Bates Faculty Development Fund, the National Science Foundation, and the American Bar Foundation. Engel is in residence at the ABF from September 2026 to April 2027. Read more about Stephen M. Engel here.
Nick Cheesman is Associate Professor in the Department of Political and Social Change and Director of the Myanmar Research Centre at the Australian National University. His research focuses on the politics of law and policing in mainland Southeast Asia, particularly Myanmar, with an emphasis on the relationship between language, violence, and state power. He currently holds an Australian Research Council grant investigating the practices and contexts of torture in Myanmar and Thailand. Cheesman also hosts the podcast New Books in Interpretive Political and Social Science for the New Books Network. Cheesman was in residence at the ABF in June 2026. Read more about Nick Cheesman here.
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About the American Bar Foundation
The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is the world’s leading research institute 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