Stimulated by a generous lead investment from William H. Neukom, the American Bar Foundation (ABF) has established the William C. Hubbard Law & Education Conference Endowment. The endowment will fund conferences that recognize and disseminate innovative and significant scholarship on law and education.
“The ABF is deeply honored and excited to create this new conference endowment in recognition of William Hubbard and his enduring interest in law and education,” said ABF Executive Director Ajay K. Mehrotra. “The generous lead gift from William Neukom will help to shine a light on the critical role of education and law in a well-functioning democracy.”
The Hubbard Conference will bring together prominent scholars and practitioners to facilitate the dissemination of research and to stimulate new lines of inquiry. Because the ABF is committed to the broad proliferation of research findings, a law review or academic press will publish papers from the conference.
The first conference will focus on the topic of law, education, and democracy. It will be held in Columbia, South Carolina, at the University of South Carolina School of Law. Conferences will be held annually or every two years in locations that will vary depending upon partnership opportunities.
“We’re delighted to host the inaugural William C. Hubbard Law and Education Conference. It is the perfect way to honor one of our most exemplary alums,” said Robert M. Wilcox, dean of the University of South Carolina School of Law. “Throughout his career, William has worked tirelessly as an advocate for both education and the rule of law. It is appropriate that the inaugural Hubbard Conference will focus on those themes.”
The conferences supported by this endowment will honor Hubbard’s lifelong contribution to the legal profession and his enduring interest in law and education. Hubbard is an ABF Leadership Fellow and a past President of the ABF, the American Bar Association, and the American Bar Endowment, and past Chair the ABA House of Delegates. He is a partner of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in Columbia, South Carolina, where he practices in business litigation, and he is a Trustee of the University of South Carolina.
Hubbard is also Chair of the Board of Directors of The World Justice Project, Member of the Council of the American Law Institute, Member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and Member of the Leaders Council of Legal Services Corporation. He is an Honorary Bencher of Middle Temple in London.
As an ABF Philanthropist Fellow, William H. Neukom has a long legacy of supporting the ABF’s scholarly endeavors. His generous support of the ABF has yielded significant returns in the past, most notably enabling leading legal scholars of race and gender to spend a year in residence at the ABF as the Visiting Neukom Chair in Law & Diversity.
The ABF is currently undertaking a fundraising campaign to match Neukom’s lead gift. For more information, please contact Erla Teli, ABF Director of Major Gifts & Grants, at 312-988-6511 or eteli@abfn.org.
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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.