The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation (ABF) have announced new Fellows Officers for the 2026–27 fiscal year. The Fellows are an honorary society of attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession. Through their annual contributions, the Fellows support the ABF’s groundbreaking research and sponsor programming on issues of importance to the legal profession. By virtue of their roles as Fellows Officers, these individuals also serve as members of the ABF Board of Directors.
Mario Barnes, the Chancellor’s Professor of Law at UCI Law, has been named Chair of the Fellows for the coming year. Barnes is a nationally recognized scholar for his research on the legal and social implications of race and gender, primarily in the areas of employment, education, criminal, and military law. He is a leader within the school of academics seeking to build stronger connections between empirical studies and Critical Race Theory. He writes and teaches in the areas of criminal law, constitutional law, national security law, and race and the law.
Laura A. Possessky has been named Secretary of the Fellows for the coming year. She is a Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor of Law at Suffolk University Law School, where she directs a remote section of the Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship Clinic. An experienced legal and business affairs professional, her work has focused on entertainment, intellectual property, corporate and nonprofit law, and digital media. Previously, Possessky served as Assistant General Counsel and Vice President of Business Affairs at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. She has held leadership roles with the District of Columbia Bar, the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia, and the American Bar Association, among other organizations.
Read a Fellows Spotlight interview with Possessky here.
Barnes and Possessky will lead the Fellows’s activities alongside Michael J. Hernandez, who moves from Secretary to Chair-Elect of the Fellows, and Immediate Past Chair of the Fellows Jennifer L. Parent, who will continue to continue to lend the perspective of her recent service as Chair.
Michael J. Hernandez, Life Fellow, is a partner at Franczek PC, where he concentrates his practice on labor and employment law and advises employers on collective bargaining, workplace equity, and compliance issues. He has also served as General Counsel of the Illinois State Board of Education and Deputy General Counsel for the Chicago Board of Education prior to joining Franczek PC.
Read a Fellows Spotlight interview with Hernandez here.
Jennifer L. Parent, Patron Fellow, is the director of McLane Middleton’s litigation department and a seasoned trial lawyer with more than twenty-nine years of experience representing companies and business owners in complex commercial and employment litigation. She is also a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Read a Fellows Spotlight interview with Parent here.
September also marks the beginning of the Board’s 2026–2028 leadership term, including new Board leadership and the addition of new ABA leaders serving as ex officio Board Members.
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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.