The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is an independent, nonprofit national research institute established in 1952 and located in Chicago, United States. Its mission is to expand knowledge and advance justice by supporting innovative, interdisciplinary and rigorous empirical research on law, legal processes and legal institutions. This program of sociolegal research is conducted by an interdisciplinary staff of Research Faculty trained in such diverse fields as law, sociology, psychology, political science, philosophy, economics, history, and anthropology. The American Bar Foundation is located in the same building as Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in downtown Chicago. The American Bar Foundation supports faculty research and scholarly activity that results in books, reports and essays. The American Bar Foundation Research Faculty produce Law and Social Inquiry (LSI), a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes articles, symposia, and review essays examining pressing sociolegal issues. Law and Social Inquiry is published by Cambridge University Press (previously Wiley-Blackwell). The American Bar Foundation publishes Researching Law, a quarterly newsletter. The American Bar Foundation is a resource for lawyers, scholars, and policy makers who seek analyses of the theory and functioning of law, legal institutions, and the legal profession. The American Bar Foundation's work is supported by the American Bar Endowment (ABE), by The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, and by grants for particular research projects from private foundations and government agencies. The entity is also affiliated with the American Bar Association.

Research programs

The American Bar Foundation's research is organized under three categories: Research at the American Bar Foundation is implemented through projects designed and conducted by a group of resident Research Faculty. These projects are undertaken following review by an external review body (The Wheeler Committee) and the American Bar Foundation Board of Directors. The American Bar Foundation disseminates its research findings to the organized bar, scholars, and the public. The results of this research are published in academic journals, law reviews, and academic and commercial presses. Research projects conducted at the American Bar Foundation cover issues related to civil justice, criminal justice, law and globalization, legal history, diversity and law, legal education and the legal profession, and social justice. Current projects include:

Publications

The American Bar Foundation publishes news and press releases related to the publication of its faculty's research and opinions in academic journals, law reviews and major newspapers or magazines. American Bar Foundation Research Faculty have been mentioned and featured or published opinion editorials in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, the American Bar Association Journal and others. The American Bar Foundation publishes an Annual Report detailing the American Bar Foundation's accomplishments, including the seminars organized and other events held and attended by the American Bar Foundation, the real-world impact of its faculty's research, and publications produced.

Journals, newsletters and reports

Other publications related to the American Bar Foundation include:

Books

Books published by American Bar Foundation Research Faculty in recent years include:

Fellowships

The American Bar Foundation sponsors several fellowship programs. The American Bar Foundation partners with foundations and universities to fund its fellowships, including AccessLex Institute, Northwestern University, and the University of Chicago. All fellowships are held in-residence at the American Bar Foundation's offices in Chicago. In 2018, the American Bar Foundation celebrated the 30th anniversary of its Undergraduate Research Diversity Program with a special dinner at the Drake Hotel in Chicago.

Leadership

The American Bar Foundation's current Executive Director is Mark C. Suchman. Former directors of the American Bar Foundation include Spencer L. Kimball (a former professor of law at the University of Chicago and former dean of the University of Wisconsin Law School), John P. Heinz (now professor emeritus at the American Bar Foundation and a professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law), William "Bill" Felstiner, Bryant Garth (now an affiliated research professor at the American Bar Foundation and professor of law at the University of California at Irvine), Robert Nelson (now an American Bar Foundation research professor, the American Bar Foundation's MacCrate Research Chair in the Legal Profession, and a professor in the Department of Sociology at Northwestern University), and Ajay Mehrotra (Now an American Bar Foundation research professor and a professor of law at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law). Additionally, the ABF retains a chair-elect for the Fellows of the Foundation. Cynthia Nance was the named chair-elect for 2020. The American Bar Foundation is governed by a board of directors that includes David S. Houghton (a business and trial lawyer for Houghton Bradford Whitted P.C. in Omaha, NE) as President; E. Thomas Sullivan (President of the University of Vermont) as Vice-President; Walter L. Sutton, Jr. (a retired corporate attorney and diversity and inclusion consultant at Sutton Consulting Services) as Treasurer; and Jimmy K. Goodman (an attorney at Crowe & Dunlevy) as Secretary. The American Bar Foundation has a Fellows Officers group, a Fellows Research Advisory Committee and an External Research Review Panel (also known as The Wheeler Committee ).

Notable Scholars