American Bar Foundation

What American Bar Foundation does

The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is an independent, nonprofit sociolegal research institute founded in 1952 and headquartered at 750 N. Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois. It conducts empirical, interdisciplinary research on the intersection of law and society, with current research organized into three thematic areas: Learning and Practicing Law, Protecting Rights and Accessing Justice, and Making and Implementing Law. The ABF's outputs include the peer-reviewed journal Law & Social Inquiry; books published through Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and University of Chicago Press; the 'Whose Law is it Anyway?' podcast; the 'Researching Law' newsletter; a hybrid speaker series; and signature longitudinal studies such as After the JD (tracking 5,000+ lawyers over more than 20 years) and After Tenure (surveying 1,174 post-tenure law professors). The ABF is affiliated with the American Bar Association, which owns the ABF trademarks and licenses them to the Foundation.

The ABF's revenue model is donation- and grant-funded rather than commercial: it accepts charitable contributions through giving programs including Impact Funds (e.g., the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Endowed Fund, the William C. Hubbard Endowment, the William H. Neukom Fellows Campaign), planned giving (Leave a Legacy), and Qualified Charitable Distributions. Project-level funding has been received from the National Science Foundation, the Law School Admission Council, the Soros Foundation, the National Association for Law Placement, Access Group, and the American Bar Association. The Foundation's go-to-market motion is community-led: it reaches its audience of legal scholars, practitioners, and policymakers through its website, newsletter, podcast, speaker series, social media, and the global ABF Fellows honorary society.

The ABF's customer base consists of legal scholars and academic researchers, the ABF Fellows network (a global honorary society of attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars), fellowship program participants (undergraduate via SURF, doctoral, postdoctoral, and faculty scholars), and policymakers and legal practitioners. Leadership is currently in transition: Bryant Garth serves as Interim Executive Director (effective September 2, 2025), and the Foundation has retained Isaacson, Miller to conduct a permanent Executive Director search.

Name

American Bar Foundation

Legal name

American Bar Foundation

Website

https://americanbarfoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1952

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

The American Bar Foundation is a Chicago-based nonprofit research institute founded in 1952 that conducts empirical sociolegal research and serves legal scholars, legal professionals, the ABF Fellows honorary society, and fellowship program participants through publications, the Law & Social Inquiry journal, podcasts, and longitudinal studies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sociolegal Research

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720), Professional Organizations (81392)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDADAKAH

Research Administration & Compliance (Sponsored Programs, IRB/REB)

Education/Education Administration, Accreditation & Policy/Institutional Governance & Administration (School/College/University Admin)

Keywords

• Sociolegal research
• Legal scholarship
• Law and society
• Empirical legal studies
• Legal research institute

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: The ABF accepts charitable donations through its website and various giving programs including Impact Funds, Leave a Legacy planned giving, and Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs). Contributions are deductible for federal income tax purposes.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is a nonprofit research institute that conducts empirical, interdisciplinary research at the intersection of law and society. It produces peer-reviewed publications (including the Law & Social Inquiry journal), books, a podcast, a newsletter, and hosts speaker series events. The organization also runs multi-tier fellowship programs (undergraduate, doctoral, postdoctoral, faculty scholars) and sustains a global honorary society of attorneys, judges, and legal scholars known as the ABF Fellows.

Product overview

The American Bar Foundation is a nonprofit research institute focused on advancing knowledge about law and society through empirical research. Rather than offering commercial technology products, ABF produces research publications, books, podcasts (such as "Whose Law is it Anyway?"), newsletters (Researching Law), and hosts a Speaker Series. The organization also runs fellowship programs at various academic levels and conducts longitudinal studies on legal careers and legal education.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Law & Social Inquiry ABF's flagship peer-reviewed journal publishing empirical and interdisciplinary sociolegal scholarship, intended for law faculty, social science researchers, graduate students, and legal practitioners. The journal also runs an annual Graduate Student Paper Competition.
• ABF Fellows (Honorary Society) A global honorary society and membership program for distinguished attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars, providing professional recognition, networking, regional events, and programming for ABF's senior legal community.
• Faculty Scholars Program A fellowship program supporting law faculty in conducting empirical sociolegal research, with mentorship and access to ABF's research community.
• Postdoctoral Fellowship Program Funded postdoctoral fellowships for early-career scholars to conduct sociolegal research, with mentorship from ABF Research Professors and access to ABF's intellectual community.
• Doctoral Fellowship Program Funded doctoral fellowships for PhD candidates conducting sociolegal dissertation research, providing research training, mentorship, and academic career preparation in law and social science.
• Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Annual competitive summer research fellowship for undergraduate students, offering training in empirical sociolegal research methods, mentorship, and exposure to ABF's scholarly community.
• Whose Law is it Anyway? Podcast ABF's podcast exploring sociolegal topics and featuring ABF research, aimed at legal scholars, practitioners, and the broader public interested in law and society.
• Researching Law Newsletter Regular newsletter disseminating ABF research updates, recent publications, event information, and news about the foundation's scholarly community.
• ABF Research Programs (Learning and Practicing Law; Protecting Rights and Accessing Justice; Making and Implementing Law) ABF's core interdisciplinary empirical research programs covering Learning and Practicing Law, Protecting Rights and Accessing Justice, and Making and Implementing Law, producing publications, books, datasets, and policy-relevant findings.
• Access to Justice Research Initiative A research initiative dedicated to producing empirical evidence on access to justice issues for policymakers, practitioners, and the judiciary.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• University of California, Irvine School of LawflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe University of California, Irvine School of Law is the main academic sponsor of the New Legal Realism project, co-sponsored by the ABF. The ABF co-sponsored the NLR 10-year anniversary conference with UCI Law and continues to participate in NLR projects and events.
• University of Wisconsin-Madison Law SchoolcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInitially co-sponsored the New Legal Realism project along with ABF, contributing to its foundation as a leading interdisciplinary research initiative in sociolegal studies.
• Harvard Law School Center on the Legal ProfessioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerABF will co-sponsor the 20th anniversary NLR gathering at Harvard titled 'Widening the Lens of Justice: A New Legal Realism Conference on Legal Education'. Meghan Dawe is a Resident Research Fellow at this center.
• American Bar AssociationflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe American Bar Foundation is affiliated with the American Bar Association. ABF trademarks are owned by ABA and used under license. ABF's mission aligns with advancing the legal profession and rule of law.
• University of Michigan ICPSRminorOthersAJD project researchers have submitted a public dataset to ICPSR for use by the broader research community.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Russell Sage Foundation: A private foundation that funds and publishes social science research with a fellowship and visiting-scholar program, directly analogous to ABF's grantmaking, fellowship, and sociolegal research model.
• Social Science Research Council (SSRC): An independent, nonprofit social science organization that awards fellowships, convenes researchers, and produces policy-relevant scholarship, structurally and operationally similar to ABF's fellowship-and-research mission.
• National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER): A private, nonprofit research organization that produces empirical working papers and convenes affiliates, similar in structure to ABF's nonprofit empirical research and scholar-network model.
• Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: A long-established nonprofit foundation funding research and scholars in legal and higher education, comparable to ABF's century-scale foundation model and dedication to studying legal education and the profession.

Broad incumbents

• RAND Corporation: A large, established nonprofit research institute producing empirical policy research across disciplines; like ABF, it operates independently with scholars and produces research used by policymakers, though at much greater scale and scope.
• Brookings Institution: A major nonprofit public policy research organization with scholarly programs, books, and events; shares ABF's nonprofit think-tank-style dissemination model but operates at far broader scope and reach.
• American Bar Association (ABA): The national professional association of lawyers and the ABF's affiliated organization, owning ABF's trademarks under license; ABA is broader in membership and scope but operates in the same legal professional ecosystem as ABF.
• Council on Foreign Relations: A prestigious nonprofit membership organization that publishes research, hosts scholars, and operates an honorary fellows network, paralleling ABF's Fellows-based model of scholarship, convening, and influence.
• Urban Institute: A nonprofit research organization that conducts empirical social and economic policy research, comparable to ABF's evidence-based research focus but with broader subject coverage and larger operations.

Emerging players

• Manhattan Institute: A nonprofit think tank producing scholarly research and policy analysis; shares ABF's researcher-driven, publishing-oriented model but operates on more contested policy terrain and at smaller scale than ABF's established academic brand.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/ABFResearch
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/ABFCOMM
• Facebookfacebook.com/americanbarfoundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about American Bar Foundation