The American Bar Foundation's William H. Neukom Fellows Research Chair in Diversity and Law (Neukom Chair) is a year-long visiting position awarded to an outstanding scholar with a distinguished record of scholarship in law and the social sciences who conducts empirical research on diversity and law, broadly conceived. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, diversity in the legal profession and other institutions of justice; the impact of diversity on legal processes, legal institutions, and public policy; the roles of race, gender, disability, and sexuality in legal institutions and legal processes; and the interaction between legal processes and inequalities of race, gender, disability, and sexuality. Applicants from all social science fields, history, and law will be considered, and we enthusiastically encourage applicants from historically under-represented groups and backgrounds in law and the social sciences.

The Neukom Chair enjoys an office, Northwestern Law library access, participation in the ABF's diverse sociolegal community, a $5,000 research allowance, and a stipend of up to $100,000 for the full calendar year. ABF stipend support is intended to compensate for foregone salary and will be adjusted based on the candidate's access to sabbatical pay and/or third-party funding.

In addition to pursuing the Chair's own research, the Neukom Chair participates in the ABF's expanding program of research in diversity and law. The Neukom Chair is expected to be in residence at the ABF during the visit, to participate in the intellectual life of the ABF (including attending the ABF's weekly speaker series on Wednesdays), and to make at least one formal presentation on the scholarly work they are doing at the ABF.

• Learn more about the work of the ABF's current Neukom Chair, Jeannine Bell.
• View a list of Past Neukom Fellows Research Chairs.

Application Deadline

****The application period for the 2024-2025 Neukom Chair is now open. Review of applications will begin on March 15, 2024, and the search will remain ongoing until the position is filled.

We ask that applicants upload the following combined as a single PDF :

• Curriculum vitae

• Letter of application

• Brief description of current research (2 pages max.)

• Three references (names and contact information)

Queries about the application process can be directed to Jessie Lowinger, Director of People and Culture, at jlowinger(at)abfn.org.