Remembering Lizabeth A. Moody

It is with great sadness that the SLD share the passing of our first female division chair and Woman Trailblazer, Lizabeth A. Moody.

Lizabeth passed away May 19, 2023. Liz served as dean of Stetson University College of Law from 1994-99. She previously was a professor of law and interim dean at Cleveland State University College of Law. She has been a visiting faculty member at George Washington University, the University of Toledo, Southern Methodist University School of Law, Brooklyn Law School, and the Wallace Fugiyama Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Hawaii. She also taught in the summer programs in Estonia and Bratislava.

Before entering teaching, she was a partner in the Cleveland law firm of Metzenbaum, Gaines & Stem, and an associate in law firms in Ohio and Connecticut. She was also the President and CEO of Law School Admission Services, President and CEO of the Law Access Loan Program, and executive director of the Law School Admission Council. She was the first woman to be elected president of the Cleveland Bar Association and has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of American Law Schools and a trustee of the Law School Admission Council. She was an elected member of the American Law Institute and a member of the ALIABA Continuing Legal Education Committee. She was a member of the Florida Supreme Court's Commission on Professionalism. She was a life fellow of the American Bar Foundation and was appointed by the U.S. President to serve as a member of the Civil Rights Reviewing Authority of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The Ohio governor appointed her to the Governor's Advisory Committee to the Women's Division of the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services, the Ohio Public Defender Commission, the Ohio Ethics Commission, and as President of the Cuyahoga County Economic Development Commission. The mayor of Cleveland appointed her to the Community Development Corporation. She was the president of the Women's Law Fund. She also served as a member of the Multi-State Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) Drafting Committee and as chair of the Committee to Review the MPRE. In 1992, Professor Moody received the Ohio State Bar Medal, the association's highest award for "unusually meritorious service to the profession, the community and humanity," and was a member of the ABA House of Delegates serving as a section delegate to the House from the Section of Business Law and the Division of Senior Lawyers. She served as the nonprofit liaison to the Business Law Section Committee on Corporations. She also served as chair of the Drafting Committee of the Model Nonprofit Corporation Act, and was the ABA advisor to the Uniform Unincorporated Nonprofit Association Act. In 1997, the Section of Business Law bestowed the "Glass Cutter" Award for her extraordinary efforts in assisting women achieve new heights in the profession. Professor Moody was recognized by Lexis Nexis Martindale-Hubbell as an AV Preeminent Rated Lawyer. The National Jurist recently rated her as one of the 25 most important people in legal education. 

You can learn more about Lizabeth here.

You can learn more about her extensive work and leadership in the ABA here.