CHICAGO, Aug. 9, 2022 — Deborah Enix-Ross, a senior adviser to the International Dispute Resolution Group of Debevoise & Plimpton in New York City, became president of the American Bar Association today at the end of the association’s 2022 Annual Meeting in Chicago. She takes over as president of the world’s largest voluntary association of lawyers, judges and other legal professionals.
“The ABA, through its incredible breadth and influence, has the power to change and inspire the legal community as no other organization can,” Enix-Ross said. “It is an honor to represent and lead this association, and I look forward over the next 12 months to contributing to the direction and growth of the ABA, as well as advancing the core values of the legal profession.”
Enix-Ross has been a part of the association’s leadership for years, serving as chair of the ABA’s policymaking House of Delegates and as chair of the ABA Center for Human Rights and ABA Section Officers Conference. As chair of the ABA International Law Section, she co-founded the Women’s Interest Network and worked with the International Bar Association (IBA) to create its Women’s Interest Group. She also led an international legal exchange delegation to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ghana, where she delivered an address commemorating the country’s 50th anniversary of independence.
In addition to her ABA leadership roles, Enix-Ross is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and has served as vice president of the World Justice Project. She is a former vice chair of the International Bar Association’s Bar Issues Commission, as well as the ABA’s former representative to the IBA. Enix-Ross was appointed by the U.S. Departments of Commerce and State as one of the original eight U.S. members of the trilateral NAFTA Advisory Committee on Private Commercial Disputes. She is a member of the Advisory Committee of the New York Law School Alternative Dispute Resolution Skills Program.
Enix-Ross earned a B.A. in broadcast journalism from the University of Miami and J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law. She also received a diploma in comparative law from the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law at Columbia University and a certificate in international law from the London School of Economics.
A biography of Enix-Ross can be found here. A high-resolution photo of Enix-Ross can be found here.
The ABA is the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.