Dean Nelson Named to New Governing Council for ABA Center for Innovation
American University Washington College of Law is pleased to announce that Dean Camille Nelson 
has been appointed to the Governing Council for the American Bar Association’s new Center for Innovation in Chicago. In its announcement the ABA said the goal of the Center is to advance the ABA’s position as the lead architect of the legal profession’s efforts to increase access to justice and improve the delivery of legal services through innovative programs and initiatives. It will serve as a resource for ABA members and operate a program of fellowships to work with other professionals, such as technologists, entrepreneurs and design professionals. The Center also will maintain an inventory of the ABA’s innovation efforts as well as the efforts of the domestic and international legal services community.
On the Governing Council, Dean Nelson is among an exceptional group of leaders in legal education and the profession. The Council, announced by ABA President Linda A. Klein, will be chaired by Andrew Perlman, Dean of Suffolk University Law School.
The Council includes:
• Ramon A. Abadin, partner at Sedgwick LLP in Miami
• Nathan D. Alder, attorney with Christensen & Jensen in Salt Lake City
• Chad Burton, CEO of CuroLegal in Dayton, Ohio
• Karl Camillucci, attorney at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP in Chicago
• Mark Chandler, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Cisco in San Jose, Calif.
• Rudy Gadre, angel investor and former General Counsel of Facebook, Seattle, Wash.
• Margaret Hagan, fellow at Stanford Law School Center on the Legal Profession
• Dana M. Hrelic, partner at Horton, Shield & Knox in Hartford, Ct.
• Mary McQueen, president of the National Center for State Courts in Williamsburg, Va.
• Camille Nelson, dean of the American University Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C.
• Rebecca L. Sandefur, faculty fellow at the American Bar Foundation in Chicago
• Marty Smith, founding director of MetaJure, Inc. in Bainbridge Island, Wash.
• Hon. Eric T. Washington, chief judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals
The Center will also have an Advisory Council that includes:
- Hon. Ann Aiken, district judge of the U.S. District Court of Oregon in Eugene
- Lisa Foster, director of the Office of Access to Justice in Washington, D.C. (not serving in her official capacity)
- Jordan Furlong, principal with Law21 in Ottawa
- Martha Minow, dean of Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Mass.
- Janai Nelson, associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York
- Alex “Sandy” Pentland, director at the MIT Connection Science and Human Dynamic Labs in Cambridge, Mass.
- Daniel Rodriguez, dean of Northwestern Pritzker Law School
- James J. Sandman, president of the Legal Services Corporation in Washington, D.C.
- Ed Walters, CEO of FastCase in Washington, D.C.
- Denis Weil, innovation executive in Chicago
The Center also will have three special advisors:
- William C. Hubbard, partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough and former ABA president
- Judy Perry Martinez, attorney in New Orleans and chair of the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services
- William H. Neukom, president of the World Justice Project and former ABA president
Dean Nelson began her tenure as dean of AUWCL on July 25, 2016. She recently served a 5-year term (2010–2015) as dean of Suffolk University Law School in Boston, where she led the creation of the school’s first strategic plan and achieved considerable successes in fundraising, grant writing, and program and partnership development. A widely published scholar and sought-after speaker, Nelson is an expert on the intersection of critical race theory and cultural studies with particular emphasis on criminal law and procedure, health law, and comparative law.
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