New York attorney becomes chair of House of Delegates
Deborah Enix-Ross of New York, senior advisor to Debevoise & Plimpton’s international dispute resolution practice, today became chair of the American Bar Association House of Delegates at the organization’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
The House of Delegates is the ABA’s policymaking body, and the two-year post of chair is the second-highest office in the organization. There are 560 delegates in the House, including representatives of state and local bar associations, substantive legal sections and divisions of the ABA, and affiliated organizations and conferences of the Judicial Division, as well as former ABA officers, members of the Board of Governors, at-large delegates and state delegates. Action taken by the House of Delegates on specific issues becomes official policy of the ABA.
A managing attorney at her firm, Enix-Ross is senior advisor to the international dispute resolution group. Her practice concentrates on international arbitration and litigation, with an industry focus on mining, oil, gas and pharmaceuticals, across Debevoise & Plimpton’s offices in New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong. She is also a member of the firm’s diversity committee.
Prior to joining Debevoise & Plimpton in 2002, Enix-Ross was senior legal officer and head of the External Relations and Information Section of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Arbitration and Mediation Center in Geneva, Switzerland. Before that, Enix-Ross was director of international litigation for the Dispute Analysis and Corporate Recovery Services Group of Price Waterhouse, and served for seven years as the American representative to the Paris-based International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce.
The U.S. Departments of Commerce and State appointed Enix-Ross as one of the original eight U.S. members of the tri-lateral 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. She is also a former member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration, the ADR Advisory Board of the International Law Institute, and the Board of Directors of the American Arbitration Association.
Enix-Ross has been with the ABA for more than 30 years in various leadership positions. She is chair of the Business and Human Rights Project of the ABA Center for Human Rights. She has also served as chair of the association’s Section of International Law, Section Officers Conference, and Annual Meeting Task Force. Additionally, she was Section Officers Conference liaison to the Board of Governors, sitting on the Finance Committee. Enix-Ross also has served the House of Delegates as a member of the committees for Rules and Calendar, Resolution and Impact, and Credentials and Admissions.
Among her many awards and recognitions, Enix-Ross was named distinguished associate in 2013 by Jack and Jill of America, Inc. In 2008, the ABA Section of International Law honored her with the Mayre Rasmussen Award for promotion of women in international law. A year earlier, her alma mater, the University of Miami School of Law, recognized her with an alumni achievement award.
Enix-Ross received her J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law in 1981, a diploma in comparative law from the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law of Columbia University in 1989 and a certificate in international law from the London School of Economics in 1979.
ABA president announces veterans’ initiative
American Bar Association President Linda Klein has announced a major effort to mobilize lawyers on behalf of enhanced legal services for the nation’s veterans.
Persistent combat exposure, redeployment and separations have meant that too many of those who have served our country return from active duty to a variety of legal problem — including evictions, child-custody disputes or wrongful denial of benefits, Klein said.
“These are men and women who have signed a piece of paper saying they would die for us, for our country, in defense of our liberty,” she said in outlining her plans at the ABA Annual Meeting that concluded here Tuesday. “When our justice system fails these people, we as a profession must answer our own calls and oath on their behalf.”
Klein said that in order to expand on the outstanding work the ABA already does to help active-duty military and veterans, she has launched a Veterans Legal Services Initiative, led by a 20-member volunteer commission. The commission will be headed by Nanette DeRenzi, a retired three-star vice admiral (for biography click here), and Dwight Smith, a Tulsa attorney who has held key ABA leadership roles (for biography click here).
The commission will use the vast expertise of ABA membership and extensive nationwide relationships, Klein said, to build a comprehensive online resource that informs veterans of legal issues that could affect them and directs them to relevant local resources and legal providers.
Among the actions expected to be undertaken as part of the initiative:
• Engaging with law schools and bar associations to promote legal-services incubators to assist veterans while providing valuable training for new and underemployed lawyers.
• Promoting medical-legal partnerships that pair doctors with lawyers to solve clients’ underlying legal problems and encourage legal check-ups for veterans, their families and caregivers.
• Extending National Pro Bono Celebration week activities in late October to include Veteran’s Day and sponsoring an additional volunteer activity around Memorial Day.
“As we lay the groundwork for this effort,” Klein said, “I hope we will create a legacy that will help millions of veterans who so bravely served our nation.”
