Deborah Enix-Ross, Senior Advisor to the Firm’s International Dispute Resolution practice, has been nominated as Chair of the House of Delegates, the second highest office within the American Bar Association (“ABA”), for the 2016-2018 term. The election for chair will take place at the Meeting of the House of Delegates on Tuesday, August 9.

The House of Delegates is the policy-making body of the ABA and is comprised of more than 580 members, 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. The House meets twice each year, at ABA Annual and Midyear Meetings. At the Midyear Meeting, the Nominating Committee nominates officers and members of the Board of Governors. During the Annual Meeting, the full house votes on these nominees and on any nominations made by petition. Action taken by the House of Delegates on specific issues becomes official ABA policy.

Enix-Ross has practiced in a variety of settings and served in many positions in the ABA for over 30 years, including as Chair of the Section of International Law, Chair of the Section Officers Conference, Chair of the ABA Center for Human Rights and as the SOC Liaison to the Board of Governors. Enix-Ross has also served on the Finance Committee, House of Delegates Rules and Calendar, and Resolution and Impact Committees, and is currently a member of the Credentials and Admissions Committee.

In her time as Chair of the ABA Section of International Law, Enix-Ross was the Goal IX Officer and Co-Founded the Women’s Interest Network (WIN). As the WIN Chair, Enix-Ross was instrumental in working with the International Bar Association to create their Women’s Interest Group (WIG), and she participated in the inaugural meeting of WIG. During her tenure as Chair of the International Law Section, she led an International Legal Exchange (ILEX) delegation to Ghana (where she delivered an address commemorating the country’s 50th anniversary of independence), Liberia and Sierra Leone. Enix-Ross is a Vice President of the World Justice Project and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Enix-Ross comments, “I am honored and privileged to be nominated as the next Chair of the House of Delegates. I hope to continue to foster an environment where delegates have a forum to debate resolutions that are critical to the profession, the clients we serve and the public. I’m eager to work on behalf of the ABA and its delegates.”

Enix-Ross joined Debevoise in 2002. She 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.

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