Law Professor, Dean Emeritus Named American Bar Foundation Chair-Elect

Russell Cothren

Cynthia Nance

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Cynthia Nance, dean emeritus and the Nathan G. Gordon Professor of Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law, has been named chair-elect of the American Bar Foundation Fellows.

"We are thrilled that Dean Nance has received this professional recognition," said Margaret Sova McCabe, dean of the law school. "The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation and the legal profession as a whole will benefit from her extensive and deep commitment to public service."

As chair-elect, Nance is part of a four-person team leading the fellows — attorneys, judges, law faculty and legal scholars who have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the principles of the legal profession and to their communities' welfare. The foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization with a mission to expand knowledge and advance justice through innovative, interdisciplinary and rigorous empirical research on law, legal processes and legal institutions.

Fellows are recommended by their peers, elected by the Board of the American Bar Foundation and make up one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction. Fellows support the research of the American Bar Foundation through annual contributions and sponsor seminars and events related to professional development.

"I am honored to have been chosen as part of the team that will support the work of the foundation institute," Nance said. "The ABF's scholarship is important and timely and provides the legal community and policymakers with research they can trust when making difficult decisions - decisions that may have a profound impact on people's everyday lives."

Nance joined the University of Arkansas School of Law faculty in 1994 as an assistant professor and served as the dean from 2006 to 2011. Her teaching and scholarship focus on labor and employment law, workplace legislation and poverty law, and she was the law school's first director of pro bono and community engagement.

She is the former Eighth Circuit Member of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary and represents the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section in the House of Delegates. She is also an elected member of the Labor Law Group and a founding fellow for the Association of American Law Schools.

Nance has received many accolades for her extensive work in labor and employment law. She is an elected fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, an elected member of the American Law Institute and a former council member of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar.

Throughout her career, Nance has been an advocate for social justice in the legal profession. In 2012, received the ABA's Spirit of Excellence Award, which celebrates the efforts and accomplishments of lawyers who work toward more racial and ethnic diversity in the legal profession. She serves on the Arkansas Advisory Committee to the United States Civil Rights Commission and is a member of the Arkansas Bar Association Commission on Diversity and the Arkansas Bar Foundation Trust Committee. She is a former chair of the Association of American Law School's Labor and Employment Law and Employment Discrimination sections.

Nance is a member of the Harold Flowers Law Society, an affiliate of the National Bar Association; a member of the International Women's Forum, Arkansas Forum; and a board member of the Arkansas Women's Hall of Fame. Nance previously served on the ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty, the National Association of Law Placement Foundation Board and the Arkansas Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program Committee.

She is committed to mentoring women both inside and outside the legal community. In 2018, Nance received the ABA's Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award for serving as a strong female example for women in law. In 2012, she received the Gayle Pettus Pontz Award from the Women's Law Student Association for helping women thrive in law school, creating a community that will raise awareness of women's issues and advancing women in the legal profession. A member of the Phi Alpha Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Nance serves as the Kappa Iota chapter's faculty advisor and is a member of the Graduate Advisor's Council.

Additional examples of her commitment to social justice include her involvement with the Interfaith Worker Justice Board, Advisory Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Greensboro Massacre Truth and Reconciliation Commission Advisory Group, Women's Foundation of Arkansas, Northwest Arkansas Workers' Center and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services.