American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education

“Please see response provided to Part VI, Section A, Line 7a.”

“The FJE is a fund of the American Bar Association ABA. The Board and Officers of the FJE are the Board and Officers of the ABA. Its membership is the same as that of the ABA. The ABA House of Delegates House elects the Board of Governors, and the officers which includes the President-elect, the Chair of the House of Delegates, the Secretary and the Treasurer. The House is designed to be representative of the legal profession in the United States and is comprised of ABA members in the following representative capacities State Delegates, State and Local Bar Association Delegates, Delegates-at-Large, ABA Section Delegates, ABA Division or Conference Delegates, Delegates from Affiliate Organizations, and Delegates from Territories. For purposes of election to the Board of Governors, the House is grouped into 19 geographical districts. Governors serve staggered three-year terms the House elects approximately one-third of the Board, and the President-Elect at each annual meeting. The Board of Governors consists of one member from each of the 19 geographical districts, 9 section members-at-large, 1 law student member-at-large, 1 judicial member-at-large, 2 young lawyer members-at-large, and 5 Goal III members-at-large. The President, Chair of the House, President-Elect, Immediate Past President, Secretary and Treasurer of the ABA are ex-officio members of the Board of Governors. Every third year, the Treasurer-Elect is included in the Board of Governors.”

“The draft form 990 was reviewed by the organizations management. Copies of the final 990 were provided to the Board of Governors and Audit Committee members for review prior to filing with the IRS, sufficiently in advance of the due date to allow Board and Audit Committee members the opportunity to raise questions or concerns they might have.”

“Each Board member received the Conflict of Interest COI questionnaire this year. Beginning with the 2021 February meeting, each Governor will be requested to identify if there are items on the agenda from which the Governor needs to recuse him or herself. The recusal is noted in the minutes.”

“The President and President-elect are directly responsible to evaluate the compensation of the Executive Director on an annual basis, after consultation with others on the Executive Committee as well as the Board of Governors Executive Compensation Committee. As appropriate, the ABA has contracted with Quatt Associates for a tailored executive compensation study and recommendations. Since at least 2015, the ABA has participated in the annual Quatt Professional Association Compensation Survey, which provides compensation data on comparable non-profit entities. The Survey results are shared with ABA HR and available to the Executive Committee and the Executive Compensation Committee as well. After consultation with the Executive Compensation Committee and the rest of the Executive Committee, the President and President-elect undertake a detailed analysis of the Executive Directors performance and determine appropriate compensation. The Board of Governors is briefed on these matters by the President of the Association.”

“Compensation of key employees other than the Executive Director is based on comparative analyses conducted by the Associations Human Resources Department. That information is reviewed for the Executive Directors approval and then implemented. Performance determines continued employment as well as any pay increases and possible bonuses.”

“The FJEs Constitution and Bylaws, Business Conduct Standards, Conflict of Interest Policy, and the Audited Financial Statements are available on ABAs Website https//www.americanbar.org/abouttheaba/”

“The ABA, a professional membership association for lawyers, established the FJE as a separate charitable fund to supports the public service and educational programs of the ABA. The FJE is not a separate incorporated legal entity other than to maintain its 501c3 tax exempt status. The FJEs bylaws require that FJE maintain its books and records separate and apart from the ABA. The ABA is the common paymaster and all employees working on FJE funded projects are reported under the ABAs payroll. FJE reimbursed ABA for compensation paid on its behalf. The key and top 5 highest paid employees primarily perform services for FJE. All compensations are reported on Col D even though ABA is the common paymaster.”

“Program Service Expenses 11,066,354, Grants and allocations 13,932,548, Revenue 2,569,383 FJE supports several other programs including an accreditation program. The Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is recognized by the US Department of Education DOE as the national accrediting agency for programs that lead to the first professional degree in law. The Supreme Courts and bar examiners in each state, jurisdiction accept graduates of ABA approved law schools as having met the jurisdictions education requirement for bar admission. The law school accreditation process protects clients, the public and the courts by ensuring a sound legal education that prepares law students for admission to the Bar.”

“In Africa, ABA ROLI has been actively promoting access to justice and integrated services for vulnerable populations and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence advancing human rights and justice with a focus on environmental protection, womens economic rights, and indigenous peoples rights using early warning systems to prevent atrocities against civilians strengthening the formal and customary justice sectors countering trafficking in persons strengthening corrections institutions and special criminal courts developing and reforming legal frameworks and scholarship enhancing protection of freedom of expression, assembly, and the civic space as well as related fundamental rights and building the capacity of local civil society organizations to be active participants in promoting the rule of law. In Asia, ABA ROLIs programs have focused predominantly on increasing access to justice for vulnerable populations, combating trafficking in persons, criminal law reform, transitional justice, anti-money laundering and anti-corruption efforts, strengthening human rights protections, and climate justice and religious or ethnic freedoms. New programming will address data privacy and internet freedom through a regional program. In Europe and Eurasia, ABA ROLIs activities include developing a legal climate for businesses that increases confidence and spurs international investment, supporting local partners to advocate for Internet freedom in the face of government surveillance, digital security threats and loss of privacy promoting human rights and access to justice supporting civil society improving legal education, with the help of the latest technology combating money laundering and corruption by supporting relevant state agencies and advancing the professionalism of the judiciary, prosecutorial services, and the bar. In Latin America and the Caribbean, ABA ROLI continues to support the criminal justice system, especially in handling complex crimes, such as money laundering, narcotrafficking, countering terrorism financing, wildlife trafficking, human trafficking, illegal mining, and gender-based violence. We also promote access to justice and human rights among civil society organizations and support judicial institutions and law schools to strengthen their skills on oral trial litigation and alternative dispute resolution. In the Middle East and North Africa, ABA ROLI focuses on reform and strengthening of judicial and legal profession, expanding alternatives to incarceration, combating trafficking in persons and gender-based violence, anti-money laundering efforts, protecting human rights defenders, combatting hate speech and disinformation, and supporting community dialogue, reconciliation processes, to advance transitional justice efforts. ABA ROLIs cross-regional, Global Programs address barriers to womens access to justice and economic empowerment advance the Women, Peace and Security agenda improve public access to public disclosure information mentor justice sector professionals support international anticorruption policy and programming and enhance coordination and collaboration among justice sector practitioners within governments and civil society. Current activities are implemented in more than 13 countries through eight different programs. More information about the ABA Rule of Law Initiatives work is available at www.abarol.org.”

“Since 1983, the ABA has prioritized immigration law and policy as one of its core public service efforts. The ABA Commission on Immigration, COI, directs the Associations efforts to ensure fair treatment and full due process rights for immigrants and asylum seekers within the United States. The Commission manages six core operational activities 1. Commission and Advisory Committee member activities 2. Detention Hotline and Legal Orientation Program - LOP Information Line 3. direct legal services through the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, ProBAR in Harlingen, Texas, and Houston, Texas 4. direct legal services through the Immigration Justice Project, IJP in San Diego, California 5. training and technical assistance through the Childrens Immigration Law Academy, CILA, in Houston, Texas and 6. the Commissions national policy, advocacy, and pro bono work.The Commission focuses on immigration practice and policy by working with its Commission and Advisory Committee members in the development of legal resources and practitioner guides, engaging in advocacy with executive agencies and Congress, offering both CLE and non-CLE programming, providing speakers for local and national conferences, and organizing national convenings and working groups for legal service providers of unaccompanied immigrant children, and more. One example of resource development is the Commissions recently updated Border Primer and companion programming that explains the various enforcement mechanisms used by the Department of Homeland Security DHS at the U.S., Mexico border. Two years ago, the Commission was awarded a fourth round of funding from the Acacia Center for Justice Acacia, through the Department of Justice, to provide telephonic Legal Orientation Program LOP services to people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention. The hotline and LOP Information Line services have resulted in connecting individuals in detention with counsel and sharing information on legal procedures including bond and parole and humanitarian protection. Each year, hundreds of thousands of migrants seek refuge and opportunity at the U.S. Mexico border. Thousands are detained each year by DHS in South Texas. These children, adults, and families primarily come from Central and South America, although a significant number of adults traveling on their own come from countries around the world. Language barriers, a lack of familiarity with U.S. law and court procedures, and limited financial resources present formidable obstacles to winning relief from deportation. Nonetheless, many qualify for humanitarian protection such as asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, U and T visas, and others. ABA staff at ProBAR and IJP offer legal orientation, pro se assistance and direct representation to those who may qualify for legal relief. These services give migrants a chance to gain safety and stability in the United States. From January 2024 through September 2024, ProBAR provided, Know Your Rights presentations to 20,063 mostly detained unaccompanied immigrant children and completed individual legal screenings of 18,216 unaccompanied children. Additionally, ProBARs interdisciplinary team provided 763 social service referrals, 27,348 attorney and NGO referrals, and 1,454 direct legal service provider referrals. Throughout 2024, ProBARs new field office in Houston, Texas, expanded to better provide continued representation to the many unaccompanied children who relocate to and remain in the Houston area. In January 2024, ProBAR initiated its successful Access to Work ATW program helping nearly 6,000 parolees mostly from South and Central America in completing their applications for employment authorization, including collaborating with the Commission on Immigration Pro Bono team to launch a virtual component of the clinic. In June, the Commission partnered with volunteers from Microsoft to pilot its inaugural Asylum Clinic, where pro bono volunteers help people”

“Second, informed by that local work and by our position within a large professional association, the Center collaborates with other national organizations to provide influential guidance on legal programs and policy reforms that affect child and family well-being on a national level. Finally, the Center serves as a centralized resource for the childrens law field by building professional networks, convening meetings and conferences, developing practice standards, analyzing case law and legislation, and creating training materials for attorneys, judges and advocates throughout the country. Each of these project areas is funded externally through federal, state, and private philanthropic grants. We have a portfolio of 20 to 25 active grants at any given time, amounting to a total of about 5.7 million in domestic grant revenue per year. Some examples of the Centers work include Court Projects. The Center improves court systems serving children and families in the child welfare system by consulting with State Court Improvement Programs, collaborating with national judicial organizations, and working with state and local courts. The largest program within this project area is the Capacity Building Center for Courts CBCC, which is a partnership of the ABA Center on Children and the Law, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and the National Association of Counsel for Children. The CBCC team seeks to improve child safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes for families by ensuring courts work in partnership with child welfare agencies to best serve children and families in all fifty states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands. Permanency Barriers. The ABA Permanency Barriers Project has one overarching goal to reduce unnecessary time children spend in foster care before achieving permanency. To date, the ABA Permanency Barriers Project has served 57 counties in four states and has successfully reduced the time children spend in foster care by an average of nine months, realizing a positive impact on more than 3,000 childrens cases, and saving counties and states more than 35 million in foster care costs. State courts and child welfare agencies fund this project. Education Projects. In collaboration with the Education Law Center and the Juvenile Law Center, the ABA formed the Legal Center for Foster Care and Education in 2007 to provide national advocacy on policy matters affecting the education of children in foster care. Staff from the ABA have led efforts in jurisdictions across the U.S. to convene child welfare agencies, local school district leadership and judges together to plan for and implement supports that allow children in foster care to maintain access to the same school despite changes in home placement. The Legal Centers work helped pass critical federal legislation in 2015 requiring state child welfare agencies and school systems to work together to keep children in foster care in the same school when home placements change. Since that law passed, we have been working closely with states across the country to implement the federal law. Kin and Relative Caregiver Projects. In partnership with the Childrens Defense Fund and Generations United, the Center manages several projects related to kinship care, including Grandfamilies and the Legal Impact Network for Kin LINK. Grandfamilies provides legal resources for kin who care for children within and outside the child welfare system, and to professionals who serve kin as attorneys and policy advocates. We also work directly with state and local organizations to provide assistance on legal analysis of state kinship laws and policies, including compliance with federal laws such as the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008. LINK is a network of attorneys who represent kin in legal proceedings and support a kin first approach to child placement decisions, ensuring that when children cannot live with their par”

“Pension allocation from a related organization ABA 265,529. Total other changes in net assets or fund balances 265,529.”

“Temporary Staffing Program Service Expenses 683,392 Management and General Expenses 78. Fundraising Expenses 286. Total Temporay Staffing Expenses 683,756. Consultant Services Program Service Expenses 15,094,813, Management and General Expenses 1,703 Fundraising Expenses 6,324. Total Consultant Services 15,102,840 Other Consulting Services Program Service Expenses 729,160 Management and General 83 Fundraising Expenses 305. Total Other Services 729,548 Total Consulting Expenses Program Service Expenses 16,507,366, Management and General 1,862, Fundraising Expenses 6,916, Total Consulting Expenses 16,516,144,”