Deborah Enix-Ross, a senior adviser to the International Dispute Resolution Group of Debevoise & Plimpton in New York City, will offer reflections and wisdom in December when Elon Law graduates the Class of 2021.
The president-elect of the world’s largest voluntary association of attorneys, judges, and legal professionals will deliver the Commencement address when Elon Law graduates the Class of 2021 in a December ceremony on Elon University’s main campus.
Deborah Enix-Ross, a senior adviser to the International Dispute Resolution Group of Debevoise & Plimpton in New York City, will become president of the American Bar Association in August 2022 having previously served as chair of the ABA’s policymaking House of Delegates and as chair of the ABA Center for Human Rights.
Commencement is scheduled for Saturday, December 11, at 11 a.m. in Alumni Gym on main campus. It will be Elon Law’s first in-person graduation since 2019. More details including ticket information are available on Elon Law’s Commencement web page.
“As we celebrate Elon Law’s 15th anniversary year and reestablish traditions paused because of COVID-19, I can think of no one better to address our graduates than Deborah Enix-Ross, who has faithfully served our profession through her leadership in the American Bar Association,” said Elon Law Dean Luke Bierman. “Lawyers have a responsibility to solve problems, grow relationships, and help communities navigate all types of challenges. Members of Elon Law’s Class of 2021 will be well served to heed the words of such an accomplished lawyer leader as Ms. Enix-Ross as they prepare for their own distinguished careers.”
As chair of the ABA International Law Section, Enix-Ross co-founded the Women’s Interest Network and worked with the International Bar Association to create its Women’s Interest Group. She also led an international legal exchange delegation to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ghana, where she delivered an address commemorating the country’s 50th anniversary of independence.
Enix-Ross is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and has served as vice president of the World Justice Project, chair of the ABA Section Officers Conference, vice chair of the International Bar Association’s Bar Issues Commission, and ABA representative to the IBA.
Before joining Debevoise & Plimpton in 2002, Enix-Ross served as senior legal officer with the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center in Switzerland. She also was a director of international litigation with Price Waterhouse and the American representative to the International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration.
Enix-Ross was appointed by the U.S. Departments of Commerce and State as one of the original eight U.S. members of the trilateral 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 and 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 earned a Bachelor of Arts in broadcast journalism from the University of Miami and her Juris Doctor from the University of Miami School of Law. She also received a diploma in comparative law from the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law of Columbia University and a certificate in international law from the London School of Economics.