Drake Law School is pleased to announce that Professor Emeritus Russell Lovell II, has been elected a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation (ABF).
The ABF Fellows is a global honorary society that recognizes attorneys, judges, law faculty and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession and to the welfare of their communities. ABF Fellows hail from nearly 40 countries and hold a wide variety of influential roles. Membership is limited to just one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction. Members are nominated by their peers and selected by the ABF Board.
Professor Lovell dedicated his career to teaching and inspiring generations of future lawyers while modeling the highest of ethical standards, exceptional knowledge of the law, and a passionate commitment to public service and the pursuit of justice. Lovell taught Constitutional and Civil Rights Law at Drake from 1976 until his retirement in 2014. During that time, he served as director of the Legal Clinic (1995-1999), director of the First-Year Trial Practicum (1998-2012), and as associate dean (1986-1990 and 2004-2010). His public service commitment spans his career, beginning with his first jobs as a law clerk for 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Floyd Gibson and staff attorney and later director of litigation for the Indianapolis Legal Services Organization and continuing throughout nearly 50 years of pro bono civil rights work for the NAACP. During his retirement, Professor Lovell has co-authored nine NAACP Amicus Briefs in the Iowa and Nebraska Supreme Courts on a range of racial justice issues, with a principal focus on achieving juries that are truly representative of the communities they serve. He has worked extensively in support of the NAACP’s efforts that brought about Des Moines’s unbiased policing ordinance and criminal justice reforms at the state level. Lovell has received numerous public service awards from the NAACP, National Bar Association (Iowa Chapter), Iowa Legal Aid, the Iowa Juneteenth Observance, the ACLU of Iowa, and Drake University.
Other ABF Fellows from Drake Law School include Dean Jerry Anderson, Professor Mark Kende, Professor Robert Rigg, and Professor Emeritus David Walker.