Law Professor Elected to Most Prominent Legal Association
January 22, 2010
By: Leslie Cranford
A Texas Tech University School of Law professor has been elected into the most prestigious
professional organization in the legal profession, the American Law Institute (ALI).
Ann Graham, a law professor specializing in banking and commercial law, joins seven
other Texas Tech law professors including Dean Walter Huffman, Marilyn Phelan, Bill
Casto, Susan Fortney, Jennifer Bard, Brian Shannon and Bryan Camp as elected members
of ALI.
“It is a testimony to the strength of our law faculty that with Professor Graham’s
election we now have eight members of this prestigious organization at Texas Tech
Law,” Huffman said.
Graham’s background in banking and commercial law includes both state and local government
service as well as major private law firm experience. Legislative drafting and state
and federal lobbying for financial institution issues have been a significant part
of her legal practice. Graham served on the board of directors of the Texas Association
of Bank Counsel and as general counsel to the Texas Banking Department and Regional
Counsel for FDIC.
Graham’s teaching experience includes the University of Texas School of Law, St. Edward’s
University’s M.B.A. program, the M.B.A. program administered jointly by Sul Ross State
University and La Universidad Autonomo de Chihuahua in Chihuahua, Mexico, and at International
Black Sea University, Tblisi, Georgia.
As a trained mediator, Graham served as president of the board of directors for the
Travis County Dispute Resolution Center.
The elite membership of ALI is selected from judges, lawyers and law teachers in the
United States and many foreign countries on the basis of professional achievement
and demonstrated interest in improving the law. ALI membership is limited to 3,000
– or just three-tenths of a percent of the more than 1.1 million lawyers in practice
in the United States – making election to membership a distinct professional honor.
ALI was founded in 1923 by a group of prominent American judges, lawyers, and law
teachers to address the uncertainty and complexity of early 20
th-century American Law. Since that time ALI has devoted itself to improving the law
and the administration of justice in a scholarly and scientific manner.
Find Texas Tech news, experts and story ideas at www.media.ttu.edu.
CONTACT: Casey Carson, director of alumni relations, Texas Tech School of Law, (806) 742-3990 ext. 315, or
casey.carson@ttu.edu.