Raleigh, N.C. (October 5, 2021) – Smith Debnam is pleased to announce that Caren D. Enloe has been elected a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation (ABF). Membership in the Fellows is limited to one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction. Members are nominated by their peers and selected by the ABF Board. Enloe joins her colleague, Bettie Kelley Sousa, who was elected a Fellow in 2018.
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.
Enloe leads Smith Debnam’s Consumer Financial Services Litigation and Compliance group. In her practice, she defends consumer financial service providers and members of the collection industry in state and federal courts and in regulatory matters involving a variety of consumer protection laws. Her practice is additionally concentrated in bankruptcy and commercial litigation with an emphasis on creditors’ rights. With more than 30 years of litigation experience, Enloe is an active and well-known industry thought-leader. Enloe serves as Chair of the Debt Collection and Bankruptcy Subcommittee for the American Bar Association’s Consumer Finance Law Committee, Co-chair of the National Creditor Bar Association’s Bankruptcy Section, and as a member of the Conference on Consumer Finance Law’s Governing Committee. Enloe was named one of the “20 Most Powerful Women in Collections” by Collection Advisor Magazine in 2018. Most recently, Enloe has been involved with consulting industry members regarding the CFPB’s Final Debt Collection Rulemaking, Regulation F.
Notable Fellows include the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsberg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, and former United States Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton.
About the ABF Fellows
The ABF Fellows serve as stewards of the American Bar Foundation, an independent, nonprofit research organization that conducts short- and long-term socio-legal research projects. The ABF’s mission is to serve the legal profession, the public, and the academy through empirical research, publications, and programs that advance justice and the understanding of law. The ABF’s research falls under one of three categories: learning and practicing law; protecting rights and accessing justice; and making and implementing law. The Foundation is committed to broad dissemination of research findings to the organized bar, scholars, and the general public.
About Smith Debnam
Founded in 1972, Smith Debnam is a leading, multi-practice regional law firm for institutions and private individuals who value a responsible and caring approach from an accomplished team of experienced legal professionals. Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, with a regional office in Charleston, South Carolina, the firm represents clients in Banking, Financial Services, Equipment Leasing, Construction, Mortgage Servicing, Manufacturing, and Professional Services industries. Smith Debnam has extensive experience in state and federal courts across a diverse list of practice areas, including Corporate and Business Law, Business Litigation, Commercial Bankruptcy and Reorganization, Foreclosures, Creditor Representation, Consumer Collections, Commercial & Residential Real Estate, Construction Law, Employment Law, Equipment Leasing & Finance, Family Law, and Trusts & Estates.
