
Debo P. Adegbile '91
Chair
Debo P. Adegbile assumed the position as Chair of the Connecticut College Board of Trustees on July 1, 2021. He has served on the CC Board since 2011.
Adegbile is a litigation partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in New York where he represents a variety of corporate, municipal, and not for profit clients, including colleges and universities in trial and appellate courts and investigations. He also serves as a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, appointed by President Obama in 2016 to a six-year term. Prior to joining WilmerHale LLP, Adegbile was Senior Counsel to United States Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, where he advised the Senator on legislative, constitutional and nomination matters.
Adegbile previously served as the Acting President and Director-Counsel and Director of Litigation of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., the nation’s leading civil rights legal organization. At LDF, his work involved a broad range of complex civil and criminal cases before trial and appellate courts. Adegbile twice defended the constitutionality of core provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in oral argument in the United States Supreme Court on two occasions. Prior to joining LDF, Debo was an associate at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison for seven years.
At Connecticut College, Adegbile majored in government, minored in African Studies and was awarded the Anna Lord Strauss Medal at commencement in recognition of his outstanding work for the College and community. Adegbile is a recipient of the Agnes Berkeley Leahy award for outstanding alumni service. He is a frequent speaker at Connecticut College and nationally on legal topics. He earned a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1994 and is a current member of its Board of Trustees. In 2020, Adegbile was appointed the Joe Rauh Chair at the University of D.C. Law School. He also serves as the vice chair of the Vera Institute for Justice, is on the Advisory Council of the Center for Democracy and Technology, sits on the Policing Project Advisory Board, and is the former chair of the Manhattan Country School board of trustees.