Prudence Beidler Carr, Director
American Bar Association
Prudence Beidler Carr is the Director of the American Bar Association’s Center on Children and the Law, where she manages a team of attorneys and core staff who work on children’s law projects throughout the country. Prudence joined the ABA Center in July 2016 and brings a background in government, nonprofit management, and children’s advocacy to her role.
Immediately before joining the ABA, Prudence lived in Mexico City where she partnered with JUCONI, a Mexican organization that helps street-living youth reintegrate with their families. Between 2008-2014, Prudence worked at the Department of Homeland Security Office of General Counsel, where she managed class action, appellate and Supreme Court litigation and advised senior leaders on the legal effects of immigration and national security policies. Prudence also served as the Office’s Deputy Managing Counsel, in which she helped manage a $30 Million budget for a 150-person staff and conducted strategic planning across all DHS legal offices, encompassing approximately 1,800 attorneys. Prudence began her legal career as a law clerk for District Judge Paul S. Diamond in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Prudence worked on numerous children’s advocacy projects both domestically and internationally, including advocating for children and parents involved in the child welfare system in California, New York and Illinois, expanding access to affordable child care in California and Spain, and helping prosecute child sex abuse crimes. Beidler Carr’s journal article, How to Define and Provide a “Prior Opportunity for Cross-examination” in Child Sexual Abuse Cases after Crawford v. Washington, published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, has been cited broadly, including before the U.S. Supreme Court in Ohio v. Clark during the 2014 term.
Prudence has served on several boards, including the Insight Center for Community Economic Development. She currently serves on the Law Board at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. Prudence has an undergraduate degree from Harvard University and a J.D. from Northwestern. Originally from Chicago, Prudence now lives in Washington DC with her husband and children.
On working at the Center, Prudence says: “The greatest highlight of my job comes from working with, and learning from, the amazing individuals who make up the ABA Center on Children and the Law. It is a truly inspiring place to be.”