Debo P. Adegbile

Debo P. Adegbile assumed the position of 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.