DC Attorney Ava J. Abramowitz, Esq., Hon. AIA,
Elected Public Member Director of National Architect Council
Washington, DC—Ava J. Abramowitz, Esq., Hon. AIA, of Washington, DC, was elected Public Member Director of
the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) at its 89th Annual Meeting and Conference in
Pittsburgh, PA, last month. Abramowitz is the first public member elected to the Council’s Board of Directors with full
voting rights. At last year’s Annual Meeting, NCARB Member Boards voted to add a Public Member Director and a
Member Board Executive Director to the Board of Directors to provide the Board with additional insight and a fresh
perspective when making critical decisions.
Abramowitz, the former deputy general counsel of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), is the author of The
Architect’s Essentials of Contract Negotiation (John Wiley & Sons 2002). She was an assistant U.S. attorney for the
District of Columbia and teaches negotiations at the George Washington University Law School and the Catholic
University School of Architecture and Planning. Since the late 1980s, Abramowitz has served as a mediator for the federal
courts, where she uses her negotiating skills to mediate a diverse assortment of international and domestic civil
cases.
Abramowitz is a senior fellow of the Design Futures Council and a founding fellow of the American College of
Construction Lawyers. She served on the Governing Committee of the American Bar Association’s Forum on the
Construction Industry, and is the 2008 recipient of the Cornerstone Award, the highest award for service given by the
Forum.
A graduate of Brandeis University and the George Washington University National Law Center, Abramowitz has served
on the board of directors of the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) and the National Museum of
Women in the Arts.
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About NCARB
NCARB comprises the architectural registration boards of all 50 states as well as those of the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. NCARB assists its member state registration boards in carrying out their duties and provides a certification program for individual architects.
The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards is committed to exemplary service and effective regulation to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public. In order to achieve these goals, the Council develops and recommends standards to be required of an applicant for architectural registration; develops and recommends standards regulating the practice of architecture; provides to member boards a process for certifying the qualifications of an architect for registration; and represents the interests of member boards before public and private agencies. NCARB has also established guidelines for the reciprocal registration of architects in the United States and Canada and is engaged in similar discussions with several other countries under trade agreements negotiated by the United States government.
