January 2020 NCWBA Newsletter

Women's bar associations have been, at times, a lifeline in my legal career. Over thirty-five years ago, I started law school with a six-week-old infant, commuting over an hour each way to campus. My classmates were young, fresh, and mostly male. Few were embarking on a second career path as I was, and even fewer were parents of young children.

With an overabundance of naiveté, I launched into my new professional career path with little time, even less energy, but a whole lot of stubbornness that this is what I wanted. Thanks to the support of a few other young mothers and the connections I made with other women law students and new lawyers, I managed my stress and my schoolwork, and shared modest successes with my family and newfound professional allies.

That was the Good. The Bad came mixed into the experiences of a new lawyer in a traditionally male firm with all the lack of support you can imagine (ski outings were OK, but a sick child was not), along with troublesome encounters with #MeToo issues embedded in the legal culture. Still, Washington Women Lawyers was there to nourish my ambition and gave me the confidence and strength to stick to professional plans and prevail.

I'm a grandmother now, and I am grateful for the same partner who changed diapers with me in the 80's and co-shuttled all three kids through soccer tournaments, choir practices and to colleges in the 90's and 2000's. I am also immensely proud to have served in numerous capacities on the Washington Women Lawyers board, the NCWBA board and now as president.

This is the Beautiful. I get to pay my experiences forward as leader of our tremendously important and influential organization. I do this while promoting civility and professionalism as Professional Responsibility Counsel for my state's bar association, a job I love. I cannot even imagine a better combination of serving our noble profession. I am Owning Our Change Reaction. In 2020, are you?

Free Teleconference

Thursday, January 16

Get advice on how best to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion in your own organizations.

Register Here

Awards Nominations Due January 24!

Nominations are now being accepted from member associations for three NCWBA awards to be presented at the Women's Bar Leadership Summit to be held in Chicago on Friday, July 31. Submissions will be accepted until Friday, January 24 at 9:00 pm PST . Questions? Email us .

The Public Service Award is designed to recognize public service programs, projects or initiatives that NCWBA members have created to serve others. There is a wide range of programs, projects and initiatives that may qualify under the umbrella of a public service program. Members are encouraged to broaden their perspective on what public service means and deepen our commitment as lawyers to our public service obligations.For examples of previous award-winning projects, click here.

The Outstanding Member Program Award is given to member associations to highlight and recognize innovative and effective programs and projects for their own members. Prior awards recipients and descriptions of the programs previously recognized can be found here.

The Women's Law Student Association Award will be presented for the first time in 2020. Member women's law school groups may nominate anything from a unique presentation, service project, panel discussion or other initiative. Be creative: the sky's the limit! We invite you to share this and information about NCWBA's new membership option for law student groups with a women's law school organization in your network.

A central goal of the NCWBA is to share best practices and program ideas with one another, and our annual awards are one way to do this. We hope you will send us a nomination.

January 24 is also the due date for nominations for the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession's Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award. Click here for more information.

GOOD Guys in Austin, February 13

Registration for the ABA Midyear Meeting is open. There is no charge for registration, and you do not need to be an ABA member to attend. Here's a link for registration.

If you can be in Austin on Thursday, February 13, we hope you will be able to join us for a GOOD Guys panel from 1:30 to 3:30 pm, co-sponsored by the ABA Young Lawyers Division. Please do register for the ABA Midyear Meeting at the link above. The program will begin with remarks on the business case for diversity from trial lawyer Steven Velkei.

Panel members include:US Navy Rear Admiral "Del" Crandall;

MAHLE Industries, Inc. Senior Corporate Counsel Jerome Crawford; AT&T Senior Counsel Alan Dorantes; and

Texas Rangers Executive Vice President and General Counsel Katie Pothier.

On Saturday, February 15 from 2:30 until 4:00 pm, the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession will present a program called "Men in the Mix: How to Engage Men on Issues Related to Gender in the Profession."

Let us know if you have questions!

Free Teleconference on February 27

Next up on Thursday, February 27, at 11:00 am PST/2:00 pm EST, in our #OwntheChangeReaction Discussion series, we will feature Dr.Lois Frankel, award-winning author of Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office. Learn how women leaders can stand up and speak out for success in their careers. We'll have registration information soon. In the meantime, please save the date!

Need a New Website?

Or Do Some Addition or Subtraction

If you are in a leadership role in a women's bar organization, at some point you will throw up your hands and say that you need a new website--but that there just isn't enough room in the budget right now to hire someone to take on the task. Maybe you rationalize it isn't all that crucial--most people in your local community know when your usual events take place and who is currently in leadership. Although your members have various preferences and patterns for how they get their news from you--from direct emails, social media, or in person--your website is still your calling card to the wider community, so you must not ignore it entirely. Even if you can't do all the fixes you'd like, there are small changes you can make that will make a big difference. Does your website have a built-in calendar feature which scrolls announcements about meetings? There's nothing wrong with showing events which are in the past unless you don't add future meetings, too. Do you have event photos, but the most recent ones are from 2017? Add a few from your first event in 2020. Have you updated your list of board members? You get the idea. But what if adding new information is just too much to take on right now? Start subtracting! Did your website template come with a monthly calendar feature? Take a look at it. If it is blank, take it down! Every women's bar group has events, but if you don't have several each month, a visual of a month-at-a-glance calendar will make it look as if not much is happening. If it is too difficult to refresh your site, reduce it! Subtract all but what is current--the name of the organization, the contact information and any basic information that is not likely to change in 2020, such as "luncheon meetings on the second Tuesday of each month." Reducing the scope of the site can be done affordably often with just an hour or two of a web designer's time.

And before you do embark on a new web design, make sure those in your leadership--not just those who self-identify as "techies" -- skim this brief article about best web design practices for nonprofits.

In the News: Women in the Legal Profession

Women Mentoring Men

Baroness Hale on Female Lawyers and Heels

The January/February issue of The Bencher, the flagship publication of American Inns of Court features various articles on women in the legal profession.

Here's a recent article from the Harvard Business Review entitled Challenging Our Gendered Idea of Mentorship.

Baroness Hale, who is about to step down from the UK's Supreme Court, reflects on issues such as the dress code for women lawyers.

Women's Leadership Initiative

Congratulations to the Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts on the kickoff of its sixth Women's Leadership Initiative (WLI), a program that brings together senior women attorneys and up-and-coming stars of the legal profession for leadership development and mentoring. The program was launched in 2009 by a group of leaders eager to give back to the next generation of promising women attorneys. The WLI is designed to provide participants with large-scale networking, group mentoring, and one-on-one career development opportunities. From no-holds barred Q&A sessions to events introducing participants to leaders in the statewide legal and business communities, the WLI provides participants with opportunities to work with their role models and one another, build their network, and further their careers. To read more about the newest WLI class, click here.

Renew Now for 2020!

Our membership year runs with the calendar year, so now is just the right time to renew your group's membership for 2020. Dues for 2020 have not increased, and are based on your organization's membership numbers. We rely on your membership dues and active participation in order to strengthen women's bar groups throughout North America. This year for the first time, women's law student associations are invited to join for free. For more information on renewals or how to join, click here.

Women Lawyer News

Remember to check Women Lawyers News for articles and unique tools to make practicing law just that much easier.

National Conference of Women's Bar Associations | [email protected] | http://www.ncwba.org

PO Box 82366

Portland, OR 97282-0366

Text | Link