Twenty years ago, I walked into a large hotel ballroom room filled with women lawyers and judges and had an experience that forever changed the trajectory of my life. At the time I was a first-year law student in my late thirties attending the annual dinner as a guest of a friend who had previously been president of the organization. The energy in the room that night was palpable. The raw power that exuded from these confident, elegant, and educated women was exhilarating—I had never before been in the presence of so many influential women. After that night, I could not stop thinking about the things these women spoke about and the unapologetic and assured way they owned the space they occupied. . . .

The WLALA delegation this year includes Board Members Shaun Dabby Jacobs and Andrea Schoor, Secretary Farah Tabibkhoei, and others. We welcome others to join us!

On August 15, 2021, the WLALA and WLALA Foundation Executive Committee and Board, WLALA Foundation President Jennifer Leland, and WLALA President Mary McKelvey were sworn into office for the 2021-22 year by Judge Samantha Jessner. Congratulations to all the board members! We know you will do great things!  

Save the date! In March 2022, WLALA Immediate Past President Jessica Kronstadt is being honored by the Jewish Free Loan Association at its Wonder Women Gala as a Leading Woman of Los Angeles.

Congratulations to Valerie Fontaine for being named named to the Fifth Annual Lawdragon Global 100 Leaders in Legal Strategy & Consulting. She was one of three legal recruiters in the U.S. elected to its inaugural Hall of Fame, a “recognition for those consultants whose strategic insight has been unsurpassed in a career dedicated to helping law firms ascend.”

WLALA Board member Judge Michelle DeCasas, Judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, was featured in the Los Angeles Daily Journal's August 30, 2021 issue in a judicial profile called "Keeping Faith."

WLALA Immediate Past President Jessica Kronstadt has donated these beautiful postcards, which were specially designed for WLALA by Schuyler Polk of Polk Paper and Grace Cope. Only a limited number of sets of these postcards are available. All proceeds will benefit the WLALA Foundation. 

WLALA is offering one complimentary year of membership to WLALA's local sister bar organization members at APAWLA, BWL, and LLBA; New Admittees (those who passed the bar after January 1, 2021); and Law Students!

The 19th Amendment Speaker series features interviews with successful, inspirational, and impactful women in entertainment, sports, politics, law, academia, and business. Originally recorded in Summer/Fall 2020 as part of the 19th Amendment Speaker Series, this podcast is presented in conjunction with the National Association of Women Judges and the Los Angeles County Bar Association. Here are six ways to listen to the podcast:

Email Calendar@iDepoReporters.com or call 323-393-3768. 

Meet Kirra Jones, Of Counsel at Polsinelli LLP, where she has been practicing complex litigation for eight years. She spent the first five of those years in Polsinelli’s Kansas City, Missouri, office before transferring to the Los Angeles office three years ago. Coming from a close-knit legal community, the geographic breadth of the Los Angeles bar was quite a change. 

But Kirra found a soft place to land in WLALA. She was invited by her colleague and WLALA President Mary McKelvey to WLALA’s 100th Anniversary Installation Dinner in 2019, and discovered in WLALA a genuine and friendly support system. She then decided to get more involved, and helped to plan an event about the #MeToo movement featuring as a speaker this year’s WLALA Distinguished Service Award winner Supervisor Holly Mitchell. Kirra is now on the Board of WLALA on the Membership Committee, where she hopes to recreate some of the camaraderie and networking opportunities she enjoyed in Kansas City through leveraging the relationships women lawyers have forged with one another through their firms, public service, and networks.

“A wise old woman and a wise old man will reach the same conclusion,”

remarked the Hon. Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court. With these words, O’Connor traces the outlines of legal formalism, a legal theory which states that judicial decisions can be explained by the facts of the case, the laws of the land, and the relevant legal

precedents—nothing more. Yet a subtle tension lurks behind O’Connor’s

statement. O’Connor joined the United States Supreme Court in the early

1980s, inhabiting a world of legal precedents authored entirely by men. Did

she come to the same conclusions as wise old men because she stood by the

things already decided by them? . . .

APAWLA Young Lawyers and Law Students (YLLS) is having an ongoing Resume Review Workshop. To participate you must be an active APAWLA member. Please send in a Word copy of your resume and/or cover letter to apawla.ylls@gmail.com. You will be assigned an APAWLA board member who will review and suggest revisions in the document with track changes. The anticipated turnaround for feedback is one week. Please be sure to maintain prompt communication. This is an ongoing workshop open until the end of the pandemic.

Did you know that your WLALA membership allows you to access the Job Bank? It includes legal employment opportunities ranging from nonprofit organizations to law firms and everything in between.  

You must be a current member and logged into the website to view the WLALA Job Bank. If you need help obtaining your username and password, please contact us.

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