2 Female Firsts: 1st Circuit Chief Judge and SW Gas Gen'l Counsel
Two female firsts have been announced in top judicial and corporate positions:
Judge Sandra Lynch is to become the first female chief judge of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 16, according to Boston Business Journal and a 1st Circuit press release. She succeeds Chief Judge Michael Boudin.
The first and only woman on the 1st Circuit bench, Lynch is a former Massachusetts prosecutor, general counsel for the Massachusetts Department of Education and partner in Boston’s Foley, Hoag & Eliot, where she was the first woman to chair the law firm’s litigation department.
Meanwhile, Karen Haller is to become the first female general counsel of Southwest Gas Corp. after the utility’s current general counsel, Thomas Sheets, retires on Sept. 15, a company press release (PDF) announces. She is currently a vice president/deputy general counsel and compliance officer for the company.
She was a business lawyer in private practice in Tucson, Ariz., before she joined Southwest Gas in 1997.
