Celebrated Women Lawyers Warn Next Generation Not to Rest on Laurels
First female associate. The only woman in her class. First woman in her department.
Those were some of the titles held by the women lawyers honored Sunday at the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Awards Luncheon at the ABA Annual Meeting in Toronto, an award named after the first woman lawyer in America.
Although they began their distinguished careers on the fringe, the event celebrated the accomplishment of six lawyers who’ve reached the upper echelons of the profession. It also extolled the necessity for today’s female leaders to continue to guide the next generation of women lawyers.
“The woman who empowers other women, empowers herself,” said award recipient Paulette Brown, a partner at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, who was honored for her lifelong advocacy of the promotion of women of color in the profession.
During her acceptance speech, Brown also thanked her 84-year-old father, who drove from Baltimore, Md., to attend the event, for teaching her that ‘no’ is not an acceptable response.
While many of the honorees spoke of Margaret Brent’s accomplishments and lauded each other’s achievements, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of the Supreme Court of Canada, the first women in Canada to hold her position and recipient of the Brent Special Award, was not alone when she tempered the celebration with a word of caution and warned attendees to guard against the erosion of the headway made by their predecessors.
“The statistics show that while women have come a long way, there is still a long way to go,” McLachlin said. “If we care about gender equality, it is of utmost importance in both countries that we include women in significant positions [in the legal profession.]”
Award recipients also included, Eleanor Dean Acheson, honored for reshaping the face of the federal judiciary during President Clinton’s two terms where she oversaw an 85 percent rise in the number of women judges on the federal bench; Former ABA President Karen J. Mathis, president and chief executive officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, which she first joined more than 40 years ago; Col. Maritza S. Ryan, professor and head of the Department of Law at the U.S Military Academy, where her appointment marks the first woman and first Hispanic West Point graduate to serve as an academic department head; Hon. Esther Tomlijanovich, who served as part of the nation’s first female majority on a state’s highest court as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Minnesota.
The Margaret Brent awards are given annually by the ABA’s Commission on Women in the Profession to women lawyers who have achieved professional excellence in their field and share a commitment to champion other women.
