ABA House of Delegates passes pair of pay equity resolutions

The ABA House of Delegates passed two resolutions that support fair compensation at the annual meeting in San Francisco. Resolution 106, sponsored by the Commission on Women in the Profession, urges employers of lawyers to implement practices that close the pay gap between male and female lawyers. It provides a…

Aug 13, 2019 1:05 PM CDT

ABA honors 5 women for their service to the legal profession

ABA President Bob Carlson invoked the spirit of Toni Morrison—the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature—at the Margaret Brent Awards luncheon at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco on Sunday. “She was a trailblazer who undoubtedly paved the way for new generations of aspiring writers,” Carlson said. “The women we are honoring today, … by their language have touched the lives of many.”

Aug 12, 2019 9:54 AM CDT

Legal secretary’s suit claims partners’ tirades constituted sex bias, caused panic attack

A legal secretary says two Venable partners yelled, humiliated and demeaned her to such an extent that their conduct constituted sex discrimination under California’s fair employment law. Marjan Rabbi, a legal secretary with a JD from Whittier Law School, filed the suit in superior court in Los Angeles on Aug.…

Aug 8, 2019 11:01 AM CDT

A victim of assault takes an unintentional career path

On a summer night in 1984, I left my uniformed patrol job at the University of California at Berkeley Police Department and walked home alone in darkness. I was a 19-year-old sophomore. At the threshold of my apartment, a man assaulted me at knifepoint. After a soul-chilling struggle, I managed…

Aug 8, 2019 6:30 AM CDT

More people are applying to law school, but it’s not like last year’s ‘Trump bump’

People applying to law school saw a modest 3.3% increase for the 2019-20 admission cycle, according to the Law School Admission Council. The data is as of July 31 and includes 62,427 applicants, Kellye Y. Testy, president and CEO of the LSAC, wrote in an Aug. 5 web post for…

Aug 7, 2019 12:04 PM CDT

Story with racial justice theme wins ABA Journal’s 2019 Ross essay contest for legal fiction

A lawyer who promotes economic security for survivors of domestic violence has won the 2019 ABA Journal/Ross Writing Contest for Legal Short Fiction. Yvette Butler won the prize for a fictional story with a theme of racial justice. Writing the story was “an outlet to process what’s going on” regarding the “everlasting, amorphous war on terror” as well as issues surrounding police treatment of black people, she says.

Aug 5, 2019 7:00 AM CDT

How the push for inclusion in law firm hiring can carve a path for female talent

There is a fierce battle for talent underway in American law firms that could benefit women lawyers. Because firms are competing, employers should have stronger incentives than ever to retain their most valued lawyers.

Jul 16, 2019 8:00 AM CDT

Lawyer awarded $229K in pregnancy bias suit after judge slams defendant law firm for slow discovery

A Chicago immigration lawyer has been awarded $229,498 in her suit claiming that she was fired from her job at a law firm after disclosing her pregnancy. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer awarded the money to Jessica Hernandez last week after entering a default judgment against the Katz Law Office…

Jul 9, 2019 11:45 AM CDT

ABA amicus brief supports LGBTQ employees in Title VII discrimination cases

The ABA urged the U.S. Supreme Court to recognize that the prohibition against discrimination “based on … sex” in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act encompasses discrimination based on an employee’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Jul 3, 2019 3:34 PM CDT

BigLaw firm earns top spot for number of female attorneys; what other firms made the cut?

A new firm is No. 1 on the National Law Journal’s 2019 Women in Law Scorecard, which ranks the largest law firms in the country by their representation of female attorneys. Berry Appleman & Leiden, an immigration firm based in San Francisco, reported to the National Law Journal that 59.2%…

Jul 1, 2019 2:43 PM CDT

How to make a website accessible

Jul 1, 2019 6:30 AM CDT

A natural migration: Descendant of immigrants works to protect civil rights

Many migrant men, women and children are fleeing their homelands to seek safety from violence. My maternal and paternal family members migrated to the United States from Mexico in search of opportunity and with hopes of realizing a dream.

Jul 1, 2019 2:20 AM CDT

ADA questions remain over web accessibility cases and the lack of DOJ regulations

Disability rights advocates say web accessibility, the practice of designing and coding websites so that people with disabilities can use them, can be accomplished through simple changes, such as changing color contrast and adding video captions. However, the legal landscape surrounding web accessibility has become more complex.

Jul 1, 2019 2:15 AM CDT

San Diego lawyer launches all-female, all-partner virtual firm

The fledgling virtual firm Vanst Law in San Diego has no office, no break room and no conference room of its own—so the partners get creative about finding ways to stay collegial. “Our firm culture is extremely important to us. We can’t meet at the watercooler, but isolation isn’t a problem,” says founder and CEO Cynthia Morgan-Reed.

Jul 1, 2019 1:25 AM CDT

Sowing seeds: Artika Tyner uses education to nurture social change

A trio of early influences led Artika Tyner to what she calls her life mission—promoting literacy, training the next generation of leaders and advancing diversity and inclusion as the founder of the Planting People Growing Justice Leadership Institute.

Jul 1, 2019 1:20 AM CDT