The American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession has chosen five women lawyers to receive its 2016 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award. The award ceremony luncheon will take place on Sunday, Aug. 7 at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco, during the ABA Annual Meeting.
The honorees are:
- Ginger Ehn Lew, managing director and general counsel, Cube Hydro Partners LLC, Bethesda, Md. Lew has been a trailblazer in both the corporate world and the government sector for over 40 years. She has served as general counsel for the U.S. Department of Commerce from 1994-1996 (at the time, the highest-ranking female Asian Pacific American appointee of a cabinet agency), and as chief operating officer for the U.S. Small Business Administration from 1996-1998. Lew then started a venture capital fund that sought to invest in projects led by women and minorities. Rejoining the government in 2009, she served as senior counselor to the White House National Economic Council until 2011, working as the primary author of policies focused on the inclusion of women in domestic and international economic life.
- Roberta D. Liebenberg, senior partner, Fine, Kaplan and Black, R.P.C., Philadelphia. Liebenberg focuses her practice on class actions, antitrust and complex commercial litigation, and white collar criminal defense. She has held leadership roles for the plaintiff classes in numerous complex antitrust and consumer class actions and is the coauthor of the groundbreaking report on women as lead counsel, "First Chairs at Trial: More Women Need Seats at the Table" (ABA 2015). Liebenberg currently serves as chair of DirectWomen, an organization dedicated to increasing the representation of women lawyers on corporate boards. She has worked throughout her career to help other women advance and succeed, including taking an active role in leadership posts held in several national, state and local organizations devoted to creating a level playing field for women lawyers. From 2008-2011 and 2013-2014, she chaired the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession.
- Nancy E. O'Malley, district attorney, Alameda County District Attorney's Office, Oakland, Calif. O'Malley is a nationally recognized expert in issues involving violence against women, sexual assault, interpersonal abuse, human exploitation and trafficking and domestic abuse. She revolutionized the role of district attorney by adding to its core prosecutorial functions a holistic approach to prevention and healing, creating and implementing social programs to remedy the social ills that lead to criminal behavior. O'Malley was among the first to identify domestic human trafficking as a pervasive problem, one that involved foster children, runaways and other disadvantaged children. She has created numerous innovative and hugely successful programs that have been replicated by other district attorneys' offices throughout the country. Her impact on women in the profession includes an emphasis on filling the pipeline of women lawyers through the development of programs for college and high school students.
- Judith W. Rogers, circuit judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Washington, D.C. Rogers helped draft and implement the District of Columbia Home Rule Act (1973) and then served as corporation counsel for the District of Columbia, one of the first female chief lawyers for a jurisdiction. In 1983, Rogers was appointed as an associate judge on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and five years later was elevated to chief judge, one of the first women to preside as chief judge of a state supreme court. In 1994, President Bill Clinton nominated Rogers to the U.S. Court of Appeals, where she continues to serve. During her tenure on the bench, Rogers has ensured that her law clerks reflect diversity of gender, ethnic background and sexual orientation. She has received numerous awards throughout her career and recently was appointed to the rules committee of the U.S. Judicial Conference.
- Judith A. Scott, general counsel, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and senior partner, James & Hoffman, PC, Washington, D.C. Scott has held key positions in a wide range of labor unions in both the private and public sectors for more than 40 years. She has served as in-house legal counsel to the United Auto Workers of America, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the United Mine Workers, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (as its general counsel and one of the first women general counsel to a major international labor union). Since 1997, she has served as general counsel to the SEIU, the largest private sector union in the U.S. Throughout her career, Scott has been at the center of many of the most challenging issues within the labor movement and has given special attention to issues affecting women workers, including pregnancy discrimination and income inequality. She is coauthor of the book, "Organizing and the Law, 4th Ed." (BNA 2000).
The ABA Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, established in 1991, honors outstanding women lawyers who have achieved professional excellence in their area of specialty and have actively paved the way to success for others. The award is named for Margaret Brent, the first woman lawyer in America. Brent arrived in the colonies in 1638, and was involved in 124 court cases in more than eight years, winning every case. In 1648, she formally demanded a vote and voice in the Maryland Assembly, which the governor denied.
Previous winners range from small-firm practitioners in Alabama and Alaska to U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Winners are selected on the basis of their professional accomplishments and their role in opening doors for other women lawyers.
Michele Coleman Mayes, chair of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, says of this year's Brent winners: "We are honored to recognize this spectacular group of women. We applaud their achievements, knowing that their efforts will inspire a new generation of women lawyers."
Published: Wed, Jun 08, 2016
