Six women lawyers–"teachers, mentors, champions, coaches and role models"–were honored as "exceptional women, superb lawyers, and tireless trail blazers for women in the profession" during the 18th annual Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Awards Luncheon on Sunday, Aug. 10 at the New York Sheraton Hotel during the 2008 American Bar Association Annual Meeting in New York City.
Five women received the award, named for the first women lawyer in America to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of women lawyers who have excelled in their field and have paved the way to success for other women lawyers. The recipients included Ruth Cooper Burg, Roberta Karmel, Linda Strite Murnane, Mary Jo White, and Ann Claire Williams. A sixth honoree — Sarah Weddington, adjunct professor, University of Texas at Austin and women's rights advocate, received a special award.
The recipients are:
Hon. Ruth Cooper Burg of Washington, D.C., a retired judge and the first woman to serve on the Armed Services Board of Contract appeals, is regarded as the grande dame of public contract law. Her life is a series of "firsts." She was the first woman to graduate at the top of her class at George Washington University Law School, the first woman law clerk on the U.S. Tax Court, the fist woman appointed to the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, and the first woman to be chair of the ABA Section of Public Contract Law. In her acceptance speech, Burg was self-effacing about her pioneer status. She noted that while women attending legal conferences complain about having to stand in long lines for the restroom, she welcomes the wait, "I remember when I was the only one in there and I was very lonesome."
Roberta Karmel of New York, the centennial professor of law at Brooklyn Law School, was the first woman appointed to the Securities and Exchange Commission. She told the sold-out crowd of more than 1,200 attendees that she was able to build a multi-million dollar Wall Street practice and still have a family and encouraged others to aim high, by having the courage to think for themselves and not succumb to conventional wisdom. Karmel told of how she was rejected by one law firm where she was told, "We already hired a woman." While she warned that there is still subtle discrimination against women in the profession, she advised, "Do not be discouraged, but push on to achieve your dreams."
Col. Linda Strite Murnane of The Hague, The Netherlands, USAF (retired), currently serves as Senior Legal Officer for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and advocate for the advancement of women in the law and in the military. Murane served in the Air Force for more than 29 years, enlisting at the age of 22 as an airman basic, the lowest enlisted grade, and eventually retired as a colonel. "I share this award with military women of incredible courage," said Murnane, dedicating the honor to Lori Piestewa, the first Native American woman to be killed in combat in 2003. She also praised the men who help her along the way, "I stand here today because of a few good men who recognized that we're just different, not unequal."
Mary Jo White of New York, is the first woman partner to head the litigation department at Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP, and was the second woman partner in the firm's then 52-year history. One of White's proudest accomplishments is to have undertaken the landmark pro bono lawsuit to open the ranks of the New York City Fire Department to women firefighters. White also served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, and rose to the post of chief appellate attorney of the Criminal Division, the first woman to serve in that position. She urged attendees to be proactive and unrelenting, "It is a universal and individual responsibility that we, as a profession, continue to strive to make this world a better place."
Hon. Ann Claire Williams of Chicago is a circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She was one of the youngest ever appointed to a federal judgeship and was the first African-American woman appointed to the U.S. District Court in Illinois and in the Seventh Circuit. Williams also has a long-standing commitment to legal education and training, and has taken her skills to foreign countries, including Ghana, Kenya, and Liberia. Williams, humbled by the recognition, said it was breath-taking experience for "a little black girl from Detroit who knew no lawyers except for Perry Mason." She dedicated the award to her "91-year-old father in a wheelchair" beaming up at her from his table in the crowded ballroom, "who taught me about justice, fairness and sacrifice."
Sarah Weddington of Austin, Texas is an adjunct professor at University of Texas at Austin. She achieved national prominence in 1973, at the age of 27 when the U.S. Supreme Court announced her victory in Roe v. Wade. She is believed to be the youngest person ever to win a case in the Supreme Court. When a job interview for an associate position at a law firm had gone bad—Weddington was asked whether her duties as wife and mother would interfere with her work—it was a blessing in disguise. "That's partly why I had time to volunteer to do Roe v. Wade." She said the win "pushed back barriers and gave women a much wider world to occupy." Weddington has hopes for today's young women, "that the future will be as wide as the Texas sky and as high as you want to go."
The Brent Awards are the highest honor bestowed by the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession.