The 19th Annual Margaret Brent Achievement Awards Luncheon

Please join the Commission on Women in the Profession for the 19th Annual Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Awards Luncheon at the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, on Sunday, August 2, 2009, from 12:00pm–2:00pm at The Fairmont Chicago. The ABA Commission on Women established the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award in 1991 to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of women lawyers. The award honors outstanding women lawyers who have achieved professional excellence in their area of specialty and have actively paved the way to success for other women lawyers. It is presented to five women lawyers who excel in a variety of professional settings and who personify excellence on the national, regional, or local level.

The 2009 Honorees:

• Linda L. Addison, partner, Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P., and cofounder of the Center for Women in Law at the University of Texas; in Houston, Texas, and New York, New York.
• Helaine M. Barnett, president, Legal Services Corporation, and first legal aid attorney to serve as president of the Legal Services Corporation; in Washington, D.C.
• Arnette R. Hubbard, judge, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, and champion of human rights through the exercise of the right to vote; in Chicago, Illinois.
• Vanessa Ruiz, judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and the first Hispanic judge to serve on the District of Columbia's highest court; in Washington, D.C.
• Loretta A. Tuell, partner, AndersonTuell, LLP, lawyer and legislative advocate on behalf of Indian tribes; in Washington, D.C.

Pay tribute to the 2009 Margaret Brent honorees by purchasing a table (each table seats 10) and/or a special tribute in the commemorative awards program book. Tributes can be made to the five honorees or other women lawyers who have touched your life or the lives of those around you. Reserved tables are $1,500, and full-page tributes are $1,000. Corporate sponsorship opportunities also are available. For more information, contact Beverly Henderson at 312-988-5668, send an e-mail to BHenderson2@staff.abanet.org, or visit the Commission Web site at www.abanet.org/women/awards.html.

2009 Report Tracking Women in ABA Leadership Positions Now Available
The ABA Commission on Women in the Profession has issued its 2009 Goal III (formerly Goal IX) Report Card, which tracks the trend of women in ABA leadership positions. Women now constitute 31.9 percent of the approximately 347,000 lawyer members of the ABA and 31.6 percent of the legal profession. While women overall are progressing, the rate of that increase has stagnated in recent years—which is of particular concern with respect to lower levels such as committees and subcommittees, which are the pathways to leadership. Download the full report from the Commission's Web site at www.abanet.org/women/goaliii.html.

Phoebe Haddon Appointed Dean of University of Maryland School of Law
The University of Maryland School of Law has appointed its first African-American dean in the law school's 185-year history, Phoebe A. Haddon. A distinguished faculty member at the Temple University Beasley School of Law, Haddon is a national leader in legal education and an accomplished national scholar on constitutional law and tort law. She is a liaison to the Commission on Women in the Profession from the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar and is on the advisory board of the Commission's Women of Color Research Initiative.

Brooksley Born Receives John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award
Brooksley Born, former chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), is one of this year's recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. She is being honored for her political courage in trying unsuccessfully in 1998 to bring over-the-counter derivatives under the regulatory control of the CFTC, warning that unregulated financial contracts could pose grave dangers to the U.S. economy. The government's failure to regulate such financial arrangements has been cited as one of the causes of the current financial crisis. Born is a retired partner of Arnold & Porter LLP and has served on the ABA Board of Governors and the Commission on Women in the Profession, to which she currently is liaison from the Senior Lawyers Division.

In Memoriam—Rona Robbins Mears
Rona Robbins Mears, former chair of the ABA Section of International Law (1999–2000), founder of the Section's Women's Interest Network, and recipient of the Mayre J. Rasmussen Award for the Advancement of Women in International Law, passed away on December 18, 2008, after a valiant 3 1/2-year struggle with cancer. For more than 20 years, she practiced international commercial and trade law with Haynes and Boone, LLP, in Dallas and also taught at Southern Methodist University Dedman Law School and the University of Dallas. Ms. Mears cared passionately about the advancement of women in international practice and took steps to promote this agenda wherever she went.

Save the Date!
Second ABA National Conference on the Employment of Lawyers with Disabilities • June 15–16, 2009
For more information, visit www.abanet.org/disability/.