On February 6 during the ABA Midyear Meeting, the ABA Law Practice Division’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee presented the 2015 Golden Hammer Award to Patricia K. Gillette, a partner in the San Francisco office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. The Golden Hammer Award honors lawyers, judges, law firms, law schools, corporate legal departments, and other individuals and entities demonstrating professional excellence and a commitment to diversity.
Gillette is a cofounder of the Opt-In Project, a nationwide initiative focused on changing the structure of law firms to increase the retention and advancement of women in the workplace. She served for three years as a member of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, cochairs the San Francisco Bar Association’s No Glass Ceiling Initiative, served on the board of the National Association of Women Lawyers Foundation, and cochaired the model compensation committee of the ABA Task Force on Gender Equity. Gillette also chairs the development committee of DirectWomen, a nonprofit dedicated to placing women lawyers on boards of public companies.