September 2024 marks the 43rd anniversary of Sandra Day O’Connor’s swearing-in as the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice O’Connor represents one of the many women lawyers whose professional success deserves to be recognized as a trailblazer for women in the profession. The ABA Commission on Women in the Profession (the Commission) values the opportunity to honor the exceptional achievements of women in the law through the Annual Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award.
October 23, 2024 Chair’s Column
Celebrating Trailblazers in Grit and Growth Mindset
Karol Corbin Walker
This year, at the 2024 ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago, the Commission celebrated the following incredible women as the honorees of the 34th Annual Margaret Brent Award: Dolores Atencio, visiting scholar, University of Denver Latinx Center, Sturm College of Law; Pamila J. Brown, associate judge, Howard County District Court; Estelle H. Rogers, former legislative director, Project Vote; Gina Shishima, Ph.D., chief strategy and operations partner, Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP; and Barbara Wall, board member and former chief legal and operating officer, Gannett Co., Inc. These women join Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who received her Brent Award in 2000, and other incredible honorees in a league of lawyers who represent the pinnacle of talent and passion of women in the profession.
Margaret Brent Award honorees like Sandra Day O’Connor achieved professional excellence in their field while also influencing other women to pursue legal careers, opening doors for women lawyers in a variety of job settings that historically were closed to them, and advanced opportunities for women in the profession. When Justice O’Connor attended law school in the 1950s, less than 5 percent of the students were women. Today, more than 50 percent of law school students are women. Despite numerous hurdles, Sandra Day O’Connor and other Margaret Brent Award honorees achieved a level of excellence that continues to influence countless successful women in the law.
The Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, the legacy organization she founded in 2009 to advance civil discourse, civic engagement, and civics education, states: “It was O’Connor’s intelligence and grit that made her a transformational figure in the nation’s highest court of law.” For the past 10 years, through the Grit and Growth Mindset Project, the Commission on Women in the Profession has platformed grit as an essential quality of successful women lawyers. This year, the Commission hosted the 10-Year Anniversary of the Grit and Growth Mindset Project: Summit for Law Firm and In-House Leaders at Morrison Foerster’s New York City office on September 10, 2024. This summit was an opportunity for senior in-house counsel and law firm leaders to create connections, discuss the importance of a grit and growth mindset in building inclusive and diverse leadership, and generate strategies to bring these essential principles back to their organization. See this issue’s related CWP News for more on how the Commission commemorated this important occasion.
The Grit and Growth Mindset Project and the Margaret Brent Awards represent two key focuses of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession: providing resources and opportunities to foster the growth and equal participation of women lawyers in the profession and celebrating their great successes. Celebrating Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s profound legacy and the exceptional achievements of the Margaret Brent Award honorees that followed serves as an inspirational reminder of why the Commission works diligently to empower the advancement of women in the law.