CHICAGO, May 8, 2025 — The American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession has chosen five women lawyers to receive its 2025 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award. The award ceremony luncheon will take place from 3-5:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 5 during the ABA Annual Meeting in Toronto.
This year’s honorees are:
Maryka Omatsu, retired justice of the Ontario Court of Justice. Omatsu is the first East Asian woman to be appointed a judge in Canada, serving the east-central province for more than two decades. She is co–founder of the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers and was the first Canadian to receive the American National Asian Pacific Bar Association's Trailblazer Award in 2013. Omatsu is a graduate of the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School. Click here for a photo of Omatsu.
Holly J. Fujie, judge for the Los Angeles County Superior Court in California. Prior to her appointment in 2012, Fujie was a shareholder at the Los Angeles-based law firm Buchalter Nemer. She is the third woman and the first Asian American to serve as president of the State Bar of California and is a past president of the California Asian Pacific American Judges Association. Fujie is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley and the University of California,Berkeley School of Law. Click here for a photo of Fujie.
Jami Wintz McKeon, chair of Morgan Lewis. McKeon is the first woman to helm the global law firm, where she provides strategic direction and leads more than 4,000 employees — ncluding over 2,000 lawyers — working across more than 30 offices in 10 countries and 17 time zones, serving over 11,000clients, including 80% of the Fortune 100. McKeon is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and Villanova University School of Law. Click here for a photo of McKeon.
Bridget Marsh, executive vice president and general counsel of the Loan Syndications and Trading Association. Prior to joining the U.S. financial services trade organization, Marsh practiced as a corporate finance attorney at Milbank, New York, and as a lawyer in the Corporate/M&A department of Simmons & Simmons, London. Marsh is a graduate of Georgetown University and the Sydney Law School, University of Sydney. Click here for a photo of Marsh.
Anita Earls, associate justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. Before her appointment in 2018, Earls was the executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, as well as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice during the Clinton administration. Earls is a graduate of Williams College and Yale Law School. Click here for a photo of Earls.
“We applaud the achievements of this amazing group of women, who have and will continue to inspire all of us in the legal profession, including the next generation of women lawyers,” said Karol Corbin Walker, chair of the Commission on Women in the Profession.
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.
Past honorees include U.S. Supreme Court justices, legislators, scholars, civil rights activists and powerhouse corporate lawyers. Winners are selected on the basis of their professional accomplishments and their role in opening doors of opportunity for other women lawyers.