Chapters

• Benton-Franklin
• Capitol Chapter
• Clark/St. Helens
• King
• Kitsap
• Pierce
• Snohomish
• Spokane
• Whatcom
• Gonzaga University
• Seattle University
• Univ. of Washington

Gonzaga University Chapter

Professor Helen Donigan receives Myra Bradwell Award

Gonzaga University School of Law's Women's Law Caucus honored Professor Helen Donigan with its 18th annual Myra Bradwell Award.  The award is presented each year to a Gonzaga Law alumna who has furthered women's and children's issues through the law.  The award is named after Myra
Bradwell, who overcame many obstacles to become the first female attorney admitted to practice in the United States.

Prof. Donigan's life has been dedicated to service to the legal profession, the community and the law school. Her most significant contributions involve her advocacy on behalf of women's and children's issues and her work combating all forms of discrimination.

After graduating from Gonzaga Law, Prof. Donigan was a managing attorney at Spokane Legal Services, where she represented urban and reservation Indians in legal matters in tribal and federal courts.

After joining the Gonzaga law faculty in 1978, in addition to maintaining excellence in performance of her academic responsibilities, Prof. Donigan continued her public interest legal work as a volunteer in a number of capacities. She chaired the Washington State Child Support
Schedule Commission, which created a standardized approach for the establishment of child support and was in 1988 enacted into law as Chapter 26.19 of the Revised Code of Washington.

After her appointment by the Washington Supreme Court in 1997, Prof. Donigan served eight years on the Gender and Justice Commission. In 2007, she was appointed by Governor Gregoire to the Washington Supreme Court Task Force on Dissolution, where she made recommendations to
improve the dispute resolution proceedings and helped develop curricula for court evaluators in the areas of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Prof. Donigan was a founding member of the Spokane Task Force on Race Relations. From 1990-98, she served as a Commissioner on the Washington State Human Rights Commission, which works to prevent and eliminate discrimination by investigating civil rights complaints and providing
education and training opportunities throughout the state.

For more than a decade, she was a member of the Executive Board of the Family Law Section of the Washington State Bar and received the section's Professional of the Year award in 1989. Professor Donigan has served as an editor and author of the Washington Family Law Deskbook for more than 20 years.

Prof. Donigan has been a role model and mentor to women faculty, students, and alumnae.

Women’s Law Caucus awards first WLC Scholarship

The Women’s Law Caucus student organization, in conjunction with the Washington Women Lawyers Foundation, awarded its first WLC Scholarship this spring to incoming first year student Christine Hayes.   Ms. Hayes is a 2009 graduate of Western Washington University and has performed considerable advocacy on behalf of victims of domestic violence.  She has served the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office as an advocate for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault for over a year and a half.  She also has volunteered with Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services for nearly two years.  The Women’s Law Caucus organized and raised money for the scholarship to support a student with a commitment to gender and women’s issues.  Plans are already underway to award the WLC Scholarship again next year to a qualified incoming first year student.