We're delighted to invite you to our upcoming virtual panel on Thursday October 22nd at 5pm PST. We will talk with four womxn of color about their lived experiences, insights, and learnings on their journey to public office.

Womxn of color constitute 8.8% of the total 535 members of Congress, 4.5% of the total 311 statewide elective executives, and in the nation's 100 largest cities, ten womxn of color currently serve as mayors.

That's not enough. Join us for this conversation about the journey to public office for womxn of color, and the pressing need for more Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in all levels of government.

In recognition of her decades of work encouraging and supporting women in the legal profession, Washington State Supreme Court Justice Barbara Madsen has been named the 2020 recipient of the prestigious Joan Dempsey Klein Award by the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ). Madsen will be presented the award during the association’s annual conference — held remotely this year — starting October 14.

The award is named after the co-founder of the NAWJ, California’s first female presiding justice, and recognizes someone who works to improve the number of women serving as judges, assists women judges in increasing their proficiency, and who supports improvement in the judicial branch.

Madsen was nominated for the award by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Debra Stephens, retired Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst, and Justices Susan Owens, Sheryl Gordon McCloud and Helen Whitener, all members of NAWJ.

Justice Madsen “personally recruited most of the Washington judges who are or have been members of NAWJ,” their nominating letter said. She served for 20 years as Chair of the Washington Supreme Court Gender and Justice Commission, one of whose core missions is to support women in the legal profession. Under Madsen’s leadership the Commission developed the groundbreaking educational program, “When Bias Compounds: The Intersectionality of Race and Gender in the Legal Profession,” spearheaded Washington’s annual Color of Justice program to encourage female students of color to consider the legal profession, sponsored annual judicial receptions for the three Washington law schools’ Women Lawyers Caucuses, and helped provide scholarships for women law students.

Justice Madsen was also instrumental in developing and supporting The Judicial Institute, an organization that has mentored and trained women and persons of color to run for or be appointed to judicial positions in Washington, with great success. She also started the Initiative for Diversity, which asks lawyers and legal employers to commit that they will hire, retain, and promote women and people of color in their workplaces.

When Madsen was elected to the Supreme Court in 1992, she become only the third woman justice in Washington – and the first who was not initially appointed,. She had four young children at the time and served on the Seattle Municipal Court bench, but felt strongly that women needed to reach for higher positions in the legal branch. She served as Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court from 2010 to 2017.

“Her personal courage and commitment has inspired many other women to stand up and take leadership roles, and to extend a hand to others to join them,” her colleagues said in their nominating letter.

Madsen, who has been a member of the NAWJ since 1986, said that the support and encouragement she received from other women judges across the U.S. has been invaluable over the years. “It is humbling to receive the Joan Dempsey Klein award, particularly knowing its namesake, and coming from an organization that has meant so much to me,” she said.

This program is approved for 5 SHRM Credit hours, 5 HRCI Credit hours, meets the requirement for federal refresher credit hours, and is approved for MCLE credits in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada (and has been submitted for approval in California).  Additionally, we are offering two half-day Workshops in October.  While our preference would be to deliver training in person, we hope the silver lining is that we can better serve people throughout our district without the barriers of travel costs.

Register Now for EEOC Training! https://eeotraining.eeoc.gov

Regional Seminar:  Meeting the Moment – September 22, 2020
Workshop 1: Pacific Northwest Annual EEO Training – October 6, 2020
Workshop 2: Virtual EEO Investigation – October 27, 2020

* If you decide to register, please consider posting the attached graphic on social media along with an answer to the question: “How are you meeting the moment?”.

Lastly, I’d like to e-introduce myself as EEOC’s new Outreach & Education Coordinator for the Pacific Northwest, covering Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.  Although I am new to the region, I have a decade of experience with the agency as an investigator in our Chicago office and have trained a variety of workforces on topics ranging from statutes enforced by EEOC, LGBTQ+ Issues, and Respectful Workplaces.  If you would like to partner with EEOC for outreach and education, please consider me your resource.  We are happy to speak on webinars or podcasts, or otherwise support your programs. 

The Attorney General’s Honors Program is the largest and most prestigious federal entry-level attorney hiring program of its kind and our Summer Law Intern Program is the Department’s competitive recruitment program for compensated summer internships. The online application for both programs opened on July 31 and closes on September 8, 2020. Please see the links above for more information about the programs, including participating offices, number of available positions, eligibility criteria, and answers to frequently asked questions.

 Attend a ‘for free register’ Webinar on the timely topic of: “Is Covid-19 bringing women lawyers’ careers back to the 1950s?”  According to recent research professional women’s working hours have decreased by one third as compared to professional men as a result of the unequal domestic burden brought on by the pandemic. It is therefore crucial to create a constructive forum for dialogue so please join and invite your colleagues and peer legal professionals:

NORTH AMERICA time friendly Webinar 2:
August 6th (Thursday), US Eastern Standard Time: 12.00pm (noon)-1.30pm
Free to attend registration link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5411244685164322832

Panelists include:

• Christina Blacklaws, Consultant, Blacklaws Consulting Ltd., former President, Law Society of England & Wales
• Barbara Becker, Partner and Chair of the firm-wide Diversity Committee, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
• Connie Brenton, Chief of Staff/ Sr. Director, Legal Operations, NetApp
• Crystal Lalime, General Counsel of Global Markets, Credit Suisse
• Kate Broer, Partner, Dentons Canada LLP
• Linda Myers, Partner & founder of Women’s Leadership Initiative, Kirkland & Ellis
• Pallavi Mehta Wahi, Co-United States and Seattle Managing Partner, Chair of Firmwide Diversity Committee, K&L Gates LLP
• Patricia Lee “Trish” Refo, President-elect, American Bar Association
• Patrick Dransfield, Co-Director, In-House Community
• Sonja S. Weissman, Partner, Reed Smith

Ms. Jill Wine-Banks’ book, "The Watergate Girl: My Fight for Truth and Justice Against a Criminal President," has been described as “All the President's Men Meets Hidden Figures". It is a fascinating and deeply personal account of her experience as the only woman on the prosecution team in the obstruction of justice trial against President Nixon’s top aides.  She describes both her experience breaking sexist barriers in what was viewed as a man’s profession and the intrigue of the Nixon investigation. This was the era when men were men but women were girls.

The parallels between the crimes of Richard Nixon and today’s headlines are profound.  Jill Wine- Banks has a view of history and knowledge of current events to add perspective to today’s political issues. Jill is currently an MSNBC Legal Analyst, regularly providing legal analysis and commentary. She appears on PBS, Rachel Maddow and other MSNBC programs, network news, Sirus/XM, podcasts and many other programs. She also lectures at law schools, universities and numerous professional groups.
 

The webinar will be held online via ZOOM. If you cannot access ZOOM there will be an option to join by telephone. RSVP by submitting the online form to receive the Zoom link/telephone number before the day of the webinar.

Register here.

The Council of the ABA Section of Labor & Employment Law is proud to announce our participation in the “21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge,” and we invite LEL Section members to join us. The 21-Day Challenge was conceived several years ago by diversity expert Eddie Moore, Jr. to advance deeper understandings of the intersections of race, power, privilege, supremacy and oppression.

Our Section will begin the 21-Day Challenge on Wednesday, June 17, 2020. The goal of the Challenge is to assist each of us to become more aware, compassionate, constructive, engaged people in the quest for racial equity. It transcends our roles as lawyers. It is, of course, completely voluntary to do, and participation in the Challenge shall not be construed as agreement with every word of every assignment nor a commitment by any person to a particular professional position or strategy. Further, participants are free to opt out of participating along the way. There is no grade at the end of the Challenge.

The Challenge invites participants to complete a syllabus of 21 short assignments (typically taking 15-30 minutes), over 21 consecutive days, that include readings, videos or podcasts. It has been intentionally crafted to focus on the Black American experience. The assignments seek to expose participants to perspectives on elements of Black history, identity and culture, and to the Black community’s experience of racism in America. Even this focus on Black Americans cannot possibly highlight all of the diversity of experiences and opinions within the Black community itself, much less substitute for learnings about any other community of color. This syllabus is but an introduction to what we hope will be a rewarding journey that extends far beyond the limits of this project.

If you plan to participate in the Challenge and would like to add your name to the Section’s list of colleagues who are doing so, please send a message to the Section office.

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/labor_law/membership/equal_opportunity/?fbclid=IwAR1VLm43YQ1M6OeDXjhSGw7PFFtmkrzfXSHgHIdlb6cooN2wV81B-f3Wq-I

A big thanks to everyone who was able to join us for the live premiere of our Online Pride Extravaganza and everyone who's tuned in since! If you haven't had a chance to watch yet, the program will remain available for you to watch any time here. !