Would you like your women's bar group to get more involved nationally? The National Conference of Women's Bar Associations is currently accepting applications for board openings for the two-year term beginning in August 2014. Board members are nominated by their member bar association and agree to participate in three in-person meetings a year, as well as in committee work. For more information and a downloadable application form, click here. Completed nomination forms should be sent to info@ncwba.org, Final selection of nominees will be made by the NCWBA Nominating Committee and presented as a slate for election at the August 8 Women's Bar Leadership Summit in Boston.

2014 Women's Bar Leadership Summit is August 8 in Boston

Breaking Barriers - Building Bridges

Register now, and plan to join leaders of women's bar associations from across the United States and Canada in Boston on August 8 for our 2014 Women's Bar Leadership Summit. After welcoming remarks from the Honorable Barbara A. Lenk, Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, our opening keynote speaker will be Lauren Stiller Rikleen, author of the highly acclaimed, ground-breaking book You Raised Us, Now Work With Us-Millennials, Career Success and Building Strong Workplace Teams. Her book is an indispensable resource to help Millennials, Gen-Xers and Baby Boomers understand generational differences and create a more effective work environment. Each attendee will receive a copy of this book.

Koriamanya Carew, Director of Strategic Diversity Initiatives at Shook, Hardy & Bacon, will discuss current issues in breaking barriers in diversity.

The winners of the 2014 Public Service and Outstanding Member Program Awards will be honored at a special luncheon at the Boston College Club, a short walk away from the Summit venue of Suffolk University Law School. The New Hampshire Women's Bar Association will be honored for Overcoming Cancer's Legal Challenges. The Outstanding Member Program Award will be presented to Broward County Women Lawyers' Association for Maze of Injustice--Issues and Concerns Involving Native American Women and Children in the Courts. Our luncheon keynote speaker will be Nancy Gertner. Formerly a federal judge, Nancy Gertner is now Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School. She will be honored as a recipient of this year's Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award. If time doesn't permit you to attend the full-day Summit, please join us for the awards luncheon only. Click here for more information and a registration form.

Rosalind Chait Barnett, Senior Scientist at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University, and co-author of the book The New Soft War on Women, will comment on harmful media narratives about gender. She is the 2013 recipient of the Work Life Legacy Award from the Families and Work Institute in New York.

Our final speaker of the day will be Amy Gutman, Senior Writer at Harvard School of Public Health and facilitator of the OpEd Project, which seeks to increase the number of women thought leaders in key commentary forums. Learn how you and your bar association can become thought leaders on the issues most important to you.

As usual, we will set aside time for attendees to share great ideas and programs of their own women's bar associations. The cost for the full-day program, including continental breakfast, awards luncheon and a copy of You Raised Us, Now Work With Us is $200. Click here for the registration form. Please reserve your room at the Nine-Zero Hotel, where we have a limited number of rooms at a special Summit rate of $249 for a single or double, with tax. Click here, or call the hotel at 1-800 KIMPTON and ask for the Women's Bar Leadership Summit rate.

If you can be in Boston on Thursday evening, August 7, plan to join us for a showing of the film Girl Rising and a reception. We will be hosted by Duane Morris LLP, beginning at 5:30. Details will follow soon!

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While you are in Boston, be sure to attend the always inspiring Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Luncheon on Sunday, August 10, from noon until 2:00 pm at the Hynes Convention Center. Individual tickets are $135. For more information about the event, click here. Here is a list of this year's honorees:

Hon. Nancy Gertner; Harvard Law School and Judge (Retired); U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts; Cambridge, MA
Anastasia D. Kelly; Co-Managing Partner Americas; DLA Piper; Washington, DC
Allie B. Latimer; Former General Counsel; General Services Administration; Washington, DC
Hon. Kathryn Doi Todd; Associate Justice (Retired); California Court of Appeal, Second District; Los Angeles, CA
Marissa C. Wesely; Of Counsel; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP; New York, NY

After the luncheon, be sure to stop by the ABA Women's Caucus from 2:15-4:30 pm at the Sheraton Boston BackBay Ballroom C, 2nd Level. It is the best way to learn about the numerous ABA activities and programs focusing on women.

Building An Organizational Culture of Accountability: Part 2, Volunteers

by Mary Dougherty

One challenge that has surprised me serving in various roles with women lawyer organizations over the last decade is the epidemic among members and volunteers who fail to recognize that they share responsibility for the ability of the organization to effect change. This two-part article explores strategies for organization leaders to facilitate a better understanding of those roles. In part 1, I explored the way that many organizations approach member service: spending countless hours accommodating special requests and reinventing the wheel in response to member feedback, which often takes the form of negative comments or a general lack of member engagement. In part 2, I will focus on strategies to attract and keep good volunteers.

We could not put on the many wonderful events and programs without the dedicated service of our volunteers, so it gave me pause when I was attending a fundraising event for a local non-profit that benefits women and families and someone who I thought was another guest at the event told me that she had signed up to help at the registration table and her shift started 30 minutes ago, but she wasn't worried about it because she was only a volunteer. I wondered if she would feel the same way if she was the volunteer stuck at the registration table, and I wondered about the experience of the guests and donors this person was supposed to be greeting. As the "volunteer" continued to neglect her duty, I finally inquired if she thought it reflected poorly on the organization or on her when she didn't show up when she said that she would. She responded that she hadn't thought about it and walked away--hopefully, to begin her volunteer shift!

Now, I know a number of experienced volunteer coordinators who over-staff their events and programs to deal with this issue and protect their other volunteers from the added burden, but how many times have you volunteered for such a coordinator and found yourself without a meaningful role wondering why you were there? Did it feel like the organization didn't value your time? Did it influence your decision to volunteer the next time? Did you show up late or cancel at the last minute based on the prior experience? Other coordinators take the approach to send multiple reminders with detailed explanations of how important volunteers are at their event. Even the best of those reminders take extra time that one probably didn't plan to give and add to inbox noise, while the worst of the reminders are condescending and set a negative tone for the volunteer experience.

In recruiting committee and board members, there is a similar challenge in addressing would-be volunteers who fail to contribute a fair share of the work. These issues seem to be particularly prevalent in women lawyer organizations that are made up of dedicated professionals who are navigating the trade-offs inherent in being a woman in the legal community. It can be challenging to find good volunteers, and it is even more challenging to keep good volunteers. When, as individuals, we have a tendency toward perfectionism and doing-it-all, the burden is magnified when people don't follow through, and many organizations have experienced the attrition of wonderful leaders and organizational memory when someone experiences burn-out as a result of frequently being asked to do a little more.

Below are a few strategies to protect good volunteers from the well-intentioned, would-be volunteers who haven't thought about their negative impact on the organization's ability to plan and staff successful events and programs.

Provide transparent expectations and firm deadlines. Be realistic about the time required and be sure to explain how success will be measured as well as when it will be measured.

Assign responsibility. When everyone knows who is responsible, volunteers are more likely to feel personally connected to the success of the program or event.

Encourage delegation. A shared sign-up sheet and promptly circulated meeting minutes can be important tools to ensure that everyone knows who has authority and can identify who may need help.

Give permission to say no. Include an opt-out in every ask and make sure that you encourage alternatives that will benefit the organization in another way.

Hold members accountable, too. I no longer apologize to members who disagree with the policies that the organization has created to be respectful of the time of our volunteers. Instead, I remind those members that we are a volunteer organization and that we choose to invest our resources in ways that maximize the impact of our resources including volunteer time. I often follow up by mentioning that we would be happy to adopt a more flexible policy as an organization if the member would volunteer to administer the new policy that they are requesting.

I encourage you to review how the policies of your organization maintain volunteer and member accountability with a critical eye because even though women lawyer organizations have grown beyond the historic limitations on our numbers and our budgets, we cannot keep up with the seemingly limitless expectations of members who don't appreciate the connection between their requests for special attention and the drain on good volunteers and other organization resources.

Mary Dougherty is President of Queen's Bench, the Portland chapter of Oregon Women Lawyers. This year Queen's Bench is celebrating its 66th anniversary. Mary regularly volunteers with various Oregon nonprofits through the Portland New Generations Rotary Club and is an attorney at Brownstein Rask, where her practice emphasizes estate planning, taxation and business law.

Women in the Law Conference, Power and Progress, Washington, DC July 11

Find your power. Make progress. Join the federal Bar Association and your colleagues at the inaugural 2014 Women in the Law Conference on July 11 at the George Washington University Marvin Center in Washington DC. Don't miss keynote speakers Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Canada, and Hon. Patricia A. Millett, US Circuit Judge, US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Court, as they aim to change the conversation about women in the law. Click here for more details.

In the meantime, take a look at this brief, very well done video on the status of women in the law.

2014 NAWL Annual Meeting and

Awards Luncheon, New York, July 24

The National Association of Women Lawyers' annual meeting and awards luncheon will take place at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel on July 24. The day's jam-packed agenda begins with a breakfast at 7:00 a.m. and ends with a reception. An awards luncheon will honor several notable individuals as well as the Honeywell Corporation. Click here for a list of honorees. Click here for more information about prices.

Save the Date--February 6

Houston

Have you wondered how to "shatter the echo chamber" and get men involved in changing law practice in ways that will enable everyone to utilize their skills and talents to the fullest without being held back by old stereotypes? On Friday afternoon, February 6 as part of the ABA midyear meeting in Houston, we will be tackling that issue with a program which you will be able to replicate in your own women's bar association. Stay tuned for more details!

NCWBA Listserves

The NCWBA maintains three separate listserves. Presidents and Presidents-Elect of our member associations are eligible for our Presidents Circle listserve. Executive Directors and those who take on primary administrative tasks for member organizations which do not have paid staff are eligible for our Executive Directors listserve. Anyone involved with women's bar associations as a leader or member may opt to join our NCWBA@yahoogroups.com list. This is an interactive list which is a great resource for referral requests, job announcements and other matters of interest to women's bar associations. To join this list, send us an e-mail with your name and the e-mail which you wish to use, describing your involvement in a women's bar association. Let us know if you know of people who wish to be added to any of our lists.

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Does Your Organization Have an Event to Share?

Member organizations are invited to have links to significant upcoming events on our "Members" page. Send us your links!

National Conference of Women's Bar Associations | info@ncwba.org | http://www.ncwba.org
PO Box 82366
Portland, OR 97282

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