We hope you will join us in Chicago on Friday, July 31 for our annual full-day Women's Bar Leadership Summit. This year's theme will be Forging New Paths--Women, Careers & the Law. We'll be meeting at the offices of the Chicago Bar Association with the Awards Luncheon at the nearby Palmer House Hilton. Cost of the full-day Summit, including the Awards Luncheon and a film the evening before, will remain $200. Plan your trip in time to arrive at IIT Chicago-Kent Law School between 5:30 and 6:00 pm, on Thursday, July 30 for a screening of The Mask You Live In. This documentary is directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who also directed Miss Representation. The film explores what it means to be a boy in American society. Afterwards, we will have an opportunity to discuss the film, led by Professor Felice Batlan. To register for the Summit, click here.

We have secured a small number of rooms at the Palmer House Hilton at a reduced rate of $229 plus tax. Click here for a reservation link. If you have any difficulties with the reservation, please e-mail us.

Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, Sunday, August 2

Plan to stay in Chicago through Sunday afternoon so that you may join the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession at the always inspiring Margaret Brent Awards Luncheon. Individual tickets cost $110 through Tuesday, June 16 and are $135 thereafter. This year's honorees are the following individuals:

Mari Carmen Aponte; Ambassador of the United States to El Salvador; Washington, DC
Flora D. Darpino; Lieutenant General; United States Army; The Judge Advocate General; Washington, DC
Fernande R.V. (Nan) Duffly; Associate Justice; Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court; Boston, MA
Mary Ann Hynes; Senior Counsel, Dentons US LLP and Formerly, SVP and General Counsel, Ingredion; Chicago, IL
Emma Coleman Jordan; Professor of Law; Georgetown University Law Center; Washington, DC

How to Maximize Your NCWBA Membership

by Angel Zimmerman, NCWBA board member and 2012-2013 President

Kansas Women Attorneys Association

Speaking as a past president of a women's bar association, it can be quite an eye-opening experience how quickly one's presidency goes by. Attending a Women's Bar Leadership Summit is one way to be more prepared.

The NCWBA Women's Bar Leadership Summit is held during and in the city of the ABA annual meeting. For a preview of future meeting sites, click here. If you have a board year that starts in January, you may wish to send your president-elect to the Summit in the preceding year so she gets the opportunity to start mingling with other women's bar leaders and feeling invigorated to begin her presidency with a bucket of ideas. If your board year starts in July, you may still wish to send your president-elect, or possibly timing is such that sending your newly-minted president to her first big event in July/August works well for your organization. Some organizations find it useful to send both their president-elect and their president. As the president already has her plate more than full with other responsibilities, the president-elect can be tasked with the "return and report" mission for the organization and also help the president determine which projects might be appropriate for immediate implementation or which may need a multi-year approach.

Additionally, your organization may want to consider ongoing steady representation at the Summit to help even more in facilitating implementation of programs from other sister organizations within your own organization without having to recreate the wheel. In this regard, it can be particularly helpful if your organization is capable of paying for or sharing costs with those who attend. This allows members in your organization to feel there is equal opportunity to participate, and leadership is not reserved for those who can pay for travel on top of their donation of time. This may also open up the opportunity for women who may have time but not money to contribute. And it is often the events that are attached to the check book or budget line item that do not get forgotten from year to year on the benefits they provide to the organization.

2013 Women's Bar Leadership Summit Attendees (l-r) Wichita Women Attorneys Assn. President Ali Merchant, Angel Zimmerman and Kansas Women Attorney Association President Mira Mdivani

Food from the Bar - 2015

Spring is the time when many women's bar associations join in friendly competition with others in their legal communities to replenish the shelves of their local food banks. Let us know if your association is taking part in this important initiative. Meanwhile, get inspired by current campaigns in California and the District of Columbia, Resources from the LA Food Bank may be accessed via a dropbox link here. Need more ideas? Go to our resource page.

NAWL Pipeline to Equity Partnership Program

The National Association of Women Lawyers' Pipeline to Equity Partnership program will be held on June 3, 2015 at UC Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. The program will address the ethical and professional challenges women lawyers face in achieving equity partnership. A room block at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel at a conference rate is available until May 12. For more information about the program, or to register, click here. If you are a member of a NCWBA member organization, you are eligible to receive a 10% discount off the full-program ticket price by using registration code P2PNCWBA2015.

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 listserve on Yahoo Groups. 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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