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2015 NCWBA Member Organizations

Alabama State Bar Women's Section

Women Lawyers Section of the Birmingham Bar Association

Arizona Women Lawyers Association

California Women Lawyers 

Lawyers Club of San Diego 

Queen's Bench Bar Association of the San Francisco Bay Area

Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles 
Women Lawyers of Alameda County

Women Lawyers of Sacramento

Colorado Women's Bar Association

Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia 

Florida Association for Women Lawyers 

Broward County Women Lawyers Association

Georgia Association for Women Lawyers

Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys

Hawaii Women Lawyers

Women's Bar Association of Illinois

Iowa Organization of Women Attorneys

Polk County Women Attorneys

Kansas Women Attorneys Association 

Wichita Women Attorneys Association 
Women Lawyers Association of Jefferson County (Kentucky) 

Association for Women Attorneys (New Orleans) 

Women's Bar Association of Maryland

Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts 
Women Lawyers Association of Michigan

Minnesota Women Lawyers

Mississippi Women Lawyers Association 

Association for Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City

New Hampshire Women's Bar Association 

New Mexico Women's Bar Association

Women's Bar Association of the State of New York

New York Women's Bar Association

North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys 

Oregon Women Lawyers 

Oregon Women Lawyers Foundation

Rhode Island Women's Bar Association

South Carolina Women Lawyers Association

Lawyers Association for Women - Marion Griffin Chapter

Texas Women Lawyers

Dallas Women Lawyers Association

Women Lawyers of Utah

Washington Women

Lawyers

Association for Women Lawyers

Canadian Bar Association Women Lawyers Forum

Military Spouse JD Network

Need a membership form or want more information about membership? Click here.

2015-2016 NCWBA Officers and Board

 
President
Katherine Brown
Dover, NH
President-Elect
Amanda Green Alexander
Jackson, MS
Vice President-Fundraising and Strategic Partnering
Robin Bresky
Boca Raton, FL 
Vice President-Membership
Barbara L. Harris Chiang
San Francisco, CA  
Vice President-Finance 
Monica Parham
Washington, DC
Secretary
Celia J.Collins
Mobile, AL 
Treasurer
Nicolette Zachary
Bloomfield Hills, MI
Immediate Past President
Lauren Tucker McCubbin
Kansas City, MO
ABA Delegate
Marjorie O'Connell
Washington, DC
 
Board
Teresa M. Beck
San Diego, CA
Misty Blair
Houston, TX
Robin Bresky
Boca Raton, FL
Elizabeth Bryson
New York, NY
Jeanne Marie Clavere
Seattle, WA
Leigh-Ann Patterson Durant
Rockland, MA
Patricia M. Jarzobski
Denver CO
Christina A. Jump
Dallas, TX
Maria L. Kreiter
Milwaukee, WI 
Kathleen M. McDowell
Los Angeles, CA
Sharon R. Nowakowski
Chicago, IL
Suzanne Prysak
Chicago, IL
Eliza M. Rodrigues
San Francisco, CA
Patricia M. Scaglia
Independence, MO
Breia L. Schleuss
Minneapolis, MN
Adwoa Ghartey-Tagoe Seymour
Atlanta, GA 
Laura Caldera Taylor
Portland, OR
Shiloh Theberge
Portland, ME
Diana Theos
Glendale, AZ
Melissa K. Walker
Raleigh, NC 
Angel Zimmerman
Topeka, KS
 
Executive Director
S. Diane Rynerson
Portland, OR
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Save the Date: August 5, Women's Bar Leadership Summit
 San Francisco
Golden Gate Bridge


December 2015 
2016 Public Service and Outstanding Member Program Award Nominations Due January 22
2015 Public Service Award Recipients Iowa Organization of Women Attorneys and Polk County Women Attorneys
Nominations are now being accepted for the 2016 Public Service and Outstanding Member Program Awards, to be presented at our Awards Luncheon at the City Club of San Francisco as part of the 2016 Women's Bar Leadership Summit. To learn more about the awards and how to nominate a program, click here.
Guys Overcoming Obstacles to Diversity
From time to time the extraordinary efforts of individual men towards the advancement of women in the legal profession have been recognized, such as the presentation to Michael K. Hurst of the Dallas Women Lawyers Association's Louise B. Raggio Award for his record of discouraging gender bias and providing first-chair litigation opportunities to the women who work with him. All too often, though, when women lawyers talk about barriers to advancement, they find themselves in an "echo chamber," sharing ideas and concerns with one another. Men can be left out of the conversation entirely, either because they don't feel it is their issue or because they don't have a clear idea how to make a difference in the status quo. 
 
We hope you will be able to join us in San Diego at the ABA Midyear Meeting on Friday, February 5 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm at the Manchester Grand Hyatt for a program which highlights and honors those men who support the effort to attain gender equality in the legal profession. The program is co-sponsored by the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, California Women Lawyers and Lawyers Club of San Diego. 

The program will begin with a presentation of recent research by Joan C. Williams, Distinguished Professor of Law and Hastings Foundation Chair at University of California, Hastings College of the Law. For too long, the focus has been on how to spot implicit bias. Williams will present a new approach that details how individuals can interrupt bias in real time, in simple low-key ways-and how organizations can do so.
 
Her presentation will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Alan Bryan, Senior Associate General Counsel of Legal Operations-Outside Counsel Management for WalMart Stores, Inc.; Bill Sailer, Senior Vice President and Legal Counsel for Qualcomm; Tom Sager, Partner at Ballard Spahr and former General Counsel  of DuPont; and the Honorable Irma Gonzalez, retired Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. The discussion will be moderated by Malissia Clinton, General Counsel for the Aerospace Corporation.  Sheryl Axelrod, law firm owner and Co-Chair of the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms, will explain why diversity pays off on the bottom line for firms and corporations.
 
The program is intended to engage men in the advancement of women lawyers-a key factor required in order for true progress to be made. We hope this will be the first of many GOOD Guy programs around the country. A toolkit to assist in producing similar programs is currently being developed.
 
Women lawyers are encouraged to bring one or more male lawyers (current and former clients or colleagues) who have mentored, sponsored, or otherwise supported their careers. These men will be recognized during the program, and will be provided with the latest information on the value of diversity in the profession. We hope every woman lawyer will bring at least one Good Guy to honor. 

Registration at no cost is requested for the ABA Midyear Meeting. 
 Women Lawyers News
A great resource for your members (and yourself!) is Women Lawyers News. Filled with tips on career challenges, practical advice and curated lists, you'll get welcome information that won't just add clutter to your inbox. Click this link to get Five Quick Wins for Women Lawyers.
BLI Scholarship Deadline is January 13
Are you the incoming president of your women's bar association? Financial scholarships are available for the ABA's premier leadership program, the annual ABA Bar Leadership Institute, scheduled for March 16-18 at the Chicago Marriott Downtown. The program covers the fundamentals of the bar presidency: stewardship, governance, communications, and trends in associations and the legal profession. Click here for more information. The scholarship consists of a registration waiver and a $500 reimbursement of travel expenses. Don't miss this opportunity to participate in a most worthwhile program. Click here to see the scholarship guidelines and application form.
It's Time to Send in Dues for 2016
Our membership year runs with the calendar year, which means that this is the right time to send in your organization's membership dues for 2016. Dues for 2016 have not increased, and are based on your organization's membership numbers. We rely on your membership dues and active participation in order to strengthen women's bar groups throughout North America. Click here to download a membership form to send in with your dues check. If you prefer to pay by debit or credit card, click here.
National Association of Women Lawyers'
Mid-Year Meeting & Awards Luncheon
San Francisco, March 11-12
.Join NAWL for its 2016 Mid-Year Meeting & Awards Luncheon in San Francisco March 11-12. The meeting's theme is Women at the Forefront: Leveraging Innovation in the Legal Profession. Members of NCWBA organizations are entitled to a 10% registration discount by entering the code MYCWBA2016. Don't delay, though, as the registration rate increases on January 19.
Time to Get Rid of Your Website's Calendar?
Website templates often come with a calendar grid. Your association has events, so it seems like a great idea to have a calendar, right? Well, maybe not. If you have one event or fewer each month, it is far more effective to list the events on your website, rather than providing a visual of lots of empty calendar squares. Worse yet, some organizations don't bother to update the calendar module even when they do have events scheduled. You may be turning away potential members without realizing it.
Why Federal Courts Matter to Women
Lawyers don't need to be told why federal courts are important, but how do you convince the general public that courts that seem remote actually impact their daily lives? For women's bar associations engaging in civic education via their websites or through in-person events, downloading this fact sheet from the National Women's Law Center may be helpful.
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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National Conference of Women's Bar Associations | [email protected]http://www.ncwba.org
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Portland, OR 97282