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American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession

Previous Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award Recipients

Honorees receiving the Margaret Brent Award have achieved professional excellence in their field and

  • influenced other woman to pursue legal careers,
  • opened doors for women lawyers in a variety of job settings that historically were closed to them, and/or
  • advanced opportunities for women within a practice area or segment of the profession.

2007 Honorees

2006 Honorees

  • Ellen Godbey Carson (PDF), Director, Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing and community activist; in Honolulu, HI - View video
  • Constance Slaughter-Harvey (PDF), Civil rights attorney and activist, former Assistant Secretary of State of Mississippi, and champion of education of youth; in Forest, MS - View video
  • Peggy A. Quince (PDF), Justice, Supreme Court of Florida and first African-American woman to serve on the Florida Supreme Court; in Tallahassee, FL - View video
  • Betty Roberts (PDF), Former Oregon Supreme Court Justice and first woman on the Oregon Supreme Court; in Salem, OR - View video
  • Joan C. Williams (PDF), Distinguished Professor, Hastings College of the Law, University of California and author of groundbreaking scholarly contributions to the field of work/life studies; in San Francisco, CA - View video
  • Keynote Speaker: Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (PDF), first woman to serve as lieutenant governor of Maryland and founder of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award; in Baltimore, MD - View video

2005 Honorees

2004 Honorees

  • Special Award: Hauwa Ibrahim (PDF), Human Rights Attorney, Lagos, Nigeria, the first woman attorney in Nigeria and lead defense counsel in the globally publicized Sharia "death by stoning" case of Amina Lawal in Nigeria
  • Marina Angel (PDF), Professor of Law, Temple University School of Law, Philadelphia, PA
  • Teveia R. Barnes (PDF), President, Lawyers for One America, San Francisco, CA
  • Linda A. Klein (PDF), Managing Partner, Gambrell & Stolz, LLC, Atlanta, GA
  • Catherine A. Lamboley (PDF), Senior Vice-President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Shell Oil Company, Houston, TX
  • Chief Justice Jean Hoefer Toal (PDF), South Carolina Supreme Court, Columbia, SC

2003 Honorees

  • Hon. Martha Craig Daughtrey, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Nashville, TN
  • Charyle O. Farris, Law Office of Charyle O. Farris, Wichita Falls, TX
  • Joanne Garvey (PDF),Partner, Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe LLP, San Francisco, CA
  • Colleen Khoury, Dean, University of Maine School of Law, Portland, ME
  • Michele Coleman Mayes (PDF), Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Pitney Bowes, Stamford, CT

2002 Honorees

  • Annie Brown Kennedy, Partner, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy and Kennedy, Winston-Salem, NC
  • Hon. Eleanor Holmes Norton, United States House of Representatives, Washington, DC
  • Myrna Sharon Raeder (PDF), Professor of Law, Southwestern University School of Law, Los Angeles, CA
  • Judith P. Vladeck (PDF), Partner, Vladeck Waldman Elias & Englehard PC, New York, New York, NY (deceased)
  • Hon. Rya W. Zobel, U.S. District Judge for the State of Massachusetts, Boston, MA

2001 Honorees

  • Laurel Bellows, Partner, Bellows & Bellows, Chicago, IL
  • Irma Herrera, Executive Director, Equal Rights Advocates, San Francisco, CA
  • Hon. Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, Special Counsel on Human Rights, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc., New York, NY
  • Hon. Mary Schroeder, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Phoenix, AZ
  • Marna Tucker, Partner, Feldesman, Tucker, Leifer, Fidell & Bank LLP, Washington DC

2000 Honorees

  • Sheila L. Birnbaum (PDF), Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP, New York, NY
  • Shirley M. Hufstedler, Senior Counsel, Morrison & Foerster, LLP, Los Angeles, CA
  • Hon. Judith S. Kaye (PDF), Chief Judge, Court of Appeals of the State of New York, New York, NY
  • Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, DC
  • Dovey J. Roundtree, General Counsel, National Council of Negro Women, Charlotte, NC

1999 Honorees

  • Prof. Barbara Allen Babcock, Judge John Crown Professor of Law, Stanford Law School, Stanford, CA
  • Carol E. Dinkins (PDF), Partner, Vinson & Elkins, L.L.P., Houston, TX
  • Justice Carol W. Hunstein, Supreme Court of Georgia, Atlanta, GA
  • Pauline A. Schneider, Partner, Hunton & Williams, Washington, DC
  • Hon. Norma L. Shapiro (PDF), U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

1998 Honorees

  • Special Award: Justice Claire L'Heureux-Dubé, Supreme Court of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  • Maureen Kempston Darkes, President, General Motors of Canada, Ltd., Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
  • Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson (PDF), Louisiana Supreme Court, New Orleans, LA
  • Irma L. Rangel, State Representative, Texas House of Representatives, Austin, TX
  • Judith Resnik (PDF), Arthur Liman Professor of Law, Yale U. Law School, New Haven, CT
  • Judith A. Winston, former Executive Director, The President's Initiative on Race, Washington, DC

1997 Honorees

  • Special Award: Roberta Cooper Ramo, Past President, ABA, Albuquerque, NM
  • Evelyn Gandy, First Woman Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS
  • Jamie S. Gorelick (PDF), Vice Chair, Fannie Mae and former Deputy Attorney General of the U.S., Washington, DC
  • Antonia Hernandez, President and General Counsel, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Los Angeles, CA
  • Hon. Joan Dempsey Klein, Presiding Justice, California Court of Appeals, Los Angeles, CA
  • Drucilla Stender Ramey, Executive Director and General Counsel, Bar Association of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

1996 Honorees

  • Hon. Rosemary Barkett (PDF), U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, Miami, FL
  • Justice Beryl Levine, North Dakota Supreme Court, Palo Alto, CA (retired)
  • Nina Miglionico, Partner, Miglionico & Rumore, Birmingham, AL
  • Lynn Hecht Schafran (PDF), Director, National Judicial Education Program/NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, New York
  • Patricia Schroeder (PDF), U.S. House of Representatives, Denver (retired)

1995 Honorees

1994 Honorees

1993 Honorees

  • Special Award: Hon. Janet Reno, U.S. Attorney General, Washington, DC
  • Hon. Betty Weinberg Ellerin (PDF), Associate Justice, Appellate Division, New York, NY
  • Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court, Washington, DC
  • Elaine R. Jones, Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, New York, NY
  • Justice Joyce L. Kennard, California Supreme Court, San Francisco, CA
  • Esther R. Rothstein, Partner, McCarthy and Levin, Chicago, IL (deceased)

1992 Honorees

1991 Honorees

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