Young Lawyers Division 2000-2001

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1999

Nevada's First 100:
Honoring Empowered Women to Assist Those Disempowered by Domestic Violence

by Sophie Besnard-Gruninger

The date was July 22, 1893. On that day, just a little over 100 years ago, Laura Tilden became the first woman admitted to the State Bar of Nevada. The composition of the bar has changed immensely over the intervening century, until now, as we face the new millennium, women constitute almost 50 percent of law school attendees.

Tilden and the women who immediately followed her as full-fledged members of the State Bar of Nevada, representing classes from 1893 through 1979, will be honored at a fundraiser scheduled for this year's fall AOP meeting in Las Vegas. Honorees include Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue del Papa (class of 1974) and Nevada's first female Supreme Court justice, Miriam Shearing (class of 1969). The oldest living honoree will be Sallie R. Springmeyer, who became a member of the bar in 1936. A comprehensive program, including photographs, will detail the lives and careers of each of the honorees for whom a biography can be constructed.

This gala charity event will benefit SafeNest, Nevada's largest domestic crisis center and one of its top ten nonprofit charitable organizations, according to the Las Vegas Business Press. SafeNest operates Las Vegas' only twenty-four hour shelter specifically for domestic violence victims and their children. In addition to the emergency shelter, other services provided by SafeNest include marriage and family counseling, employment counseling, drug/alcohol abuse counseling, protection order advocacy at family court, a twenty-four hour crisis hotline, and public outreach and education, such as parenting training and dating violence prevention programs. The agency was established in 1977 and has since served over 100,000 men, women, and children with the hope of helping them achieve a violence-free life.

SafeNest requires approximately an additional $200,000 to expand its Las Vegas facilities to serve the diverse needs of domestic violence victims and provide them with the tools of their own empowerment. The new millennium, after all, should be full of the same promise for victims of domestic violence that it holds for women in the legal profession because of the efforts of those who went before them.

The event, including cocktails, banquet, keynote address, and silent auction, is scheduled to take place beginning at 7:00 p.m. on the evening of Thursday, October 21 at Chinois Restaurant in Caesar's Palace. Wolfgang Puck himself is scheduled to attend. Other sponsors include a diverse coalition: the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence, the ABA Commission on Women, the Clark County Bar Association, and the Southern Nevada Association of Women Attorneys.

Donations are being sought from local bar associations, law firms, and other interested persons and organizations. Interested donors and others may direct inquiries about the project to Stacie Brown at 702/733-7195. Donations may be made payable to the Fund for Justice and Education, ABA YLD, 750 North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60611. Please include a notation that your donation is specifically for the SafeNest project so that the ABA can track its fundraising goal and ensure the funds are directed appropriately.


Words to Live By
Nevada's First 100 Share Their Thoughts:

"You make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give."
Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue del Papa, '74
(Quoting Winston Churchill)

"Wise women learn more from fools than fools learn from the wise."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shirley Smith, '74

"Too busy to have words to live by. I have two teenagers in addition to the full time practice of law. Trying to balance these two commitments has been my biggest challenge."
Susan Williams Scann, '77


Christine Y. Lebel is an associate editor of The Affiliate and practices law with Zevnik Horton et al. in Los Angeles, California.