ICYMI: Amann on A Nuremberg Woman and the Hague Academy

ICYMI: Diane Marie Amann, University of Georgia School of Law, has published A Nuremberg Woman and the Hague Academy at 35 European Journal of International Law 813 (2024). Here is the abstract.

This article, which forms part of the journal's special review series marking the centenary of the Hague Academy of International Law, draws from the author's ongoing research into the roles that lawyers and other women professionals played at post-World War II trials. The article focuses on the life of one “Nuremberg woman,” Dr. Aline Chalufour, who attended the Academy in 1937 and again in 1957. In between, she worked in what is now Vietnam as a colonial schoolteacher, in Canada as a Free French propagandist for de Gaulle, at Nuremberg and Hamburg as a war crimes prosecutor, and in France as one of the country's first women judges. Chalufour's experiences shed light on how marginalized groups fared during the Hague Academy's first 100 years. They further call upon the Academy, and the field it promotes, to do better in the next 100 years.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Boden on Myra Bradwell and the Chicago Legal News: Speech and the March for All Civil Rights

Anastasia Boden, George Mason University, has published Myra Bradwell and the Chicago Legal News: Speech and the March for All Civil Rights. Here is the abstract.

To the extent that people know the name Myra Bradwell, they likely know her only for her defeat. In Bradwell v. Illinois, the Supreme Court famously denied that Myra had a constitutional right to earn a living as an attorney. 2 According to eight justices, the "paramount destiny and mission of women are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother," not to enter a profession. 3 Myra may have lost in court, but she was wildly triumphant in the long run and became a successful advocate even without government permission. Though the Court denied her the right to pursue a livelihood, she retained her right to free speech-and she used it to start and manage the most successful legal periodical of her time, to draft and help pass various reforms that advanced equality before the law, and even to free Mary Todd Lincoln from unjust imprisonment in a sanitarium in Illinois. Myra's successful civil rights campaign underscores a perverse distinction in constitutional law: the purported distinction between the right to free speech and other, "unenumerated" constitutional rights like the right to earn a living. The First Amendment is given privileged treatment, with judges subjecting laws that infringe speech to strict judicial scrutiny. 4 Most unenumerated rights, by contrast, are relegated to rational basis scrutiny.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Katz, Rozema, and Sanga on Women in U. S. Law Schools, 1948-2021 @elizabethdkatz @kyle_rozema @WashULaw @sarathsanga @NorthwesternLaw

Elizabeth D. Katz and Kyle Rozema, both of Washington University, St. Louis, School of Law, and Sarath Sanga, Northwestern University School of Law, have published Women in U.S. Law Schools, 1948-2021. Here is the abstract.

We study the progress of women’s representation and achievement in law schools. To do this, we assemble a new dataset on the number of women and men students, faculty, and deans at all ABA-approved U.S. law schools from 1948 to the present. These data enable us to study many unexplored features of women’s progress in law schools for the first time, including the process by which women initially gained access to each law school, the variance in women’s experiences across law schools, the relationship between women’s representation and student achievement, and the extent to which women occupy lower status faculty and deanship positions. We contextualize our findings by situating them within the vast qualitative literature on women’s experiences in law schools and the legal profession.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Oren on No-Fault Divorce Reform in the 1950s: The Lost History of the "Greatest Project" of the National Association of Women Lawyers @UHLawCenter

Laura E. Oren, University of Houston Law Center, has published No-Fault Divorce Reform in the 1950s: The Lost History of the 'Greatest Project' of the National Association of Women Lawyers as U of Houston Law Center No. 2022-A-. Here is the abstract.

In the 1950s, the National Association of Women Lawyers (“NAWL”) undertook what it considered its 'greatest project', the drafting and promotion of a model no-fault divorce law. It launched its campaign at a time when post-war realities and the law in practice were putting increasing pressure on the law on the books which lagged behind contemporary sensibilities. NAWL acted two decades before the no-fault divorce 'revolution' of the 1970s. It did so in the 1950s when women were said to be both 'domestic' and 'quiescent'. The Article has three aims. First, it considers NAWL’s project as a missing piece in the history of divorce law, the no-fault revolution, and the rise of mass divorce in mid-twentieth century America. Second, it reflects on the implications of NAWL’s undertaking for the standard narrative of 'domesticity' in the 1950s, an account that has been questioned in recent years. Last, it tells a story of women’s activism in the depth of the so-called 'doldrums' of the organized women’s movement. Focusing on NAWL’s 'greatest project', this Article demonstrates the fallacies of an Equal Rights Amendment-centric account of women’s activism in the 1950s. It contributes to the evidence of continuity and transition that has led historians to question the 'waves' theory of women’s movement history.

The full text is not available from SSRN.

Whisner On When Douglas Hired a Woman To Clerk @marywhisner

Mary Whisner, University of Washington School of Law, has published Douglas Hires a Woman to Clerk 2020 Green Bag Almanac and Reader 297–310 (2020) at 2020 Green Bag Almanac and Reader 297 (2020). Here is the abstract.

The editors of the 2020 Green Bag Almanac and Reader mined Justices' papers held by the Library of Congress for handwritten documents to feature and invited essays about each one. This essay is a gloss on Vern Countryman's letter to Justice William O. Douglas (Jan. 12, 1944) recommending a law student from the University of Washington to serve as a clerk. The law student was Lucile Lomen, who became the first woman to clerk for a Supreme Court Justice. The essay offers biographical tidbits and historical context—including Lomen's childhood in Nome and Seattle life during World War II. Along with shipbuilding and troop movements, the Seattle experience included the internment of Japanese Americans (Gordon Hirabayashi was a student at the UW at the same time Countryman and Lomen were there), an issue that went East to the Supreme Court, as the young clerks did. As a Seattleite whose parents were born the same year as Lomen, I also weave in some personal history.

Download the essay from SSRN at the link.

Women's Legal Landmarks: Celebrating 100 Years of Women and the Law in the UK and Ireland: Forthcoming From Hart Publishing @hartpublishing

Forthcoming from Hart Publishing: Women's Legal Landmarks: Celebrating 100 Years of Women and Law in the UK and Ireland (Erika Rackley and Rosemary Auchmuty, eds., Hart Publishing, 2018). Here is a description of the book's contents.

Women's Legal Landmarks commemorates the centenary of women's admission in 1919 to the legal profession in the UK and Ireland by identifying key legal landmarks in women's legal history. Over 90 authors write on landmarks that represent a significant achievement or marked an important stage or turning point in women's engagement with law and law reform. The landmarks embrace a wide range of topics, including the right to vote, equal pay, forced marriage, sexual violence, abortion and the ordination of women bishops, as well as the life stories of women who were the first to undertake key legal roles and positions. The collection was produced using an established feminist practice whereby each contribution was presented in collaborative workshops to ensure shared knowledge and insights into both the legal area and the historical context. Women's Legal Landmarks offers a scholarly intervention into the recovery of women's lost history, employing the methodology of feminist legal history to provide accounts which are accurate as to both law and historical context and which, taken together, demonstrate women's agency and activism in the achievement of law reform and justice.

 

Leary on the First Woman To Graduate From the University of Michigan Law School, First To Pass the Bar @LawPals

ICYMI:

Margaret A. Leary published Michigan 's First Woman Lawyer: Sarah Killgore Wertman at 48 Law Quad. Notes 8 (2006). Link to the full text here.

Higdon on Oral Advocacy and Vocal Fry

Michael J. Higdon, University of Tennessee College of Law, is publishing Oral Advocacy and Vocal Fry: The Unseemly, Sexist Side of Nonverbal Persuasion in volume 13 of Legal Communication & Rhetoric: JALWD (2016). Here is the abstract.

In 2015, Naomi Wolf warned that “the most empowered generation of women ever — today’s twentysomethings in North America and Britain — is being hobbled in some important ways by something as basic as a new fashion in how they use their voices.” She was referring to the phenomenon referred to as "vocal fry" — a speech quality in which the speaker lowers her natural pitch and produces a "creaking" sound as she talks. Naomi Wolf is not alone in her warnings; vocal fry has received quite a bit of negative attention recently. Specifically, these critics warn that those who speak in vocal fry are doing themselves great harm by undermining the speakers’ overall perceived effectiveness. In fact, recent studies even lend some support to these arguments, showing that listeners tend to rate those who speak in vocal fry more negatively. The problem, however, is that much of this criticism is directed at young women, and for that reason, some defenders of vocal fry have countered that these criticisms are merely attempts to regulate how women talk. In other words, a preference for speech that does not contain vocal fry is actually motivated by pernicious stereotypes about how women "should" talk. Thus, on the one hand, there are those studies supporting the argument that women who engage in vocal fry are less likely to be perceived positively, yet on the other hand, there exists the very real likelihood that these perceptions are based on gender stereotypes. Accordingly, the question emerges: what should a young woman do? Should she eliminate all instances of vocal fry from her speech so as to maximize her perceived effectiveness as a public speaker if, in so doing, she is reinforcing the very gender stereotypes upon which such preferences are based? Or should she openly confront such stereotypes and employ vocal fry as much as she likes, knowing that, by taking that approach, she is taking the risk that she might be hurting not only herself but also those upon whose behalf she speaks? This essay, by first discussing this background on vocal fry, delves into that very dilemma. It does so specifically in the context of female attorneys given that 1) public speaking is a key component upon which their effectiveness is gauged and 2) to the extent their public speaking is judged to be less than ideal, they are not only harming themselves, but also potentially a client. Finally, in wrestling with this question, these essay hopes to shed light on a bigger concern — specifically, how useful are studies on effective nonverbal behavior when the results of those studies are largely driven by underlying societal prejudice.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

ABA Seeking Nominations For the Margaret Brent Lawyers of Achievement Award

The American Bar Association is seeking nominations for the Margaret Brent Award. The Award recognizes female attorneys who excel in law and have assisted other women in the field. More information and instructions for making nominations are below. Visit the ABA webpage on the award here.

The Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, established by the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession in 1991, recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments of women lawyers who have excelled in their field and have paved the way to success for other women lawyers.
Call for Nominations for the
2016 Margaret Brent Awards

Deadline for Nominations -
Friday, December 4, 2015
The 2016 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Awards will be presented on Sunday, August 7, 2016 in San Francisco during the ABA Annual Meeting.
Nomination Criteria and Application RequirementsNomination FormThank You to Our Generous 2015 Supporters2015 Commemorative Program and Tribute Book
Previous 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.

View the list of distinguished award recipients

A New Blog Devoted To the History of Women Lawyers

Bari Burke, University of Montana School of Law, has launched a new blog, Montana's Early Women Lawyers: Trail-Blazing, Big Sky Sisters-In-Law.  Each post focuses on an interesting (and unknown) story about a female lawyer from the past, which Professor Burke has unearthed from cases, newspapers, and other publications. Fascinating to see the number of mentions (and the depressing sameness of observations about women attorneys).  From the August 12th, 2015 post, this excerpt from a letter published August 12, 1907:

‘Possibly men are afraid to pay court to a woman lawyer, from the knowledge that she has too many brains for him, and can see further into his subterfuges and little evasions than most women could. It may be that the legal atmosphere is chilling to affection. It may be that women lawyers are too smart to tie themselves down. I do not know. I only cite the facts.
One of the happiest households that I know, is composed of two lawyers, one the husband, and the other the wife. But he was a lawyer and she was not when they got married. She studied under him, and is his legal assistant rather than his partner. Perhaps that is why they get along so happily together.'”

Oh, dear.
[Cross-posted to Feminist Law Professors]

Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Legacy

Paul Schiff Berman, George Washington University Law School, has published Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the Interaction of Legal Systems in The Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in (Scott Dodson, ed.; Cambridge University Press, 2015). Here is the abstract.

The idea of legal pluralism is that law must always negotiate situations when multiple communities and legal authorities seek to regulate the same act or actor. These overlapping jurisdictional assertions may occur because of federalism, or because disputes often cross territorial borders, or because of complicated inter-jurisdictional arrangements, as with Indian tribes in the United States. In all of these situations, judges must develop strategies for determining how best to balance the competing claims of multiple communities: does the law of one community triumph, does the law of the other community triumph, or is there some hybrid solution available?

This Essay surveys some of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s key writings on the interaction of legal systems, both in law journals and in judicial opinions. This analysis reveals a consistent theme in Ginsburg’s jurisprudence. Across a variety of substantive legal areas, Ginsburg often chooses a path that provides maximum play among the legal systems at issue. Beginning with her earliest scholarly writings, she has tended to oppose doctrines allowing one legal system to block another from adjudicating a dispute, and throughout her later career Ginsburg likewise tends to reject bright-line rules that choose one legal system over another. Instead, she often seems to prefer procedural arrangements that seek accommodation and flexibility in order to ensure that multiple legal systems and a variety of norms and processes are respected. These principles also carry over to Ginsburg’s views about international and transnational law. A committed internationalist, Ginsburg advocates the importance of seeking wisdom from others. This non-dogmatic, deferential approach to plural legal systems characterizes much of her jurisprudence on inter-systemic conflicts, though interestingly such deference does not always apply with as much force in Ginsburg’s opinions concerning tribal communities.

By taking stock of Ginsburg’s navigation of legal pluralism in a set of representative writings, we can better theorize her contribution to a jurisprudential approach that seeks ongoing negotiation in an interlocking world of multiple jurisdictions and multiple legal norms. Just as important, this discussion provides an initial case study for thinking more broadly about possible judicial responses to the reality of legal pluralism.

Download the essay from SSRN at the link.

A New Novel With an Assertive Lawyer-Protagonist

Heller McAlpine reviews Eliza Kennedy's first novel, I Take You, for NPR.  Says McAlpine in part,

Kennedy, a graduate of the University of Iowa and Harvard Law School, is a former litigator herself, and married to writer Joshua Ferris. Her snappy comedy of mis-manners delights in subverting expectations, from its indictment of monogamy as unnatural to its ardent defense of lawyering and casual sex. Lily unabashedly extols her job: "Because being a lawyer is great. It's mentally engaging and competitive and fun. Work is really the only time that I feel focused." She reconsiders: "That's not true. One other thing focuses me. But I don't get paid for it." She reconsiders again. "That's not true. I got paid for it once."

Read an excerpt of the book here.
More here from the publisher's website.

Where Are the Women?

With a hat tip to Bridget Crawford. Professor Auchmuty has traced one trailblazer.

Rosemary Auchmuty, University of Reading, has published Recovering Lost Lives: Researching Women in Legal History at 42 Journal of Law and Society 34 (2015). Here is the abstract.

Drawing on the research I undertook into the life of Gwyneth Bebb, who in 1913 challenged the Law Society of England and Wales for their refusal to admit women to the solicitors’ profession, this article focuses on the range of sources one might use to explore the lives of women in law, about whom there might be a few public records but little else, and on the ways in which sources, even official ones, might be imaginatively used. It traces the research process from the case that inspired the research (Bebb v. the Law Society [1914] 1 Ch 286) through to the creation of an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and what this means for women's history, emphasizing the importance of asking the ‘woman question’ and seeking out the broader significance of a woman's life in the context of her times.

The full text is not available from SSRN. 

The UK's First Female Law Professor

Fiona Caird Cownie, Keele University, has published The United Kingdom's First Woman Law Professor: An Archerian Analysis, in 42 Journal of Law and Society 127 (2015). Here is the abstract.

In 1970, at Queen's University Belfast, Claire Palley became the first woman to hold a Chair in Law at a United Kingdom university. However, little is known about the circumstances surrounding this event, or Claire Palley herself. This article (part of an extended project exploring her life history) seeks to address the question ‘Was there something about Claire Palley herself that made it more likely she would become the United Kingdom's first female law professor?’ Initially focusing on method, it seeks to answer that question by utilizing, for the first time in the context of legal education, the theoretical perspective provided by the work of the sociologist Margaret Archer. Reflecting upon Claire Palley's subjectivity, it focuses on those aspects of her personality which enabled her to pursue a successful career and become a pioneer in her chosen profession.

The full text is not available from SSRN. 

Australian Women Judges and Lawyers Through the Archives

Heather Roberts, Australian National University College of Law, has published Telling a History of Australian Women Judges Through Courts' Ceremonial Archives at 40 Australian Feminist Law Journal 147 (2015). Here is the abstract.

Swearing-in ceremonies are held to mark the investiture of a new judge on the bench. Transcribed and stored within courts’ public records, these proceedings form a rich ‘ceremonial archive’. This paper showcases the value of this archive for the (re)telling of Australian legal history and, particularly, a history of Australian women lawyers. Using a case study drawn from the swearing-in ceremonies of women judges of the High Court, Federal Court, and Family Courts of Australia between 1993 and 2013, the paper explores what this archive reveals about the Australian legal community’s attitudes towards women in the law. It argues that despite the regional and jurisdictional differences between these courts, recurring themes emerge. Notably, while feminising discourse dominates the earlier ceremonies, stories of the judges’ personal and judicial identity come to display a more overt feminist consciousness by the end of the Labor Governments in power in Australia between 2007 and 2013.

The full text is not available from download. 

Taking Ally Seriously

John Denvir, University of San Francisco School of Law, has published Romancing the Law: Ally McBeal and the Art of Subversive Comedy as a University of San Francisco Research Paper. Here is the abstract.

The television sitcom Ally McBeal drew large audiences and won many awards, but the series also had detractors who felt that it demeaned both women lawyers and the legal profession. People loved and hated the show, but no one has thought it a serious commentary on the American legal system.

I think it is time to take Ally McBeal seriously. I believe that its creator David E. Kelley has used the narrative devices of romantic comedy to make a subtle but powerful critique of the American legal system and to suggest a new future for law. It is an excellent example of what I call subversive comedy.

Download the paper from SSRN at the link. 

CBS Orders Pilots For Sherlock Holmes and "Mommy Track" Detective Series

From the Hollywood Reporter: news that CBS may schedule a new Sherlock Holmes series; it has ordered a pilot from CBS Television Studios and producers Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly. In addition, the Eye is ordering a pilot based on Ayelet Waldman's series based on stay-at-home "Mommy Track"  sleuth (and former lawyer) Juliet Appelbaum. Ms. Waldman, like her detective a former attorney, will write, and Jennifer Levin and Sherri Cooper will produce. I really like the Juliet Appelbaum mystery novels,. Entertaining and well-written, they feature a genuinely smart woman--someone I'd like to know. First in the series: Nursery Crimes (Berkley, 2000).

Women and Their Work In Early Twentieth Century U.S. Criminal Courts

Mae C. Quinn, Washington University, St. Louis, School of Law, has published 'Feminizing' Courts: Lay Volunteers and the Integration of Social Work in Progressive Reform, in Feminist Legal History: Essays on Women and Law, (Tracy A. Thomas & T. J. Boisseau eds.; NYU Press, 2011). Here is the abstract.

This essay, appearing as a chapter in FEMINIST LEGAL HISTORY: ESSAYS ON WOMEN (N.Y.U. PRESS 2011), uncovers groundbreaking court innovations employed by Judge Anna Moscowitz Kross. To date, Kross's work has gone largely unexamined by legal historians and court reformers. This essay describes how Kross, one of the nation's first women judges, sought to rethink the role and goals of criminal courts in order to meet and address social realities. Beginning in the 1930's she expanded the boundaries of criminal courts to permit female volunteer caseworkers and lay probation officers, as representatives of the larger community, to play a role in court operations. Her lay volunteer armies, which were seen as controversial and at times came under official scrutiny, continued their efforts over the course of several decades. What is more, many courts across the country replicated Kross's experiment without crediting her for her ideas. While this essay celebrates this largely forgotten historical figure and her work as an early judicial innovator, it also warns that social engineering efforts in criminal courts at the hands of lay counselors, both then and now, raise important questions that are worthy of further exploration. This essay, therefore, concludes by suggesting that today's criminal justice reformers might learn important lessons from Kross's attempts at judicial creativity that relied on private funding and private citizen participation in criminal court proceedings.

Download the essay from SSRN at the link.

New DVDs

Out on July 12: The Lincoln Lawyer, starring Marisa Tomei and Matthew McConaughey, based on the
Michael Connelly novel. Also available now: the re-release of Tell It To the Judge, a 1949 comedy about a judicial nominee Marsha Meredith (Rosalind Russell) who may not be confirmed because she's (horrors) divorced. Worry not: ex-hubby Pete (Robert Cummings), also an attorney, still loves her and wasn't really involved with Another Woman (Marie McDonald).

Latina Lawyers Before the Supreme Court: An Updated Abstract

Maria G. Mendoza has updated the abstract of her paper, The Thirteen Known Latina Litigants Before the Supreme Court of the United States, on SSRN. Here is the updated abstract.

From 1935 to 2010, only thirteen known Latinas have argued before the Supreme Court of the United States. The first known Latina to argue before the United States, Miriam Naveira Merly, then serving as the Solicitor General to Puerto Rico, argued before the High Court in 1975. A year later, Vilma Martinez, the first known Mexican American woman to appear before the Supreme Court, argued East Texas Motor Freight Sys., v. Rodriguez, marking the last time the 1970s was known to entertain an appearance by a Latina advocate. Over the course of the 1980s, six Latinas are known to have litigated before the Court, and sadly, the 1990s only brought one known appearance by a Latina before the High Court. From 2000 to 2010, four known Latinas have argued before the Supreme Court.



Before the Supreme Court, these Latinas took on everything from the battles of the downtrodden and the impoverished – including the legal woes of the Latino community – and they took on the causes of the government. After defying odds and breaking down barriers, these Latinas went on to become the “firsts” to hold particular positions such as judgeships, Ambassador to Argentina, law school professor, and appellate attorney. They are perhaps the most underrepresented demographic to appear before the Court, which is unfortunate, because Latinas are now part of the nation’s largest, youngest, and fastest growing minority in the United States. Historically, advocates from all walks of life have powerfully shaped our nation’s laws to reflect the values, priorities and character of the American people, and the Supreme Court bar and greater legal profession must act aggressively to ensure that “we the people” continue to contribute to the development of the law.



These Latinas who powerfully shaped our laws deserve to go down in history along with the other “firsts” and champions of the Supreme Court, but unfortunately, never before has there been an attempt to learn who was the “first” Latina to argue before the Supreme Court or learn about the history of Latina litigants before the High Court. By interviewing these Latina litigants about their formative experiences, entry into the legal profession, and the pathway these remarkable Latinas took to present their argument before the High Court, this article tries to understand why so few Latinas have argued before the Supreme Court. Part one of this article addresses the lack of research on Latinas before the Court, and why caring about the history of Latina litigants before the Supreme Court matters. Part two of this article looks both at the salient barriers and opportunities that made it possible for these Latinas to argue before the Court, and part three of this article focuses on the life and career of these Latina litigants. Part four of this article describes how the dearth of appearances by Latina advocates is highly influenced by the rise of a small group of elite lawyers who focus on Supreme Court cases, the Court’s shrinking docket, and the bleak state of Latinas in the legal profession.

The full text of the paper is not available on SSRN.