Mission Statement
Ms. JD seeks to support and improve the experiences of women law students and lawyers. Obstacles to equal participation hinder not only women in the law but also their colleagues, clients, children, and communities. Ms. JD consequently strives to give voice to why it matters that women continue to overcome barriers to achieve gender parity in the profession. In doing so, Ms. JD spreads the word: women’s victories are everyone’s victories.

Who is Ms. JD?
Ms. JD is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to the success of women in law school and the legal profession. Ms. JD is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of law students and recent graduates and an Executive Director. Founded at Stanford Law School in 2006 by a group of female law students from Boalt Hall (UC Berkeley), Cornell, Georgetown, Harvard, NYU, Stanford, UCLA, UT Austin, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, the University of Virginia, and Yale, Ms. JD is a 501(c)(3) incorporated in California.

Serving as a unique nexus between the profession and the pipeline of diverse attorneys, Ms. JD’s online community provides a forum for dialogue and networking among women lawyers and law students. With campus chapters throughout the nation, Ms. JD is also home to the National Women Law Students’ Organization. Ms. JD celebrates women’s achievements, addresses remaining challenges, and facilitates continued progress by bringing legal practitioners and law students together to share in an ongoing conversation about gender issues in law school and the profession.

Why do we need Ms. JD?
In 1872 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that women had no constitutional right to be admitted to state bars, sanctioning the exclusion of women from the practice of law. Over a century later, the first woman Justice was appointed to the Supreme Court. Twenty-five years after this historic appointment, our highest Court has only three female Justices.

Although women have comprised nearly half of the student body in law school for more than two decades, women represent only 16% of equity partners at major law firms and less than 3% of those firms’ top earning partners. The statistics for women attorneys of color are even more sobering. They comprise just 3% of non-equity partners and only 1.4% of equity partners. They have the highest rate of attrition, with 86% of women attorneys of color leaving their law firms before their seventh year. 

Women are only a third of tenured law professors.  Women constitute 22% of the federal judiciary and hold only 26% of state court judgeships.  Currently only six governors are women, and over 60% of states have never elected a woman to the executive’s office. As a nation, we have had only two female U.S. Attorneys General, three female Secretaries of State, and one female Solicitor General.

For the first time in more than 50 years the enrollment of women in law school is on the decline, and many law schools are struggling even to fill 40% of their incoming 1L classes with women. Female law students constitute only a third of law review editors-in-chief in the nation’s top 50 schools, and women still constitute less than a third of Supreme Court clerks. As these numbers illustrate, women lawyers have come a long way, but there is still further work to be done.

What does Ms. JD do?
Our Blog: Ms. JD attracts over 120,000 visitors each month with content ranging from “Advice on Taking the Bar Exam” and “How to Get a Clerkship” to “What to Wear to an Interview” and “Networking Advice for Female Law Students.” Contributors include students and young attorneys along with notable guest bloggers like Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Elena Kagan, Slate.com's Dahlia Lithwick, Professor Herma Hill Kay, Professor Barbara Babcock, and Judge Dorothy Nelson.

Our Network: In 2008, Ms. JD formed the National Women Law Students’ Organization, bringing together women from 70 law schools across the country for a founding conference in New York City. NWLSO continues to grow, with local events throughout the year and annual gatherings at Ms. JD's conferences. Through NWLSO, Ms. JD has created a “rapid response” network that connects professionals to students and spreads news about women in the law, job opportunities, resources, and events.

Our Library: Two years ago, Ms. JD created the most comprehensive collection of resources about women in the law. The Library, now jointly maintained with the University of Texas School of Law Center for Women in Law, holds hundreds of articles, reports, and best practice recommendations on all topics relevant to women in the legal profession.

Our Scholarship: Every summer Ms. JD funds summer stipends for female law students dedicated to public interest work. Past recipients have used their stipends to intern at the ICC in the Hague, the JAG Corps, the ACLU Voting Rights Project, and the Equal Justice Foundation. 

Our Global Education Fund:  This program enables women in developing countries to pursue legal educations who otherwise would not have access to further education.  This year, the Global Education Fund has made it possible for two local women to pursue legal educations at Makerere University in Uganda.

Our Fellowship: In February, Ms. JD launched the 2010 Fellowship program.  In conjunction with the ABA's Commission on Women in the Profession's Margaret Brent Award, Ms. JD matched 20 high-achieving female law students with mentors from among the Commission's alumnae of commissioners and award winners. The one-year program is designed to foster a commitment to excellence in a new generation of women attorneys, inspired by the generation of trailblazers who paved the way for their success.

Our Research: Ms. JD recently launched her first original research initiative, collecting data on the representation of women on law reviews at the nation's top law schools. This data is key to tracking when and where women falter on the path to leadership. Our first report was published in August 2010.

Our Conference: On April 1-2, 2011, Ms. JD will hold her fourth national conference in Los Angeles, following successful gatherings at Yale Law School in 2006, in New York City in 2008, and at Northwestern University in 2009.  Past speakers include former New York Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith Kaye, Allstate General Counsel Michele Mayes, Shell Oil General Counsel Catherine Lamboley, and District Judge Joan Lefkow.


How To Join the Ms. JD Community
Ms. JD provides these resources without service or membership fees. We rely on the support of our sponsors, individual donors, and volunteers to make our work possible.

Please contact us to become involved with the Ms. JD community by hosting events, donating money, or registering on the site and contributing to the blog.

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