Before 2008, there was no national organization that represented women law students across the country, despite recent reports that women are less likely than men to apply to law school or to reach the highest echelons of the legal profession. In April 2008, Ms. JD launched the National Women Law Students’ Organization (NWLSO) at a conference in New York City. The event was a tremendous success with representatives from more than 70 law schools in 33 states in attendance. Since the conference, Ms. JD has been working to establish a greater presence at law schools across the country.

NOTE: Law schools may have specific guidelines regarding how to start student organizations on campus (e.g., some school require student organizations to have a faculty adviser). You should review the procedures and guidelines for your school prior to beginning the process of starting a Ms. JD chapter. A sample chapter constitution is attached to this forum topic. 

Step 1: Hold a general interest/orientation event 

At the beginning of the new school year, when 1Ls are enthusiastic about joining new student organizations, 2Ls are anxious about their job search and 3Ls are wondering how to transition from law school to legal career, jump start the year with a NWLSO chapter orientation.

Advertise for the event using posters, write a message to the student list serve, and host a table during the 1L activities fair. Reach out to student affinity groups that share Ms. JD and NWLSO’s mission by asking them to advertise the event to their members.

At the meeting, introduce yourself, outline your goals for the NWLSO chapter, and let people know what you hope to accomplish during the semester or year. This might include a fall panel event, a spring OCI orientation, or a fact-finding mission on the local legal market. To keep people involved, promote an action item at your orientation event. Students could sign up for the Ms. JD group on Facebook or call friends at other schools and encourage them to organize a chapter.

Before everyone leaves, use a sign-up sheet to collect contact information from interested students, with a space designating the action item they will pursue or the role they are interested in playing in the organization.

Step 2: Create a flexible group structure

Participation will vary from person to person, so try to gauge who would like to take on additional responsibilities, such as planning for an event, advertising, reaching out to other schools, acting as liaison with other campus organizations, etc. Try creating an officer system for your chapter, including: Chapter Director, Campus Outreach Director, Firm Outreach Director, Client Outreach Director, Communications Director, and Development Director. The biggest challenge student groups often face is the annual turnover in board membership and lack of continuity in membership and planning that creates. Try to set aside board positions for 1Ls every year to mitigate this problem.

Step 3: Update the NWLSO calendar

Once you've established a chapter on your campus you should also create a group on ms-jd.org. You can request a group and then post new calendar item on Ms. JD's Calendar and add discussion topics for your board (panel speaker brainstorms, meeting minutes, board election results etc.). 

Step 4: Contribute to the NWLSO website

NWLSO provides an online network of practicing women attorneys who will educate and mentor law students, connect women law students across the country to identify common goals, share knowledge and support with one another, sponsor networking and informational events across the country, and gather and disseminate information for and about women in the legal profession. Our expectation is that this national network, over time, will provide women law students with the connections and support they need in order to achieve equal status in the legal profession.

There are many ways that your school’s NWLSO group may participate, including creating a page for your group, adding calendar events, creating and sending newsletters, and providing a forum for your members to share information. The easy-to-use format will allow each of your members to have an active role in the community.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why start a chapter?

NWLSO chapters serve different functions on different campuses.  At the very least they are a networking mechanism and an educational extracurricular. The connections you can make through a chapter will help you succeed in law school, find a job after you graduate, and continue to color your professional connections throughout your career. 

2. My law school already has a women's organization, should I still start a chapter?

NWLSO chapters are what you make of them. On some campuses they represent the only organization representing female students. On others, where there is already a vibrant women's association they may be co-extensive or formed in collaboration. There are no rules about how a NWLSO chapter should relate to an existing student group. We encourage you to form the organizational structure that best suits your school. 

Ms. JD's resources are designed to help you succeed any way you can. Perhaps the better model for your school would be to create a NWLSO representative on the board of an existing group. Or perhaps, having two organizations with similar membership and goals is preferable because it gives you double the opportunity to receive SBA funds. 

Regardless of your organizational structure, we hope you'll take advantage of our online professional network, our calendar features, and our discussion boards. If your university's website is difficult to update and edit - perhaps a NWLSO page might be a better place to host your groups content? We're here to help any way we can.