Ms. JD Leadership Summit

Introducing Ms. JD's National Women Law Students' Organization (NWLSO)

Submitted by Ms. JD

This past weekend, Ms. JD celebrated its first birthday by bringing together over 90 law students from 70 law schools in 33 states to create the Ms. JD National Women Law Students' Organization (NWLSO), a group that will bring together and represent the interests of women law students. Delegates elected regional leadership to establish a NWLSO presence at every law school campus in the country and to connect with practitioners and professional leaders in legal markets nationwide.

Sponsored by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and made possible by all of the founding sponsors who have supported Ms. JD through a year of quick growth, the summit kicked off with a cocktail reception on Friday night in New York City. At the opening reception, Chief Judge Judith Kaye, of the New York Court of Appeals, inspired the student delegates with reflections on the advancement of women in the legal profession and the challenges female lawyers still face. Lynn Hecht Schafran, the Director of the National Judicial Education Program, offered her perspective on the current professional climate for women in the courtroom. On Saturday, Kate Frucher of Axiom offered advice on how women attorneys could maximize networking potential. The summit ended with a banquet featuring remarks by Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor and legal correspondent for Slate.com, and Barbara Babcock, the first female professor at Stanford Law School, who recounted the history of women in the legal profession and offered advice to young women lawyers. The banquet also recognized the accomplishments of several guests of honor, including Judge Denise Cote, Judge Betty Ellerin, Janice Goodman, Joan Krey, and Cathy Ruckelshaus.

If your school was not represented at the conference, and you would like to join NWLSO, please email the student liaisons at nwlso@ms-jd.org. Video from these speakers and more information about the four regions of NWLSO will be available on the website soon. Congratulations to all the participants!