Catherine Roraback, Civil Rights Trailblazer [Clippings]

Catherine Roraback was the only woman in her graduating class at Yale Law School in 1948. Because of her gender, she had to come and go by the back door at the New Haven Graduate Club. She went on to champion civil liberties, litigating for the Black Panthers in the 1970s and winning the landmark Supreme Court case Griswold v. Connecticut. She passed away this week at age 87. Read more about Catherine Roraback in her Hartford Courant obituary.

Because Justice is a woman

This is an adaptation of the speech I delivered at our Legally Female conference last weekend. If you are wondering what Ms. JD is (or should be) about, here is my take. You might have a different take. I hope you will share it with me!

As you can see at the top of this website, the Ms. JD logo is a version of Lady Justice, and the watch-words of Ms. JD are "changing the face of the legal profession."

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Remarks at the conference "Legally Female: What does it mean to be Ms. JD?"

Dean Harold Hongju Koh of the Yale Law School opened the national conference entitled “Legally Female: Ms. JD” co-hosted by Yale Law Women at Yale Law School on March 31, 2007 with the following remarks:

Welcome and Congratulations to Yale Law Women and especially to your Yale hosts, Michelle Morin, Julia Simon-Kerr, and Anna Nelson, for all you have done to put today’s conference together. In the 1992 vice-presidential debate the third party candidate began by asking “Who am I and What am I doing here?” Well, I’m Harold Koh. I am the Dean here, and on behalf of the university, the law school, the faculty, the students, and the staff, I want to welcome all of you to Yale Law School, and to this very important gathering.

Dean of Yale Law School condemns 'despicable' sexist attacks on students

On March 7, The Washington Post ran a story about several of our students who have been personally targeted on an internet message board. While this message board purports to be about law school and law school admissions, it contains numerous sexist, racist, homophobic and other derogatory comments by anonymous posters. Some of these comments include the names and personal information of our students and other individuals, along with many false and hurtful assertions.