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From the Seat of Power: Mary Rouvelas
By Jamie Bence • March 04, 2011 •Writers in Residence, Politics and Government
Mary Rouvelas is the Senior Counsel for the American Cancer Society in Washington, D.C. Mary graduated from Wellesley College magna cum laude in 1992, and worked in Venice Beach, CA for a year as a private investigator before attending the University of Virginia School of Law, graduating in 1996. She is a member of the bar in Virginia and the District of Columbia and is also admitted to practice at the United States Supreme Court. She currently directs the American Cancer Society and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network’s Judicial Advocacy Initiative, which recruits law firms on a pro…
Going Public: Choosing Your Path
By Sarah Ferguson • February 05, 2011 •Writers in Residence, Politics and Government
So, you’re in law school (or maybe a recent grad) and you’re assessing your career trajectory. Your school hosts lawyers in various fields, your professors discuss their previous careers in practice, your friends talk about their summer internships. There are so many options! How to narrow it down? It’s not easy, but if you think you may be leaning towards public service, there are some indicators that show it may be just the path for you. I know, I know, last month I stated that there’s no list you can check off to determine if the public sector is right…
From the Seat of Power: Lisa Kaeser
By Jamie Bence • January 29, 2011 •Writers in Residence, Politics and Government
This month's column features Lisa Kaeser, who currently serves as a senior program analyst in the Office of Program and Public Liaison at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health, HHS. She works as a liaison between the NICHD’s leadership and its many constituencies, which include Congress, the scientific and research advocacy communities, and the public. Prior to joining the NICHD over ten years ago, Ms. Kaeser worked for over a decade in women’s health research and policy issues at The Alan Guttmacher Institute, and before that for…
From the Seat of Power: Alexa Chappell
By Jamie Bence • January 04, 2011 •Writers in Residence, Politics and Government
From the Seat of Power will focus on interviews with women lawyers working in the federal government. This column will explore the unique challenges and rewards of government work, including why these women chose their paths, how they got there, and what they hope to do next. The interviews will focus on balancing personal and professional goals as well as advice for aspiring civil servants.This month's column features Alexa Chappell, Associate Director in the Office of the Intergovernmental and Public Liaison at the United States Department of Justice. Alexa received her bachelor's in public finance from the School of Public…
Congratulations to Fernande Duffly, Nominee to the Massachusetts Supreme Court!
By jessie kornberg • December 22, 2010 •Politics and Government, First Women
Yesterday, Governor Deval Patrick nominated Massachusetts Appeals Court Justice Fernande Duffly to sit on his state's Supreme Judicial Court. Duffly is Indonesian-born and, if confirmed, would become the court's first Asian-American justice. Duffly is a graduate of Harvard Law School and a former attorney at K & L Gates. She was first appointed to the Family and Probate Court before being promoted to the court of appeals. She has been a tireless advocate for equality in the profession and is a past president of the National Association of Women Judges.I've had the privilege to work with Justice Duffly through the American…
An Interview with Sandra Swirski: Lawyer, Lobbyist, and a Juggling Success Story
By Ms. JD • October 27, 2010 •Politics and Government
Sandra Swirski co-founded two public policy/government affairs companies, advised 2 senior U.S. Senators, was an executive at a Fortune 10 company and advised multinational clients at one of the largest professional services companies. At Urban Swirski & Associates, LLC, a public policy and government affairs firm in Washington, D.C., Ms. Swirski's practice focuses on advising Fortune 500 executives and leaders of non-profit organizations about public policy and government affairs issues. Other private sector experience includes running the Washington government affairs office for Mobil Corporation, and advising multinational clients on economic and tax issues while at Ernst & Young. Ms. Swirski’s…
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference
By jessie kornberg • August 19, 2010 •Politics and Government
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Annual Legislative Conference will take place in Washington, D.C. this September 15th - 18th. The schedule of events and speaker lineup promise to make this a fantastic event. In conjunction with the conference the National Black Law Students Association will also be hosting a number of great events, including a panel discussion with Maxine Waters and two networking cocktail parties. Here are the highlights:Thursday, September 16th4:00 pm-5:50 pm Judiciary Issues Forum with Congresswoman Maxine Waters Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Room 146-B 801 Mount Vernon Place Northwest Washington, DC 200016:00 pm-9:00 pm Happy Hour in…
From Perspectives: The Importance of Gender on the High Court
By jessie kornberg • July 29, 2010 •Politics and Government
In this month's issue of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession's Perspectives magazine, Stephanie Goldberg has an interesting piece on the difference Elena Kagan will have on the Court by virtue of her gender. Acknowledging that seeing gender as a determinative factor in judicial decision-making is "prickly," Goldberg finds examples of how O'Connor and Ginsberg's gender influenced their jurisprudence.Yet even [Ginsburg] conceded that her life experience as a woman may have helped educate her fellow justices to hold in Safford v. Redding (2009) that a strip search by school authorities of a 13-year old girl, suspected of having…
Reflections on a Run for Office
By jessie kornberg • July 14, 2010 •Politics and Government
This spring I ran for a volunteer position on my neighborhood council. As elected positions go, these are the very smallest potatoes. Nevertheless, the election was competitive. There were four opposing candidates splitting roughly 2,000 likely votes, and I was the only woman running for my seat. I won (woohoo).There were a number of surprises in the campaign: how nasty it was, how much fun I had anyway, and - relevant to Ms. JD - how much my gender mattered. Here's how:My gender changed the way other candidates treated me. The men who were running against me treated me with…