Browse Topics
My First Year as…a District Court Law Clerk
By Ms. JD Staff • May 06, 2010 •Politics and Government, Internships and Clerkships
This is the fourth "My First Year..." post. Each month we feature interviews with women as they begin putting their JDs to work in a variety of fields all over the country. Today we bring you the interview of a federal district court clerk.How did you decide to pursue this position--was this something you envisioned yourself doing when you applied to law school, or was this something you learned about in school or during your summer? I had not planned on clerking, I had always envisioned going directly into private practice. But after hearing the complaints of recent grads that they spent…
Avenues to Government
By Ms. JD • January 26, 2010 •Politics and Government
Editor's Note: Ms. JD's annual conference, Avenues to Advancement, was held November 20-21 in Chicago. These are six pieces of advice from the Avenues to Government panel. Although lawyers in the public sector often make far less than lawyers in the private sector, that is not an indicator of the difficulty of the job or of getting in the door. The panelists on our Avenues to Government panel offered some myths and truths about working for the government and offered some tips to help you get public sector job. Below are two of these myths and three tips to help…
The Question Rephrased: Are There Some Jobs Women are Just Intrinsically Better at than Men?
By ashenoy • September 15, 2009 •Politics and Government
It's an age old question - one that has been heavily debated in recent times: are there intrinsic differences between women and men that make each sex better suited for different jobs? One of my aunts and I recently had a conversation about this idea of intrinsic differences between men and women. She noted that studies have repeatedly shown that there are certain things women and men are better or worse at, on the whole, that can be traced back to our "hunter and gatherer" days. For instance, the fact that men often cannot see food in the fridge that…
How Female Judges Decide Cases
By Anonymous • June 04, 2009 •Politics and Government
Neil A. Lewis discusses the question of how female judges decide cases in his piece Debate on Whether Female Judges Decide Differently Arises Anew: Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, is often quoted as saying that a wise female judge will come to the same conclusion as a wise male judge. But the opposing argument was bolstered forcefully in April by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, currently the court’s only woman, in a case involving Savana Redding, a 13-year-old girl who had been strip-searched at school by the authorities on suspicion of hiding some ibuprofen…
The Secret of the Women in Black Robes
By Anonymous • June 01, 2009 •Politics and Government
What do Sandra Day O'Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia Sotomayor have in common? Well, besides the obvious? They were all young fans of one fictional teenage super-sleuth: Nancy Drew. In a delightful New York Times article, Nancy Drew and the Secret of the 3 Black Robes, Mary Jo Murphy reports that all three women admired the young, courageous heroine: It doesn’t take a big clue to deduce that there’s something between Supreme Court women and Nancy Drew of River Heights, Somewhere, U.S.A., the teenage star of a wholesome series of detective novels that have been in print in some…
Lilly Ledbetter Act Becomes Law; Brief Interview with Ms. Ledbetter
By Staci Zaretsky • January 29, 2009 •Politics and Government
Womenstake, the blog of the National Women's Law Center, had the opportunity to interview Lilly Ledbetter after the Senate's passing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act on January 22, 2009. All four female Republican senators voted in the Ledbetter Act's favor. Ms. Ledbetter acknowledged the hard work that both women and men contributed to the campaign to pass the Fair Pay Act, stating, "There have been a lot of men's groups that worked on it because they realize that this is a family affair. If women are paid better then they have better incomes in the family -- it's…
Gillibrand Slated for Clinton’s Senate Seat
By Staci Zaretsky • January 23, 2009 •Politics and Government
Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand has been selected by Governor David Paterson to fill Hillary Clinton's vacant U.S. Senate seat. Ms. Gillibrand is largely unknown to New Yorkers statewide, but is considered an up-and-coming and forceful lawmaker in her district and has gained considerable attention from Democratic leaders in Washington. . . . Ms. Gillibrand, who lives near Hudson, N.Y., just outside of Albany,with her husband, Jonathan Gillibrand, a financial consultant, and their sons, Theodore, who is 5, and Henry, who is 6 months old. (Ms.Gillibrand received a standing ovation on the floor of the House from her colleagues for working…
U.S. State Department’s Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan to Host Afghan Women Lawyers
By Anonymous • January 21, 2009 •Politics and Government
The U.S. Department of State's Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan will host a group of 14 Afghan women judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys from January 9-24. The participants in this program will participate in a wide range of sessions, including intensive legal seminars, roundtable events, and consultations with senior governmental officials, including former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Discussion topics include: legal decision-making and mediation, domestic violence, family and mental health, narcotics law, an comparative analyses of the American and Afghan legal systems. The group is being led by the former Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, Dr. Kerry…
The House Votes to Pass Two Measures on Job Bias
By Anonymous • January 19, 2009 •Politics and Government
The House voted on January 9th to pass legislation that would counter sex discrimination by employers. This action indicates an initial intent by Congress to make a sharp shift away from the civil rights policies of the Bush Administration, according to the New York Times. Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that "[i]n the first week of the new Congress, this is the legislation we are putting forward: pay equity, fairness to women in the workplace. These are our priorities. This Congress has heard the message of change in the election." This legislation is especially relevant considering that it would overturn the…