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Information for Clients
The Women Lawyers Club
It is hard to believe that it was such a short time ago, but most of the grandmothers (and some mothers) of today's "Baby Boomers" were born without the basic civil rights that male Americans enjoyed. Prior to universal suffrage however, some very courageous and determined women and supportive men had started to break down the barriers that kept women from the practice of law. What do women want? In answer to that age-old question, some women want to be lawyers! Others, who don't necessarily want to be lawyers, want to fight for truth, justice and the American Way!It was a long and torturous journey to the bar for American women, filled with bigotry, rejection, intrigue, triumphs and more than a little humor along the way. The Women Lawyers Club, featuring Catherine Emberton, Joyce Jefferson and Carol Saunders, dramatizes the decades of striving for professional rights that began in the mid nineteenth century and resulted in the appointment of Sandra Day O'Connor as the first female United States Supreme Court Justice in 1983. The stories of struggle abound and thirteen of them are presented on stage, including those of Margaret Brent, who arrived in the colony of Maryland in 1638 as the first woman to act as a lawyer in the New World ... Clara Shortridge Foltz, who created the public defender system, fought for forty years for the vote and lived to cast a legal ballot ... Myra Bradwell, who founded The Chicago Legal News and served as its publisher for 25 years, and Lyda Conley, a Wyandot Indian, who fought for 40 years to save the Huron place cemetery.
In spite of discrimination and hardship, the women lawyers of the United States have left their marks in virtually every area of the law. Others, who were not lawyers, fought for civil rights, the vote and "justice for all," and nevertheless made an everlasting impact on the social and legal fabric of the country. The Women Lawyers Club is a lively theatrical montage that celebrates the contributions that women have made in the law and legal practice throughout American history. It is a fascinating look at the issues that fueled the legal interests of women and tells the stories of some of the most noted (and not noted) women who have impacted the law and the American legal system. The presentation provides an engaging tool to facilitate discussion about all forms of bias and the struggle that many women still face in achieving full acceptance in the legal profession.
The Women Lawyers Club, presented with a post-performance discussion, has been approved for CLE credit
(including Ethics, Professionalism and Elimination of Bias credit) in the states where it has been offered.
CLE materials are provided and credit varies from 2.5 to 3.5 hours, depending on individual state requirements.
Please contact
if you have questions about CLE credit.