The National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations S
ince the establishment of the Equity Club at the University of Michigan in 1886, women lawyers and law students have formed associations of their own: sometimes because they were excluded from the mentoring networks of men, sometimes for a special purpose (such as getting a woman on the bench), or sometimes just to share common concerns in a supportive setting. In the 1970s, as women entered the profession in everincreasing numbers, there was great leadership in the women’s bar associations’ pipeline but little recognition of it in the establishment bars. In 1980, when Timmerman Daugherty, the first elected president of the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations (NCWBA), spoke at the Maryland State Bar Association’s midyear meeting, the largely male audience cheered and applauded at the news that, in 1946, their association had been the last to “give in” and admit women. In 1981, the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia compiled a list of women’s bar groups and asked them to send a representative to New Orleans to attend the American Bar Association (ABA) annual meeting. Participants at this initial gathering, many of whom had been instrumental in founding or strengthening the women’s bar groups in their own states, were enthusiastic about starting an organization of women’s bar associations, and the NCWBA was born. Susan Low of Washington, D.C., served informally as the first acting president. By 1983, NCWBA was formally organized and elected its first officers and directors. At the 1991 ABA annual meeting, the House of Delegates recognized the NCWBA as an affiliate organization. Not everyone was
Photos courtesy of NCWBA unless otherwise noted
Top: NCWBA President Delores Pegram Wilson presents the 1986 Public Service Award to Gill Freeman, who accepted the recognition on behalf of Miami-Dade FAWL. Above: Board members gather for NCWBA’s 10th anniversary dinner in Atlanta, Georgia. Left: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg congratulates NCWBA board members after their admission to the U.S. Supreme Court in November 1997.
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National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations
