UNM School of Law Justice Mary Walters Award Ceremony

March 27, 2008

Willa Cather: whose books have chronicled the wild resilience and tenacity of women pioneers;

Gloria Steinham: who demanded intelligent journalism that is relevant to women’s lives and who founded Ms. Magazine;

Ang San Suu Kyi: who has been a virtual prisoner for decades in the cause of freedom for the Burmese people and has shown the power of non-violence;

My grandmother: who grew up in an orphanage in India and who raised the fiestiest woman I know - my mother.  My Grandmother not only believed I could do anything, but she made sure I believed it too!

Billie Jean King: who defeated Bobby Riggs in three straight sets in a tennis match after his arrogant boasting of superior male athleticism;

Benazir Bhutto: the older sister of my childhood playmate, who at the age of 35 became the first woman to serve as prime minister of an Islamic country;

These are a few of the women that have influenced me.  They are part of my heritage.  The fact of these women and their contributions inspire me, empower me and give me courage.  They help me clarify my sense of self and inform my decisions and my dreams in a big picture kind of way.

Then there are those who have inspired and influenced me - who have inspired and influenced all of us in the practice of law - those trailblazers who came before us and changed the legal landscape.  Their legacy enables us to be here today, to be law students, lawyers, deans, professors and judges.  They have opened so many doors for us as we take our place in this profession.

My reflections on women in the law branch into two areas.  The first branch is how far we have come, and how far there is to go, it is about how remarkable it is that we sit here as women lawyers and women law students.  It is a time line  of the past up to now. 

The second branch is a compelling sense that we are in a new chapter.  It is full of questions and curiosity.  Now that we are in the law schools, firms and courtrooms what are we bringing to the practice of law, in what ways is our presence influencing and transforming the legal profession. 

Let’s talk about how far we have come.  It took 82 years for the first 100 women to be admitted to the state bar.  The 100th woman was admitted only in 1974.  These first 100 women were the ones who scouted the territory and inch by inch carved out a small corner to claim as their own.  They did this by bringing their best game, by being so certain of who they were and what their rights were that the system had to bend and flex for them.  We could not be here without them.

So, tonight we stand on the shoulders of Henrietta Pettijohn, Nellie Brewer Pierce, Katherine Burns Mabry, and Gladys Brice Watts who were the first women admitted to practice law in New Mexico.  They were admitted before there was even a woman’s right to vote;

We stand on the shoulders of Mary Coon Walters, a home economics major, WWII Air Force Pilot and chain smoker who was admitted to the bar in 1962, and became the first woman district judge, first women chief judge on the court of appeals and in 1984 - just 24 years ago - the first woman justice on the New Mexico Supreme Court;

We stand on the shoulders of Anne Bingaman who was admitted to the bar in 1969 and became the first woman professor at this law school.  She went on to head the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice and has so many firsts since then it makes my head spin;

We stand on the shoulders of Justice Petra Maes and Former Attorney General Patricia Madrid.  Admitted to the bar in 1973, they were the first two hispanic women to graduate from this law school.  Justice Maes was the first hispanic woman on the Supreme Court and first hispanic woman to be chief justice.  She still is the only hispanic woman to ever have been a Supreme Court justice.  Patricia Madrid was the first woman and only hispanic woman to be elected the State’s Attorney General;

We stand on the shoulders of Justice Pamela Minzner who was admitted to the bar in 1972 and became a monumental figure in our community.  She was a law professor, a judge on the New Mexico Court of Appeals, and the first female chief justice on the New Mexico Supreme Court.  I think we can all agree that Justice Minzner brought a feminine character to this profession.  Ask those who know her and they proudly discuss her intellectual rigor and profound grasp of the law, but they also warmly and affectionately remember her civility, her generosity and her unique brand of simple kindness.  Justice Minzner gave us so many reasons to be proud of being women in this profession.  Justice Minzner was honored with many awards in her career, including the Justice Mary Walters award that you are presenting to another extraordinary woman tonight, and on whose shoulders we also stand, Professor Ruth Kovnat.

The poet Lucille Clifton wrote:  what they call you is one thing.  What you answer to is something else. 

100 women in 82 years – what did these women answer to?  And how far have we come?  This is how far we have come - the past: 100 women in 82 years.  The present: 100 women in 2 years.  Your graduating classes today are at or over 50% women!  That means that in just the next 2 years, UNM law school is going to graduate 100 women who will then study and sit for the bar.  I don’t know if that is a revolution or it’s simply evolution, but what a hopeful and inspiring thing it is.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said: “For both men and women the first step in getting power is to become visible to others, and then to put on an impressive show...as women achieve power, the barriers will fall.  As society sees what women can do, as women see what women can do, there will be more women out there doing things, and we’ll all be better off for it.”

And there are more women out there doing things, and they have put on a fantastic show, and we are better off.  But we are not there yet, we are still mid-stride in our step to equality.

Think about it.  It is remarkable that in 1967, less then 4% of women occupied seats in law schools and that today women comprise almost 50% of all law students.  But it is also remarkable that women in law school still lag behind men on most measures of success, like volunteering in class, rating themselves and gaining academic honors.

It is remarkable that in the 1960s, women accounted for about 3% of the nation’s lawyers and that today their ranks have increased tenfold - we are now about 30% of the U.S. bar.  But it is equally remarkable that women are not assuming leadership roles in proportion to their numbers.  While over 50% of associates at large firms are women, they only account for 17% of law firm partners, about 15% of general counsels of large companies, and, unbelievably only make up 2% of managing partners of large firms.

It is remarkable that men continue to make more money than women.  According to one study, the median salary at large national firms after 3 years is $15,000 higher for men than for women.

So we have not exactly achieved full and equal access. We are still underpaid, under represented as partners of big firms, and under represented on the bench.

About the bench - let me talk for a minute about our courts.  We have women judges in greater numbers than ever before in New Mexico.  Let me recognize some of the extraordinary women that I work with every day and who are here tonight - Judge Nash, Judge Whitefield, Judge Walker – please stand and be recognized.

In the Second Judicial District 10 of the 26 judges are women – now that is a respectable 38%.  However, as soon as you leave Bernalillo County things change.  If we reach state wide and look to communities in Las Cruces and Silver City, Raton and Farmington, Hobbs and Clovis our numbers as a whole drop to less than 20%, and that 20% absolutely fails to represent the 51% of the New Mexico population that is female.

Only 3 out of 10 judges on the court of appeals are women - 30%.
And only 3 women have ever, ever served on the New Mexico Supreme Court.  3.  66 men - only 3 women.  That’s less than 5%.

So, the story of women in the law is indeed a remarkable story.  Remarkable for what has been accomplished. And it’s remarkable to realize how much is still needed. This holding of the great success and the undeniable shortcomings is a bit of a trick – for myself, it’s essential to be honest and aware of both how far we have come and what we still must demand and what we still deserve.  The cup my friends, is in fact simultaneously half-full and half-empty.

And so here we are, well into our journey.  Right now, the era of the “firsts” is giving way to the era of the “nexts”.  And as I reflect on this new period, a happy buzz of interest and curiosity bubbles up inside me.  What is going to be next?  Our reflection shifts from the historical question “how do we get in there”, to the contemporary question “we are here, now what are we going to do?”  Our effort is being rearranged, from pushing ourselves in and demanding a place at the table, to an effort characterized by asking ourselves what we as women can bring to the practice of law.

Martha Barnett, a former president of the ABA said: “I’m tired of being an adjective. I’m tired of being the first woman.  I used to think I wanted to be a noun.  But now I’ve decided I want to be a lawyer.  And I’m a verb.  I’m a verb, not with a question mark, but with an exclamation point.  That is the way I feel women lawyers feel - that it is time to stop thinking in the next generation about first and second.  It is not an issue.”  

There is no question that diversity enriches and strengthens, that it contributes to what the late judge Alvin Rubin described as “a distinctive medley of views influenced by difference in biology, cultural impact, and life experience.”  Women, like different racial, ethnic, or economic groups bring uniquely valuable perspectives, aptitudes and concerns to the practice of law.  And so we can be certain that our presence is and will continue to be a huge part of the evolution of the legal profession.  So I ask you, which piece of that change do you want to be a part of?  At some point each of us chose this path - we could have been a doctors or teachers, bankers or cooks.  But we aren’t.

What is your motivation to be here, what is authentically you, in what ways does the legal profession fit into your most personal dreams?  Bring that, bring those ideas and interests and passions, and your part in the evolution will be positive and worthy.  

The first 100 women I mentioned earlier, they each acted from their knowledge of themselves, of who they were.  They lived from their core.  I try to move through each day mindful of where I should work within the status quo and where I can nudge the status quo to work with me.  We must all use the talent and time we have to nurture, to better society, and to promote and advance the causes of women as lawyers - because if we don’t, we all lose. 

Thank you for being here tonight and for your part in contributing to all that is great about this profession.  In the words of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg:  “May the impressive progress continue, and the persistent problems gain positive solutions.”