Summit

The next Women's Bar Leader Summit, Transforming Law, Transforming Lives,

will be held Friday, August 6, 2010, 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.  in San Francisco at

Golden Gate University School of Law.

An impressive list of speakers will address the need for women lawyers to lead the legal profession and society into a future with more justice for all.  The importance of taking small steps each day, individually and collectively, to make dramatic changes in society will be the central theme for our program.

This year’s Summit  is co-sponsored by Golden Gate University School of Law and will be held at the Law School, located at 536 Mission.  Registration and a continental breakfast will begin at 8:30 a.m.  The  keynote speaker, Dru Ramey, will begin her remarks at 9:00 a.m.   Dean Drucilla Stender Ramey, of Golden Gate University School of Law, formerly served as the Executive Director for the National Association of Women Judges.  For many years she was Executive Director and General Counsel of the Bar Association of San Francisco. She has also done extensive work with other nonprofits.   In 1978, she became the first woman to chair the board of directors of the ACLU of Northern California.  Dean Ramey has lived her passion-- “Access to Justice”-- in a career marked by bar association leadership and extraordinary success. Among her many honors is the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, which she received from the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession in 1997. 

Three panels will focus on transforming lives and the law.  Our first panel addresses transforming the community and will have three outstanding panelists:  University of San Francisco Professor and Clinical Director Sharon Meadows, Alameda County District Attorney and California Women Lawyers President Nancy O’Malley, and Executive Coach Amy Green.  Our second panel will feature leading in-house lawyers discussing how corporate law has changed with the upheaval in the economy.  Speakers  include Judith Bain, Vice President, Legal Affairs and General Counsel of Epson America; Associate General Counsel for Robert Half International, Kimberly Bennion; Senior Contracts Counsel for Wells Fargo, Susan Bunnell; and Susan Sandidge, Associate General Counsel and Vice President, Brinker International.  Our third panel will focus on women lawyers’ roles in addressing challenges in the legal profession. Speakers include  Linda Bray Chanow, from the University of Texas and one of the architects of the “Austin Manifesto,”  Jessie Kornberg, Executive Director of Ms. JD, and Patricia Gillette, the founder of the Opt-In Project.

During the Best Practices program, attendees will share their groups' issues and successes of  the past year.  During the luncheon, we will be honoring members with awards for Public Service and Outstanding Member Programs.   The Summit will conclude with a brief business meeting, electing our board and officers for 2010-2011. Following the program, Perkins Coie, will host a reception for Summit attendees and Bay Area attorneys.  Their offices, located at the Embarcadero, feature great views of San Francisco Bay .  The 2010 Summit  will provide attendees with the opportunity to network with bar leaders throughout the nation, to be inspired by the vision of the terrific speakers and to develop action plans to transform their own communities. 

Cost for the all-day Summit, including continental breakfast and awards luncheon is $125 and may be paid by check or credit card.  There is no charge for the reception.  Advance registration through this website is requested. 

To register for the Summit, click here.

To register for the Reception, click here.

We are grateful for the support of our generous sponsors for their support of our Summit:

 Platinum Sponsor, LexisNexis 

Diamond Sponsor, Perkins Coie

 Silver Sponsor, Patton Wolan Carlise LLP

Planning for the Summit continues!  If you would like to receive periodic e-mail updates as more information becomes available, please sign up here.

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 Questions?  Please contact Executive Director Diane Rynerson.