WLU is Thirty!
Celebrating 30 Years of Women Lawyers of Utah
By Heather Farnsworth and Terrie McIntosh
As the current President of Women Lawyers of Utah I am occasionally asked “why WLU?” The inherent question is not just why are you a member, or what does WLU do for you, but “why is there a need for such an organization?” I understand where the question is coming from. I mean, it’s 2012, not 1952. Women are now at least a consistent 50% of those graduating from law school. We aren’t the anomaly we once were. We are judges, corporate counsel, partners, and shareholders.
To be honest, ten years ago, when I first received my invitation to be a member of WLU in my bar packet, I found myself wondering why we needed our own organization too. After all, I was professional, educated woman, who wanted to be on equal footing with my colleagues, not to separate myself from them. However, like many of us, my ideal world wasn’t my reality. I had recently finished working as a law clerk at a firm where I was referred to by one of the partners as “Heather Girl” and frequently told “all lady lawyers are bitches” followed by the advice that I should “stay soft.” At the time, I wasn’t even appalled. I ignored it and just went about my work, but I just didn’t “fit” right. I didn’t even realize it, but I needed a place where I wasn’t seen as the enemy, where I had an advocate, and I believe WLU has been just that.
In my years as a member, committee chair, and president of WLU, I feel like I have grown right along-side the organization. But this article isn’t about me or my journey, but rather WLU’s. In my time with the organization, I have seen our numbers multiply, and our group become increasingly active. This year, we offered more activities than ever for our members, which ranged from learning to golf to listening to Utah’s first and only female governor, Governor Olene Walker speak at our annual retreat. However, I joined the group in its adolescence and missed out on many of WLU’s very important early achievements. So, as we celebrate our 30th year, this article reminds us where we have come from and asks us to consider where we heading.
After beginning with a handful of women who had gone to law school together in the early 1980’s, last year Women Lawyers of Utah hosted a dinner that filled a ballroom to honor the first 100 women admitted to practice in the state and celebrated its 30th anniversary. The success of the group, which was organized in 1981, is a testament both to its founders and early leaders and the continued willingness of women to step forward at a time when they are busy developing careers and raising families.
Jan Graham, former Attorney General of Utah, wrote about WLU’s founding in an article published in the Utah Bar Journal on its twentieth anniversary. Ms. Graham and other women were active in the Women’s Law Caucus at the University of Utah College of Law. As they started practicing law they recognized their isolation from each other, often as the only women in their firms, and wanted a way to share their experiences and help each other. Then-District Court Judge Christine Durham lent her name to a letter inviting women to a meeting to discuss creating a formal organization.
That first meeting could only be described as raucous. There was a great division of opinion about the advisability of forming a “girls only” group. The fears were real. “The men will make fun of us.” “We will set ourselves further apart.” “We don’t want to be women lawyers—we just want to be lawyers.” … I recall some women stood up and warned that we would make a grave mistake which would set back the cause of women in the law indefinitely. The next comment I will never forget, from a woman who had been silent: “Maybe you’re all having an easy time of it in your firms, but I am not and I need a place where it is safe to talk about it.” That quieted the room. What the whole discussion evidenced was the undeniable truth: our experience was unique to us as women.
And so WLU was formed as an organization independent of the Utah State Bar. Then came the hard work of deciding what the organization should do to achieve its goal of promoting women in the profession. Ellen Maycock, who served on the first WLU board, remembers writing a letter to the Bar president asking him not to address his monthly newsletter to “Brethren of the Bar.” She heard back that she was now regarded as “radical” and a “feminist.”
It had been the practice of the Bar and many firms to hold meetings at the Alta Club, which at the time did not admit women as members and required them to enter through a separate door. WLU soon opposed that practice publicly and its then-president, Jane Conard, presented research on non-discriminatory policies of other state bar associations. She asked the Bar Commissioners to adopt a similar policy that would preclude holding meetings at the Alta Club until women were admitted. Initially no action was taken on WLU’s request, and some commissioners opined that it might constitute an illegal boycott. Soon after this meeting the issue received even more publicity when Brian Barnard filed a lawsuit challenging the Club’s liquor license because of its gender discrimination and Ms. Conrad became the go-to person for reporters covering the Alta Club story. Whether it was the potential economic effect of the Bar’s (and other organizations) refusal to use Club facilities, the threat of the lawsuit or the recognition that times had changed and women deserved the same access as men, the Alta Club eventually voted to remove its restriction. Women lawyers were no longer forced to choose between attending a discriminatory club or refusing to attend meetings their firms held there and facing the prospect of being branded as “a women’s libber.”
The question of what WLU should do and how public a face it should present was initially settled by the Alta Club dispute. One early board member recalls her epiphany when she held a WLU meeting at her firm and 25 or more smartly dressed women made their way to a large meeting room. A partner came up to her afterwards to ask “Who ARE these women?” He was shocked to hear we were all women lawyers, since he had no idea there were that many women practicing law in the entire state. The lesson was that in numbers comes acceptance; with acceptance we could be treated as equals to our male colleagues.
The lesson was reinforced at a meeting with the Bar Commissioners. WLU believed that women were not well represented on Bar committees and in leadership positions and women’s interests were not being addressed. Jan Graham recalls this meeting, as do all who were there, as a galvanizing event.
Over 200 women showed up. There was tension and electricity in the air and everyone in the room knew this was no tea party. … The Commissioners were all straining to say the right thing. [One Commissioner] … uttered a fateful phrase: “I’ve always liked lady lawyers.” The groans and grumbling were not just audible, they created a din.
By pigeonholing us as a special kind of lawyer—untested, unknown, possibly less competent and less reliable—this commissioner and senior partner at a major firm had unwittingly taught us that the problem of gaining professional acceptance was going to be challenging and difficult.
In 1986 we began the first of an amazing series of annual meetings in which Chief Justice Christine Durham spoke about issues of local and national concern to women and women lawyers. We called it a “Fireside Chat,” and indeed there was a fireplace at the place where we met for many years. The Chief Justice was the first recipient of what has become The Christine M. Durham Woman Lawyer of the Year award. She was the clear choice, even then, in light of her professional accomplishments, and her inspiration and support. WLU’s website (www.utahwomenlawyers.org) has a list of other recipients of the award and it includes women who have become judges and legislators, leaders of the bar, leaders of firms, and women who have stood up for principles that are important to all of us.
Early meetings also focused on problems that continue to concern us—how to practice law and raise a family, how to dress and act appropriately in court and elsewhere, how to be credible and still be the only woman in the room. We were all influenced when Judge Judy Billings stood up at one meeting on court room conduct and told us we didn’t need to act like men and we shouldn’t try to look like men either, with our power suits and scarves tied into bows. We had been given permission to dress like women and act like lawyers and it was refreshing.
WLU was only a few years old when the Utah courts began a self-study of the adequacy of the representation of women in the judiciary and on court staffs and the fairness of the treatment of women as litigants and of women lawyers as advocates. One of WLU’s early contributions was to cast light on the judicial selection process. The organization filed statements with nominating commissions commenting on the need for women to be represented in the judiciary, had panels and speakers on the selection process, and invited commission members and representatives of the governor’s office to speak at our meetings. Thereafter, through the efforts of its then-president Pat Christensen, WLU set up meetings of WLU members to talk about their experiences in the courtroom with court officials. The Utah court system, through training and judicial education, was an early leader in the effort to make sure women as participants in the court processes were fairly treated. Our organization also supported the project by creating a video about domestic violence that explained how protective orders could be obtained. The videos were placed in public libraries and other places accessible by those who needed help.
As part of WLU’s effort to enhance the status of women as lawyers, Ginger Smith led an effort to have U. S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Conner speak to our group at a dinner that was open to all members of the Bar. It was by far our largest and most significant public event at the time and brought new attention both to WLU and the changing face of the membership of the Bar. We felt empowered to hear such a talented lawyer and judge talk about her experiences in reaching the highest judicial position in the country.
Things have changed greatly over the years, largely for the better. The Bar and law firms have been very supportive of WLU’s recent projects, such as the First 100 Dinner and the Initiative on the Advancement and Retention of Women Attorneys. Women are now active in the Bar and serve as leaders and members of the Bar and its committees and sections, advisory committees, as judges and in firms and government positions at all levels. An annual meeting between WLU members and others and women judges fills a large room and affords an opportunity for dialogue that would have only been a dream 30 years ago. The profession has been enriched and enlightened by our contributions and commitment. But the challenges remain, as a look at some of WLU’s recent projects underscores. How are we to maintain a balance between work and professional obligations and commitments to family? Why are women lawyers still second-class in some work environments and how can that be changed? What about pay equity? Why do women have trouble becoming rainmakers and what are the concerns of clients? Why are women lawyers still underrepresented in the courts, particularly the federal court in Utah? Much has been done but much remains.