Our 2017 Women’s Bar Leadership Summit: Succeeding with Strength and Savvy will be held in the heart of New York City, in the 30th-floor offices of Thomson Reuters at 3 Times Square, with spectacular views from the Hudson River to Times Square’s New Year’s Eve Crystal Ball.
Events will be kicked off on Thursday, August 10, at Fordham Law School, with a Welcome Reception, which will include a screening of the documentary Balancing the Scales, a film featuring candid interviews with a wide range of women attorneys and judges who will share their career perspectives–from young lawyers facing challenges as they start their careers, to mid-level associates striving to achieve professional success, to senior attorneys and judges who have become leaders in the profession. Filmmaker and attorney Sharon Rowen, and Aracely Muñoz, formerly associate general counsel and large law programs director for the Association of Corporate Counsel and currently Special Counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights, will be on hand to answer questions about the film and ways in which we can work to further advance equality in the profession. The discussion will be moderated by Charlotte Rushton, Managing Director, Large Law Firms, Thomson Reuters.
On Friday, August 11 we will hold a full day of Summit events, featuring extraordinary speakers and panels, and our annual Awards Luncheon where we will present our Public Service and Outstanding Member Program Awards. Our first program on Friday will be Women in the White House – A Conversation with Kathy and Kim. This will feature Kathryn Ruemmler, now a partner at Latham & Watkins and former Chief Counsel to President Obama, and Kimberley Harris, former Deputy Counsel to President Obama, who now serves as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for NBCUniversal. The moderator will be Jessica Brown, Gibson Dunn partner and past president of the Colorado Women’s Bar Association.
A panel discussion moderated by Martha E. Gifford, Past President of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, entitled Career Tools: Integrating Mentoring, Sponsorship, Coaching, and Networking for Maximum Effect, will feature Lauren Stiller Rikleen of the Rikleen Institute for Strategic Leadership, Joseph K. West, Chief Diversity Officer of Duane Morris, and Morgan Fraser Mouchette, of Blank Rome.
Keynoting our Awards Luncheon will be Roberta Kaplan, Paul Weiss partner known for her successful litigation of cases involving Title IX, the sharing economy and same-sex marriage. She is the author of Then Comes Marriage: United States v. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA, which was named by Ms. Magazine as one of the top books of 2015. At the luncheon, South Carolina Women Lawyers Association will receive the Outstanding Member Program Award for their Building Resilience Project. The Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts will receive the Public Service Award for their Pay Equity Project, while the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York will be recognized in the same category with an Honorable Mention for their Voter Registration Project.
A highlight of the afternoon’s line-up will be GOOD Guys 101: Engaging Men in Our Success. “GOOD Guys” stands for “Guys Overcoming Obstacles to Diversity,” and is a program of the NCWBA designed to inspire and support men who advocate for increased diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. Facilitating the program is Teresa Beck, Lincoln, Gustafson & Cercos partner. Moderating the program is Sheryl Axelrod, president of the Axelrod Firm. Other speakers include Richard E. Meade of Prudential, and Nate Saint-Victor of Morgan Stanley.
The day will conclude with a celebratory networking reception.
2017 Summit Speakers
 Sheryl Axelrod |
 Teresa M. Beck |
 Jessica Brown |
 Martha E. Gifford |
 Kimberley Harris |
 Roberta A. Kaplan |
 Richard E. Meade |
 Morgan Fraser Mouchette |
 Aracely Muñoz |
 Lauren Stiller Rikleen |
 Sharon Rowen |
 Kathryn Ruemmler |
 Charlotte Rushton |
 Nate Saint-Victor |
 Joseph K. West |
The complete agenda for Summit activities on Friday, August 11, may be downloaded at the following link:
In addition, there will be plenty of time for networking and sharing ideas about effective programs and services for women’s bar associations.
Who should attend the Summit? Anyone seeking ideas to energize their women’s bar associations, sections or committees, and anyone who wants to stay on top of the latest trends and issues facing women lawyers. This will be a terrific event, in an amazing venue, and we hope you will join us. Cost of the full-day Summit, including the Welcome Reception and film screening on Thursday, August 10, the Awards Luncheon and Networking Reception on Friday, August 11, is $250.
We also encourage individuals, firms and companies to become Summit sponsors. Sponsorship includes cost of registration. For details and options for sponsoring the Summit, click here.
HOTEL BLOCK
A limited number of hotel rooms may be reserved at the nearby New York Marriott Marquis, 1535 Broadway, at the preferred conference rate of $279 per night plus state and local taxes. This rate is only available via this link (enter “attendee”) or by phone at 1-877-303-0104, mentioning NCWBA. Rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so make your reservation early.
The final deadline for reservations at this rate is Wednesday, July 12.
Here are more ideas for enhancing your stay in New York City.
