Ten St. John’s law students, accompanied by Professors
Eva E. Subotnik and Ettie
Ward, recently attended the Annual Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Distinguished Lecture on Women and the Law at the New York City Bar
Association. Now in its 10th year, the unique lectureship was
established to celebrate Justice Ginsburg’s many groundbreaking
contributions to the advancement of women’s rights and her
achievements as a lawyer, law professor and judge.
Each year, the City Bar allows law schools in the metropolitan area
to send a limited number of students to the event, which usually
sells out, free of charge. Selected by faculty members from a large
pool of nominees, the St. John’s student attendees were:
Emily Adler ‘13
Melissa Bekisz ‘13
Alet Brown ‘12
Nicole Farbes-Lyons ‘12
Grace Kurland-Zang ‘13
Nicole Lapsatis ‘12
Melanie Lazarus ‘12
Courtney Morgan ‘13
Tiffany Shatzkes ‘12
Christie Tomm ‘12
“This annual event is truly inspirational to upcoming female
lawyers,” said Professor Lisa A.
Catalano, who nominated event attendee Tiffany Shatzkes.
“Justice Ginsburg is a wonderful role model and her achievements as
an attorney, professor and United States Supreme Court judge
demonstrate the wealth of opportunities available to female
lawyers.”
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Award-winning journalist Nina Totenberg, Legal Affairs
Correspondent for National Public Radio, delivered this year’s
lecture, depicting the courage, conviction and sacrifice of women
“icons” in the fields of music, medicine and law. Totenberg shared
compelling anecdotes about her legal icons, Supreme Court Justice
Sandra Day O’Connor, WilmerHale partner Jamie Gorelick and Justice
Ginsburg, who was praised for her “tough as nails” fight for gender
equality in the courts and beyond.
A question and answer session with Totenberg and Justice Ginsburg
followed the lecture. “Just listening to Justice Ginsburg and Nina
Totenberg, two women who have accomplished so much in their lives,
speaking about how far women have come in the last century was so
inspirational,” Tiffany said. “That was especially true at points
when Justice Ginsburg spoke about her time in law school as one of
very few women, and when both speakers talked about their struggles
getting jobs at a time when it was completely acceptable for
employers to reject them simply because of their gender. It really
put things in perspective for me as a 3L staring down the current
job market. Getting to personally meet Justice Ginsburg was, of
course, an honor in itself.”
Reflecting on the evening of honest and insightful dialogue on the
past, present and future of women in the law and other professions,
Professor Ward added, “This is always an uplifting and energizing
event for our students. In a predominantly female environment,
Justice Ginsburg tends to be open and frank. Attendees get a
reminder as to why they wanted to join the legal profession and can
reflect on how much lawyers and the law impact people’s lives.”