In the context of the World Bank's broad development agenda, the Legal Vice Presidency provides legal services required by the World Bank and plays an active role in all the World Bank's activities.
When talking about top female attorneys, Sandra Day O’Connor immediately comes to mind for many. As the first-ever female Justice of the United States Supreme Court, O’Connor is a trailblazer for most female lawyers and a role model for others looking to practice law.
1923 - Irene Antoinette Geffen (née Newmark) became the first female lawyer in South Africa when she was admitted to the bar in the Transvaal in 1923. 1923 - Florence King became the first woman to win a case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1923 ( Crown v. Nye ).
1913 - Natividad Almeda-Lopez became the first female lawyer in the Philippines. 1918 - Judge Mary Belle Grossman and Mary Florence Lathrop became the first two female lawyers admitted to the American Bar Association. 1918 - Eva Andén became the first female lawyer admitted to the Swedish Bar Association.
She joined the World Bank Group in 2009, first working on media and communications for the Doing Business report and subsequently researching credit information. Prior to joining the World Bank Group, she was the Deputy Field Director at The Mellman Group, a research-based strategy firm in Washington, DC.
Norman Loayza. Norman Loayza is Director of the Global Indicators Group at the World Bank. Previously, he was a Lead Economist in the Development Research Group and managed the Asia hub of the Research Group, based in Malaysia. He was director of the World Development Report 2014, Risk and Opportunity: Managing Risk for Development.
Mahmoud Elsaman joined the Women, Business and the Law team in October 2020. Previously, he worked for the Egyptian judiciary, the International Development Law Organization in Italy, and Ibrachy and Dermarkar Law Firm in Egypt. Mahmoud holds a Bachelor of Laws degree (with honors degree) from Cairo University Faculty of Law in Egypt. He holds an LL.M degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in International and Comparative Law, and an LL.M degree in Rule of Law for Development from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Currently, Mahmoud is pursuing his SJD (Ph.D.) degree at Central European University in Austria. He is a native Arabic speaker.
Alexis Cheney is currently a second year MA (International Affairs) candidate at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She is concentrating in human rights and humanitarian policy with a specialization in media. She is concurrently pursuing a MA (International Public Management) at Sciences Po in Paris, France. Alexis completed a Bachelor’s (English and French Literature, International Studies concentration) at Connecticut College. Originally from Massachusetts, Alexis worked in Paris between 2018 and 2020. She is interested in women’s economic empowerment in developed and developing countries alike. Alexis teaches English every week to a female entrepreneur living in Armenia. Alexis enjoys running on trails, singing, and baking. She speaks French and hopes to learn Spanish.
Sabrina Aziz Khan is currently a final year law student at the University of Kent. Originally from Karachi, Pakistan she has had the opportunity to carry out legal internships, take on the role of being the head of a social media program, a Kent Law Student Representative, Student Mentor and the Vice President of the Kent International Law society. She has a particular interest in finance law, alongside international law. Sabrina is passionate about researching gender disparity issues and socio-economic problems faced by women, particularly in South Asia. She speaks Urdu and English.
As part of her PhD studies, Marie spent time at the University of Maryland as a Fulbright scholar. As a member of the Women, Business and the Law team, Marie’s work focuses on the economic impacts of legal gender reform.
Sheng Cui joined the Women, Business and the Law team in April 2019, and his current research focuses on labor and employment issues and data analysis of reforms. Previously, he gained experience in development policy research and reform advisory work in social and energy related fields, with multiple international organizations and government agencies, including UNDP Eswatini, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, China’s National Development and Reform Commission, etc. He holds an MPA degree in international development from New York University. He earned a bachelor’s degree in international political economy at Peking University. He speaks Chinese.
Ada Kepley. In 1870, Ada Kepley became the first woman in the United States to graduate from law school. However, when she applied for a license, she was informed that Illinois law prohibited women from practicing law.
Janet Napolitano. Another woman with a massively impressive resume, Janet Napolitano may be the most accomplished woman in politics that most people have never heard about. She was the first woman attorney general for the state of Arizona before being elected Governor of Arizona from 2003 to 2009.
By the time the law was finally overturned, Kepley had diverted her energies to the support of social reforms, particularly the temperance movement. She became a fiery opponent of alcohol use, utilizing her skills and talents to rise to a position of national prominence in the temperance movement.
Upon her graduation from Yale Law in 1979, she worked as an assistant district attorney in New York for four-and-a-half years before entering private practice in 1984. Sotomayor was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by President George H. W. Bush in 1991.
Outside the classroom, Ginsburg spent a substantial part of her legal career as an advocate for gender equality and women’s rights. She won numerous victories arguing before the Supreme Court, volunteering as a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union in the 1970’s.
Despite partisan political maneuvering in the Senate, she was finally confirmed in 1998. In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Sotomayor to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by David Souter. She was confirmed by a vote of 68-31 and has consistently served as one of the most liberal voices on the Court. 5.
She started at Harvard before transferring to Columbia Law School, where she graduated in a tie for first in her class.
1847 - Marija Milutinović became the first female lawyer and attorney in Serbia, doing exclusively pro bono work for charity throughout her whole career. 1869 - Arabella Mansfield became the first female lawyer in the United States when she was admitted to the Iowa bar.
1913 - Natividad Almeda-Lopez became the first female lawyer in the Philippines. 1918 - Judge Mary Belle Grossman and Mary Florence Lathrop became the first two female lawyers admitted to the American Bar Association. 1918 - Eva Andén became the first female lawyer admitted to the Swedish Bar Association.
In this case the United States Supreme Court held that Illinois constitutionally denied law licenses to women, because the right to practice law was not one of the privileges and immunities guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed.
1879: A law was enacted allowing qualified female attorneys to practice in any federal court in the United States. 1879 - Belva Lockwood became the first woman to argue before the United States Supreme Court. 1897 - Clara Brett Martin became the first female lawyer in Canada and the British Empire.
Wookey, 1912 AD 623, the Appellate Division found that the word "persons" used in the statute concerning admission of attorneys to the bar included only men, and thus Madeline Wookey could not be a lawyer.
1970 - Doris Brin Walker became the first female president of the (American) National Lawyers Guild. 1971 - Barring women from practicing law was prohibited in the U.S. 1976 - Pat O'Shane became the first Indigenous Australian barrister in NSW. She would go on to become a magistrate.
1929 - Olive H. Rabe became the first woman to argue a free speech case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1929 ( United States v. Schwimmer ). 1937 - Anna Chandy of Travancore (later Kerala ), British India became the first woman judge in the Anglo-Saxon world.
Lyda Burton Conley. In 1910, Lyda Burton Conley became the first Native American female lawyer in America. Her motivations were pure; she taught herself the law to protect her tribe’s cemetery burial land located in Huron Park Indian Cemetery from being sold.
Originally intended solely for female law students and law alumnae, the organization grew, making it the first professional organization for women lawyers. Burlingame eventually went into private practice and was regarded as a highly skilled lawyer until her death in 1890.
Unfortunately, she didn’t last long; after enduring a year of non-stop harassment from male classmates, she left the school. Barkaloo passed the Missouri bar exam but died soon after during a typhoid epidemic in 1870 and was unable to fulfill her dream of practicing law.
Luckily, she became interested in a case that caught her eye and agreed to take it pro bono. Sarah Weddington was only 26 years old when she became the youngest person ever to argue and win a Supreme Court case. You may have heard of the case; the caption was Roe v. Wade.
In addition to her legal prowess, Cline was an early advocate for consumer protection, women’s rights, and the suffrage movement.
A photo of the young child hiding in a closet being discovered by heavily armed agents made the front page of every newspaper in America, but Reno stood her ground based on her belief that she was upholding the rule of law. Janet Reno died in 2016 after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease.
At issue was the question of whether the right to receive a license to practice law is guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution to all American citizens. Not surprisingly, the answer was no; the Supreme Court held that states could statutorily deny women the right to practice law.
The World Bank Group is one of the world's largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. It uses financial resources and extensive experience to help our client countries to reduce poverty, increase economic growth, and improve quality of life.
Innovation and partnership bond the five institutions of the World Bank Group (WBG): the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA), which together form the World Bank ; the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The World Bank Group is one of the world's largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. It uses financial resources and extensive experience to help our client countries to reduce poverty, increase economic growth, and improve quality of life. To ensure that countries can access the best global expertise and help generate cutting-edge knowledge, the World Bank Group is constantly seeking to improve the way it works. Key priorities include delivering measurable results, promoting openness and transparency in development, and improving access to development information and data.
The Legal Internship Program allows individuals to bring new perspectives, innovative ideas, and latest research experiences into the World Bank’s daily operations and improve their legal skills while working in a multicultural environment.
Whilst the wildly popular SATC is firmly focused on sex, ‘Rabbits’, love and other bedroom dramas, who can forget one its favourite characters, Miranda Hobbes, the hard working, fiery haired lawyer who famously quits her job because of her misogynistic boss.
Entering the legal genre with a bang this year was the ruthless Keating (played by charismatic Viola Davis), a ‘take no prisoners’ criminal law lecturer and law firm owner who runs a legal class called “How to Get Away with Murder”.
Quotes: Alicia Florrick: “Oh yes, it’s time to kick some ass.”.
Jessica Pearson – Suits. The Managing Partner of big city law firm, Pearson Specter Litt, Pearson sassily sways around the office commanding respect from all who report to her – she’s a control freak whohas worked hard to build a legal life she’s proud of and she won’t let anyone stand in her way.
2. Ally McBeal – Ally McBeal. Loosely based on the personal traits of his stunning, neurotic wife, Michelle Pfeiffer (well, ‘allegedly’), David Kelley dreamed up one of the most famous and memorable lawyers of all time – the ditzy, quirky, charming, paranoid (hallucinations anyone?) wisp of a woman, Ally McBeal.
After graduating from Columbia, Motley became the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s (LDF) first female attorney. Motley went on to become Associate Counsel to the LDF, making her a lead attorney in many significant civil rights cases. In 1950, Motley wrote the original complaint in the case of Brown v.
Charlotte Ray graduated from the Howard University School of Law on February 27, 1872, and was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar on March 2, 1872, making her the first black female attorney in the United States. She was also admitted as the first black female to practice in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia on April 23, 1872.
Barbara Jordan was born in Houston, Texas on February 21, 1936. Due to segregation, Jordan could not attend The University of Texas at Austin, and instead chose Texas Southern University, a historically-black institution. After majoring in political science, Jordan attended Boston University School of law in 1956 and graduated in 1959.
On July 22, 1939, Mayor of New York City, Fiorello La Guardia, appointed Bolin as a judge of the Domestic Relations Court, making Bolin the first black woman to serve as a judge in the United States. Bolin proceeded to be the only black female judge in the country for twenty years. Bolin remained a judge of the court for 40 years ...
Jane Bolin (1908-2007) “I wasn’t concerned about first, second or last. My work was my primary concern” — Jane Bolin. Jane Bolin was born in Poughkeepsie, New York on April 11, 1908. She was the daughter of Gaius C. Bolin, a lawyer and the first black person to graduate from Williams College.
Baker was inspired to attend law school after hearing a speech by Yale Law School graduate George Crawford, a civil rights attorney for the New Haven Branch of the NAACP.
In 2020, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris successfully won their election as President and Vice President of the United States, making Harris the first woman, first African American, and first South Asian American Vice President in U.S. history.