As we commemorate Women’s History Month, one issue that is top of mind for many employers is the increased focus on the gender pay gap, writes Mariah Berry, a senior associate at Muskat Devine. In this article, the management-side labor and employment attorney presents four effective strategies employers can utilize to reduce their risk in the evolving legal landscape of pay equity laws.
Inspired Long Before I Became a Lawyer
In this personal essay, Jackson Walker healthcare partner Mary Emma Ackels Karam revisits small but impactful scenes of her own personal family history and reflects on how one family member — her mother — was instrumental in shaping Karam into the wife, mother, lawyer and mentor to other women that she is today.
Pictured: Karam (far left) circa 1987 with her parents, Isabel and Lawrence Ackels, and nine siblings.
P.S. — A Veteran’s Gala; April DVAP Clinic Dates; Leadership Changes at The Center, ABA
This week’s edition of P.S. features a woman lawyer’s rise in the ranks of the ABA’s litigation section, details on the Texas Access to Justice Commission’s upcoming annual gala benefiting low-income veterans (including how many dollars away it is from hitting its fundraising goal), an impending leadership change at UT Law’s Center for Women in Law and the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program’s April legal clinic dates.
Firms and corporate legal departments mentioned this week include AT&T, CenterPoint Energy, Greenberg Traurig, Halliburton, H-E-B, Kirkland, Locke Lord, Toyota, V&E, Shell, Jones Day, Baker Botts, Vistra, Winston & Strawn, Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Norton Rose Fulbright, Stewart Law Group, Bank of America, DLA Piper, Citibank, Haynes Boone, Baylor Scott and White and Foley.
Gaining a Seat at the Table
In this guest essay, name partner Julie A. Springer of Weisbart Springer Hayes reflects on her experience as a woman lawyer, how the legal profession has evolved in women’s favor and how it hasn’t.
P.S. — People’s Law School, Fat Checks from Washington, Relief for Ranchers
This week’s edition of P.S. features a disaster relief fund offering financial aid to ranchers affected by the Panhandle wildfires, Congressional funding news for civil legal aid in Texas, an upcoming legal knowledge education event for the public at a Central Texas law school and the Texas Bar Foundation’s recipient choice for its annual public service and legal ethics-oriented award.
P.S. — Birdies, Aces and Honey Baked Hams
This week’s edition of P.S. features information on the Houston Bar Foundation’s new chair, an Easter-themed food giveaway sponsored by Witherite Law Group, a tennis clinic and exhibition match that hosted underserved youth in Austin and sponsorship opportunities for the Dallas Bar Association’s upcoming annual golf tournament.
Photo courtesy of Daniel McEnrue
Film About Landmark ATX Sex Assault Suits Debuts at SXSW
The high-profile South by Southwest Conference in Austin is commemorating International Women’s Day with the debut of “An Army of Women,” a documentary that follows the journey of 15 sexual assault survivors taking on the City of Austin and Travis County District Attorney’s Office for the mishandling of their cases, and the historic settlement that followed. Natalie Posgate and Bruce Tomaso spoke with the survivors’ lawyers, Jenny Ecklund and Elizabeth Myers of Thompson Coburn, before premiere day about the filming process, what they hope people take away from the documentary and how this case changed their lives.
Pictured: one of the plaintiffs, Marina, featured in the documentary. Courtesy of Julie Lunde Lillesæter/Differ Media
P.S. — A Wildfire Call to Action, A 6-Figure Grant for Pro Se Litigants, A Theater’s 40th Birthday
This edition of P.S. features disaster legal aid efforts underway for the Panhandle wildfire, an upcoming gala celebrating the 40th birthday of one of Dallas’ most established performance art nonprofits, news of two significant grants secured by the Houston Bar Foundation and Texas Young Lawyers Association, and March legal clinic dates hosted by the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program.
Legacy
In this essay, Sidley’s Chanse Barnes connects to his family roots, writes about some of his personal struggles as a Black lawyer in modern society and reflects on how the work of those in the present day impacts future generations.
“You may be the only person that looks like you in that room, but remember that people fought and died so you could be right where you are,” Barnes writes. “Sit up straight and take pride in that. Continue the work so that more people that look like you can be sitting shoulder to shoulder in the same room.”
Pictured: Barnes’ paternal grandparents, Isaiah and Hermenes Barnes.
What Does Black History Mean to Me? Education, Motivation and Hope
In this essay, Shackelford associate Artis G. Ulmer III explores the fundamental pillars of Black History Month through the lens of three historical anecdotes: Black cowboys of the American West, Charles Hamilton Houston and Ulmer’s own family history.
Pictured: Ulmer’s paternal grandmother, Ruth Conerly Ulmer (back) with his paternal great-grandparents, Ezra Conerly and Fannie Dillon Conerly (front).