© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
At a time when women around the world are still in need of empowerment, some female Texas lawyers are gaining a presence in that front at Dallas’ new George W. Bush Presidential Center.
They’re participating in the Women’s Initiative Fellowship Program, an effort part of the Center’s George W. Bush Institute. The program brings select groups of women from rising democracies to the U.S. to develop them into leaders who can bring lasting change when they return to their home countries.
The past two years have focused on women from Egypt. This year’s group includes 19 women who range in a wide array of backgrounds and professions. Each fellow is matched with a mentor to guide them through the fellowship. Among this year’s mentors is George W. Bush Foundation General Counsel Tobi Young.
This year Hassan, who holds a post-graduate diploma in intellectual property law, is going through United Nations training on “pedagogical aspects of intellectual property teaching.” At the end of the program, she will become certified as an intellectual property trainer.
Motivated by the limited opportunities that Middle Eastern women have in their legal communities, Hassan is also working on launching Cairo’s first environmental legal clinic. Through the clinic, Hassan hopes to improve the legal education model in Egyptian universities by concentrating on skill-oriented instruction.
Miers, formerly a co-managing partner of the late Locke Lord Liddell & Sapp, is currently on the Bush Foundation’s Board of Directors. Miers left private practice in 2001 to serve as a staff secretary, deputy chief of staff and, later, counsel to President Bush. She returned to Locke Lord in May 2007 and is currently a member of the firm’s litigation and public policy sections in Dallas and Austin.
The Bush Foundation’s Young is the mentor to Arwa El Boraei, a 37-year-old who is passionate about human rights and equal opportunities for women. Currently the program officer for the International Labor Organization, El Boraei aspires to create a program of Egyptian women leaders in the workforce that would initiate equal rights by encouraging companies to widen their job capacity for women while fostering an understanding of human rights, gender issues and women’s rights in the office.
The program usually matches mentors and fellows together whose careers are in the same industry. Though El Boraei is not a lawyer, Young said that she shares an interest in the rule of law and is passionate about educating women and making sure there are laws protecting women’s rights in the workforce.
Since Young has worked on Capitol Hill and the Department of Justice in the past, she has seen the process of developing laws in the Executive Branch, was involved in legal implementation and enforcements of civil rights laws, and is familiar with employment law, she was a good match for El Boraei.
“She has an amazing resilient spirit and can-do attitude and never rests,” said Young. “It just really inspired me to be appreciative all the time of what I have and to be involved.”
The class of 2013 fellows’ program began in March and the women divided their four-and-a-half weeks in the U.S. between Dallas, New York, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., according to Women’s Initiative Director Charity Wallace.
Fellows learned about various issues such as domestic violence, freedom of the press, female leaders in male-dominated industries and the power of social media by visiting places such as Genesis Women’s Shelter in Dallas; the New York Stock Exchange and ABC News in New York; and Facebook, Google and Twitter in Silicon Valley.
Though not a destination this year, the 2012 fellows visited an organization while in Washington, D.C that most lawyers have ties to: the American Bar Association. While there, they received training on how to advance the rule of law in their respective communities.
Between visiting Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley, the fellows scattered across the country to spend several days with their mentors, Young said. Young, who divides her time between Austin and Dallas, hosted her fellow in Austin.
While in Austin, Young said she tried to introduce El Boraei to as many people familiar with the women in the workplace and programs aimed at helping them and women with busy careers who could share how they balance work and family (another of El Boraei’s interests) as possible.
Among those whom Young acquainted El Boraei with were Michelle Snead, chief of staff of Texas First Lady Mrs. Anita Perry; Lesley Guthrie, director of the Texas Women’s Commission; Susanna Holt Cutrone, director of the Texas Workforce Commission; and Ambassador Sada Cumber, a Muslim-American who was the U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
The women left the U.S. last month to continue the remainder of the yearlong fellowship in Egypt. The fellows are applying their new leadership skills and connections with each other and starting projects in their home country.
The U.S. mentors continue to stay in touch with their Egyptian fellows, and will make a trip to Egypt this fall to reconnect, according to Young.
Young said the most rewarding part of her job is “being a small part of the mission that President and Mrs. Bush have set forward.”
Working closely with the Bushes is not new to Young.
During Mr. Bush’s presidency, Young was a special assistant to the president and associate counsel of the Office of the White House Counsel. Bush also appointed Young as the designated Presidential Records Act representative at the end of his term. In the position she serves as a liaison between the Bush Foundation and the government for all archival items from the Bush Administration.
Before working at the White House, Young was a trial attorney and counsel to the assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Young said the most challenging but important part of being the Foundation’s GC is staying current with multiple areas of the law.
“In my role I need to keep up with everything from new state case law to IRS determinations in order to give proper advice to the Bush Center team,” Young said.
“There’s not a typical day; it’s one of the fun things about this job,” she added. Like at the White House, “you have to be able to handle anything that comes.”
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