NAWJ Monthly Update December 2017
Written by National Association of Women Judges|December 08, 2017|News
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Greetings,
We are a few weeks away from the holiday season and the end of 2017. I want to thank
you for your dedication to NAWJ. All year long, you have been faithful foot soldiers
by ensuring that members throughout our fourteen districts kept their boots on the ground
by hosting noteworthy Color of Justice, Informed Voters' Project and Success In and Out
Programs, amongst others.
While civics education is no longer taught in our nation's schools and other venues, your
outreach to a myriad of organizations and institutions has been a civics lesson in itself.
You visited women's prisons and worked to ensure proper conditions for incarcerated women;
visited colleges, universities and law schools to educate, encourage and inspire future
lawyers and judges; provided practical advice to young lawyers on the legal profession;
and sponsored various educational symposiums with other legal organizations. Our presence
in the community provides the general public with access to judges, which, in turn,
humanizes the judiciary and demystifies the role of a judge. Our work in the community
also reminds the public that we are not our titles, but rather individuals and public
servants who are part of their respective communities. This is in line with one of our
goals to increase the public's confidence in the judiciary.
As we head into the New Year, we must build upon our great work in 2017 and look within
to implement the necessary safeguards to ensure that we remain the leading voice for
women in the judiciary. To that end, in January, we hope to engage the services of The
Collie Gorg Group. It will conduct an operational assessment and examination of NAWJ and will
provide suggestions on how we can ensure our sustainability in these ever-changing and
complex times.
In keeping with this upcoming assessment, I believe that it is important to receive
your feedback on how we are doing as an organization. Therefore, it would be greatly
appreciated if you would answer the following questions (which will immediately direct
you to the members-only section of our website to provide your responses):
1. What are we good at?
2. What can we do better?
3. How can we increase membership?
4. What is your level of satisfaction as an NAWJ member (on a scale of 1 to 5; 1
being very dissatisfied, 2 being dissatisfied, 3 being somewhat satisfied, 4 being
satisfied and 5 being very satisfied)?
5. What, if anything, can we do to increase your level of satisfaction?
6. Why do you attend NAWJ midyear/and or annual conferences (please identify which you attend)?
7. How can we enhance the midyear and/or annual conference experience?
8. If you do not attend midyear and/or annual conferences, what would encourage you to attend?
9. What can we do to increase participation among the membership?
Your responses will be tabulated and distributed to the membership. Click
Hon. Tanya R. Kennedy
Registration will soon open.
Kelly M. Dermody, Esq. is Managing Partner of the San Francisco office of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann &
Bernstein, LLP. She chairs the firm's Employment Practice Group and specializes in class and collective
actions on behalf of employees. Ms. Dermody is supervising many of the most significant and challenging
employment class action lawsuits in our nation today, including complaints brought by female and minority
professionals alleging gender/race discrimination by top Wall Street firms, overtime pay lawsuits against
nationally prominent corporations, and ERISA claims that she has tried on behalf of employees and retirees
for pension plan abuses.
Kelly has been a leader in organizations devoted to serving the public interest. In 2012, she served as
President of the Bar Association of San Francisco. She is a member of the College of Labor and Employment
Lawyers and past member of the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section Governing Council. She currently serves
on the ABA Litigation Section Attorney-Client Task Force and previously served as Co-Chair of the ABA Labor
and Employment Law Section Annual Conference, Committee on Diversity in the Legal Profession, and Equal
Employment Opportunity Committee. She has also participated in numerous civic committees, including the
Katrina Task Force, the Carver Healthy Environments and Response to Trauma in Schools Steering Committee,
the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, the National Center for Lesbian
Rights, Pride Law Fund, and Equal Rights Advocates.
The Daily Journal has selected Ms. Dermody as one of the top 100 attorneys in California (2012-2015), top
75 labor and employment lawyers in California (2011-2016), and top 100 women litigators in California
(2007, 2010, 2012-2016). In 2016, the Recorder awarded her the "Dragon Slayer" award for her litigation
work. Kelly has received numerous awards from organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, California Rural Legal Assistance,
Legal Momentum, Equal Rights Advocates, Centro Legal de la Raza, and Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom.
NAWJ awarded Kelly with the Florence K. Murray Award in 2010.
She has been a member of the NAWJ's Resource Board since 2005 and served as co-chair from 2009 to 2011.
In 2010, she was co-chair of NAWJ's 2010 Annual Conference Friends Committee. At the 2012 NAWJ Annual
Conference, she moderated a panel discussion on judicial independence entitled "We Can Do It! Fighting
Back to Protect Judicial Independence." Kelly's commitment to judicial independence is further demonstrated
by her active role in having organized the Informed Voters/Fair Judges Project, a program dedicated to
educating the public about the importance of an independent judiciary, as well as her membership in NAWJ's
Judicial Independence Committee.
Kelly received a B.A. degree from Harvard University (magna cum laude), and a J.D. degree from Berkeley
Law, University of California. She clerked for the Hon. John T. Nixon, U.S. District Court for the Middle
District of Tennessee, before joining Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP .
Thank you, Kelly, for everything you do. NAWJ appreciates you.
NAWJ Resource Board Co-Chair Cathy Winter has been meeting the needs of communities by specializing in
work with U.S. and international based court and government technology and education groups for over 35
years. Ms. Winter served as Director of Corporate Development at CourtCall, LLC, located in Los Angeles
from 2008 until her retirement in 2017.
CourtCall develops innovative and customized, remote appearance programs introduced to the courts in
1996. Today, CourtCall works with thousands of courts and legal communities across the United States
and Canada. Initially developed to help facilitate pre-trial non-evidentiary matters, allowing lawyers
to participate remotely, CourtCall's platform of services has expanded over the years to include managed
audio and video services for Civil, Probate, Juvenile, Family and Criminal Courts, facilitating expert
witness testimony, arraignments, video remote interpreting, mental health and drug court matters as
well as Worker's Compensation hearings and depositions, just to name a few. The service is widely
used today, servicing Municipal, State, Federal, Bankruptcy, and Provincial Courts. Prior to her tenure
at CourtCall, Cathy worked with AT&T for over 20 years in numerous capacities including: management
positions in Government Affairs, Training and Teleconferencing Services. During her tenure with
AT&T, Cathy had the pleasure of working with the founders of CourtCall to help them start their
business. Prior to AT&T, Cathy taught children with special needs and worked with the County of
San Diego's Children's Mental Health. Cathy also serves on the Board of Directors of Western Justice
Center, a non-profit organization that designs and implements programs to promote effective conflict
resolution in school and community settings. Cathy has been a guest speaker at several law schools
teaching Technology in the Courtroom and has volunteered coaching teams and judging moot court
competitions at junior high, high school and law school levels.
Cathy joined NAWJ's Resource Board in 2010. Since then, she has been involved in numerous
initiatives of great benefit to NAWJ. Cathy served on the Planning Committee for NAWJ's 36th Annual
Conference in San Diego, and was a member of NAWJ's website committee, working collaboratively to
develop and implement NAWJ's new website. Cathy was honored to receive NAWJ's Matte Belle Davis Award
in 2015 during NAWJ's Annual Conference in Salt Lake City in recognition of her dedication to NAWJ,
going above and beyond in her role as member and volunteer to help make a difference to the
organization and its mission. Cathy helped develop and was a panelist on the 2016 IAWJ Biennial,
"Courts in Crisis" plenary session. She was also the Co-Chair of the Friends Committee for the NAWJ
Midyear Conference in Los Angeles in 2017 and is an active participant with NAWJ's sustainability
initiative.
We are grateful to you, Cathy, for your leadership and steadfast support of NAWJ.
The White House Fellows Foundation and Association (HFFFA) awarded the 2017 Legacy of Leadership Award to
Judge M. Margaret McKeown (1980-81). This is the highest award presented by the WHFFA, given in recognition
of proven leadership, dedicated public service, and sustained support to the White House Fellows Program.
During her fellowship year, Judge McKeown served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for
Secretary Cecil Andrus transitioning to Secretary James Watt, and then as a Special Assistant at the White
House. Since then, Judge McKeown's valuable experiences have led her to serve as a Boardmember and
President of the White House Fellows Foundation and Association. While President of the WHFFA, she served
on the President's Commission on White House Fellowships, helping to select the Class of 2000-01. She has
helped organize regional meetings for White House Fellows in San Diego and San Francisco, and participated
in the first WHF Alumni trip to Vietnam.
NAWJ is proud of you Judge McKeown. Job well done!
You can read more about Judge McKeown and the White House Fellows Foundation and Association
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