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Federal judge who sought female attorneys among class counsel has acknowledged sex-bias concerns, order says

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 08:50:08 +0000

Judiciary

Federal judge who sought female attorneys among class counsel has acknowledged sex-bias concerns, order says

March 25, 2025, 9:21 am CDT

A federal judge who called for female attorneys to be “adequately represented” on the leadership team for plaintiffs in multidistrict contraceptive litigation has “acknowledged the concerns created by her statements.” (Image from Shutterstock)

U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers of the Northern District of Florida “has taken appropriate voluntary corrective action that acknowledges and remedies the problems created by her statements,” wrote Chief Judge William H. Pryor Jr. of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Atlanta in the March 20 order.

Conservative activist Mike Davis, the founder of the Article III Project—a conservative group—filed a complaint against Rodgers after she said during a Feb. 21 case management conference and in a Feb. 23 order that she thinks that female attorneys have to be “adequately represented” on the leadership team given the female plaintiffs in the contraceptive drug Depo-Provera litigation.

Davis had released the complaint and his organization, the Article III Project, published online articles about it. He alleged that Rodgers’ statements amounted to discrimination based on sex and constituted judicial misconduct.

Rodgers omitted references to sex when she invited applications for leadership positions in a Feb. 28 order. All applicants would be considered based on merit, she said in the order. Then, in a March 13 hearing allowing nearly 70 applicants to give presentations, Rodgers said she would not give preferences to women to avoid the appearance of impermissible sex discrimination.

Pryor said Rodgers’ voluntary corrective action was sufficient while warning that judges can’t discriminate based on sex when selecting class counsel.

Pryor noted a 2013 statement by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in a cert denial in which he criticized a judge’s “unique” requirement that class counsel fairly reflect the composition of plaintiffs.

What Alito described as a unique practice “has been touted as a ‘best practice’ in multidistrict litigation,” Pryor said. “Commentators openly encourage judges who preside over these actions to consider impermissible characteristics like sex or race when they appoint leadership counsel.”

Notions about a lawyer’s ability to fairly and adequately represent class interests “must exist within the bounds of the rules that govern judicial conduct, and those bounds prohibit discrimination based on sex,” Pryor said.

Law360 and Reuters are among the publications with coverage of the order, noted by How Appealing.

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The power of female mentorship

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 14:19:38 +0000

By Anne V. Dunne and Tonya M. Esposito

As we reflect on our journeys through the legal profession, one theme emerges: the power of mentorship, particularly female mentorship. The power of female mentorship cannot be overstated, as it can play a critical role in transforming a talented yet uncertain junior attorney into a highly skilled and autonomous senior attorney.

Female mentorship is also a mutually beneficial relationship that encourages growth, resilience and dedication relative to navigating the challenges of a demanding profession. While women have been graduating from law school in equal or greater numbers to men for years, there is still a gender disparity among practicing lawyers beyond the associate level, and it grows wider with seniority.

Hallmarks of mentorship

One of the key hallmarks of a successful mentor-mentee relationship is an unwavering commitment by the mentor to nurture talent, foster professional growth and provide comprehensive support to the mentee—professionally and personally. Truly successful mentor-mentee relationships are built on a foundation of inclusivity and respect—not unbalanced power.

As the ABA has noted, the higher you look in the legal profession, the greater the gender disparity. In 2021, the ABA issued a report examining the reasons behind the exodus of senior women from the legal profession.

This report examined the challenges faced by senior female attorneys. While the report examined several factors, most notable for this article is isolation and the billable hour and its negative impact on relationship building. In the post-pandemic world, it is harder than ever to connect with colleagues and teammates.

Real-world mentorship

We have been mentor-mentees since 2019. Annie had just returned from her second parenting leave and was navigating the challenges of being a litigator with two children when she first began working with Tonya. Tonya, also a mother of two, had just expanded a client relationship and needed support in a new geographical region where Annie was admitted to the bar. Over the coming months, our relationship evolved from supervising attorney and midlevel associate into one of mentor-mentee.

During the pandemic, balancing work and child care became particularly challenging for working parents, and we worked late nights to accommodate the needs of our clients. For example, during emergencies with tight deadlines, such as preliminary injunction hearings, we never left one another to handle the workload alone. Instead, we would stay up and handle the task at hand, even if it meant staying up until 3 a.m.

We think that this leadership approach makes a significant difference. Knowing that someone else is in the trenches with you makes the work more bearable and motivates everyone to give their best effort. If you’re going to ask someone to take on an unenjoyable task, especially one that will require working all weekend or late into the night, it’s crucial to show that you’re willing to do it with them. It builds trust and loyalty and shows much-needed support.

Mentor-mentee relationships should be considered strategic partnerships. The more that a mentor invests in a mentee, the greater the payout is for both parties. Over the course of our mentorship, Tonya has spent countless hours counseling Annie on navigating difficult professional scenarios, such as unconscious bias and sexist comments at a previous law firm and positive professional transitions into a senior associate and a new firm.

Tonya has advocated tirelessly for Annie to have a seat at the table, including pitching client work, presenting in webinars and serving in a client-facing role. But it is not just Annie who has benefited. As Annie has become more senior, Tonya has gained a valuable first lieutenant on her team.

Evolving mentorship

We have seen firsthand how mentorship is professionally rewarding and deeply inspiring, which is why we think that others can find tremendous benefits. In a successful relationship, a mentee is given the opportunity to observe the mentor’s ability to balance their role as a top attorney and a supportive mentor.

This includes studying how a mentor treats their mentees as equals, respecting their opinions and encouraging healthy dialogue. Over time, a respectful and inclusive mentorship has the potential to have a profound impact upon a mentee.

One of the biggest challenges that we’ve faced is navigating the perceptions and expectations of others in the legal profession. Over time, we’ve encountered situations where others attempted to define our practices, identities and career trajectories based on their assumptions of us, rather than our knowledge and skill set.

It is crucial for us to believe in the value that we bring, even if it doesn’t align with someone else’s perception or fit neatly into predetermined boxes. Building a team, including mentees who understand their mentor’s leadership style, helps to create a supportive environment where everyone’s contributions are valued, and each team member has the opportunity to pursue their career goals.

An empowered mentee has learned the skills to continue the cycle by becoming a mentor to more junior attorneys. The mentee-turned-mentor will be focused on not just professional growth but also building a supportive and collaborative community within the legal practice.

Going forward, the mentorship triad will continue to thrive and grow. With each new attorney added to the mentorship, new skill sets and perspectives are gained, offering new opportunities for personal and professional growth and evolution.

Successful mentorship

Mentorship is more than teaching someone how to draft a brief or win a case. It is about empowering women to have a voice in a room where they are often outnumbered, to trust their instincts and to aspire to leadership positions.

We think that strong female mentorship can play a key role in the continued growth and equality in the legal industry. A junior female attorney benefits immensely from observing strong female leadership, recognizing their potential and evolving over time to mentor those more junior to her.

For more senior attorneys, there is an opportunity to impart legal knowledge and helpful wisdom garnered through years of practice and to learn from their more junior colleagues as they navigate the complexities of ethical dilemmas and professional challenges. Ever-evolving mentorship provides a nurturing environment for growth and development for mentors and mentees.

Anne V. Dunne, a litigation associate in Greenberg Traurig’s Boston office, focuses her practice on commercial litigation, concentrating on financial services, class action defense, government investigations and whistleblower litigation. Tonya M. Esposito, a shareholder in Greenberg Traurig’s litigation practice, focuses on a variety of consumer issues, including financial services, antitrust and marketing and advertising.

ABAJournal.com is accepting queries for original, thoughtful, nonpromotional articles and commentary by unpaid contributors to run in the Your Voice section. Details and submission guidelines are posted at “Your Submissions, Your Voice.”

This column reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily the views of the ABA Journal—or the American Bar Association.

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Incarceration series includes female inmates but doesn’t tell full story

homesafetytechpros — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 06:16:32 +0000

I was hopeful that Max’s Justice, USA, a six-part documentary series about Tennessee’s criminal justice system, would deliver its marketing promise of a “compelling, insider’s view of Nashville’s criminal justice system.” Sadly, it fell short.

There is some pedagogical value to shows such as Justice, USA, which provides access to men’s, women’s and juvenile jails, along with details that inmates and law enforcement struggle with, such as the effects of incarceration, mental illness and addiction. The series’ offer of a “360-degree” approach could go far in helping to educate viewers.

That sounds great in theory for those looking to understand the criminal justice system. But if you’re not involved with it, you don’t see what happens behind closed doors, and you don’t get a clear view.

And the incarcerated people’s stories will never go away, even if they get clean and turn their lives around. What’s on the internet and streaming services will live on forever.

Moreover, the series has thus far failed to explain some of the most counterintuitive aspects and sex-based discrepancies of American sentencing and incarceration.

Detained discrepancies

“Women, Incarcerated,” the fourth episode, piqued my interest. Since 2014, I’ve written about the astronomical number of incarcerated women in the United States specifically and my home state of Oklahoma generally.

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, as of March 5, there are 190,600 women and girls incarcerated in the United States. Over recent decades, women’s incarceration has increased at twice the pace of their male counterparts.

Over 25% of women who are incarcerated have not been convicted, and 60% of women in jails under local control (usually city or county jails) are incarcerated pending trial, as they are unable or decide not to post bail in their case.

But it’s not just the sheer number of women held in prisons and jails. Women have a higher mortality rate than men in jails; they die of drug and alcohol intoxication at twice the rate. Women are also more likely to become incarcerated with a preexisting medical issue or a mental health issue.

Different crimes, same times

Compared to men, women are often disproportionately charged and sentenced. For example, Oklahoma’s child abuse and neglect statute punishes mothers who arguably engage in child neglect, which is defined, among other things, as various omissions, such as failure to supervise, feed or provide children with enough nurturance and affection.

The statute also includes situations in which an adult doesn’t protect a child from exposure to illegal activities or sexual materials that are not age appropriate.

In the same vein, the “failure to protect” definition includes the conduct of a nonabusing parent or a guardian who “knows the identity of the abuser or the person neglecting the child but lies, conceals or fails to report the child abuse or neglect or otherwise take reasonable action to end the abuse or neglect.” Oddly, child neglect and child sexual abuse can both include life sentences.

Prosecutors have quite a bit of leeway when arguing the specific actions—or more often inactions.

The fifth episode of Justice, USA included the struggle that one inmate faced as she tried to live with herself through charges related to an overdose suffered by her toddler daughter after the child accidentally ingested some of her mother’s narcotics. The mother genuinely appears to love and miss her daughter, and the sorrow is evident. But her neglect as a drug addict kept her from protecting the toddler.

Situations such as that don’t have much middle ground. The mother’s recklessness still had a high likelihood of ending in tragedy. After all, the neglect was an obvious and apparent consequence of the mother’s failure to protect her child. That isn’t always the case for failure to protect and child neglect charges, though.

Take Tondalao Hall, for example.

An Oklahoma judge sentenced Hall to 30 years in prison because her boyfriend broke her child’s ribs and femur, and Hall “failed to stop him.” The boyfriend? He got two years.

Make that make sense to me.

Hall’s story was relayed by Samantha Michaels and published in Mother Jones in an excellent piece that highlights multiple Oklahoma women who suffered abuse at the hands of the men who ultimately abused their children, as well. Many of the women profiled received longer sentences than the men who actually physically abused the children.

I understand the position: As a society, we think that mothers should and will do anything in their power to protect their children. But what happens when the mother’s psyche is so destroyed by the abuse that she suffers that she can’t? The mind is powerful, but it can be damaged.

Maybe you argue that responsible women should never put their children in such a situation to begin with, or that she should just leave and take the kids. But ask yourself: Why would she stay if she really could leave? It’s a difficult question without an easy answer.

Questions such as these escape any analysis in Justice, USA. I understand if the series is restrained on how deep it can delve, but it’s a shame that it missed the chance to educate a huge audience on a systematic miscarriage of justice. If nothing else, the series was tailor-made for exploring the problem—at least from a surface level.

Things might start to change if the public has more exposure to the problem.

Adam Banner

Adam R. Banner is the founder and lead attorney of the Oklahoma Legal Group, a criminal defense law firm in Oklahoma City. His practice focuses solely on state and federal criminal defense. He represents the accused against allegations of sex crimes, violent crimes, drug crimes and white-collar crimes.

The study of law isn’t for everyone, yet its practice and procedure seems to permeate pop culture at an increasing rate. This column is about the intersection of law and pop culture in an attempt to separate the real from the ridiculous.

This column reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily the views of the ABA Journal—or the American Bar Association.

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Themis legal practice group represents female clients and their allies

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 01:25:00 +0000

Women in the Law

Themis legal practice group represents female clients and their allies

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 11, 2024, 1:54 pm CDT

The practice group Themis: Trial by Women, formed in 2022, is named after Themis, the Greek goddess of justice. (Image from Shutterstock)

Two Chicago lawyers have created a practice group with a female focus.

The two lawyers, Allyson West and Kelly Olivier, “have built a rare legal team of their own—a practice by female trial attorneys, exclusively for female clients and their allies,” the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

The practice group, formed in 2022, is named after Themis, the Greek goddess of justice. The group is called Themis: Trial by Women, and it is part of Chicago personal injury and civil rights law firm Hale & Monico.

West and Olivier are unaware of other trial attorney groups run by women and focusing on women.

Nikia Gray, the executive director of the National Association for Law Placement, said she has never heard of a similar group.

“That’s definitely unique,” Gray told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I can see how an all-women legal team can help a woman feel more safe as a client, feel more understood, especially in more sensitive cases.”

The Chicago Sun-Times cited statistics showing that there are fewer female attorneys than male attorneys in leadership roles and a 2020 study about the tendency to discount the credibility of women reporting harassment by more powerful men.

“We’re not so naive to think that we’re going to change the systemic misogyny that’s been in place, especially in the legal profession, for hundreds of years,” Olivier told the Chicago Sun-Times. “That being said, we can make a change in our little corner of the universe and for our clients.”

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FBI investigates ‘battle of the sexes’ texts sent to female law professors

homesafetytechpros — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 13:28:14 +0000

Law Professors

FBI investigates ‘battle of the sexes’ texts sent to female law professors

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 28, 2024, 9:45 am CST

The FBI is investigating text messages sent to female law professors, which complained that women are outperforming men in law school. (Image from Shutterstock)

The FBI is investigating text messages sent to female law professors, which complained that women are outperforming men in law school.

Law.com has the story, noted by Above the Law.

One of the recipients, Victoria Haneman, a professor at the Creighton University School of Law, posted a screenshot of one of the texts to X, formerly known as Twitter. She received the text Feb. 25.

The sender asked whether he has reached Haneman and then said: “Law school isn’t fair for us men anymore, women always outperform us nowadays.”

After Haneman asks for the sender’s identity, the sender said: “I admit you women have clearly won the battle of the sexes, us men are the losers,” as well as “It’s not fair” and “Will I get in trouble if I say who I am.”

Several commenters said they had also received the messages, which one described as “super creepy.”

A public safety official at Creighton told Law.com that it is working with the FBI to investigate.

Law.com reports that law professors at nine law schools have reportedly received the messages, along with a female law student and four undergraduate professors.

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Cecilia Altonaga: First Female Cuban American Federal Judge

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:06:47 +0000

Main content

Chief Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga is still humbled by her appointment in 2003, becoming the first female Cuban American federal judge.

“One gets to occupy the position of district court judge because of people who have confidence in you, people who have vouched for you, people who have championed you, and spoken up for you and assisted you along the way,” said Altonaga, who serves in the Southern District of Florida.

Video of 2023 Hispanic Heritage Month Spotlight

In recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month, a new video profile explores Altonaga’s Cuban heritage, her pursuit of a career in law, and her family’s defection from Cuba.

“I was born into a family with two parents who had to leave everything behind and had nothing here, who had to remake their professional and personal lives,” Altonaga said. “My father was a lawyer in Cuba, and for about the first 10 years of my life in the United States, he did not practice law because he couldn’t.”

In her teens, Altonaga’s father was admitted as a U.S. lawyer; she found herself frequently assisting at his law office. She also recalled her father swearing her in as a lawyer at the family’s dining room table.

Altonaga hopes her example encourages others to fully embrace their cultural identity.

“Know about your culture and bring that culture to bear and bring those values to bear in everything you do,” Altonaga said.

Learn about Hispanic and Latino judges in the federal Judiciary and other Hispanic Heritage Month resources.

Related Topics: Judicial History

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