March is Women’s History Month and March 8 is International Women’s Day. To celebrate, Avvo would like to acknowledge and thank these five groundbreaking women in the legal profession. Each has spent years fighting for justice, from the smallest mediation rooms all the way to the Supreme Court.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2002, Ruth Bader Ginsburg spent more than half a century fighting for gender equality. She contributed to the Harvard and Columbia Law Reviews and tied for first in her class at Columbia Law School, all while caring for her small child and helping her husband through cancer treatment.
Ginsburg went on to become the first tenured female professor at Columbia and co-founded the Women’s Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In the 1970s, she brought six cases before the Supreme Court, five of which she won.
In 1993, she became the first Jewish woman to serve as a justice on the Supreme Court. She served for 27 years until her death in September 2020.
Gloria Allred.
Gloria Allred is a renowned civil rights attorney and activist. Before entering the legal profession, she served as a teacher in under-served, predominantly black communities in Philadelphia and Los Angeles.
After graduating from law school, Allred co-founded the firm Allred, Maroko & Goldberg, known for its successful representation of discrimination and assault victims. She was a pivotal figure in the #metoo movement, representing several women whose testimonials helped convict several celebrities, including Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein.
Allred is also the founder and president of the Women’s Equal Rights Legal Defense and Education Fund (WERLDEF), but the majority of her work has happened under the radar. Allred is a tireless advocate for the powerless, often taking on cases pro bono.
She is the recipient of multiple awards including The American Lawyer’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and her 30-year career is detailed in the book Fight Back and Win.
