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Public: Recent News

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court will be the featured guest Thursday and Friday, Oct. 18-19, as the North Carolina Bar Association presents “The Changing Face of Justice: A View from the Bench.”

The two-day program, hosted by the NCBA’s Women in the Profession Committee, is being held at the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa.

The proceedings, which include “A Conversation with Justice Ginsburg” on Thursday evening followed by a symposium and continuing legal education program on Friday, have attracted a capacity crowd.

More than 500 attendees are expected for Thursday’s program, which begins with a reception at 4:30 followed by Justice Ginsburg’s presentation at 5:30. Janet Ward Black, president of the NCBA, will provide welcoming statements followed by Suzanne Reynolds of the Wake Forest University School of Law who will introduce Justice Ginsburg.

Dinner follows at 6:30, after which Phyllis Pickett of the NCBA Board of Governors will provide special remarks. Judge Christine Walczyk who chairs the Women in the Profession Committee will present the evening’s concluding remarks.

On Friday, the NCBA Foundation CLE program begins at 9 and continues through lunch. All female chief justices from the highest court in every state were among numerous female jurists invited to attend, including several appearing on the CLE program.

The North Carolina delegation at the CLE includes Chief Justice Sarah Parker, Chief U.S. District Court Judge Louise Flanagan of the Eastern District of N.C., Judge James Wynn and Judge Linda Stephens of the N.C. Court of Appeals and NCBA Past-President Rhoda Billings, former chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court.

Also participating will be Chief Judge Karen J. Williams (S.C.) of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and state Supreme Court chief justices Mary Mullarkey (Colo.), Kay McFarland (Kan.) and Jean Hoefer Toal (S.C.)

Chief Justice Toal’s presentation, “Shoeless Joe Jackson: A Lesson in Professionalism,” will be featured during the concluding luncheon from 12:30-2.

Former chief justice Betty Dickey (Ark.) is also participating along with attorneys Lisa Garrison and Camille Payton of Greensboro, Sheila Chavis of Raleigh, Leslie O’Toole of Cary and Raquel Wilson of the Federal Defenders Office (Western N.C.) in Asheville.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Ginsburg received her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University. She began her legal education at Harvard Law School. Then, following her marriage to Martin Ginsburg in 1954 and their move to New York City, she earned her law degree from Columbia Law School.

Ginsburg was nominated by President Clinton to the Supreme Court in June 1993 and confirmed in August of that year, having served since 1980 on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The only woman currently serving on the nation’s highest court and the second overall, Ginsburg began her career as a law clerk to Judge Edmund Palmieri of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of N.Y. from 1959-61.

Ginsburg was a research associate and associate project director at the Columbia Law School from 1961-63, after which she became a law professor, first at Rutgers University School of Law (1963-72) and later at Columbia (1972-80). During this time, she also led the establishment of the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, serving as the ACLU’s general counsel from 1973–80 and on the National Board of Directors from 1974–80.

The two-day program has been made possible by the generous contributions of the following sponsors:

Platinum Level sponsors for “The Changing Face of Justice: A View from the Bench,” with contributions of $10,000 and up, are Lawyers Mutual Liability Insurance Company of North Carolina, the North Carolina Bar Association Foundation, Inc., and Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC.

Gold Level sponsors ($5,000) are Hunton & Williams LLP, Kilpatrick Stockton LLP, Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP, Roberts & Stevens, PA, and the South Carolina Women Lawyers Association.

Silver Level sponsors ($2,500) are the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys, Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan LLP, Smith Moore LLP, and Ward Black Law.

Bronze Level sponsors ($1,000) are Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog LLP, Haas McNeil & Associates, P.A., Harris, Creech, Ward & Blackerby P.A., Howard, Stallings, From & Hutson PA, the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys, Ward & Smith, PA, and Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP.

Sponsoring at the Contributor Level ($500) is the firm of Patterson, Dilthey, Clay & Bryson, L.L.P.