IndyBar: Paying It Forward

By Debi Edwards, The Heritage Group

In 2011, to celebrate its 25th anniversary, the IndyBar’s Women and the Law Division (WLD) held its first-ever symposium entitled Women, Law & Leadership. The symposium explored topics including professional development, mentoring, diversity initiatives in the workplace, and current legal issues. The 2011 symposium gave female attorneys a space to network, learn, and grow together. It also initiated discussions designed to help women in the legal profession reach their full leadership potential. The WLD believes these discussions are valuable, and thus, the WLD has committed to continuing them through a second symposium.

The 2013 WLD symposium, to be held Oct. 24 and 25, is designed not only to continue the discussions from the first symposium, but also to take those discussions one step further by promoting leadership that benefits the community and the legal profession as a whole. The 2013 symposium is entitled Women, Law & Leadership: Pay It Forward and will take place at the Omni Severin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis. The event will begin with a reception, a keynote address from Justice Loretta Rush of the Indiana Supreme Court, and a dinner on October 24, 2013, followed by a full day of programming and the Antoinette Dakin Leach Award Celebration Luncheon on October 25, 2013.

This year’s substantive programming includes sessions that focus on professional relationship building, legal issues for women in the community and ways to help, efficient career development techniques, and leadership training. The WLD wishes to thank the Mentoring Women’s Network, the Leadership Institute for Women, and the Marion County Bar Association for their special assistance with the programming.

The highlight of the full-day programming will be the Antoinette Dakin Leach Celebration Lunch, a luncheon that will focus on the contributions made by the past winners of the WLD’s Antoinette Dakin Leach Award – an award given by WLD to honor women trailblazers and mentors in the legal field – in order to better appreciate the benefits of female leadership.

The 2013 Antoinette Dakin Leach Award recipient, Judge Tanya Walton Pratt of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, will also be honored at the luncheon.

So, please join us for the 2013 symposium on Women, Law and Leadership. The symposium has much to offer lawyers of all levels of experience and areas of practice. For more information, including details on how to register, visit www.indybar.org. Registration options are available for the full conference as well as for the keynote dinner and Antoinette Dakin Leach Award Celebration Luncheon only.

If you would like additional information about the event or how you can contribute, contact Debi at [email protected] or Nicolette at [email protected].•