Deborah Willig Named Recipient of 2023 ABA Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award

PHILADELPHIA (April 2023) – Willig, Williams & Davidson is pleased to announce that the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession has named Deborah R. Willig a 2023 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award honoree. Willig is the sixth recipient from Philadelphia in the 32-year history of the award, which honors women who have achieved professional excellence and paved the way for other women in the legal profession. The Commission will honor Willig and four other outstanding women lawyers during the ABA annual meeting on August 6 in Denver.

“I am deeply honored to be chosen for the class of 2023 Margaret Brent Award recipients. I congratulate my sister honorees, all of whom throughout their careers have fought for and changed the course of history, public policy, the legal profession, and the justice system in our country,” said Willig. “It is particularly moving to be recognized with the same award as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Professor Anita Hill, my dear friend and mentor, the late Judge Norma Shapiro, and Philadelphia’s own Roberta ‘Bobbi’ Liebenberg.”

The ABA’s first chair of the Commission on Women in the Profession, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and her fellow commissioners created the Margaret Brent Awards in 1991 to highlight women lawyers who achieved success in their own careers and then used their platforms to advance all women in the profession. The 2023 honorees include Honorable Sabrina S. McKenna, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the State of Hawai’i; Melissa Murray, Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law, NYU School of Law; Yvette Ostolaza. Chair, Management Committee of Sidley Austin LLP and Executive Committee member; and Jill Wine-Banks, Watergate prosecutor, author of The Watergate Girl; Co-Host #SistersInLaw and iGenPolitics Podcast, and MSNBC legal contributor.

“I am humbled and privileged to be included among those women who meet the high bar established in the criteria for receiving the Margaret Brent Awards,” said Willig. “Each of us has been committed to ensuring that future generations of women attorneys have the freedom to practice law, the opportunity to advance their careers, and the ability to diversify and improve the legal landscape for all.”

Willig was the first woman President of the Temple University Beasley School of Law Student Bar Association; the first woman Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association; and the first woman to manage what has grown into one of the largest women-owned law firms in the country. These experiences inspired her to help other women lawyers and women in the society at large to advance and succeed. Willig also has shattered the glass ceiling for gay lawyers as a trailblazer, role model, and inspiring mentor for gay women lawyers while working tirelessly to promote gender and LGBTQIA+ equality.

“Deb’s distinguished legal career in the very challenging and historically male-dominated field of union-side labor law, her many years of leadership at the state and local levels in the fight for equal opportunity for women attorneys and judges, her strong support and encouragement of women attorneys to serve as judges and in elected office, and her mentoring of countless women attorneys are just some of the reasons she received this prestigious award,” said Liebenberg, who was honored with the Margaret Brent Award in 2016 and served as chair of the ABA’s Commission on Women in the Profession.

Honorees are chosen based on their demonstrated record of professional excellence and their dedication to carry forward the legacy of Margaret Brent, the first woman lawyer in America, a master negotiator, an accomplished litigator, and a respected leader. The award that bears her name recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments of women lawyers who have excelled in their field and have influenced other women to pursue legal careers, opened doors for women lawyers in a variety of job settings historically closed to them, and advanced opportunities for women within the legal profession.

About Willig, Williams & Davidson – Willig, Williams & Davidson (www.wwdlaw.com) is one of the largest and most respected union-side labor law firms in the United States. The firm has offices in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Jenkintown Pa., as well as Haddonfield, N.J., and Chicago, Ill. Founded in 1979, Willig, Williams & Davidson focuses on representing labor unions, employee benefit funds and individual working people and their families on a variety of legal fronts, including national, regional and local contract negotiations; election and campaign finance; dispute resolution through mediation, arbitration and litigation; family law matters; benefits law design and compliance issues; discrimination, overtime and unpaid wages, and other employment matters; prepaid legal services for union members; social security disability; and workers’ compensation matters in Philadelphia and beyond. Workers inspire us.

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