NVWAA Newsletter

PRESIDENT'S NOTE

With my term as President winding down, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the past year. The mission statement of our organization is to “assist women attorneys in developing their professional practice and in achieving their potential, to bring about changes in the law and to affect public policy for the benefit of the women of the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
Our Chapter continues to support that mission statement, as well as our community. This year, we focused and gave thanks and praise to our past, in honoring long time member, past president and constant supporter of VWAA, Sandra L. Havrilak with the first ever Woman of the Year Award.
We also focused on the present by conducting judicial screening panels, hosting interesting ‘brown bag’ lunchtime programs, our Annual Ethics CLE, happy hours and networking events, and our Holiday Reception. All of these events are important as they bring our members together to meet, learn from, and support one another. Also, at most of our events, we collect for local charities, bringing us together to give back to where we came from.
And, this year, we spent a lot of time focused on the future of our organization. Our Chapter, along with the Women’s Bar Association of D.C., participated in a panel sponsored by George Mason School of Law’s Career Services Center and Women’s Law Association that focused on helping law students navigate their future in the legal profession. We also started the Mt. Vernon Initiative, thanks in huge part to our Director of Community Outreach Natalia Wilson for spearheading the program and her dedication to these amazing young women (read more about that below).

We have a few great events coming up:

Spring Wine Tasting (May 18^th at Oby Lee in Arlington). We are co-hosting this with the Women’s Bar Association of D.C.
Annual Meeting and Picnic (June 1^st). Please join us for our Annual Meeting and Picnic. Past President Camille Crandall has once again offered up her home to all of us.
Brunch at Judge Henenberg’s house. We received so much positive feedback from our brunch last summer that we are going to do it again. The focus of this brunch is to encourage and support a dialogue focused on supporting women who are interested in a judicial career path. I think it’s fair to say that we need and want more women judges – let’s talk about what we can do to make that happen over brunch.

I have been a long time board member of the Northern Virginia Chapter of the VWAA. I am honored to have been given the opportunity to be the Chapter President and humbled by the dedication of my board. None of our achievements would have been possible if I did not surround myself by such dedicated and hardworking board members. This organization and our chapter is a tremendous resource to women attorneys and I am proud to have been a part of it.

Molly

Mount Vernon High School Law Initiative for Girls

The Mount Vernon High School Law Initiative for Girls kicked off the year in the Fall of 2016. We had thirty (30) girls participate. The female students were introduced to various practice areas, including criminal, real estate, and family law. They explored the process of applying to college, law school, and applying for financial aid and scholarships with the help of administrators from George Mason Law School. They even participated in a mock debate; Judge Gayl Branum Carr of the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court participated in that session. There have been a number of dedicated NVWAA members, members of the Board, and male attorneys who are members of the Hispanic Bar Association and Northern Virginia Black Attorneys Association who have volunteered and provided invaluable insight to the students. We wrapped up the year with a wonderful celebration on April 24, 2017 with Retired Judge Tom Gallahue as our year end speaker.

Thanks to all who participated and gave their time to this pilot program. Mount Vernon High School was the perfect place to start off because we had tremendous support and organization from the administrators there. We hope to partner with other associations in the future to bring the program to other high schools throughout the year.

Natalia Wilson, NVWAA Board - Chair of Community Outreach

End of the year certificate ceremony for Mount Vernon High School Law Initiative for Girls

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

Dominique Callins
Zoe Keating
Emily Yu
Jessica Arena
Gracemarie Braunberg
Jasmine Chalashtori
Jill Baskin
Darragh Davis
Alexandra Sipes

14th Annual Wine Tasting
May 18, 2017
6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Oby Lee
Arlington, VA

Annual Meeting
June 1, 2017
6:30 pm
Camille Crandall's residence
Oakton, VA

Were you forwarded a copy of this newsletter? If you wish to subscribe, contact Virginia Haizlip at vhaizlip@colemillerlaw.com.

If you wish to unsubscribe, click here.

Our mailing address is:
nvwaa1981@gmail.com

Northern Virginia Chapter Newsletter