The WBAI hosted the Top Women Lawyers In Leadership Award virtually on December 1, 2020.
The TWLIL Award emphasizes the accomplishments and diverse backgrounds of women making major professional contributions through their service in a leadership role. Candidates include elite women lawyers who have created growth in a given field and shown future potential or gone beyond traditional mentoring to create new pathways. Recipients of the award are leading women lawyers in academia, business, entrepreneurship, general counsels, public office, trade, labor, journalism, or the community.
This year the honorees included Bridget Duignan, Managing Partner of Latherow & Duignan; Barbara N. Flores, Commissioner at the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission; Josie Gough, Assistant Dean for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity at Loyola University Chicago School of Law; Fiona McEntee, Managing Attorney of McEntee Law; Hon. Mary Cay Marubio, Pretrial Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County; Ngozi Okorafor, Director of Employment Actions at Cook County Sheriff’s Department.
The program featured interviews with each of the awardees and their nominators. The awardees shared advice about what helped propel their careers and their thoughts on how to create growth for women in the legal field.
The evening ended with a virtual networking session, where participants were put into virtual “rooms” where each of the awardees were present for discussions with small groups of attendees.
Like many other organizations, this bar year the WBAI is committed to continuing to produce high-quality, engaging programming for its members, albeit virtually. For those that missed the reception or would like to revisit it, the entire program is available on our website at wbaillinois.org/topwomen.
Hayley K. Graham is an attorney at Anesi, Ozmon, Rodin, Novak & Kohen, Ltd. where she represents injured workers in workers’ compensation and Social Security disability claims. She is also a Director on the WBAI board and Editor of the Newsletter.