Lawyers for Women Fighting Breast Cancer:
Join TCWLA in our new pilot project benefiting women with breast cancer: Lawyers for Women Fighting Breast Cancer. Judge Susan Whitman and Attorney Holly Gillman will provide an overview of estate planning, probate, and guardianship for attorneys representing low income clients with a serious illness. It will also provide attorneys with the documents necessary to protect the healthcare rights and property of these clients during any period of incapacity and to ensure the fulfillment of the clients wishes concerning property distribution and care of minor children after death. The course will conclude with a brief description of some simple probate procedures that can effectuate the estate plans of these clients. This course has been approved for 1 hour of CLE credit!
FROM THE PRESIDENT
November 2006
I have been thinking about the power and comfort of teamwork lately.
My colleagues at work met for a nation- widecompanyretreatlastweek. Weshared stories of our experiences and agreed to team up on projects, which is fairly unusual inthecompetitiverecruitingindustry. We left the retreat with a renewed energy for our day-to-day work and a new set of friends with whom to celebrate or commiserate about the many ups and downs of our job.
My daughter turned three last week. We threw a party… but she is three so she threw temper tantrums… the whole time. Despite the drama due to a certain someone’s disrupted nap, we left the party with grateful and happy hearts. Grateful for the closeness of our own personal team of family and friends, and happy from the stubborn fun of a party in the shadows of toddlerhood.
TCWLA and the Women’s Law Caucus ofUTLawcametogetherforamixer. We talked, ate, drank, watched spinning fire (what?! yes — see page 4) and had a great time. Someofusleftwiththereassurance that there is life after final exams and others of us left with the reassurance that we aren’t as necessarily as old as we sometimes feel and that our life experiences, good or bad, can be relevant, comforting and/or amusing to others. Maybe.
Portia and I recently met with leaders of local minority bar organizations. We discussed our plans for the year and ideas for how to team up to further each other’smissions. Weleftthemeetingwith a slew of ideas for collaboration as well as new resources and strength behind our respective projects.
Team TCWLA convenes several times this month and we invite you to join us and find your own power and comfort in our teamwork.
November is the month when TCWLA is focusing on breast cancer issues — as women, as people touched by the disease directly or indirectly, as attorneys, as public servants. TeamTCWLAwillwalktogether in the Race for the Cure on November 5th and we will continue to accept donations for the cause online throughout the month. Lawyers for Women Fighting Breast Cancer, our pro bono outreach initiative spearheaded by Portia Bosse is kicking off this month. Our November 15th general membership meeting will dovetail with that initiative and teach us how to do estate planning for clients with serious illnesses.
In this month of thanksgiving, I am thankful for the energy, the community, the comfort of teamwork. Come, join us and add Team TCWLA to your thanksgiving list too.
Warmest Regards,
Joelle Boehle
TCWLA President
October Luncheon Recap:
TCWLA thanks our October meeting panelists (Linda Shaunessy/AG’s office, Julie Springer/Scott Douglass, Jennifer Poppe/Vinson & Elkins and Erin Kitchen/Dell). We enjoyed their presentation about FMLA and maternity leave issues in the workplace. Thanks also to all of you who attended the meeting and shared your personal stories, concerns and tips. TCWLA provides a terrific forum for such helpful discussions and a support network for those of us who are going through major family and career decisions and negotiations. One way to continue this dialogue with the TCWLA community is on our TCWLA List Server. Contact Laurie Higginbotham at lhigginbotham@govtclaim.com if you haven’t already signed up for the List Server.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR AYLA-TCWLA-VLS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT
Would you like to make a lasting difference and help someone in need start building a new life? AYLA and the Travis County Women Lawyers’Association is parterning with Volunteer Legal Services for the fourth year of the Domestic Violence Project. Volunteers are needed to handle 2 domestic violence divorce cases on an emergency basis over 2007. “Emergency basis” means a case that needs a response within two weeks, and VLS will attempt to work around your schedule as requested. Participants will be trained by VLS domestic violence experts, and will be given a list of family law mentors that they can call with questions. We need at least 10 volunteer attorneys for this project. Please contact Laurie Higginbotham at lhigginbotham@govtclaim.com if you are interested in participating.
LAWYERS FOR WOMEN FIGHTING BREAST CANCER
Lawyers for Women Fighting Breast Cancer, an initiative sponsored by the Travis County Women Lawyers Association in partnership with Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas and the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law at the University of Texas School of Law, provides free legal services to low- income women diagnosed with breast cancer.
These women will be identified with the help of existing and future grantees of the Austin Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Initially, Lawyers for Women Fighting
Breast Cancer will work with Community Action, Inc, a Komen Austin grant recipient that helps women with breast cancer get much needed medical treatment. Lawyers for Women Fighting Breast Cancer will find pro bono attorneys for income-eligible CommunityAction, Inc. clients with civil legal issues that have developed as a result of being diagnosed with breast cancer. The goal is to provide pro bono legal services to all low-income clients of Komen Austin grantees.
The Travis County Women Lawyers Association will promote this initiative to lawyers in the Travis County area including its membership and recruit attorney volunteers for this project. Volunteer Legal Services will process all applications for legal services, assign volunteering attorneys to cases, maintain contact with client and attorney throughout the case, maintain contact with client and attorney throughout the case, and provide malpractice insurance. Finally, the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law will recruit students to work with volunteer attorneys on these pro bono cases.
WLC MIXER
TCWLA thanks all of you who attended our mixer with the Women’s Law Caucus of UT Law in October. The food and conversation were terrific and we look forward to future mentoring relationships with the women of UT Law. Please contact Liz Branch at branch@mericabourland.com to volunteer as a mentor. A very special thank you to Brenda Collier, our gracious hostess, for opening her amazing home to us. Another special thanks to Rob Mockley, Brenda Collier’s son (pictured above), and Niki Acosta, who provided some unexpected entertainment at the end of the event. Rob and Niki spin fire! It was a sight to behold on the front steps of Brenda’s home. We are told they can spin glow sticks and LED lights to for indoor performances and Rob is also a DJ (robmockley@gmail.com). Anyone up for another party?
TCWLA Member Profile: Jenny Lloyd
Employer: DLAPiperUSLLP.
I joined Gray Cary in May 2004, and the firm then merged to create DLA Piper in January 2005. DLA Piper is one of the three largest firms in the world, with 3,200 lawyers located in 24 countries and 62 offices in Europe, Asia, and the U.S.
Practicearea: Commercialandgeneralcivillitigation,primarilyinstateandfederalcourts
inTexas. Mypracticeareasincludesecuritieslaw,classactions,intellectualproperty, contract actions, and business torts, for public and private companies, including several Austin-based technology companies.
Education and Background: I graduated from Brown University in 1994 with a degree in Latin American Studies and Theater Arts. I moved from New England to Texas after graduation, fell in love with Austin, and stayed for graduate school. I graduated from UT Law in 1999, then spent one year clerking for Judge Barefoot Sanders in the U.S. District CourtfortheNorthernDistrictofTexas. IjoinedAustinlitigationboutiqueGeorge&Donaldson,LLPaftermyclerkship, then after a three month sabbatical where I traveled through Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, I joined my current firm.
Family: My husband of four and a half years, Jeff Miller, is an attorney at Minton Burton Foster and Collins PC. We are expectingourfirstchildinFebruary2007. Wealsohaveaverysweet,butnotverysmart,ten-year-oldyellowlabnamed Sassy.
Hobbies,etcetera: IhavetraveledsolothroughoutCentralandSouthAmerica,andpartsofAsia. Ilovetoscubadive (unfortunately, impossible in my current condition). About four years ago, I started running and doing triathlons and have now run six marathons (Austin three times, San Diego, New York, and London), and at least a dozen sprint triathlons.
Pick Me!
Judge Lora Livingston and Leslie Dippel are co-chairing the award-winning project, Pick Me! A Jury of My Peers. As many of you know, the program involves a three-day curriculum which includes the history of the jury system on Day 1, a mock voir dire conducted by attorneys and judges on Day 2, and a video trial on Day 3.
There are still several openings for the weeks of November 6 through November 9 and November 13 through November 17 for the Day 2 mock voir dire. Please visit our Web site to view the available volunteer slots and to sign up online: http://www.austinbar.org/ pickmecalendar.shtml
If you have not participated in this project before, the program materials are available online: http://www.austinbar.org/pickmematerials.shtml or, if you would
prefer, the Austin Bar will deliver hard copies of the materials to your office.
Please feel free to contact staff members Kat Hinson or Jenny Mitschke at 472-0279 with questions
Please pass this along to all of your particular circles of influence and let everyone at your firm or organization know of this volunteer opportunity.
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