Community Law Day - May 1, 2024
On Wednesday, May 1, 2024, the San Luis Obispo Superior Court will host a variety of Law Day activities from 5:00 - 7:00 PM at the San Luis Obispo Superior Courthouse. Please enter the building through the entrance located at 1050 Monterey Street.
Law Day activities will include a judicial address by the Presiding Judge, Honorable Rita Federman. The Grand Jury will present information about the important role they play in San Luis Obispo County. Legal service providers and volunteer lawyers will be available to provide legal resource materials and free legal information to the public. There will also be a mock trial demonstration by Morro Bay High School.
For more information about this event, please email: admin@slo.courts.ca.gov
Please see the flyer/schedule of events for distribution. All are welcome to this free community event.
About Law Day
Law Day is observed to celebrate the role of law in our society and to cultivate a deeper understanding of the legal profession. President Dwight Eisenhower established the first Law Day in 1958 to mark the nation's commitment to the rule of law. In 1961, Congress issued a joint resolution designating May 1 as the official date for celebrating Law Day. Every president since then has issued a Law Day proclamation on May 1 to celebrate the nation's commitment to the rule of law.
Read an interview with Melodie Rivas, 2023’s Outstanding Woman Lawyer, and Nicole Mullikin, 2023’s Rising Star, who help empower women
Melodie Rivas —2023 Outstanding Women Lawyer Award
Nicole Mullikin - 2023 Rising Star Award
HERSTORY: WLA Presents Annual Awards: OWL to Melodie Rivas & Rising Star to Nicole Mullikin
The Women Lawyers Association (WLA) of San Luis Obispo County created the Outstanding Lawyer (OWL) Award and the Rising Start Award to honor female attorneys in San Luis Obispo County who embody the organization’s mission to promote the advancement of women within our community.
Presented annually in March to coincide with Women’s History Month, the OWL Award is given to a female attorney practicing for seven or more years, while the Rising Star is given to a female attorney practicing for less than seven years.
WLA presents the wards to remind our legal community that these women, these attorneys, are deserving of recognition because of their contributions to our community. The award recipients are honored at WLA’s local history of women lawyers.
Join me in congratulating Melodie Rivas-2023 OWL Award Recipient
Tell us about your role at SLOLAF.
I oversee the Family Law program at SLOLAF. Along with our client advocates and new staff attorney, I assist survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and get restraining orders to protect them from their abusers. Through restraining orders, we can also get additional orders, like custody or move out orders. With the addition of our new staff attorney, we anticipate that we will begin assisting survivors with stand-alone custody cases later this year.
What are some of the challenges for our local organizations that support sexual assault survivors?
The biggest challenge is funding. There’s an upcoming reduction to the State of California’s funding in this area resulting from a reduction in the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding. Issues of intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and stalking affect women of all races and socio-economic statuses, and we know survivors are in need of help in our county. Awareness of these issues is just the first step in supporting survivors. The next step is securing adequate funding to address this need, most of which comes from federal and state governmental sources.
What is the most rewarding about representing survivors and why?
The look on a client’s face when I’m just listening and giving them choices. My clients have had their agency taken away and have not been allowed to make choices to define their own lives. From simple choices like where to meet and for how long, to big choices like how to proceed with their case, each choice creates such a visible look of relief. It’s really powerful.
Tell us about your work with the San Luis Obispo College of Law.
I started there in the Summer of 2019, teaching Professional Responsibility. After that, I began teaching Civil Procedure. I currently teach Civil Procedure in person during the Fall and Spring sessions, and an online Multi State Bar Exam review course during the Summer.
What are some of the challenges in teaching at the law school? And what is most rewarding about teaching at the law school?
The challenge for me teaching is the same challenge that my students face. I work during the day, and my days are unpredictable. I might be tired, emotionally drained, hungry, or just generally grumpy at the end of my day. And then I go to school in the evening and do the work of engaging students. Sometimes, it’s hard to want to keep going through the evening.
Once I get there, though, it’s so worth it. My students are interesting and caring people. They are just fun to be around. They are engaged in learning and give me so much energy as I work with them. I’m privileged to help my students as they work through the challenges of law school. Seeing a student graduate cannot be beat.
What motivates you and why?
It sounds silly, but I’m motivated to help people. It’s the thing I enjoy most about being a lawyer. As for why, I was always a people pleaser and I’ve tried to turn that in a healthy direction.
Who inspires you and why?
People who try new things and are successful in spite of their fears. My inner voice is usually telling me why I should be scared of something and why I shouldn’t do it. Now my rule is: if something scares me, I should run towards it, not away.
What guidance might you give to future women lawyers?
Don’t let other people define who you are or what you can accomplish. It’s easy to let other people’s voices sneak into your head. Learn to recognize when that happens and stay true to the lawyer you know you want to be.
Thank you.
Join me in congratulating Nicole Mullikin-2023 Rising Star Recipient
What is most rewarding about practicing immigration law and why?
I know that the work that I am doing is making a difference in people’s lives. I’ve been able to reunite family members, help families to stay together, help people get work permits so they can better provide for their families, help people find stability and safety through becoming residents or citizens, and provide immigration solutions for victims of crimes. Helping someone to get their residency, a visa, or citizenship gives them security and hope for a better future. While I can and have represented clients around the world, I am particularly grateful to be giving back to the local community in which I grew up. I am always grateful for any referrals.
What are some of the challenges in practicing immigration law? What are some of the challenges in assisting survivors of domestic violence in immigration matters?
One difficult aspect of immigration law in general is having to tell people when they are not eligible for immigration benefits. These are people who have been here for decades, pay their taxes, have U.S. citizen children, are involved with their communities, but don’t fit into the narrow requirements of the law. Over time, I have realized that while it’s not the outcome they were hoping for, people are grateful for an honest evaluation. It is my hope that those who are citizens recognize this inequity and vote or use what influence they have to help change our immigration system for the better.
No matter how many stories I’ve heard, it doesn’t get any easier to feel my clients past and current challenges. I try to meet each individual where they are at and recognize that for many people, this may the first time that they have talked about what has happened in their life. When applicable, I help to connect them with SLOLAF, Lumina, and other local services. Because I am bilingual in Spanish and English, I can communicate directly with clients which helps when topics are particularly sensitive.
Tell us about your work mentoring students at San Luis Obispo College of Law
I have enjoyed teaching from a young age and have taught or volunteered in classes at all levels, from kindergarten to graduate courses. I have taught two semester-long mentorship workshops for first year students and two test-taking and essay-writing skills courses for second year students through SLOCL. Since the mentorship workshops were during the pandemic it provided a way to connect to make up for not being in person. When my students expressed that they were missing out on networking, I set up a series of guest speaker attorneys in areas that they were interested in, including a superior court justice from Canada. I also enjoyed making YouTube videos to pair along with some of my classes. It meant so much to be on stage as a professor and watch as the first of my students graduated last May. While I am not currently teaching semester-long courses so I can focus on my practice, I continue to teach one-night courses as needed, present as a guest speaker, volunteer on the SLOCL advisory board and at school events, and mentor students individually. I’m particularly proud to have connected one student to a fellowship and another to an internship, both in immigration law! I am also focusing on community education about immigration law and since opening my office in August of 2022 I have given over 15 presentations.
What motivates you and why?
I believe we each have an individual responsibility to help create a more equitable future for all. Immigration doesn’t solve everything, but it is what I can do to make the world a better place. To paraphrase a quote from St. Thérèse of Lisieux, it isn’t the greatness of our actions or their difficulty that matters, but the love with which we do them. I truly love what I do.
Who inspires you and why?
I am inspired by so many people. My mother has spent her whole life caring for others and is one of the most selfless, honest, and intelligent people I know. From her, I received my desire to help people. My wonderful husband inspires me daily with his support and love. He deserves an honorary law degree for all the hours he spent quizzing me for exams, tucking me in when I fell asleep on textbooks, and then supporting this crazy idea to open a law office right out of law school. My mentor, immigration attorney Kevin Gregg, inspires me more than he will ever know. He is my role model and I and so grateful for his continued mentorship and friendship. My husband’s grandmother also greatly inspires me. She immigrated from China as a teenager after the death of her parents and often tells me to make sure to be kind to my clients, as they are immigrants like her. I hope to make her proud. Every teacher, professor, and mentor I have had along the way, from Pacheco Elementary and on up, has helped to shape me into who I am today and their dedication inspired me to teach and mentor others. I am also inspired by all of the amazing individuals and organizations in our local community with whom I have had the opportunity to work and collaborate.
It is very important to me to express my gratitude to the wonderfully supportive immigration attorney community—Amber Heffner, Jeraline Singh Edwards, Desi Lance, Sarah Overacker, Vanessa Frank, Kevin Gregg, and so many more. My uncle, attorney Daniel O’Neill, and the rest of the O’Neill clan—I hope to uphold the name. Thank you to Erica Baltodano and Angie King for the nomination. And thank you to all of the local organizations who I have had the opportunity to work with including, but not very much not limited to, San Luis Obispo College of Law (Dena Dowsett, Jan Marx, Christina Chong-Nakatsuchi, Elizabeth Xyr, Erica Baltodano, and so many more), Cal Poly (Karen Munoz-Christian, John Thompson, Sophia Chen, Marion Winrow Hart, Lisa Sperow, and Extended Education), SLOLAF (Melodie Rivas and Francisco Ramirez), UndocuSupport (Chelsea Ruiz), Catholic Charities (Alondra Ortiz), the Latino Outreach Council, and so many more.
What guidance might you give to future women lawyers?
Graduating law school and becoming an attorney is a huge accomplishment. There are so many barriers that you had to overcome to get to this point. I would ask that you remember what you had to overcome in your life and use it as fuel to improve the lives of your clients and of the next generation. Each one of us has the power to make a positive difference and you are now equipped with a unique and powerful set of tools to do so.
Nicole Mullikin’s immigration law office is located in San Luis Obispo and can serve clients anywhere in the world remotely. She is accepting new clients and offers payment plans. Feel free to reach her by phone, text, or WhatsApp at (805) 242-2030 or email. nicole@nicolemullikinlaw.com.
This reprint is with permission of SLO County Bar Association and the Bar Bulletin.
WLA Featured in the SLO Bar Bulletin - Read an interview with Judge Jacqueline Duffy, 2022’s Outstanding Woman Lawyer, and Sadie Symens, 2022’s Rising Star, both of whom help empower women
Tara Jacobi, a WLA past president wrote an article in the March-April 2023 Bar Bulletin for the San Luis Obispo County Bar Association. Read the entire Bulletin here: Mar-Apr-2023-Bar-Bulletin.pdf (slobar.org)
2022 OWL Award Recipient: Judge Jacquelyn Duffy!
2022 Rising Star Award Recipient: Sadie Symens!
Read an interview with Sheryl Wolcott, 2021’s Outstanding Woman Lawyer, who helps empower women
Sheryl Wolcott —2021 Outstanding Women Lawyer Award
In 2012, the Women Lawyers Association of San Luis Obispo County created the Outstanding Woman Lawyer Award to honor a female attorney in San Luis Obispo County promoting the advancement of women within our community. Promoting the advancement of women is the essential task of the Women Lawyers Association. If a female attorney is focusing her energies, be it within her career or outside her career, to advance women, we want to honor that woman. The Outstanding Woman Lawyer Award known as the OWL Award is traditionally presented annually in March to coincide with Women’s History Month. It is our way of showing our legal community that this attorney is deserving of our recognition and she will be honored in our local history of women lawyers.
This March, Sheryl Wolcott is being honored as the recipient of the 2021 Outstanding Women Lawyer Award. During Sheryl’s 25-year career as a prosecutor at the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office and previously at the San Mateo District Attorney’s Office, she spent several years focusing on crimes of domestic violence. In 2013, Sheryl was the first woman appointed to the attorney management team in the history of the San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s Office, when she became Chief Deputy District Attorney. Outside her demanding daily legal work, for half a dozen years, she was an active member of the board of directors of Stand Strong, our local organization dedicated to assisting survivors of domestic violence. The board of directors worked to support the recent successful merger last year between the organizations Stand Strong and RISE, creating the new organization—Lumina Alliance. Her efforts place her at the epitome of what it means to assist women. Her leadership within our legal community includes her long-time board membership with San Luis Obispo’s Women Lawyers Association and past presidency with the San Luis Obispo County Bar Association. For these reasons, please join me in congratulating, Sheryl Wolcott.
Why support survivors of domestic violence?
When and how did you initially get involved? What did that metamorphize into?
When I was in law school, I had a vague notion of wanting to help women in some way. I also thought that a practice of law which involved Constitutional law was intriguing. Once I took Criminal Law, I realized that is the practice of Constitutional law in many ways. I did internships at the Attorney General’s Office doing criminal appeals, and at a two District Attorney’s Offices, and that shaped my path to being a prosecutor. I just naturally gravitated to domestic violence caseloads because of who those cases serve—survivors who are victimized in their own home. I saw that it happens everywhere – every social class, every socioeconomic situation. And the effects tear across the entire family and beyond.
As a prosecutor, it is certainly a challenging caseload, because the victim is so often not able or willing to testify. But it calls upon you to always have a plan A, B, and C about how you can put your case on. You must know the Evidence Code very well. If you can navigate a domestic violence caseload, you are prepared to handle any kind of case.
What are some of the challenges for our local organizations which support survivors?
Tell us about the recent merger between two local organizations. What role did you play in the merger?
Although we have a very supportive community, as with all non-profits, funding and staffing is always a challenge. With the onset of the COVID pandemic, the organizations needed to think of other ways to continue to provide support to their clients, for example, making a quick switch to counseling on-line. That in itself can be a bit more difficult, because the survivor may have been trying to receive counseling right in the home with the abuser present. The pandemic also brought on greater concern that a survivor would not have the opportunity to report or flee from abuse, and with less community contacts during lockdown, there were fewer opportunities for others (friends, teachers, doctors, etc.) to recognize that abuse was happening.
Stand Strong and RISE had contemplated merging for years. While we always worked well together, there was confusion in the community about the difference between the organizations, and why there were two organizations. Stand Strong served intimate partner violence survivors in the middle and south end of the county. RISE served the north end of the county and RISE also served sexual assault survivors for the whole county. RISE was the result of an earlier merger between two previous organizations. Stand Strong formerly was the Women’s Shelter Program. You can see why the confusion! When the time was right for one of us to merge, it wasn’t right for the other, and vice versa. Finally, a few years ago, the time was right to explore a merger. The boards of both organizations were fully committed to vetting a merger, doing due diligence, and then seeing it through. It is gratifying to finally have one organization which serves all survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual abuse, countywide. I hit my six-year term limit right after the merger was finalized, which was a satisfying way to complete my board service. From the Stand Strong board, attorney Courtney Taylor deserves particular recognition for the hard work she did to make the merger a reality and a success. And I have to add that I love the new name, Lumina Alliance. A lot of thought went into creating a name for the new organization which is forward-looking, captures the spirit of the organization, and is multilingual as well.
In 1994, President Clinton signed the Violence Against Women Act. In 2024, thirty-years later, what might you be hoping, if anything, for women?
A female president. I’m hoping this for women, but more so, for the girls of today and tomorrow. When my daughter was young, she asked if it was “allowed” for a woman to be president, explaining that she was asking because she had never seen one. This was only about six or seven years ago. Only later did I hear the phase that captures this so well: if you can see it, you can be it. If more than half of our population doesn’t think they can aspire to leadership, we’re missing out on a huge amount of talent.
What is most rewarding about a career at the District Attorney’s Office? Why?
That our job is to do the right thing. If we do not believe we can prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt, we don’t go forward on that case. We also have some discretion to think globally about what a just resolution for a case might be.
What motivates you and why?
To be honest, the fear of failure motivates me. Who wants to let anyone down?
Who inspires you and why?
RGB, of course. In her own words, she wanted to be remembered as “someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the best of her ability. And to help repair tears in her society, to make things a little better through the use of whatever ability she has.” It is not an overstatement to say that she fostered improvements for every female in the country, which she might argue are improvements for every person in the country. I admire her quiet, focused way of speaking, and the fact that her friendships were not bounded by like-mindedness.
What guidance might you give to future women lawyers?
Show up like you belong. That’s really not just for women, but for everyone. The law values every perspective, so everyone needs to be at the table.
Read an interview with Abby Lassen, 2020’s Outstanding Woman Lawyer, who helps empower women
Abby Lassen —2020 Outstanding Women Lawyer Award
Angie King, a WLA past president wrote an article in the May-June 2021 Bar Bulletin for the San Luis Obispo County Bar Association. Read scanned versions here (the reprint is with permission of SLO County Bar Association and the Bar Bulletin) or you can find the entire Bulletin here: https://slobar.org/member-documents/
WLA Featured in the SLO Bar Bulletin
Tara Jacobi, a WLA past president wrote an article in the May-June 2020 Bar Bulletin for the San Luis Obispo County Bar Association. Read scanned versions here (the reprint is with permission of SLO County Bar Association and the Bar Bulletin) or you can find the entire Bulletin here: https://slobar.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/May-June-2020-SLO-Bar-Bulletin.pdf
Read an interview with Lisa Sperow, 2019’s Outstanding Woman Lawyer, who helps empower women
Lisa Sperow —2019 Outstanding Women Lawyer Award
In 2012, the Women Lawyers Association created the Outstanding Woman Lawyer Award to honor a female attorney in San Luis Obispo County promoting the advancement of women within our community. The Outstanding Woman Lawyer Award known as the OWL Award is presented annually, in March, in honor of Women’s History Month. Two years later, we created the Rising Star Award allowing us to also recognize younger lawyers, having practiced seven years or less, but who are no less in their actions in promoting women.
Both Awards honor our mission statement, which is promoting the advancement of women. Yet, this task can play out in a variety of different ways. The first two recipients of the OWL Award, Angie King and Jacqueline Frederick, and the first recipient of the Rising Star Award, Janet Wallace were all honored for their involvements in organizations that work tirelessly to advance women. While other recipients, such as Alicia Valdes Wright were honored for her implementation of the, Incarcerated Women Legal Education Project. Whereas recipient Jennifer Alton was honored for her efforts mentoring female students working towards careers in the law, and Jan Marx for her leadership roles. Yet, the common thread for these recipients of the OWL Award is that each contributed to ensure that women were gifted the benefit of continuing to advance be it in the legal or San Luis Obispo community in general.
This March, we presented Lisa Sperow with the Outstanding Women Lawyer Award for her half dozen year service, as the Chair of our Scholarship Committee, fundraising and distributing scholarships to local female residents in law school. As well as for her leadership as the Executive Director of the Cal Poly Low Income Taxpayer Clinic. She accepted graciously and shared some of her thoughts.
What motivates you?
I'm motivated by my children and making this world a better place for them.
How and why did you come to accept the role as the Executive Director of the Cal Poly Low Income Taxpayer Clinic?
I accepted the role in the middle of the quarter when the current Director quit unexpectedly. I did not view myself as a tax lawyer and only expected to be in the position to see the current students through the quarter. Once in the clinic, however, I realized that it was a true opportunity to serve the community by relieving people of tax injustices and liabilities. I had always envisioned myself doing some sort of public interest law and was surprised to learn the amount of social justice and policy reform that is accomplished through low income taxpayer clinics.
What do you find enjoyable about being an educator?
I enjoy the opportunity to work closely with my students to learn from them as well as to educate them. As a professor, I am always learning new things which keeps life interesting.
What are some of the challenges you face in some of your role?
My least favorite part of teaching is the grading and focus on grades that many students have. My goal is to expand their world view and critical thinking skills while some of them seem more concerned about how to get an A in the class.
Tell us about your role as Chair of the Scholarship Awards Committee (2014-Present) for WLA.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to help current law students by recognizing them with this honor and award amount. I enjoy reading their applications and learning about all of the amazing things they are doing. I am appalled at the current cost of law school and view the WLA scholarship program as a way to help alleviate some of the costs these outstanding students are facing as well as letting them know that the work they are doing is appreciated and recognized. The hardest part is we are limited in how many awards we can give each year and there are always so many deserving students I wish we could recognize as well.
Who inspires you and why?
I am inspired by so many people. My father has always been a strong supporter and guide for me in making life choices. Former Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olsen is an inspiration as someone who has fought hard for a more equitable tax system. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her commitment to speaking up for justice is also an inspiration.
What guidance might you give to the future generation of women lawyers?
Work hard, don't be easily offended or deterred and follow your heart; it will ultimately lead you in the right direction.
WLA Board Members Featured in the SLO Bar Bulletin
Two WLA Board Members, Kara Stein-Conaway (President) and Lisa Sperow (Scholarship Chair), have articles in the September-October 2019 Bar Bulletin for the San Luis Obispo County Bar Association (https://www.slobar.org/). Read scanned versions here (the reprint is with permission of SLO County Bar Association and the Bar Bulletin):
Article by Kara Stein-Conaway - You Are Enough - A Lesson I Learned From My Father
Read Thank You notes from the Community
WLA Supports the local Mock Trial Competition. Read the full thank you note here.
On behalf of Kara Stein-Conaway, the 2017 Rising Star Award recipient, WLA donated $100 to Restorative Partners. Read the full thank you note here.
On behalf of Patricia Ashbaugh, the 2017 OWL Award recipient, WLA donated $100 to SLO Transitions Mental Health. Read the full thank you note here.
Read an interview with Erica Flores Baltodano, 2018’s Outstanding Woman Lawyer, who helps empower women
Erica Flores Baltodano—2018 Outstanding Women Lawyer Award
In 2012, the Women Lawyers Association created the Outstanding Woman Lawyer Award to honor a female attorney in San Luis Obispo County promoting the advancement of women within our community. The Outstanding Woman Lawyer Award known as the OWL Award is presented annually, in March, in honor of Women’s History Month, followed by a speaker addressing elimination of bias for continuing education credits. Two years later, we created the Rising Star Award allowing us to also recognize younger lawyers, having practiced seven years or less, but who are no less in their actions promoting the advancement of women.
Both of the Awards honor our mission statement, which is promoting the advancement of women. Yet, this task can play out in a variety of different ways. The first two recipients of the OWL Award, Angie King and Jacqueline Frederick, and the first recipient of the Rising Star Award, Janet Wallace were all honored for their involvements in organizations that work tirelessly to advance women. Other recipients, Alicia Valdez Wright were honored for her implementation of a program, Incarcerated Women Legal Education Project and Jennifer Alton for her efforts mentoring female students wishing to become attorneys. The common thread of all the recipients’ actions is that in their own way they contributed to ensure women are gifted the benefit of continuing to advance.
This March we presented Erica Baltodano with the Outstanding Woman Lawyer Award for her work, writing and speaking engagements that have assisted and inspired women. She accepted graciously and shared some of her thoughts.
What motivates you to practice the different types of law which are your firm’s specialty?
I have always been dedicated to social justice and I have a deep passion for education and writing, so my entire legal career has reflected these values and interests. After a decade of legal and policy advocacy in the areas of environmental justice and civil rights law, I opened a plaintiff-side employment law firm in San Luis Obispo with my husband in 2011. Serving individuals facing wrongful termination, retaliation, discrimination, harassment and wage theft, the firm focused on complex class action wage and hour litigation in state and federal court. Nearly all of our cases were handled on a contingency basis, making access to quality legal services available to even the lowest wage workers. The firm merged my husband’s extensive employment litigation experience with my advocacy and firm management experience and it combined our joint commitment to access to justice and community education. With two young children, having our own practice allowed us to find a work-life balance that worked for our family and also afforded me the opportunity to write, teach, and do other community advocacy and education outside of employment law. My husband left the firm in 2018 when he was appointed as a Superior Court judge, but I continue to assist local individuals with their employment needs while serving the community in various volunteer roles.
What are some of the challenges you face litigating workplace discrimination cases based upon gender?
The issues I face as a female attorney are no different than the issues all working women face: there’s simply not enough hours in the day! I wholeheartedly believe women can “have it all,” but not without sacrifice and it becomes a personal choice when, where, and how to make those sacrifices. I stand by my past decisions to shape my working world around the needs of my children regardless of the limitations that may have put on me professionally, but that isn’t to say I am not now looking forward to shifting the balance as my kids are getting older! I fully embrace the fact that the careers of some professional working women are simply not going to follow a traditional linear path. When I get frustrated by the choices I, as a working mom, have had to make with respect to lawyering and parenting, I need to look no further than my own clientele to be reminded how grateful I am to simply have choices. Most of us work because we have to, but so many women—single mothers, poor women, and many women of color—have very little choice about the sacrifices they must make and they also tend to be the first to fall victim of abuse and exploitation in the workplace. Across the spectrum, we have a long way to go in supporting women in the workforce.
How have sexual harassment cases changed from when they initially became an actionable claim?
Over the years my firm has handled sexual harassment and sex discrimination claims on behalf of a range of women, from low-wage restaurant employees to mid-level insurance brokers to highly educated professionals at international firms. The one constant across time and industry is the fear and self-doubt associated with speaking up and the amount of validation and reassurance that needs to accompany legal representation. On one hand, the “me-too” era is beginning to help overcome the feelings of isolation, shame, and fear that often lead women to stay silent, but we have a long way to go in in terms of women’s experiences of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and even rape in the workplace, being believed. On the other hand, the situation for low-wage female workers who never could afford to speak up in the workplace and undocumented female workers who have always faced implied or explicit threats of deportation for speaking up about unlawful workplace practices (and worse) have been silenced even more in recent years. Certainly, women who are absolutely covered (regardless of legal status) by California’s laws against wage theft are more reluctant than ever to speak up and even though employers are prohibited from reporting or threatening to report undocumented workers to authorities in retaliation for asserting their rights under the law, an increase in anti-immigrant sentiment and other actions against immigrants at the federal level have undoubtedly had a chilling effect in workplaces across the country.
Why are pregnant women in the workforce still facing discrimination?
It boggles my mind that pregnant women in the workforce still face discrimination, but it continues to happen at all levels of employment across the country. My firm has negotiated severance packages for female attorneys who faced adverse employment actions on account of pregnancy, we represented a woman who was fired from a service industry job after she announced her pregnancy, and we vigorously litigated a lawsuit on behalf of a women who attempted three times to obtain medically necessary temporary workplace accommodations during a high-risk pregnancy, but the employer refused and she ended up giving birth to a premature baby who died minutes later. Pregnant women are either presumed to be incapable of continued work while pregnant or they are ignored, retaliated against, or fired if they request short-term help. Women’s brains do not shut down while pregnant, but they are also not superhuman. Unfortunately, despite laws prohibiting discrimination based on gender (which includes pregnancy discrimination), laws that require an employer to make good faith efforts to accommodate disability (which sometimes includes short-term disability based on pregnancy), gender neutral parental leave laws, and cultural shifts toward more egalitarian childrearing, women still bear the brunt—physically, economically, and otherwise—of having children.
At the Women’s March in 2017 you said, “our very humanity will be our force and our power,” tell us more.
It was one of the greatest honors of my professional and personal life to be invited to deliver the keynote address at the first march organized by Women’s March San Luis Obispo (WMSLO) in 2017. As I took the stage, I felt a great responsibility to capture the emotions of the 10,000 people standing before me. I knew I could only do that by speaking from my heart. I spoke my truth as the daughter of a Mexican-American father and Jewish immigrant mother, the wife of a man whose family came to this country as a refugees, a legal advocate who has dedicated her career to social justice, economic justice, and environmental justice, a business owner committed to workers’ rights and the human dignity of immigrants, a human being concerned about the health of our planet and its people, a mother of two boys, and a woman. Acknowledging the feelings of sadness, fear, anger, and especially the exhaustion many of us who have been working toward equal justice our entire lives were feeling, I said our diversity, our strength in numbers, and our very humanity will be our force and our power. This was a sentiment taken directly from the organizing goals of WMSLO, but I truly believe that we are stronger together and that our individual life stories and collective life experiences will supply the power we need to protect our rights, our safety, our health, our families, and our very democracy. One of several calls to action I made that morning, as raindrops mixed with sunlight, was the need to educate ourselves and our children and be teachers when necessary and students always. In the last couple of years, our responsibilities to ourselves, our families, our country, and each other have increased on a daily basis. We simply cannot ignore what this moment in history represents for us and our country, but we must not underestimate what each of, as women, lawyers, and mothers, have the power to change.
Who inspires you and why?
While I am inspired by a number of women and men who have touched my life personally or because of their contributions to history, I also find myself deeply moved by the simple acts of humanity and compassion of ordinary people. For example, I was inspired by the local couple who made a vow to care for an immigrant family’s children if the parents were ever detained; the judge who confirmed to an incredulous girl during a courtroom field trip that girls really could be judges and then pointed out that a majority of our County’s sitting judges are women; the principles who have made house calls to assure immigrant families that applying for free school lunches will not get them deported; the educators and advocates I know who are now elected officials making important changes in policy while changing the tone of local government; the moms I know who help each other because sometimes it does take a village; the graduates of our County’s Behavioral Health Treatment and Adult Treatment Courts who heroically share their personal stories of sobriety and healing at
their public graduations; the law students I teach who deftly juggle jobs, children, and school; and a countless number of attorneys in our community who volunteer their time, skills, and dollars to support seniors, veterans, and families in crisis at San Luis Obispo Legal Assistance Foundation.
What did your Mommy Esquire essay series teach you, if anything, about combining motherhood and lawyering? Is it about women lawyers figuring out a successful balance or might it be about workplaces changing, both or something else?
My Mommy Esquire series of essays was an attempt to merge lessons from my life in the law (at the time I was managing partner of a law firm with a team of attorneys, support staff, and two office locations) with lessons from my life as a mother. As much as my dual roles informed one another, I ultimately found that it was my two boys and a more-than-supportive, super hands-on husband, who have helped me do both jobs better. The reality is that combining motherhood and lawyering is difficult. We must not stop working toward a future where law, public policy, and cultural norms better support parents and families in the workplace. But in the meantime, we must simply recognize that the career paths of attorney moms are not necessarily going to be linear, and they may not be traditional. The most important lesson Mommy Esquire taught me was how important it is to validate the lessons we learn, the sacrifices we make, and the individual paths we take in the quest for that balance.
What guidance might you give to the future generation of women lawyers?
Over the years, I’ve learned that the careers of professional working women with kids are rarely going to follow a traditional linear path. This doesn’t mean we stop working toward laws, workplace policies, and the cultural-shifts necessary to make work-life balance healthier for all of us, but let’s lift each other up as we go—by respecting the choices each of us make and recognizing that for every choice we may get to make, there are a countless number of working moms with very few choices to make who are simply guided by survival.
Essentially, be kind, be supportive and be brave.
Article written by Tara Jacobi