The History of the WLA
The Women Lawyers Association of San Luis Obispo County (WLASLO) was founded in 1981.
Our mission back then is what it still is today – the advancement of women in the legal profession and in the community at large. WLASLO membership, open to both women and men, implements this mission through unique traditions and programs, which include the annual Judicial Reception, monthly MCLE and social lunches, mock trial support, a scholarship program, the Outstanding Woman Lawyer Award and affiliation with California Women Lawyers Association.
WLASLO’s Beginning
According to our archives – housed in the infamous box which most WLA members have heard about but have never seen, in the 1980’s there were fewer than ten women lawyers living and practicing in San Luis Obispo County. There were no women iudges. Vastly outnumbered by men, the founding members felt the need to support each other by forming a minority bar association. Donna Beck was the organization’s first President followed by Patricia Ashbaugh.
Judicial Reception
As WLASLO President Jan Marx in 1990 recalls: "There was just a handful of women lawyers and not one woman Judge in San Luis Obispo County. Women attorneys faced various intimidating experiences of being seen as the "other" at that point in time. There was a lot of traditional male bonding going on in the legal community, including the County Bar Association committees, social lunches, all male service and fraternal organizations. Some of the more prominent attorneys (all men) would play golf with the Judges (all men) on Wednesday afternoons. The only interaction the few women lawyers had with Judges occurred in the formal and legally constrained context of the courtroom.” She explains further, “The issue presenting me as WLA President was how could women lawyers establish collegial relationships with the Judiciary? The WLA Board and I came up with the idea of an annual Judicial Reception with food and maybe some wine at a local restaurant. It was an instant success! The Judges were pleased to be honored and happy to converse with women lawyers on a casual social basis.” Hence our most well-known tradition, the Judicial Reception was born. At some point, the Judicial Reception developed an opening practice whereby the Judges would share a bit of information about themselves. In 2015, the year I was President, we asked the Judges to share their favorite work of art or painting and why. The audience was left to guess which Judge selected each painting we displayed. Our current President, Meghann Triplett 2 described this past year’s ice breaker as one wherein the Judges were asked to provide the best piece of advice they received and the audience had to guess which Judge the advice was from. A Woman for Judge In 1991, in celebration of our tenth anniversary, WLASLO drew attention to the fact that there were still no women on the bench by carrying out the well-publicized campaign,
“A Woman for Judge.”
WLA created an information packet featuring nine highly qualified women who had applied for Judgeship, and it was published in the Telegram Tribune Newspaper. As a result of our advocacy, the Board of Supervisors urged Governor Pete Wilson to appoint a women to the bench. In 1992, WLASLO was happy to welcome the Honorable Teresa Estrada-Mullaney, the first woman Judge in our County. “Today, thirty years later, our local bench is 50-50 men and women. Not to say that WLA had anything to do with that gender sea change, but we are happy to take a bit of credit, " states Jan.
Monthly MCLE Lunches
In 1991, WLASLO also became an MCLE provider and our monthly lunches were birthed. This became an opportunity for members to enjoy lunch, networking and educational presentations. With our Vice President in the lead and input from the board, she usually sets our calendar of MCLE topics for the year. Certain months are loosely reserved for certain types of credit. In March, each year, for example, we tend to offer bias credits relating sometimes to discussions focused on biases against women in the legal profession. In December, each year we tend to offer the ever-coveted ethics credits. As a WLASLO member for almost a decade, Doug Federman reports, our legal ethics programs are his favorite as they are “thoroughly informative.” He also enjoys spending the time with a good group of people. He further recommends that “men should feel comfortable about joining and attending WLA events.” Some more seasoned members like to joke about how our lunches progressed over the years from the backroom of the local noodle restaurant, to a banquet room of an Italian restaurant, and are now hosted in a conference room complete with a power-point screen at a new hotel – The Kinney.
Past Presidents
1981 - Donna Beck
1982 - Donna Beck
1983 - Patricia Ashbaugh
1984 - Barbara McCallum
1985 - Patricia Stevens
1986 - Anne M. Russell
1987 - Karen S. Gray
1988 - Mary Harris
1989 - Suzanne Fryer
1990 - Jan Howell Marx
1991 - Phyllis Pennington
1992 - Karen Medeiros
1993 - Angie King
1994 - Ann Bell Wilson
1995 - Jalynne Giles
1996 - Wendy C. Kramer
1997 - Kathryn “Katie” Shore
1998 - Betty R. Sanders
1999 - Jacqueline Vitti Frederick
2000 - Midori Hill Feldman
2001 - Dinah Palmtag
2002 - Kimberly Daniels
2003 - Angie King
2004 - Jill Buckley
2005 - Margaret P.J. Webb
2006 - Kathy Eppright
2007 - Nancy Warren
2008 - Stephanie Barclay
2009 - Julie Casey
2010 - Christine Dietrick
2011 - Elisabeth Sperow
2012 - Linda Selig Blonsley
2013 - Jane Heath
2014 - Collette Hillier
2015 - Tara Jacobi
2016 - Nicole Norris
2017 - Natalie Laake
2018 - Ellen Drews
2019 - Kara Stein-Conaway
2020 - Meghann Triplett