Scope and Content Note
The oral histories of the Women Trailblazers in the Law Project span the years 2005-2018. The Women Trailblazers in the Law Project was begun by the American Bar Association in 2004 and administered by the Commission on Women in the Profession. The project conducted interviews of senior women lawyers from all areas of the profession: academia, corporations, government, judiciary, private law firms, and public interest groups. Most of the interviewees began their careers in the 1950s to the 1970s when few women were in the profession. The files contain transcripts of the interviews and some biographical material. Interviewees include Jamie S. Gorelick, former assistant attorney general and member of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States; Janet Reno, former attorney general; Pat Schroeder, former congresswoman; federal appellate judges Dolores K. Sloviter and Patricia M. Wald; and Judith P. Vladeck, prominent labor lawyer and civil rights advocate.
The 2021 Addition includes more interviews with Jamie S. Gorelick. Other interviewees include Sheila Bair, former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; federal appellate judges Bernice Bouie Donald, Cornelia G. Kennedy, Phyllis A. Kravitch, and Diana E. Murphy; Lois J. Schiffer, general counsel for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and former assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice; Janie L. Shores, former associate justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama; Mary Jo White, former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission; and Karen Hastie Williams, prominent lawyer.