The National Association of Women Lawyers is just what it sounds like – a national bar association for women. Here is the description from their Web site:
NAWL began long before most local and national bar associations admitted women. Some of this country’s first and most prominent women lawyers were members of NAWL. These include such women as Florence E. Allen of Ohio, the nation’s first woman federal judge, Clara Shortridge Foltz, California’s first woman lawyer, and Olive Stott Gabriel who argued for women’s voting rights before audiences across the country.
NAWL continues to support and advance the interests of women in and under the law and works towards the social, political, and professional empowerment of women. NAWL members work to end discrimination and violence against women and to prevent the erosion of hard-fought gains. NAWL’s members include both men and women lawyers.
NAWL’s programs are held in conjunction with ABA meetings and although NAWL is an ABA affiliate, it remains an independent entity whose agenda is driven by members’ concerns.