Spotlight on the WIL Section of the Salt Lake City Chapter

The WIL Section of the Salt Lake City Chapter has had an excellent year.  Section Chair, Emily Adams, sent us this report.  These are some great ideas of WIL events that can be replicated in other chapters.  Thank you, Emily, for sending us this post!

 



Justice Christine Durham

In September 2014, we had a kick-off luncheon where Justice Christine Durham of the Utah Supreme Court spoke on "Women in the Law: The 21st Century Version." Justice Durham cited multiple statistics about the number of women in the legal profession and spoke about her own impressions of the status of women in the profession. The event was a great start to the revitalization of the WIL section here in Salt Lake.

 

In December 2014, we had a luncheon where Neylan McBaine spoke on "Football, Primary Songs and Elections: Examining Gender Relations in the Church Today." Ms. McBaine had recently published her book Women at Church and spoke thoughtfully about gender relations in the Church and how those relations could be improved. This luncheon drew quite a bit of attention and considerate conversation. 

Neylan McBaine



 

In April 2015, the WIL section hosted another luncheon: "Increasing Women's Influence in Corporate Governance and the Legislature: A Panel Discussion." We had an exemplary panel: Dr. Ann Millner, former president of Weber State University and a Utah State Senator; Ashlee Burt of springBoard Utah; Gretta Spendlove of Durham Jones & Pinegar; and Emilee Wagner, who is a member of the Legislative Coalition for People with Disabilities and whose bill was recently passed by the Utah Legislature. The moderator was Lisa Watts Baskin, an administrative law judge and a member of the organizing committee for Real Women Run, an organization that encourages women to be more involved in civic leadership. The panelists spoke about challenges they faced in their respective fields; the benefits of networking and being in leadership in organizations outside of their profession; and the practicalities of running for office, getting a bill through the legislature, or getting on a corporate board. The discussion was wide-ranging and exemplary, drawing from the vast and diverse experiences of the panelists. 

 



April 2015 WIL Panel



The final event for this year will be June 23, 2015, at 6:30pm at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and the speaker will be Dr. Susan Madsen of the Utah Women & Leadership Project. It has been an exciting year for the Women in the Law section in Salt Lake, and we hope that it continues!