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Webinar: Women in the Judiciary – Working Toward Gender Equality in Public Life
FBA’s Official Parallel Program at the NGO CSW67 Forum during the UN’s 67th Meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women
This event demonstrates the role that women play in the judiciary and how gender equality strengthens accountability across and within governmental bodies. With presentations by multiple federal judges in the U.S., we’ll explore how a justice system can strive for gender-balanced representation in decision-making positions in public life by encouraging greater participation of women in government at all levels, as well as in judiciaries and other public institutions. The program will highlight recent public-private initiatives to pair former law clerks with law students, including international LLM law students, in a model judicial academy program in the service of improving gender equality in public employment, and explore how such programs strengthen both domestic and international co-operation through continuously sharing knowledge, lessons learned and good practices on gender equality and mainstreaming initiatives in public institutions.
Registration is Closed
Presenters
Introduction – Mimi Tsankov, President, National Association of Immigration Judges
Mimi Tsankov is the President of the National Association of Immigration Judges. She serves as the Secretary of the FBA’s Judicial Division.
Judge Toni Clarke (Ret.), President, National Association of Women Judges
Judge Toni E. Clarke (Ret) served as Associate Judge of the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County Maryland, Seventh Judicial Circuit from February 6, 1998, until taking senior status on September 1, 2018. During her tenure Judge Clarke presided over many types of cases including, but not limited to, Civil, Criminal, Foreclosure, Family and Juvenile. Judge Clarke is currently a Neutral and Arbitrator with The McCammon Group, serving Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia.
Judge Clarke received her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law (now University of Maryland Frances Carey Law School), Class of 1986, and her B.S. from The Pennsylvania State University, Class of 1979, where she played on the Women’s Varsity Basketball team. Prior to her appointment, Judge Clarke practiced law in both the public and private sector. Among her many professional accomplishments, Judge Clarke was the first African American female to serve as State’s Attorney for Prince George’s County, Maryland, and in the State of Maryland.
Judge Clarke is very active in and has held leadership positions in the American Bar Association, the National Bar Association, the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ), and the Maryland State Bar Association; and is a former President of the J. Franklyn Bourne Bar Association, and the first African-American to serve as President of both the Women’s Bar Association of Maryland and the Prince George’s County Bar Association.
Judge Clarke is currently President of the National Association of Women Judges (2022-2023 term), is a Past-Chair of the Judicial Division (JD) of the American Bar Association (ABA) and is a Past-Chair of the National Conference of State Trial Judges (NCSTJ) of the ABA. Judge Clarke has been on several committees of the NAWJ, having Chaired or Co-Chaired several committees and having served as District Director and in several officer positions. She has also served on several committees of the ABA, where she has been Chair or Co-Chair of committees of the NCSTJ and has Chaired or Co-Chaired of the Judicial Clerkship Program and the Standing Committee on Diversity in the Judiciary of the JD. She is currently a Delegate in the ABA’s House of Delegates, representing the NCSTJ, and is on the ABA’s Nominating Committee. On December 31, 2022, Judge Clarke concluded serving in her third term on the Board of Trustees of the National Judicial College, after having been initially appointed in July 2013.
Judge Clarke has been recognized by numerous organizations for her hard work, community involvement, and mentoring. Among other awards she has received are the Women’s Bar Association of Maryland’s Rita C. Davidson Award, the Maryland Daily Record’s 2004 Leadership in the Law Award, and the 2001 and 1999 Maryland Daily Record’s Maryland’s Top 100 Women.
The Honorable Karoline Mehalchick, Chief Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, FBA Judicial Division Chair
The Honorable Karoline Mehalchick is Chief Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. She was appointed to the bench on July 15, 2013, and sits in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She was appointed Chief Magistrate Judge in January 2020. Prior to entering on duty with the court, she was in private practice, where she represented a broad range of clients in both state and federal trial and appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court. She is a graduate of the Schreyer Honors College of the Pennsylvania State University (B.S. Geosciences), and the Tulane University School of Law. After graduation, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Trish Corbett, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County. Judge Mehalchick was also an adjunct professor at Marywood University from 2003 until 2012. Judge Mehalchick presides over the Scranton location of the Court-Assisted Re-Entry Program (CARE Court) and sits on the Court’s Prisoner Litigation Settlement Program Committee, a program which she helped establish in early 2015.
Judge Mehalchick is an appointed member of the Judicial Conference Codes of Conduct Committee, and is a member of the Workplace Conduct Committee of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. She previously served on the Magistrate Judges Advisory Group of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. Judge Mehalchick is an active memberof the Federal Bar Association, currently serving as Chair of the Judiciary Division. She also serves as the judicial liaison to the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and as a judicial profiles editor for The Federal Lawyer. Judge Mehalchick previously served as an FBA Third Circuit Vice President for five years, on the national Board of Directors for three years, and is a past president of the Middle District of Pennsylvania Chapter. Judge Mehalchick is also active in the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession and is a past president of the Younger Lawyers Division of the Lackawanna Bar Association.
In addition to her work with the court and with the Federal Bar Association, Judge Mehalchick participates in weekly Scholar Exchanges through the National Constitution Center, leading middle and high school students in discussions about constitutional issues and civil discourse. Outside of the legal community, Judge Mehalchick is Vice President of Production for the Ballet Theatre of Scranton and an active volunteer with the Abington Area Age Group Swim Team.
The Honorable Beth Bloom, United States District Judge in the Southern District of Florida, FBA Judicial Division
Beth Bloom has served as a United States District Judge in the Southern District of Florida since 2014. She was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate (95-0) on June 24, 2014 (her birthday). Before her appointment to the federal bench, she served on the Florida state court bench in Miami-Dade County for nearly 20 years. She was appointed by former Governor Charlie Crist to the Circuit Court in 2010 after serving 15 years as a County Court Judge. She has served in the Circuit Court’s criminal and civil divisions and all divisions of the County Court, serving as the Associate Administrative Judge.
Judge Bloom received her Bachelor of Science degree in public relations from the University of Florida in 1984 and her Juris Doctor degree (cum laude) from the University of Miami School of Law. She practiced commercial litigation with the law firm of Floyd Pearson Richman Greer Weil Zack & Brumbaugh from 1988-1994 and served as a Traffic Court Magistrate from 1993-1994 before her election to the state court bench.
Judge Bloom currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the Judiciary Division Board of the Federal Bar Association, previously serving as Secretary/Treasurer, and Chairperson of the Article III Trial Judges Committee. She was elected as the Florida Representative to the Board of Directors of the Federal Judges Association and is a Board Member of the South Florida Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. She oversees the SDFL’s Judicial Intern Program and, since the pandemic, has partnered with other districts throughout the country to provide remote learning opportunities for law students. She created the Judicial Intern Academy in 2021 to expand federal judicial internships to students and pairs former federal judicial law clerks with summer interns to enhance the students’ research and writing skills, now a national program through the Federal Bar Association. In 2015, she established and coordinates the Southern District of Florida’s Summer Intern Ethics and Orientation Program and oversees its annual Law Day and Constitution Day Programs. She is the co-creator of the Civil Discourse & Difficult Decisions Program (CD3), presented to high school and college students in the federal courts and remotely in the classrooms, that is now a national initiative of the U.S. Courts and the Federal Bar Association.
Judge Bloom is a frequent lecturer for the Florida Bar, local bar associations, law schools, and FBA chapters. She has presented at the 2018 New Judges College and the 2017 District Judges Conference. She served on the faculty of the Florida Judicial College for 19 years, teaching newly elected and appointed judges. She has served on the faculty of the National Judicial College, the College of Advanced Judicial Studies, the Florida Conference of County Court Judges, and an adjunct faculty member of the Litigation Skills Program at the University of Miami School of Law.
While serving as a state court judge, Judge Bloom was elected as the first woman president of the Florida Conference of County Court Judges, a member of the Executive Committee of the Florida Conference of Circuit Court Judges and was a founding member of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Historical Society. She coordinated the University of Miami School of Law’s Judicial Internship Program for 17 years. In Miami- Dade County, she created the “Lawyers Join Hands for Students” Program, the DUI In-Jail Treatment Program, the Smoking Tobacco Offender Program (S.T.O.P.), the “It’s Your Life” Skills Program for foster youth aging out of the foster care system, and the “I’m Ready” Program for youthful offenders sentenced in adult criminal court. She coordinated the Artist in Residence Program with artist Romero Britto and students from Miami-Dade’s Visual and Performing Arts Academies and implemented the Eleventh Circuit’s Centennial Celebration’s county-wide poster, essay, and speech contests with the Miami-Dade County schools. She led the effort to establish “Friends of Caleb,” and spearheaded the creation and construction of a nowpermanent mural commemorating Joseph Caleb. She is the co-founder of the Children’s Craniofacial Association at Miami Children’s Hospital and Oliver’s Fund at the University of Miami’s Debbie School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Judge Bloom has received numerous honors and awards that include the ABA Presidential Recognition Award, the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services Recognition Award for her work during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Florida Bar President’s Award of Merit, the
Florida Conference of County Court Judges’ Trailblazer Award and Harvey Ford Leadership Award, the Fraternal Order of Police Citizen of the Year Award, the Miami Beach Bar Association’s Legal Legend Award, the Dade County Bar Association’s Johnnie M. Ridgely President’s Award, the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Historical Society’s “Silverman Award”, the University of Miami School of Law Alumni Association’s Thomas Davison III Service Award, the Miami-Dade Justice Association’s “Judge Steve Levine Award”, MADD’s Judicial Distinction Award, the Legal Services of Greater Miami’s 2015 Equal Justice Judicial Leadership Award, the Juvenile Judges’ Child’s Heart Award, the Miami Bridge Youth & Family Service’s Champion for Children Award, Our Kids’ Leadership Award, Mellon Bank’s Community Service Award, the Jewish Legal Society’s Rodef Shalom Pursuer of Peace Award, Judge of the Year from the Minority Chamber of Commerce, Miami Today’s 2019 Stars in Government Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Miami Women Who Rock,
Constantine Economides, Esq, Co-Founder & Co-Chair of the FBA Judiciary Division’s Federal Judicial Law Clerk Committee
Constantine is a partner at Freedman Normand Friedland, LLP, where he represents clients in complex litigation and class actions. Constantine is also a co-founder and co-chair of the FBA Judiciary Division’s Federal Judicial Law Clerk Committee (FJLCC), which provides educational, career, and networking opportunities to current and former judicial law clerks. The FJLCC aims to bring together the growing national network of judicial law clerk alumni and to promote diversity and inclusion in the federal judiciary and FBA.
Question and Answer – Moderated by the Fordham LLM Students
Presented by: Judiciary Division & International Law Section
Partners:
FBA Diversity Equity and Inclusion Standing Committee
National Association of Women Judges
International Association of Women Judges
Fordham Law School LLM Class
Registration
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CLE
Please note CLE will not be offered for this event.
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