For Ana Jara, building a meaningful legal career has meant more than reaching the next professional milestone. It has meant finding mentors, building community, and using each lesson along the way to support other women lawyers. That combination of legal experience, community leadership, and commitment to mentorship has shaped Ana’s work inside and outside the [...]
Ask five accomplished women lawyers to define “know your worth,” and you'll get five different answers — a story about protecting what you bring, a confession about self-doubt, an admission that it's easier said than done, a personal superpower hard-won over decades, and a lawyer's favorite non-answer (“it depends”). That's exactly what happened at this [...]
Know Your Worth—and Leave Room for the Unexpected: WBA President Rachel Davakis on Building a Legal Career. A successful legal career rarely follows a perfectly mapped-out path. That is one of the messages WBA President Rachel Davakis shared in a recent interview with Juris Education, an edtech startup specializing in law school admissions, for [...]
Helping WBA Members Build Connections Early in Their Careers The early years of a legal career can be exciting, demanding, and sometimes isolating. The Young Lawyers Committee (YLC) of the Women’s Bar Association creates space for early-career members to connect, learn from one another, and see a broader range of experiences reflected in the legal [...]
A recap of practical insights after the WBA’s August 19, 2026 International Law Forum event, "Navigating Cross-Border M&A Trade Diligence: Export Controls, Sanctions, CFIUS, and Other High-Stakes Risks" Cross-border deals used to treat trade compliance as a closing-checklist item — a box to check somewhere in the disclosure schedules or after. That approach no longer [...]
For Natalia Wilson Armstrong, the practice of law has always been about helping others. Becoming a lawyer has enabled her to support others through her work as a family and matrimonial attorney and through her long-standing community involvement. As a former WBAF Board member, Natalia remains deeply committed to giving back. As a first-generation college [...]
Building Connections Across Borders Co-chaired by Winston & Strawn associate, Sophia Herbst, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP counsel Faith Laken, and Haystackreview attorney Lisa Lyhun Park, the International Law Forum provides WBA members with a place to connect, collaborate, and strengthen the international legal community in a world shaped by rapidly evolving geopolitical [...]
Our advocacy at the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia doesn't end when legislation is enacted or debated—it also extends to the courts. One important way we advance our mission is by joining amicus curiae briefs in cases that present significant legal issues affecting the administration of justice, the legal profession, the rule [...]
For Erin McAuliffe, becoming a lawyer wasn't a sudden decision. It was a path that felt natural from an early age. Growing up as the daughter of two attorneys—and the older sister of twins born just eleven months after her—she jokes that she often secured her place in the family by taking the opposite side [...]
When the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia (WBA) was founded in 1917—three years before the ratification of the 19th Amendment—our members were already advocating for women’s suffrage, fighting for the right to serve on juries, and demanding economic independence. The fundamental right to vote is woven into our organization’s DNA. This legacy [...]
