NAWL Joins NWLC Survivors' Rights Amicus Brief

April 4, 2022

April 4, 2022 -- NAWL joined the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), and their law firm partner Hutchinson, Black & Cook in an amicus brief supporting Mackenzie Brown, a former University of Arizona (UA) student, holding her school accountable for the egregious sex-based harassment she suffered at the hands of former student Orlando Bradford in Brown v. Arizona. The brief is written to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, on behalf of NWLC and 31 additional advocacy organizations, in support of Brown’s petition for rehearing or rehearing.

Brown filed a Title IX lawsuit against UA for its failure to act in the face of Bradford’s known, repeated assaults of two other UA women, which she said resulted in him abusing her at his off-campus apartment. The District Court held UA was not liable under Title IX, stating Brown failed to establish that UA had “control over the context” of the abuse she experienced at Bradford’s off-campus apartment. The Ninth Circuit affirmed.

NWLC’s brief outlines the dangers of allowing schools to ignore sexual assault just because it occurs in off-campus housing, even just steps from the campus. It explains that if schools are permitted to ignore off-campus assault, scores of students will be left without the support they need to preserve access to their education. This would undermine Title IX’s broad mandate to prevent sex discrimination in education. The brief explains why Title IX’s application to off-campus sex-based harassment should instead be a fact-specific inquiry. The brief also explains how an increasing number of students live off campus and so if this ruling is left on the books, it could disincentivize schools from protecting many students who are victimized by sexual violence, foreclosing them from receiving needed civil rights protections under Title IX.

NWLC led this amicus brief in support of Mackenzie Brown and all student survivors.

Learn more about the case in our blog here.

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NAWL Joins Bar Organizations' Statement in Support of the Rule of Law

March 26, 2025

Bar Organizations’ Statement in Support of the Rule of Law CHICAGO, March 26, 2025 — We the undersigned bar organizations stand together with and in support of the American Bar Association to defend the rule of law and reject efforts to undermine the courts and the legal profession. In particular, as outlined by the ABA: We endorse the sentiments expressed by the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in his 2024 Year End Report on the Federal Judiciary, “[w]ithin the past year we have also seen the need for state and federal bar associations to come to the defense of a federal district judge whose decisions in a high-profile case prompted an elected official to call for her impeachment. Attempts to intimidate judges for their rulings in cases are inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed.” We support the right of people to advance their interests in courts of law when they have been wronged. We reject the notion that the U.S. government can punish lawyers and law firms who represent certain clients or punish judges who rule certain ways. We cannot accept government actions that seek to twist the scales of justice in this manner. We reject efforts to undermine the courts and the profession. We will not stay silent in the face of efforts to remake the legal profession into something that rewards those who agree with the government and punishes those who do not. Words and actions matter. And the intimidating words and actions we have heard and seen must end. They are designed to cow our country’s judges, our country’s courts and our legal profession. There are clear choices facing our profession. We can choose to remain silent and allow these acts to continue or we can stand for the rule of law and the values we hold dear. We call upon the entire profession, including lawyers in private practice from Main Street to Wall Street, as well as those in corporations and who serve in elected positions, to speak out against intimidation. If lawyers do not speak, who will speak for our judges? Who will protect our bedrock of justice? If we do not speak now, when will we speak? Now is the time. That is why we stand together with the ABA in support of the rule of law. American Bar Association Alameda County (California) Bar Association Alexandria (Virginia) Bar Association Allegheny County Bar Association (Pennsylvania) Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers Bar Association of Erie County (New York) Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis Berks County (Pennsylvania) Bar Association Boston Bar Association Boulder County (Colorado) Bar Association Chicago Bar Association Chicago Council of Lawyers Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association Columbus (Ohio) Bar Association Connecticut Bar Association Contra Costa (California) County Bar Association Detroit Bar Association and Foundation Erie County (Pennsylvania) Bar Association First Judicial District Bar Association (Colorado) Hennepin County (Minnesota) Bar Association Hispanic National Bar Association Hudson County (New Jersey) Bar Association Illinois State Bar Association Kansas Bar Association Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Foundation Lawyers Club of San Diego Long Beach (California) Bar Association Louisville Bar Association Maine State Bar Association Middlesex County (New Jersey) Bar Association Milwaukee Bar Association Minnesota State Bar Association Monroe County (New York) Bar Association Nassau County (New York) Bar Association National Asian Pacific American Bar Association National Association of Women Lawyers National Conference of Bar Presidents National LGBTQ+ Bar Association National Native American Bar Association New Jersey Women Lawyers Association New Mexico Black Lawyers Association New York City Bar Association New York County Lawyers Association North County (California) Bar Association Board of Governors of the Oregon State Bar Passaic County (New Jersey) Bar Association Philadelphia Bar Association Queens County (New York) Bar Association Ramsey County (Minnesota) Bar Association San Diego County Bar Association San Fernando Valley (California) Bar Association Santa Clara County Bar Association (California) South Asian Bar Association of North America State Bar of New Mexico Virgin Islands Bar Association Board of Governors of the Washington State Bar Association Worcester County (Massachusetts) Bar Association

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NAWL Responds to President Biden’s Recognition of the ERA

January 17, 2025

January 17, 2025 The National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) applauds President Biden's declaration recognizing the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) as "the law of the land," which represents a victory for the countless advocates who have tirelessly championed gender equality. NAWL has been a steadfast supporter of ratification of the ERA since it was first introduced and was one of the first national organizations to endorse it. NAWL was present for its first reading at the National Women’s Conference in 1923 and subsequently printed the proposed Amendment in the Women Lawyers Journal that same year. When Congress finally passed the amendment in 1972, the campaign for ratification by the states became NAWL’s major project for the following decade. In 2020, NAWL issued its Resolution in Support of the Ratification of the ERA to the United States Constitution, committing to continue its advocacy. For over a century, the ERA has symbolized the fight for gender equality. As NAWL member Marguerite Rawalt poignantly noted in the Women Lawyers Journal in 1971, “Equal justice does not exist for women under the Constitution as interpreted to date. They are the one remaining ‘class’ and category not yet adjudged to come under the legal umbrella of the Constitution.” We will continue to work to fulfill the promise of equal justice for all citizens, regardless of sex and gender status.