Arabella Babb Mansfield Award
The highest award recognizing women in the legal profession, the Arabella Babb Mansfield Award is presented in recognition of lifetime professional achievement, positive influence, and valuable contribution to women in the law and in society. The award is the oldest award given by the National Association of Women Lawyers and is named after the first woman admitted to a state bar in the United States. In special circumstances, this award can be presented to an organization.
2024
Stacey Abrams
Political Leader and Author
2023
Deborah N. Archer
Associate Dean for Clinical and Experiential Learning, NYU School of Law
President, ACLU
2022
Rhonda Powell
Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, Buzzfeed
2021
Cheryl Thomas
Founder & Executive Director,
Global Rights for Women
2020
ERA Coalition
2019
ACLU Women's Rights Project
2018
Roberta Kaplan
Founding Partner,
Kaplan & Company LLP
2017
Hon. Amy Klobuchar
U.S. Senator, Minnesota
2016
Vanita Gupta
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and
Head of the U.S. Justice Department's Civil
Rights Division
2015
Mary Jo White
Chair,
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
2014
Anita F. Hill
Brandeis University
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll
(Image courtesy of Newsweek)
2013
Judith Resnik
Arthur Liman Professor of Law,
Yale Law School
(Image courtesy of Yale Law School)
2012
Judge Nancy Gertner
Professor of Practice,
Harvard Law School
(Image courtesy of Harvard Law School)
2011
Jamie Gorelick
Partner,
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
2010
Chief Judge Judith Kaye
Court of Appeals, State of New York
2009
Marcia Greenberger
National Women's Law Center
2008
Elena Kagan
Dean, Harvard Law School
2007
Karen J. Mathis
President, American Bar Association
2006
Judge Katharine S. Hayden
U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
2005
Judge Ann Claire Williams
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
2004
Presiding Justice Leah Ward Sears
Georgia Supreme Court
2003
Senator Sheila Kuehl
California State Senate
2002
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
U.S. Supreme Court
2001
Chief Justice Mary Ann McMorrow
Illinois Supreme Court
2000
Judge Sonia Sotomayor
U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
1999
Judge Phyllis A. Kravitch
U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
1998
Judge Ilana Diamond Rovner
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
1997
Judge Bernice Bouie Donald
U.S. District Court, Western District of Tennessee
1996
Martha Barnett
Tallahassee, Florida
