Eric Angel, Executive Director

We are delighted to announce that we will be honoring Brooksley Born, a life-long champion of women’s rights, consumer rights, civil rights, and the rights of persons living in poverty, as a Servant of Justice at this year’s Servant of Justice Award’s Dinner on April 28.

A retired partner of Arnold & Porter LLP where she practiced for more than thirty years, Ms. Born currently chairs the board of the National Women’s Law Center which she helped to found.  She has also served on the boards of other important public interest organizations, as well as the American Bar Association, the American Bar Foundation, and ALI-ABA.  She has chaired a number of ABA entities including the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, the Women’s Caucus, and the Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary.

Brooksley Born

During her time at Arnold & Porter LLP, she was head of the firm’s derivatives practice, chaired its pro bono committee, and served on its policy committee.  From 1996 to 1999 Ms. Born was chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that oversees futures and commodity option markets, and strongly advocated the need for federal regulation of the over-the-counter derivatives market.  That unregulated market played a significant role in the recent financial crisis.  From 2009 to 2011, she served as a Commissioner on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which in January 2011 issued a powerful report on the causes of the crisis.

She has received awards recognizing her public service including the Profile in Courage Award of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, the American Lawyer’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Outstanding Public Interest Advocate of the Year Award of the National Association of Public Interest Law (now Equal Justice Works).

Ms. Born received her law degree from Stanford Law School where she was President of the Stanford Law Review and received the Outstanding Senior Award.  Prior to joining Arnold & Porter LLP, she was a law clerk to Judge Henry W. Edgerton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

We hope you will plan to join us on April 28 to celebrate Ms. Born’s remarkable achievements.  She will be introduced by Marcia Greenberger, the founder and co-president of the National Women’s Law Center.  The creation of the Center over 35 years ago established Ms. Greenberger as the first full-time women's rights legal advocate in Washington, D.C.  Ms. Greenberger has been recognized numerous times for her achievements on behalf of women’s rights; indeed, she once was aptly described by The New York Times as "guiding the battles of the women's rights movement."