The passing of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

We are saddened by the passing of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and, with much gratitude, we celebrate her extraordinary life, career and public service to our country. The second woman to serve on our country’s highest court, Justice Ginsburg devoted her career to fighting for civil rights, women’s equality, LGBTQ rights and access to justice for all. She was a pioneering lawyer, a feminist icon and an inspiration for working mothers and lawyers who looked to her for inspiration and guidance. She was a role model for her courtesy, friendships and persistent work to make America’s promise of equal justice under law real for everyone. Justice Ginsburg believed that women’s rights are an essential part of the human rights agenda, advocating from her own experiences with sex discrimination. She understood that sex discrimination hurt both women and men; all Americans have benefited from her work for equality. She said, “It is not women’s liberation, it is women’s and men’s liberation.  . . . I . . . try to teach through my opinions, through my speeches, how wrong it is to judge people on the basis of what they look like, color of their skin, whether they’re men or women.”

Justice Ginsburg also encouraged lawyers to do pro bono work and support legal aid services. She spoke at the Pro Bono Institute conference for many years and reminded us that “Lawyers have a license to practice law, a monopoly on certain services. But for that privilege and status, lawyers have an obligation to provide legal services to those without the wherewithal to pay, to respond to needs outside themselves, to help repair tears in their communities.”

We celebrate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life. May her legacy inspire us individually, and as a law firm through our pro bono and D&I efforts, to continue our pursuit of equal justice under the law.