Eleanor Fox was elected the Firm's first woman partner in 1970. Today, the partnership includes 39 women partners: 22 in Corporate, 10 in Litigation, 2 in Personal Planning, 3 in Tax, 1 in Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits, and 1 in Exempt Organizations. In the last three years, 31% of our new partners were women.

Our women partners are well-known legal experts who serve on national, state and local bar committees and lecture at groups such as The Practising Law Institute and The American Law Institute. Many of our women attorneys are ranked as leaders in their field.  In 2012, three women partners and one counsel were ranked in Chambers Asia-Pacific, seven women partners and one counsel were ranked in Chambers Global and fifteen women partners were ranked in Chambers USA.  In addition, nineteen women partners and two counsel were ranked as leading lawyers or mentioned in The Legal 500 United States 2012.  Mary Kay Vyskocil was recognized by Law360 as one of 15 “Top Female Trial Attorneys” and named “Best in Insurance & Reinsurance” at the inaugural Americas Women in Business Law Awards presented by Euromoney Legal Media Group.  Two female partners were recently profiled as “Rising Stars” in Law360’s annual list of the top attorneys under the age of 40.  Our women partners are frequently honored by bar and pro bono organizations. For example, Victoria B. Bjorklund recently received the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section Vanguard Award for Lifetime Achievement and Commitment to Nonprofit Law and Marissa Wesely was presented with the New York City Bar’s 2010 Diversity Champion Award.

Our women partners are prominent within the Firm, as well. One of our women partners is Co-Administrative Partner of the Firm and sits on the Executive Committee. Two women partners are department chairs and one is a practice group head within the Corporate Department. Women partners currently serve on 14 of the 18 firm committees, including the Executive Committee and the Business Development, Compensation, Finance, Investment, New Partners, Personnel, and Technology Committees, and serve as chair or co-chair of the Associates, Diversity, Finance, Personnel, Technology and Women's Committees.

Overall, our women attorneys come from more than 70 colleges, 50 law schools and 15 countries, and speak more than 20 languages. They are prominent in national, civic and community groups, and have served as David Rockefeller Fellows, directors of prominent non-profit organizations and class parents at local schools. Other women attorneys have been honored by organizations such as the Legal Aid Society, Sanctuary for Families and InMotion. Our retired partners and other alumni include a current United States Ambassador, a former Senior Treasury Department official, a Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs, the President of USA Basketball and former founding President of the WNBA, a prominent New York University Law School professor and the former General Counsel of the FBI.