The mission of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles (“WLALA”) is to promote the full participation in the legal profession of women lawyers and judges from diverse perspectives and racial and ethnic backgrounds, maintain the integrity of our legal system by advocating principles of fairness and equality, and improve the status of women by supporting their exercise of equal rights, equal representation, and reproductive choice. Social Media Shares To download, right click on graphic and save to your device. WLALA Joint Statement in Response to [...]

Choices Mary McKelvey, WLALA President Choice and free will are the ultimate and inimitable gifts to us from our Creator.  These separate us from the animals and provide powerful opportunities to steer the trajectory of our lives and ultimately determine who we become.  A woman’s right to make the extraordinarily personal choice about whether to terminate a pregnancy can be one of the most difficult and pivotal decisions she will make – the effects of either choice have lifetime repercussions.  The experience of abortion is something millions of women have experienced for many decades, but there [...]

A Leap of Faith Mary McKelvey, WLALA President I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane from approximately thirteen thousand feet above the earth a couple of weeks ago.  This was voluntary on my part.  A dear friend and mentor had a transformative experience with his first jump a couple years ago and his enthusiasm after several more jumps was both infectious and inspiring.  Thus, I was persuaded to my “yes.”  We boarded a small plane and sat on a hard bench with ten or so others.  As the plane ascended, I watched the surface of the [...]

Incoming WLALA President's Message: Mary McKelvey Twenty years ago, I walked into a large hotel ballroom room filled with women lawyers and judges and had an experience that forever changed the trajectory of my life. At the time I was a first-year law student in my late thirties attending the annual dinner as a guest of a friend who had previously been president of the organization. The energy in the room that night was palpable. The raw power that exuded from these confident, elegant, and educated women was exhilarating—I had never before been in the presence of so [...]

Awards An Honor to Be Nominated From Los Angeles Business Journal NEWS October 2020 Join us on Wednesday, October 21st as we honor and celebrate the terrific women business leaders in the Los Angeles community with our big virtual awards ceremony, the 2020 Women’s Leadership Awards.  This year, we will name:  • CEO of the Year • Entrepreneur of the Year • Executive of the Year • Community Impact Advocate • Rising Star of the Year • Volunteer of the Year  Nominated: Mary McKelvey, Esq. Register to Attend: Register Download [...]

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