Earlier this summer, at our June 20 Summer Quarterly, I had the honor of moderating a panel featuring an historic lineup of women leaders. On one small stage, there were so many “firsts” – attorneys and judges who had defied tradition to reach their current positions.
For likely the first time in our state’s history, and, in fact, perhaps our country’s history, all three state-wide appellate courts are headed by women. At that event, Chief Justice Debra Todd noted that women also head two of the three branches of government in Pennsylvania: She leads the judicial branch and Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton, who also joined us, and Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward lead the legislative branch. We were also joined by U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, who was the only woman in the Pennsylvania congressional delegation when she was elected since 2014; Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, President Judge Hon. Nina Wright Padilla, who noted in her remarks that it only been since the 2000s that diverse leaders have headed our city’s top court, and U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero, the first woman, first woman of color and LGBTQ person to hold her position.
Todd, Superior Court President Judge Hon. Anne Renee Cohn Jubelirer, recounted their early days as attorneys, when women were encouraged to always wear a dark suit, never to smile, and when a woman attorney who was pregnant might not be allowed to appear before a judge. In giving remarks in honor of Hon. A. Leon Higginbotham to whom our Summer Quarterly is traditionally dedicated, Speaker McClinton described the confronted at every stage of his life as he pursued careers as an attorney, a jurist, an activist, a scholar, an historian and a presidential adviser. She indicated that his ability to overcome these barriers paved the way for her path to leadership.
Our history was conveyed not only in the words of our speakers but some amazing documents on display by our hosts, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, including the first map of Philadelphia and the first hand-written draft of the U.S. Constitution.
Taken together, the stories of our remarkable speakers and the tales conveyed by those documents provide an important reminder of using lessons from our history to propel us forward to correct mistakes, reverse injustices and continue to rethink what is possible.
This issue of The Philadelphia Lawyer carries on the theme of that night with a cover story paying tribute to Steve LaCheen. Steve began writing for the magazine in the early 1970s and his work appeared in almost every issue for the 50 years that followed. He died after a short illness on May 3, leaving an unfillable void on our magazine editorial board. Steve was truly one of a kind and we are honored to include some of his past articles in this issue, along with remembrances from board members and his family and a new article, one of several by Steve that will be published posthumously over the next several issues.
It's a fitting tribute to Steve that I am able to announce that starting July 30, all Bar members will be able to access the full archives of both this magazine, which traces its history to 1938 when it launched as “The Shingle,” and the Philadelphia Bar Reporter, which has existed in some form since 1972.
Up to now, the archives of both publications were stored in boxes and bound and at Jenkins Law Library. Through a partnership with HeinOnline, a research platform that includes access to legal journals from across the country, and thanks to the efforts of former Association interns Darlene David and Max Tomashek, who spent last summer indexing the physical archive and preparing it for shipping to Hein, we are now able to offer them in a more accessible format to both our membership and to interested researchers and authors, as well. I’ve had a chance to preview some of the newly digitized issues, and they are truly a treasure trove, tracing not only the history of our Association, but the history and evolution of the Philadelphia legal community and the city as a whole.
Steve had deep knowledge of many topics; among them was the history of this magazine. Indeed, he cast the deciding vote in 1991 that changed the publication’s name from The Shingle to The Philadelphia Lawyer. I think it’s appropriate that he should have the last word in this column, as well – this is from a letter to longtime Association staffer Nancy Hebble, casting that critical vote:
“The name, ‘The Philadelphia Lawyer’ is as traditional as 1735 and as revolutionary as 1776; as fresh as today and as forward-thinking as tomorrow. The last decade of the 20th century will be a time for looking forward as well as looking back. This may be just the right time for us to hang out a new shingle. Let’s inscribe it, ‘The Philadelphia Lawyer.’ That name should look just right on the masthead of a magazine written by, for and about its namesake.”
Jen Coatsworth is 2024 Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association.
