Feature Stories Campus Events All Stories

WLSO Symposium Explores Women in Politics

This month, the Women Law Students Organization at Washington and Lee University School of Law will host the 3rd Annual Lara D. Gass Symposium on Women in the Law.

This year’s symposium focuses on women in politics. The event will take place Friday, September 23 from 1-4:00 p.m. in the Millhiser Moot Court Room, Sydney Lewis Hall on the campus of Washington and Lee University. The event is free and open to the public.

The symposium will feature three panel discussions covering election rights, the media portrayal of women, and the lack of female participation in politics. Confirmed speakers include:

  • Lisa Bornstein, legal advisor at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
  • Susan Swecker, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Virginia
  • Georgia Cannan, who works on voting rights for Democratic Party of Virginia
  • Mimi Elrod, Mayor of Lexington
  • Pam Luecke, W&L professor of journalism
  • Margaret Hu, W&L professor of law
  • Melina Bell, W&L professor of philosophy, law and gender studies
  • Megan Fulcher, W&L professor of psychology
  • Robin LeBlanc, W&L professor politics and director of the gender studies program.

W&L Law professors Chris Seaman, Beth Belmont and Speedy Rice will moderate the panels.

The annual WLSO symposium is named for Lara Gass ’14L, who spearheaded the first Women Law Students Organization panel on women in the law before passing away in a tragic car accident during her third year at Washington and Lee Law School.