Lawyers e-Journal
Thursday, May. 27, 2010
From top to bottom:
Top left: From left to right: MBA President Valerie A. Yarashus, MBA President-elect Denise Squillante, Iraqi attorney Sua'ad Abbas Salman Al-Lami, MBA At-Large Delegate Denise I. Murphy and the Hon. George F. Phelan.
Top right: Sua'ad Abbas Salman Al-Lami speaks about her experiences in Iraq at a March 24 breakfast, co-sponsored by the Women's Bar Association.
Middle: Iraqi attorney Sua'ad Abbas Salman Al-Lami is presented with the MBA's Public Service Award in celebration of her work as a global leader in equal rights.
Bottom left: Sua'ad Abbas Salman Al-Lami and the Hon. George F. Phelan speak about their work in Iraq.
Bottom right: From left to right: MBA President Valerie A. Yarashus, Iraqi attorney Sua'ad Abbas Salman Al-Lami and the Hon. George F. Phelan at the March 25 reception held in Al-Lami's honor at the John Adams Courthouse.
MBA recognizes women’s rights trailblazer
On Tuesday, May 25, the Massachusetts Bar Association honored
Iraqi attorney Sua'ad Abbas Salman Al-Lami with its Public Service
Award for her work as a global leader in equal rights.
Al-Lami has made it her life's work to advance women's rights in
Iraq. Voted the 2008 Iraq Female Lawyer of the Year by the Iraq
Women's Foundation, she received the 2009 International Women of
Courage Award from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and
First Lady Michelle Obama. She is currently working toward her LLM
in International Law at the University of Minnesota Law School,
where she serves as a Hubert Humphrey Fellow.
"The Public Service Award is presented to individuals for their
contributions to their community and for furthering the public
understanding and respect for the law and showing extraordinary
leadership and dedication to improving the administration of
justice," said MBA President-elect Denise Squillante, who worked
closely with Al-Lami's host, the Hon. George F. Phelan of the
Probate and Family Court, to coordinate Al-Lami's visit to
Massachusetts.
Al-Lami's visit to the Bay State spanned several days, during
which she met with Gov. Deval Patrick, participated in a roundtable
at Harvard's Kennedy School, and attended a host of meetings with
key leaders in the Massachusetts legal community.
At the May 25 event, co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Association
of Women Lawyers, Phelan spoke to Al-Lami's fearlessness. "The
magnitude of what she has done is magnified by where she's done
it," he said.
Following her acceptance of the MBA award, Al-Lami addressed the
crowd and thanked everyone for "all of this kindness." After
sharing her own inspiring crusade to advance women's rights in
Iraq, she suggested others to take her lead. "I encourage more
women to be involved in women's rights issues."