It was my pleasure and my honor to serve as Chair of the Standing Committee on Women and the Law (“WATL”) from 2025-2026. I am currently the Managing Partner of Anderson, Boback & Marshall LLC, a boutique family law firm operating in Chicago as well as the surrounding suburbs. Our female led team represents clients in all aspects of dissolution of marriage, parentage (dealing with child support and what we formerly referred to as “custody” for families where the parents were never married), prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, post-decree litigation, child support, and other areas relative to family law. In this area of practice, doing all that I can to protect families, including women and children, are very near and dear to my heart. Our committee makes a tremendous effort to review legislation relative to women, and to provide events and continuing learning and education panels for attorneys on issues female attorneys find relevant to their practice.
During the 2025-2026 bar year, our committee raised money for Special Olympics by donating swim and other uniforms and swim related items to the organization. We also planned and executed our annual tea event, which is always around International Women’s Day. We had the privilege of having Justice Mary Kay O’Brien as this year’s key note speaker. We have co-hosted many events this year with other female led sections and councils of bar associations, as well as the Women’s Bar Association. It has been a privilege to bring female focused organizations together to put on such wonderful events.
Finally, we had a banner year for award nominations. Our committee successfully nominated eleven different individuals for ISBA awards, which they proudly won! We also had four of our own committee members win ISBA awards. Overall, it has been a wonderful bar year for WATL and I am so proud to have led our committee through such a successful year.