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Key Facts
- National overview: The ABA Commission on Women in the Profession honors up to five outstanding women lawyers for professional excellence and paving the way for other women in the legal profession.
- National overview: ABA states that the award recipients are honored at the ABA Annual Meeting.
- National overview: ABA describes its “Who Was Margaret Brent?” background by saying Margaret Brent was the first woman lawyer in America and arrived in the colonies in 1638.
- National overview: ABA states that the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award was established in 1991.
- National overview: ABA’s 2011 honoree list includes a Special Award to The Right Honourable Madame Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and lists Eleanor Dean Acheson, Paulette Brown, Karen J. Mathis, Colonel Maritza S. Ryan, and The Honorable Esther Tomljanovich.
- National overview: ABA describes the honorees’ achievements as including influencing other women to pursue legal careers, opening doors for women lawyers in historically closed settings, and/or advancing opportunities within the profession.
Last reviewed: May 2026. Legal rules, forms, deadlines, and procedures can change by jurisdiction, agency, and court system.
- A 2011 archive recovery of an ABA recognition program
- Who runs the award and what ABA says it recognizes
- How ABA ties the award to Margaret Brent
- Origin year and how ABA describes winner selection
- The 2011 honoree list preserved on ABA’s site
- Why “up to five” can look different on the 2011 honoree page
- What ABA says honorees achieve
- Preserving the 2011 honoree list for archive readers
- Sources
A 2011 archive recovery of an ABA recognition program
The Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award is a recognition program run by the American Bar Association (ABA) that honors women lawyers for professional accomplishments and for helping expand opportunities for other women in the legal profession. This archive recovery article preserves what ABA’s maintained program history materials show for the 2011 honoree list, including a “Special Award” entry and the named honorees listed for that year.
Who runs the award and what ABA says it recognizes
ABA describes the award as part of the Commission on Women in the Profession’s work, and it states that the Commission honors “up to five outstanding women lawyers” each year for professional excellence and for paving the way for other women in the legal profession (Margaret Brent Awards). ABA also states that the award recipients are honored at the ABA Annual Meeting, placing the recognition within ABA’s main membership gathering rather than within a court or regulator-administered process.
How ABA ties the award to Margaret Brent
ABA provides a program background framing through its “Who Was Margaret Brent?” section, describing Margaret Brent as “the first woman lawyer in America” and stating that she “arrived in the colonies in 1638” (Margaret Brent Awards). In an archive recovery context, this background helps explain why the award uses Brent’s name as a symbolic reference point for legal participation and professional leadership.
Origin year and how ABA describes winner selection
ABA states that the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award was established in 1991 (Retired federal judge Irma Gonzalez to receive 2021 ABA Margaret Brent Award). ABA’s announcement language also describes winner selection based on professional accomplishments and a role in “opening doors of opportunity for other women lawyers” (American Bar Association announces 2026 women lawyers of achievement).
The 2011 honoree list preserved on ABA’s site
ABA’s maintained “previous honorees” materials include a labeled 2011 section, and the 2011 honoree entries list the following names (Previous Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award Recipients):
- Special Award: The Right Honourable Madame Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin
- Eleanor Dean Acheson
- Paulette Brown
- Karen J. Mathis
- Colonel Maritza S. Ryan
- The Honorable Esther Tomljanovich
These names are the core historical data point preserved from the 2011 ABA record for this award category.
Why “up to five” can look different on the 2011 honoree page
ABA’s overview language describes the Commission’s annual honors as “up to five outstanding women lawyers” each year. In contrast, ABA’s 2011 honoree section presents a “Special Award” entry alongside five additional named honorees, resulting in six listed entries within the 2011 section. Readers reconciling the general “up to five” phrasing with the 2011 section labeling can compare the two sources this way:
| ABA phrasing source | What it shows for the 2011 section |
|---|---|
| General program overview | “Up to five” outstanding women lawyers each year |
| 2011 honoree archive section | A “Special Award” entry plus five additional named honorees |
This distinction can matter when a headline or overview summary suggests a simple count, while an archive listing uses additional category labels inside the year’s honoree section.
What ABA says honorees achieve
ABA also describes the kinds of professional impact it associates with the Margaret Brent award honorees, including influencing other women to pursue legal careers and helping “open[] doors” in job settings historically closed to women. ABA’s maintained honoree materials also describe advancing opportunities for women within a practice area or segment of the profession.
Preserving the 2011 honoree list for archive readers
The practical value of an archive recovery item is that it preserves specific, year-labeled recognition data—especially when readers try to locate a historical list by year and encounter broken links or incomplete copies elsewhere. This recovery article keeps the 2011 honoree names and the presence of the Special Award entry together in one place, based on ABA’s maintained program history pages.
Readers tracing other ABA archive recognitions can also review Judge Harry Edwards receives an ABA legal education award.
