In the nineteenth century, women were generally denied admission to law schools and state bars.  Belle Babb Mansfield was the first woman admitted to a state bar (Iowa) in 1869 after the Iowa courts ruled in her favor.  Charlotte E. Ray was the first African-American woman admitted to the D.C. Bar in 1872.   She did not encounter opposition because she applied for admission as C. E. Ray so the admissions committee thought she was a man.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau[i], in 2010 there were 5,276,231 more people in the U.S. over the age of 64 than there had been in 2000. The Baby Boomers are aging.  The Silver Tsunami is real, and it is incumbent upon us to take care of, and protect, our elders.  Despite this charge, financial exploitation of the elderly is the fastest-growing form of elder abuse in this country.  A study done by MetLife Mature Market Institute in 2009 estimated that the annual financial loss by victims of elder financial abuse was at least $2.6 billion.[ii] Yet, because only one in every 44 cases of financial exploitation of the elderly is ever reported, current annual losses could actually be closer to $1 trillion. 

At the time I was in law school, Colorado was known as a “buyer beware” state when it came to residential real estate.  In other words, the buyer had the burden of discovering any defects in the residential property he or she might be interested in purchasing.  On the flip side, the seller was legally obligated to disclose to potential buyers any latent defects (i.e., defects not readily apparent) of which the seller was aware.  The failure to disclose such defects could amount to fraud and result in liability for the seller.

To bring positive environmental change to the manner in which America powers itself, a debate rages over whether investor-owned utilities should be moved out of the way or should instead be the primary driver.  As a lawyer, fundamentally we are trained to look toward the middle ground.