ATLANTA - For women, a career in law can present a unique set of challenges and opportunities.

After graduating with honors from the Harvard Law School, Georgia State University College of Law Professor Wendy Hensel (pictured right) served as a judicial clerk to Judge Orinda Evans of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. She went on to practice labor and employment law for several years with the law firm of Alston & Bird, where she litigated disability discrimination cases and counseled Fortune 500 companies on compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

At a recent panel discussion presented by the Association of Women Law Students (AWLS), Hensel said one of the most important abilities for career fulfillment and happiness is "being flexible and being willing to look for alternatives that make you happy, even if they’re not traditional alternatives."

The panel of female law professors addressed some of the issues facing women lawyers and law students. In addition to Hensel, the panel included Professor Marjorie Knowles, a former dean of the College of Law, Professor and Associate Dean of Student Affairs Kelly Timmons, Professor Tanya Washington, Professor Jessica Gabel, Professor Anne Tucker Nees and Professor Caren  Morrison.

After first speaking briefly about personal gender-specific experiences and challenges, the panel took questions and offered advice to female students on everything from where to breastfeed on campus to how to cope with discrimination in the workplace and the overall improvement of opportunities for women lawyers.

Knowles encouraged students to take advantage of the broadening of employment opportunities for women.

"I was very active in the women’s rights movement," Knowles said. "... and our main hope was that women would have opportunities that they could choose to take or not to take."

Washington (pictured right), a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law and former clerk for Chief Judge Robert M. Bell on the Maryland Court of Appeals, counseled women to strive for balance and not to feel pressured into taking or not taking opportunities offered to them.

"To know what makes you happy is important," Washington said. "It takes time, it takes sitting with yourself figuring out what you want, not what your parents wanted you to do, not what everybody else is doing, not what society tells you that you are supposed to do, but what really makes you happy. And as women we have to stop telling ourselves that we have to do it all to feel good about ourselves."

After graduating first in her class from the Vanderbilt University School of Law, Professor and Associate Dean for Student Affairs Kelly Timmons (pictured below) clerked for United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and practiced employment law with the law firm of Frost & Jacobs (now Frost Brown Todd) in Cincinnati, Ohio.

She reminded students of the value of peers and support opportunities for mentorship within the Georgia State Law alumni. "We have a great group of female alums. Our graduates are really loyal to the school," Timmons said, adding she believes that "to be particularly true for our female graduates."

AWLS’ mission is to "show concern about the under representation and lack of parity of women in the legal profession." On Wednesday, October 21, AWLS will be co-hosting a lecture by Mark Hoerrner, Southeast Regional Director of the "Not For Sale Campaign," a U.S.-based organization which seeks to end slavery in our lifetime by equipping and mobilizing activists "in our own backyards and across the globe." Hoerrner will speak about human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation as the first speaker in a series sponsored by The Center for Ethics & Corporate Responsibility at Georgia State University. For more information, email AWLS President Melissa Gamble at lgamble4@gmail.com or stop by the AWLS office in room 227 of the Urban Life Building.

~ Abby Ferrell, Georgia State Law student