Hope, Judith Richards 1940-

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HOPE, Judith Richards 1940-

PERSONAL:

Born November 30, 1940, in Cincinnati, OH; daughter of Joseph Coleman and Eve Gertrude (Kemp) Richards; children: Zachary, Miranda Townes. Education: Wellesley College, B.A. (magna cum laude), 1961; Harvard University, J.D., 1964. Politics: Republican. Religion: Episcopalian. Hobbies and other interests: Music, tennis, gin rummy, mountain climbing, gourmet cooking.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, 1299 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Tenth Floor, Washington, DC, 20004-2400. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Attorney and author. Williams & Connolly, Washington, DC, associate, 1964-67; California Rural Development Corporation, Los Angeles, CA, deputy director, 1968-69; Law Offices of Richard M. Coleman, Los Angeles, CA, counsel, 1970-75; The White House, Washington, DC, associate director for domestic counsel, 1975-77; Wald-Harkrader & Ross, Washington, DC, partner, 1977-81; Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, senior partner, 1981—. Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA, adjunct professor of constitutional law, 1972; Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC, adjunct professor of transportation regulation, 1978-79; adjunct professor of constitutional law, 1995; Harvard Law School, lecturer on trial advocacy, 1982. Harvard Corporation board of directors, president and fellow; member of board of directors for Budd Company, Union Pacific Corporation, and General Mills.

MEMBER:

Harvard Medical International (member, board of directors), Council on Foreign Relations, American Law Institute, American Bar Foundation, Sycamore Island Canoe Club, Metropolitan Club.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Honorary LL.D. from Harvard University, 2000; American Law Institute, fellow.

WRITINGS:

Pinstripes and Pearls: The Women of the Harvard Law School Class of '64 Who Forged an Old-Girl Network and Paved the Way for Future Generations, Scribner (New York, NY), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

Prior to 1961, very few women had been admitted into the Harvard School of Law, let alone graduated from it. Judith Richards Hope was one among fifteen women who entered into a class of 513 Harvard law students. She graduated in 1964, and soon became the first female partner in a well-established international corporate law firm in Washington, D.C. Since that time, Hope has served as associate director of the White House Domestic Council under President Gerald Ford and became the first woman appointed to the seven-member board of the Harvard Corporation, serving for eleven years in that capacity.

In her book Pinstripes and Pearls: The Women of the Harvard Law School Class of '64 Who Forged an Old-Girl Network and Paved the Way for Future Generations Hope describes what it was like to be a female member of that Harvard law class, using personal recollections and those of fellow classmates and professors. She also follows the lives and professional careers of some of her classmates, including U.S. Circuit Court justice Judith W. Rogers and Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder.

Some of the women recall that there were no women's restrooms in the law school buildings and that male students often refused to sit beside women in the classroom. Others recount tales of the "Ladies Days" that occurred during one particular professor's class. According to Joanna L. Grossman in FindLaw, on those specified days, all of the female students were made to sit upon a stage, facing the male students, and they were asked questions "about cases involving stolen underwear or other subjects clearly calculated to embarrass them." Another example of such antagonistic treatment of women occurred annually, when Dean Erwin Griswold invited female students to a dinner at which each one was asked to reply to the question, "Why are you at Harvard Law School, taking the place of a man?"

After graduation, these women continued to struggle against ingrained prejudices and obstacles while trying to find their niche in male-dominated career fields. Yet, despite all of the challenges of the academic and professional worlds, the women who graduated from the Harvard Law Class of 1964 became esteemed and successful professors, corporate lawyers, authors, university trustees, and entrepreneurs.

"Pinstripes and Pearls serves as a potent reminder of the significant changes to legal education and the legal profession," remarked Grossman. She felt that Hope's class was "notable for encountering and overcoming some extraordinary obstacles," but that "the book's claims for the impact of the women it profiles …may be somewhat overstated." Grossman also commented that, even forty years later, women lawyers feel frustrated by "covert discrimination and sexual harassment." A Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote, "She lets the memories speak for themselves." In Kirkus Reviews, a critic commended Hope for admitting that she had been a less-than-perfect mother, frustrated by her inability "to do it all." The same writer felt that Hope's description of her classmate's careers is "mechanical," and he would have enjoyed hearing the stories of the women who left their law careers. Mary Frances Wilkens of Booklist called Pinstripes and Pearls "a tale of true accomplishment."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 15, 2002, Mary Frances Wilkens, review of Pinstripes and Pearls: The Women of the Harvard Law School Class of '64 Who Forged an Old-Girl Network and Paved the Way for Future Generations, p. 712.

Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2002, review of Pinstripes and Pearls, p. 1446.

New York Times, February 7, 1989, "First Woman is Appointed to Top Board at Harvard U.," p. A16.

Publishers Weekly, October 14, 2002, review of Pinstripes and Pearls, pp. 71-72.