The Portia Project

Michelle Hanlon  is a maven of all things involving space law. She is Co-Director of the  Center for Air and Space Law at Ole Miss  and an instructor of aviation and space law. She is also a co-founder and the President of  For All Moonkind, Inc. , a nonprofit corporation that is the only organization in the world focused on protecting human cultural heritage in outer spac...

Legal thriller author  Patricia Hunt Holmes  spent 30 years as a public finance attorney with a large international law firm specializing in nonprofit healthcare finance and rural electric cooperative finance. She sits down with M.C. Sungaila to discuss what it was like to be one of the first women partners at her law firm, her journey from a Ph. D. to paralegal and then lawyer...

Therese M. Stewart , Associate Justice of the California First District Court of Appeal, Division Two, chats with MC Sungaila about moving from a high-profile advocacy career to the bench, efforts to diversify the courts, and collaborating with her judicial colleagues. She provides an in-depth exploration of her work prior to the bench in the area of LGBT rights, both in private practice and at th...

Annaliese Fleming , Senior Associate Executive Director and General Counsel for the American Bar Association, joins M.C. Sungaila to talk about her experience leading the ABA's legal function. Listen in as Annaliese touches on her wide-ranging legal expertise from private practice to teaching and now as a trusted in-house advisor.    Note: The thoughts and opinions are those of Annaliese...

Lynn Hecht Schafran , the Senior Vice President and Legal Director of the National Judicial Education Program at Legal Momentum , has played a leading role in the advancement of women's rights. Introduced to legal efforts to advance the rights of women by Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself, who was one of Lynn's law professors, Lynn is internationally recognized for her work on gender discrimination and...

Vice-Chief Justice of Arizona's Supreme Court,  Ann Scott Timmer , shares her tips on brief writing and oral argument, and discusses her path to the bench and role on her state's supreme court. 

Justice Adrienne Grover  of the California Court of Appeal, Sixth District, discusses her path to the bench and her views on the justice system and gives sound advice for both advocates and lawyers aspiring to become judges. 

Leah Ward Sears  was the first African-American female chief justice of a state supreme court in the United States. When she was first appointed as a justice in 1992, she became the first woman and youngest person to sit on Georgia's Supreme Court. She is now in private practice at a major law firm. Justice Sears shares her path to the bench, and the importance of mentors in her career journe...

Judge  Joanne Motoike  serves as the Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Court in Orange County, California. She discusses her time on the bench and her remarkable career prior to the bench serving as a senior deputy public defender at the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, and as a trial attorney in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former...

Justice  Eileen C. Moore  of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division Three, joins us today to provide a historical perspective on the challenges women faced in becoming lawyers in the 1970s, and how far both she and other women lawyers have come in their legal careers. She also discusses the long-lasting impact of her service in the Vietnam War, and her commit...

Lee H. Rosenthal  is the Chief Judge of The Southern District of Texas. She discusses her  distinguished career, special relationship with her law clerks, and role leading the Federal Rules Committee. She also provides tips for newer lawyers to grow and excel in their careers. 

Join your host M.C. Sungaila as she talks to Justice Judith Ashmann-Gerst of the California Court of Appeal about her journey to the bench, from night law school to the trial court and then the court of appeal. She also shares some insights for advocates appearing before the court of appeal.

In this episode, MC Sungaila talks shop with  Christine Mayle , Judge, Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals. Judge Mayle discusses what drew her towards appellate law, and what drove her towards a position as a judge on the Court Of Appeals. Tune in to learn more of Judge Mayle’s journey and why appellate law is so important. 

Margaret M. Grignon , retired Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, discusses the joys and challenges of a distinguished career on the bench and in practice. Justice Grignon spent 14 years on the Court of Appeal and authored in excess of 2,230 opinions, more than 160 of which have been published. Her work as an appellate practitioner upon retirement from the bench h...

 Joining M.C. Sungaila is Elizabeth D. Walker , Justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court and Co-Host of the podcast Lady Justice: Women of the Court . She shares the ups and downs in her life as a judge, her path to the bench by running for elected office, changes in her state's court system, and weathering an impeachment trial to come out on top as Chief Justice. She also provides practica...

Today's guest Karen Scott was appointed as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Central District of California in 2015. Prior to her appointment, Judge Scott was a partner at Rutan & Tucker, LLP in Costa Mesa, where she handled civil litigation matters within the firm's Business Litigation and Government and Regulatory Law practice groups. In this episode, she shares how she became a lawyer, and ho...

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michelle Williams Court took a non-traditional path to the bench. Judge Court discusses her civil rights career and continued commitment to serving the community as a judge. Tune in to hear her insights on service through the law.

In this episode, we chronicle a woman's journey to the bench and beyond. Christine Durham retired from the Utah Supreme Court in 2017 after serving as a Justice for 35 years, including 10 years as Chief Justice and Chair of the Utah Judicial Council. As one of the first women judges in her state, she led the way for others to join the bench. She describes what it was like to be at the forefront of...

Welcome to the Portia Project™️ Podcast, a podcast designed to celebrate and share the careers, personal stories, and hard earned wisdom of accomplished women judges and lawyers, in order to educate and encourage the next generation of women lawyers.  The Portia Project™️ Podcast, hosted by noted appellate lawyer M.C. Sungaila, features current and retired female appellate judges, promin...