I.O.W.A. Honors Iowa District Court Judge Mary Pat Gunderson with 2020 Arabella Mansfield Award

(NAWJ District 9 Director Judge Emily Chafa (R) presents Judge Mary Pat Gunderson (L) with Arabella Mansfield Award)

Each year, the Iowa Organization of Women Attorneys (I.O.W.A.), awards the Arabella Mansfield Award and presents the award at its annual meeting, which typically takes place in June. This year, retired Iowa District Court Judge Mary Pat Gunderson was honored for her courageous scholarship displayed in her article, "Gender and the Language of Judicial Opinion Writing", published in The Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Fall 2019). Judge Gunderson was scheduled to speak to NAWJ members on this topic at the 2020 Annual Conference. Arabella Babb Mansfield was the first woman admitted to practice law in the United States and was admitted to the Iowa bar on June 15, 1869. I.O.W.A. selects an annual award recipient who exemplifies Arabella Mansfield’s spirit, promoting and nurturing women in the legal profession.