online<\/a> in May.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nQ: What\u2019s been the most significant development for women in your field?<\/p>\n
A: One of the most significant developments for women in the legal field in South Carolina has been the increasing number of women serving as judges, attorneys and legal scholars. Landmark moments, such as Jean Hoefer Toal becoming the first female Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court, have paved the way for greater representation and leadership. While challenges persist, these advancements have helped shape a more inclusive and equitable legal system in the state.<\/p>\n
Q: Who has inspired you?<\/p>\n
A: Former Chief Justice Jean Toal has been a tremendous inspiration to me. As the first female Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court, she broke barriers with her intellect, leadership and dedication to justice. Her trailblazing career has shown me the power of perseverance and the importance of attempting to use my position to create a more fair and equitable legal system.<\/p>\n
Q: What do you want people to know during Women\u2019s History Month?<\/p>\n
A: Women have played a vital role in shaping the legal system and continue to break barriers in the legal field, particularly in the judiciary. Representation of all groups is important to ensure that all voices are heard and justice is served fairly. I also encourage young women — indeed all young people — to pursue careers in law and leadership in our community.<\/p>\n
Q: What advice do you have for young women in your field?<\/p>\n
A: I believe that finding a mentor in the legal field is very important. That mentor does not have to be a woman or look like you. Often the best mentors give us different perspectives from our own, and that is tremendously helpful. Take advantage of as many opportunities as you can to meet others in the legal field. The practice of law is fundamentally about building relationships \u2013 with your clients, your community and others in the legal field and building those relationships helps you better serve your clients and your community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Justice Letitia Verdin ’92 has seen a lot of progress for women in the South Carolina judiciary that’s made the legal system more equitable and inclusive. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":389,"featured_media":36686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,3297],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-womens-history-month"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36619"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36687,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36619\/revisions\/36687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}