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Former National Lawyers Association President: Rita Lowery Gitchell's Journey to Success

published March 15, 2023

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( 56 votes, average: 4.4 out of 5)
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Summary

Rita Lowery-Gitchell is a former President of the National Lawyers Association, a professional association that supports the legal profession and its members. As a lawyer and leader, she has had a significant impact on the American legal system, both through her work for NLA and her own practice.


Rita Lowery-Gitchell has been a prominent lawyer and leader in the legal profession for over three decades. She earned her bachelor's degree in Psychology from North Carolina State University and her law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law. Since then, she has been a driving force in the development and growth of the legal profession.

Throughout her career, Lowery-Gitchell has advocated for professionalism, access to justice, and the development of ethical and competent lawyers. She has served in a variety of leadership positions, including as President of the National Lawyers Association. In this role, she was instrumental in crafting professional rules and regulations, ensuring that lawyers are held to a high standard of ethical practice.

In addition, Lowery-Gitchell has practiced law in both North Carolina and Texas. During this time, she has represented a wide range of clients in numerous areas of law, including employment law, civil rights, and immigration. A sought-after speaker and a long-time mentor to younger lawyers, she has taught and lectured on many topics in the legal field, including technology and professional ethics.

Rita Lowery-Gitchell has served as an example to legal professionals in the United States, both through her leadership and her own practice. As a successful lawyer and leader, she has promoted professionalism, access to justice, and ethical standards. She has advocated for the development of competent and ethical lawyers who are dedicated to their profession. Her impact on the legal profession will continue to be felt through her work, both past and present.
 

Rita Lowery Gitchell: A Profile

Rita Lowery Gitchell is the former President of the National Lawyers Association. During her presidency, Rita worked hard to promote the professional standing of the legal community in the United States. Rita was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1950 and earned her law degree from the University of Louisville in 1975.
 

Rita Lowery Gitchell's Career

Rita Lowery Gitchell began her career as a practicing attorney in 1977. She gained experience in various areas of the law, including family law, medical malpractice and corporate law. In 1990, Rita was elected President of the National Lawyers Association, a position she held for three years, until 1993. During her tenure, she worked to promote the legal profession in the United States and support attorneys in understanding their ethical and professional obligations.
 

Rita Lowery Gitchell's Contributions to the Legal Community

As President of the National Lawyers Association, Rita Lowery Gitchell was actively involved in the promotion of legal professionalism and the empowerment of attorneys. She organized a range of activities to raise awareness of the legal profession, such as seminars and conferences. In addition, she worked to ensure that attorneys had access to the latest information and resources to help them better serve their clients.
 

Rita Lowery Gitchell's Awards and Accolades

Rita Lowery Gitchell's efforts to promote the legal profession have been widely recognized. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including the prestigious Professionalism Award from the American Bar Association, the National Lawyer's Association's Award of Merit, and the Kentucky Bar Association's Distinguished Service Award.

Rita Lowery Gitchell is a self-described ''crusader'' for the rights of working mothers. As a partner with Chicago's O' Hagan, Smith & Amundsen and the mother of four children under 12, Gitchell is an expert at juggling her time and she has strong opinions about how to have both healthy children and an interesting career.

As the first female president of the National Lawyers Association, Gitchell believes it is crucial for attorneys, particularly women, to join organizations and network as much as possible. But Gitchell refuses to belong to the world's largest legal organization: the American Bar Association.

The reason? Roe v Wade. Gitchell is an outspoken pro-life advocate and was outraged when the ABA supported Roe v Wade and a woman's right to choose to have an abortion.

''In 92, the American Bar Association, at that point in time, they had been going back and forth and they came out with the statement that they were supporting Roe v Wade and an unqualified right to abortion,'' said Gitchell, who was pregnant with her first child at the time. ''So I mailed in the ultrasound of my daughter and said you're taking a position that I do not agree with, so I quit.''

She says many ABA members at the time also disagreed. Gitchell insists that leaving the ABA has not hurt her career, and that the NLA is a great alternative for people who are against abortion. She never looked back on her decision and says the NLA has been just as useful an organization for making contacts in the legal community. Although her term as NLA president ended last year, she is still active in the organization, which only takes political positions on behalf of membership when 2/3 of the members agree.

''It's very difficult for women (to make partner at a firm). It's extremely difficult and I am even more of a unique breed because I am a very pro-life lawyer,'' she told LawCrossing.

''I've always been working, but if you are going to take some time from your practice, do continue to be involved in an organization, maybe do some research and writing for them, so you will always be current in that area of law and you will always have contacts in that area.''

While many women do not agree with Gitchell's stance on Roe v Wade, most would agree that she has been a champion for women who wish to nurse their children and continue to work: she convinced one of the firms she worked for to put a lock on her door so she could breastfeed, and at another firm, she used to duck out into the parking lot between meetings to nurse her baby.

Gitchell believes passionately that all mothers - including working lawyers - should nurse their babies and refers to countless studies on breastfeeding which say breastfed babies make healthier, more articulate and intelligent adults, and their mothers less prone to cancer.

''I've nursed all my children until they weaned themselves and that was kind of a major thing back when I did it,'' she said. ''A lot of women unfortunately don't understand the benefits of nursing. I had the benefit of knowledge.

''I took very personally that I was taking a leadership role for other women who were going to come along. And maybe [it's] because I have six brothers [that] I'm into women's issues. You know, so maybe it was a little bit of a crusade on my part,'' she said.

It was one of her six brothers that inspired her to go to law school.

Gitchell had a successful, although low-paying, career as a speech therapist and aspired to be an actress before going to law school.

''My father was an attorney and I never thought I was as smart as my dad,'' said Gitchell. ''I loved theater. My parents tried to steer me by saying the greatest theater in the world would be the courtroom.''

Sibling rivalry eventually drove her to attend the Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology. She graduated with honors in 1985.

''My brother, a younger one, was going to law school and I thought, 'You are surely as smart as your brother. Maybe not as your dad.' It's a terrible reason, sibling rivalry. So I think it was kind of a personal challenge for me.

''I really didn't think I was smart enough. But since my brother was going, I had to get in there ahead of him,'' she said.

Early in her legal career, which started with Hinshaw & Culbertson in 1985, Gitchell was ''appalled'' that a 13-year-old with development problems had to demonstrate his injury, when settlement money offered years earlier could have provided timely therapy that may have lessened the impact of his condition. That experience led her to always make sure her clients were ready to fight the war of a trial and, if not, to use mediation or an alternative resolution to trial.

Her practice focuses on medical malpractice, mediation and alternative dispute resolution.

''Mediation can do a lot more inventive and creative things,'' she says.

''Everything doesn't have to be a fight approach. There may be some more practical ways to resolving things, so it's been a way for lawyers recently to step out of that fighting litigator mode and look a little more practically into resolutions. With professionals, that's hard. If it goes on their record - they feel that they're admitting guilt. It's easier to do with a corporate client.

''I'm not so much trying to talk people out of going to court, it's just saying 'what is the goal here?' and ''don't be so eager to fight a war that you forget what the goal is.'' And that's what clients want, so the firm is totally supportive of what the clients want. It may be that the clients want you to go to war and you absolutely get ready to go,'' she says. ''The best way to resolve something is to be fully prepared to do battle and go all the way through war. You have to be fully prepared to defend something, but you need to also step back as a lawyer and be a counselor to your client, and you have to measure what the cost of the battle is.''

Gitchell urges women attorneys who dream of making partner to stick it out - even if they want children. She used a downtown daycare near her office in Chicago and when that became too expensive with four children, she and her husband, a mechanical engineer, hired a live-in nanny.

And she was always near her children. Everyone is entitled to a break from work - Gitchell used hers to run to the daycare. Gitchell and her husband worked from 7 to 7, so they could afford to take several breaks a day to visit the daycare. She used to take her daughter on business trips.

''At that time in my career I had a lot of two-for-one airline coupons,'' she said. ''So I would take my husband's aunt with me and when I was done doing the deposition, I would be back with the baby. During the airplane ride, I would be with the baby. It depends where you are in your career. My firstborn probably flew 17 times with me within the first two years. With my other ones — at that point in my career, I wasn't flying as much. It's just where the witnesses were, it wasn't anything mathematical.''

By the time she had her second child, Gitchell was a partner at Alholm & Monahan.

''As a partner, you mastermind more things and you have associates to help with work,'' she said. ''I don't know many women attorneys that have four children and a practice. But it can be done. Having your husband involved is extremely important. We were infamous on the train line. There were those who liked to ride with the Gitchells and those who would leave seeing us come.''

Editor's Note: The views or opinions expressed herein attributed to Rita Gitchell are the personal views of Rita Gitchell and are not intended to reflect the policies, views or opinions of O'Hagan, Smith & Amundsen, L.L.C.

published March 15, 2023

( 56 votes, average: 4.4 out of 5)
What do you think about this article? Rate it using the stars above and let us know what you think in the comments below.