Professor Barbara Babcock is mentioned by Scott Graham of The Recorder as being one of the Top 20 Women Leaders in Law, who cites her work at SLS, her position as assistant attorney general for the Civil Division of the U.S. Justice Department during the Jimmy Carter administration and her recently published book, “Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz.”

Women in the legal profession face numerous challenges: lagging pay rates, glass ceilings at some law firms, condescending attitudes from some male adversaries and judges.

But however many challenges women face today, they were considerably steeper 40 years ago, when women made up 4 percent of the profession compared to today’s 40 percent.

Next month, The Recorder will honor 20 women who helped blaze what was then a dimly lit trail in a special report, Women Leaders in Law. These living legends are firsts and founders — the first women partners at big law firms, the first (or second) women judges on their courts, the co-founders of influential organizations like California Women Lawyers and Equal Rights Advocates.

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Here then are The Recorder’s Women Leaders in Law, 2011:

• Barbara Babcock, Judge John Crown professor of law, emerita, Stanford Law School. Babcock became the first woman on the regular Stanford Law faculty in 1972. She later went on to become assistant attorney general for the Civil Division of the U.S. Justice Department during the Jimmy Carter administration. Her scholarly work includes the recently published “Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz.”

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