Part of her 2009 commencement speech: Over 40 years ago when I was in my mid-teens, I announced at home that I had decided to become a lawyer. The first words I heard in response 'You can't because you are a woman.' It was the voice of our parish priest. The next voice I heard was my mother's saying, 'Don't listen to him.' To my mother's surprise, I heeded her advice. A couple of years later, the same year that the first human walked on the Moon, I started law school and our first textbook was called 'Learning the Law' by a very eminent jurist, Prof. Glanville Williams. In a chapter ominously entitled 'Women,' he stated his views that law school was no place for women and that our voices were too weak to be heard in a courtroom. That man had clearly never met my mother. He reckoned the only thing to be gained by having female law students was the opportunity it provided to meet suitable spouses. I married a dentist, just for spite.
