Judith Vladeck
Judith Vladeck | |
|---|---|
| Born | Judith Virginia Pomarlen August 1, 1923 Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | January 8, 2007 (aged 83) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Education | Hunter College (BA) Columbia University (LLB) |
| Spouse | Stephen Vladeck |
| Children | David |
| Relatives | Steve Vladeck (grandson) |
Judith Pomarlen Vladeck (August 1, 1923 – January 8, 2007) was a prominent American labor lawyer and
Vladeck was born Judith Virginia Pomarlen[1] in Norfolk, Virginia, the daughter of a newspaper distributor and a business manager for a labor union. Her parents were Joseph and Ida (Ehrlich) Pomarlen.[2] She graduated from Hunter College in 1945 and received a law degree from Columbia University in 1947. She married lawyer Stephen Charney Vladeck (son of labor leader Baruch Charney Vladeck) on February 22, 1948, and had three children.[2] In 1957 she joined the New York City law firm of Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard, which her husband had helped found in 1948. She described the firm as "the last socialist law firm in America."
As a trial lawyer, Vladeck had a reputation for combining courtroom flair and detailed analysis of salary histories and job performance to her cases. She took on powerful entities such as major Wall Street investment firms, Union Carbide, and large universities, and usually won or achieved a favorable settlement.
Vladeck turned her attention to workplace discrimination with the advent of new civil rights laws and rise of the women's movement. In a suit against the
One of her first big legal victories was in 1978 when she represented an engineer at Western Electric - the first female professional hired by the company - in a lawsuit alleging sexual discrimination. They won what ultimately became a class-action suit involving thousands of women, and in the process they "ended up redefining women's rights in the high-tech industry and across the economy," said the Forward's publisher, Samuel Norich.
In one of the "crowning moments of her career" Vladeck represented the not-for-profit organization Nontraditional Employment for Women in a case against the contractors building ~ what was to become the New York City neighborhood known as Battery Park City. As part of the out-of-court settlement, an apprenticeship program was created to help women train in construction. With the money that NEW was awarded, the organization also built the headquarters it had long lacked in a converted firehouse in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood. It was dedicated in 1989 as the Judith Vladeck Center for Women.[4]
She was named one of "New York's 75 Most Influential Women in Business" in Crain's New York Business in 1996 and one of the Best Lawyers in New York by New York Magazine in 1995. She was profiled in the New York Times, The Institutional Investor, More and Mirabella Magazines, and featured in Stud's Terkel's book Coming of Age.
As a legal scholar, she served as director of the
In 1998, Vladeck received the Edith I. Spivack Award from the New York County Lawyers' Association's Women's Rights Committee, Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award from the ABA in 2002, the Edith I. Spivack Award from the New York County Lawyers Association in 1998, Outstanding Achievement Award from the National Network of Women Union Lawyers in 1998, ORT Jurisprudence Award in 1996, Hunter's Professional Achievement Award, and inducted into the Hunter College Hall of Fame.
She died on January 8, 2007, of an infection in New York City.[5]
References
- ^ Catalogue Number for the Sessions of 1943-1944 and 1944-1945. New York: Columbia University. 1945.
- ^ a b Who's Who of American women. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 1959. p. 1025.
- ^ Hevesi, Dennis (January 11, 2007). "Judith Vladeck, 83, Who Fought for Women's Rights, Dies". The New York Times.
- ^ Schwartzapfel, Beth (January 12, 2007). "Judith Vladeck, 83, Formidable Labor Lawyer". The Forward.
- ^ Miller, Stephen (January 11, 2007). "Judith Vladeck, 93, Pioneering Lawyer In Sex Discrimination Lawsuits". The New York Sun.
External links
- Judith P. Vladick Papers at Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University Special Collections
- Wall Street Journal article
- Judith Vladeck. American bar biography
- ABA bio
- NYC Bar Documentary Film
- Appearances on C-SPAN
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
