WASHINGTON – Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg remembers the pressure and scrutiny she faced as a female law student in the 1950s.

At Harvard Law School,she was one of nine women in a class of more than 500. She felt compelled to answer correctly in class or risk the reputation of all the female students.

“We were accustomed to being in the limelight. We took it as our responsibility to teach our male classmates and teachers that women had everything it takes to be successful in the law business,” she said.

Ginsburg was one of four women lawyers who spoke Thursday at Georgetown University Law Center. Moderator Pamela Harris,executive director of the Georgetown Law Supreme Court Institute,said women have been underrepresented in the Supreme Court Bar.

This term,18 percent of lawyers arguing cases before the court were women – 31 women and 143 men.

Ginsburg,the second female associate justice,felt differently about the numbers.

“Dispiriting as they may be to people the age of you in the audience,for me they are exhilarating,” she said. “Progress comes slowly,and I know that people your age tend to be impatient,but there's been an enormous change that's occurred in my lifetime.”

Ginsburg had problems finding her first job as a law clerk. A mentor of hers finally convinced a judge to hire her,even though Ginsburg was raising her 4-year-old daughter. Ginsburg thought the judge had hired her to be an inspiration for his own young daughters,but she later found the judge had a male clerk ready in case she failed.

The other speakers shared similar stories about facing discrimination because of family obligations.

After giving birth to her second child,Patricia Millett,a former assistant to the United States solicitor general,was told that no one stayed at work if they had two children at home. She did.

“People have to make their own choices,” she said. “You have to make the balance right for you.”

Millett,who now works at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld,has argued 28 cases before the Supreme Court – more than any other woman in a private practice,except one. She would like to see more women and minorities before the Supreme Court.

“As you get more change,there's a snowballing desire for more rapid change,” Millett said. “Once you break through the door,you start asking,‘Why don't we have it all? Why is there any barrier left?'”

One year ago,President Barack Obama appointed Elena Kagan as the first female solicitor general. Kagan is on most experts' lists as a possible replacement for Justice John Paul Stevens,who announced Friday that he would retire at the end of this term. “I'm very optimistic that we'll get to see our share of women as solicitor generals,” said Virginia Seitz,a partner at Sidley Austin LLP.

The four women ended their discussion with advice for up-and-coming female lawyers.

Pamela Karlan,a Stanford Law School professor,told the packed auditorium that women need to be more assertive about asking for cases. Men tend to be much better at asking for what they want,she said.

“I'm not sure if comes from starting in junior high school with going up to people they don't know and saying,‘Will you dance with me?'” Karlan said as the room broke out in laughter.

Ginsburg said the luckiest thing she ever did was choose her husband,Martin Ginsburg,a Georgetown law professor. She described his as a strong man who wasn't threatened by her,a supportive partner and her biggest booster.

“He has become a super chef. I haven't made a meal in 30 years,” she said as the crowd gave her a thunderous round of applause.



