NEW YORK – A Greek-American woman is among the co-founders of one of the first organizations dedicated exclusively to promoting and networking for women lawyers across the United States.

Lawyer Katerina Housos, born in New York but raised in Patras, who, together with two other colleagues, founded ‘Inspiring Women in Law League’ (IWILL), with the aim of attracting the participation of a large number of women active in the legal sector.

“IWILL is the first organization of its kind for women working in the legal field. It goes beyond what we would traditionally call a ‘legal body’, which usually comes with preserving centuries-old traditions and keeping women, minorities and non-traditional stakeholders out. Instead, IWILL sets its own standard, focusing on women at the heart of our society, prioritizing their progress, their happiness, and encouraging collaboration and leadership in their lives and careers,” Housos told The National Herald.

Housos, who is based in New York and also presents a radio show on Cosmos FM‘s Greek program in collaboration with Aggeliki Psoni, emphasized that the main motivation for her and her colleagues, Milana Dostanitch and Kalpana Nagampalli, of Serbian-Russian and Indian origin, respectively, were the recorded discrimination against female lawyers in the profession, relative to their male colleagues.

“The organization came as a positive outcome of the pandemic. Myself and the co-founders, Milana and Kalpana, realized that there is a great lack of legal organizations that express the dismal statistics that women lawyers continue to face throughout their careers, such as lower promotions to partnership positions, lack of equal pay, the lack of mentorship, and other statistics that are even worse for women lawyers of color but also those who become mothers. In addition to this, women in the legal profession face significant problems of stress, overwork, depression or even alcoholism,” Housos pointed out, emphasizing that the goal is “for women to practice the legal profession on their own terms.”

“IWILL was created out of a need to address these statistics by redefining what it means to be a woman in the legal profession and empowering women to practice law on their own terms. We are also motivated by our common desire for guidance on career progression in the legal field,” Housos noted.

In conclusion, Housos emphasized that the participation of female lawyers across the USA in the organization is expanding, as there are registrations from other States, besides New York, including New Jersey and California.

Those interested in registering can email: [email protected].