HARRISBURG, Pa. (March 14, 2024) — The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Commission on Women in the Profession (WIP) will present its annual Anne X. Alpern Award to Lisette M. McCormick, retired executive director at the Pennsylvania Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness in Pittsburgh, on May 8 at the WIP Annual Conference during the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Annual Meeting in Hershey.
The Alpern Award is presented annually to a female lawyer or judge who demonstrates excellence in the legal profession and who makes a significant professional impact on women in the law. Established in 1994, the award was named for Anne X. Alpern, Pennsylvania’s attorney general in 1959 and the first woman state attorney general in the nation.
Throughout her more than 40-year legal career, McCormick focused on public interest law and advocated for justice and equal rights. In 2023, she retired from the Pennsylvania Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness after serving as its founding executive director for 19 years. In her role, she implemented the recommendations of the 2003 report of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System. This included raising public and professional awareness of the impact of race, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation or disability on the fair delivery of justice in Pennsylvania; suggesting ways to reduce bias or discrimination within government and the legal profession; and increasing public confidence in fairness within the commonwealth’s government.
For 17 years, McCormick has been an adjunct professor at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University, teaching courses on gender and the law. In addition to being a frequent lecturer and author, McCormick is a board member of Passages to Recovery and National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts.
McCormick started her career as a staff attorney for Neighborhood Legal Services Association in Pittsburgh. She moved to roles as assistant trial defender for the Allegheny County Public Defender’s Office, assistant counsel and deputy attorney general for the Toxic Waste Unit of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources, and a private practice attorney focusing on environmental counseling and plaintiff employment litigation. She also was the executive director for the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System and a pro bono attorney for individuals impacted by domestic violence.
Within the PBA, McCormick is a Zone 12 delegate to the House of Delegates, member and past chair of the Civil and Equal Rights Committee, and member of the Criminal Justice and Minority Bar committees. Additionally, she has served in a variety of roles for the PBA Commission on Women in the Profession. McCormick is a fellow of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation and a member of the American Bar Association.
Recognized for her work, McCormick has received numerous awards, including the Civil and Equal Rights Champion Award from the PBA, Adjunct Professor Award from the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University, Art of Justice: Women Shaping the Law Award from the Women and Girls Foundation, Carol Los Mansmann Helping Hand Award from the Allegheny County Bar Association and Susan B. Anthony Award from the Women’s Bar Association.
McCormick received her bachelor’s degree from The Pennsylvania State University and her Juris Doctor from the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University.