Honoree Profile: Emily Jane Goodman

Emily Jane Goodman entered the New York legal scene at the perfect moment for feminist activism: 1968. By the next year she had already risked being thrown out of New York State's highest court for arguing a case while wearing a pantsuit despite being told that it"could not be done."

Her solo law practice included criminal defense (e.g., representing the Grove Press "I Am Furious Yellow Nine," including Robin Morgan and Ti-Grace Atkinson, arrested for a sit-in for pro-union and anti-porn organizing).

As a divorce lawyer, she took the rare position of representing women only. She was the founder of the New York Women's Law Center, where scores of women were taught how to represent themselves in divorce, and learned that they did not have to use their husbands' names. At the WLC, she edited and helped publish and distribute A Woman's Guide to Marriage and Divorce in New York, by Nancy Erickson.

On behalf of amici in the 1970 challenge to New York's abortion laws commenced by Nancy Stearns, Rhonda Copelan, Flo Kennedy, Diane Schulder and Carol Lefcourt, she compared involuntary motherhood to involuntary servitude, i.e., slavery, a violation of the Thirteenth Amendment. Goodman represented women in employment discrimination including maternity leave, and was an advisor to the National Council of Negro Women on housing discrimination.

In her literary law practice, she successfully sued the publisher of Women and Madness on behalf of author Phyllis Chesler for distortions in the book. She worked for the rights of prostitutes with Margo St. James, founder of COYOTE (Call off Your Old Tired Ethics).

In addition to advocating for battered women, she has served on numerous boards fighting violence against women, and wrote on the subject for The New York Times (1973). Goodman was the coauthor of Women, Money and Power. She continues to teach, write and speak on women's issues. Since the 1980s she has been a trial judge on the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

[ Event Schedule ] [ Event Flyer (PDF) ] [ Event Program (PDF) ] [ Event Photos ][ Honorees ] [ Home ]