News & Commentary written by Lenora M. Lapidus

Lenora Lapidus was the director of the ACLU Women’s Rights Project. She litigated gender discrimination cases in courts throughout the country, engaged in public policy advocacy, and spoke on gender equity issues in the media and to the public. Her work focused on economic justice, educational equity, ending gender-based violence, and women in the criminal justice system.

She and her colleagues won a unanimous ruling from the Supreme Court in AMP v. Myriad Genetics, striking down patents on the human BRCA genes, associated with breast and ovarian cancer. She also won a landmark victory from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Jessica Gonzales v. U.S., resulting in the issuance of historic guidance from DOJ to law enforcement on gender-biased policing. In 2015, she urged the EEOC to investigate the low number of women hired by studios to be directors for film and television, leading to an in-depth investigation.

Lapidus has received several awards and fellowships, including the Trailblazer Award from Women and Hollywood, 21 Leaders for the 21st Century from Women’s eNews, and the Wasserstein Fellowship for outstanding public interest lawyers from Harvard Law School. She graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and summa cum laude from Cornell University.