Special counsel Lorelie (Lorie) Masters was recently appointed as the chair of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession. Established in 1987, the Commission was created to assess the status of women in the legal sector and remove barriers to their professional advancement. As chair, Masters will lead a 12-member roster of commissioners, and a panel of special advisers, dedicated to ensuring equal participation and systemic equity for women lawyers across the justice system and pursuing various studies to identify issues uniquely facing women in the profession, including disparate treatment, training and recruitment, parenting, and other issues.
An insurance coverage litigator and author of Insurance Coverage Litigation and Liability Insurance in International Arbitration: The Bermuda Form, Masters previously served as a commissioner on the Commission from 2009 to 2012, co-chairing its Women of Color Research Initiative. Among her many roles supporting the legal community, Masters served on the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association (ABA) and as the treasurer of the DC Bar Foundation, the largest funder of legal services in the DC area. From 2007 to 2008 she served as president of the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia and was a founder of the American College of Coverage Counsel, where she served as its second president in 2013 to 2014. In addition, Masters served as national policyholder chair of the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee of the ABA Section of Litigation from 2000 to 2003, and is currently a delegate to the ABA House of Delegates representing the Bar Association of the District of Columbia.
