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Thank the Universe for These Women!
As we move into Women’s History month, I cannot help but reflect on the fact that we still need to set aside a month to highlight the contributions of women to the world. But here we are. So for this week’s newsletter, I want to lift the names of women who are doing some of the hard work to make the world better today for all of us.
Roberta “Robbie” Kaplan
Roberta “Robbie” Kaplan is a woman with a mission. As an attorney, she works for underdogs and does not flinch in the face of powerful adversaries. She is most famous for her arguments in the 2013 Edie Windsor case which struck down the Defense of Marriage Act which led to the legalization of same-sex marriage. While she spent much of her career in a large, traditional law firm, in 2017 she struck out on her own and formed Kaplan, Hecker, and Fink. She is suing former President Trump for defamation on behalf of E. Jean Carroll, for fraud on behalf of Mary Trump, and for fraud (again) on behalf of the participants in Trump’s ACN multi-level marketing scheme. Beyond those cases which will no doubt garner outsized headlines, Kaplan is also “suing the Nazis” (her words) who showed up in Charlottesville. That case will go to trial in October. Kaplan is also a co-founder of the #TimesUp Legal Defense Fund. She is a woman we should all thank for standing up for women in the face of power.
