In 1993, Christine Webber joined the Washington Lawyers’ Committee as our first Women’s Law and Policy Fellow from the Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program at the Georgetown University Law Center. 25 years later, Kendall Onyendu joined the Committee as the latest Women’s Law and Policy Fellow thanks to an endowment from Christine.
At only eight years old, Christine Webber knew she wanted to be a lawyer.
From a young age she was drawn to stories of women’s rights advocates, those who fought to overcome expectations of what women could and could not do. It was in 1976 when Christine’s home state of Massachusetts passed a state Equal Rights Amendment that she decided that being a lawyer would equip her with tools needed to achieve social change, much like the figures she so admired.
Christine’s path crossed with the Washington Lawyers’ Committee in 1993, when she became the Committee’s inaugural Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellow, out of the Women’s Law & Public Policy Fellowship Program (WLPPFP) at the Georgetown University Law Center.
During the first week of Christine’s fellowship she was assigned to a class action lawsuit challenging the sexual harassment of female employees at the D.C. Department of Corrections. After a full trial and appeal, the final outcome was a settlement agreement under which DC paid $8 million in damages and fees. At the end of her fellowship, the Committee offered Christine a position as Staff Attorney, a role she remained in until 1997.
In 2013 Christine learned that the WLPPFP was in need of increased long-term funding in order to support future fellows. She also had observed decreased funding designated to litigation-focused positions, something she experienced the value of in her own fellowship. It was these things that led Christine to gift an endowment to the WLPPFP to support a fellowship in perpetuity.
Christine’s endowment brought Kendall Onyendu to the Washington Lawyers’ Committee 25 years after her own fellowship.
Similarly to Christine, Kendall began considering a career in law after reading about and interacting with women that were making meaningful change in areas she cared about. She noticed a common theme – the majority had attended law school. Kendall recognized a law degree would equip her to work towards her passion for racial equality, supporting community resilience and female empowerment. So after receiving her M.A. and time spent working in higher education, she decided to make the leap into law. She went on to receive her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in May of 2018.
Kendall’s commitment to the advancement of women’s rights and challenging systematic and institutionalized discrimination made her a perfect fit for the WLPPFP and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee. She joined the Committee in September of 2018 and has worked on a variety of issues, including racial discrimination, sexual harassment and equal employment opportunity.
Looking towards the future, Kendall says she would like to be in a place of leadership where she can continue to advance national and local social justice efforts while also committing herself to build a pipeline of diverse peoples engaged in the work.