Kean Graduates Lead New Jersey and Pennsylvania Bar Associations
For two Kean alumnae, the road after graduation led to the top of the legal profession.
Kathleen Wilkinson ’78 currently serves as president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and Jeralyn Lawrence ’92 is president-elect of the New Jersey State Bar Association.
“Being president is an opportunity to effectuate change,” Lawrence said.
Throughout their careers, both women have made extensive contributions to the legal profession, including working to improve attorney wellness and quality of life; addressing disparities in the profession; and advocating for changes in the law.
Wilkinson, who is also a former chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, said the Pennsylvania Bar Association is uniquely positioned to address certain issues.
“We know that women in the profession are promoted at a slower rate than their male counterparts. We know attorneys of color face even greater challenges,” she said. “We must continue to promote access to the legal profession by widening our circles.”
Lawrence notes that many areas of the law “need a second look.
“Being president of the Bar gives you the opportunity to do that, either legislatively or judicially,” she said.
Wilkinson is a civil litigator and partner in the Philadelphia office of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP, a nationwide law firm with more than 30 offices. Lawrence, a divorce and family attorney, is founder of Lawrence Law in Watchung. Both women said they knew since childhood that they wanted to become lawyers.
For Wilkinson, inspiration struck when she saw the romantic comedy Adam’s Rib, and watched Katherine Hepburn play an attorney. Lawrence, meanwhile, found her calling when she saw The Burning Bed, a drama about domestic violence.
“I had no idea domestic violence was such an epidemic. Being able to help people interested me,” Lawrence said, adding that talking law with her father, a retired police officer, also developed her interest.
Getting an undergraduate education at Kean made sense for both women. Wilkinson, whose dual-degree was in political science and secondary education, said her father supported her dream of going to law school, but wanted her to go to Kean College, near home, first.
She lived at home, wrote for the Kean newspaper, worked part-time at a local supermarket and graduated summa cum laude from Kean. She then went on to the Villanova University School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review.
Lawrence earned her bachelor’s degree in public administration/criminal justice at Kean, then entered Seton Hall Law School, where she graduated second in her class.
She said she was able to live on campus at Kean, where she also played on the women’s basketball team, because it was affordable. Her two sisters went to Kean, too.
“I have so many favorite memories of my time at Kean,” Lawrence said. “Some of my best friends to this day are my roommates, teammates and classmates at Kean.”
Wilkinson and Lawrence, both of whom have received numerous awards and honors during their careers, will have the opportunity to meet at a regional bar association event in Washington, D.C. later this year. They already shared a stage once, at a Kean panel for students interested in law.
Jonathan Mercantini, acting dean of the College of Liberal Arts, which held the panel, said he was impressed by both women.
“They were especially open about challenges they faced as women in the legal profession,” he said. “It is really valuable for students to hear that these successful people struggled along the way, and that it may look easy, but it really wasn't.”
As far as the serendipity of two Kean grads serving as neighboring state Bar Association presidents, both Wilkinson and Lawrence said they were thrilled to learn of the connection.
“I can’t say it was anything we planned. But I’m happy to have a colleague nearby,” Lawrence said. “It’s coincidental, but I think it speaks to the preparation at Kean for two Kean graduates to be leading very large bar associations contemporaneously.”
For two Kean alumnae, the road after graduation led to the top of the legal profession.
Kathleen Wilkinson ’78 currently serves as president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and Jeralyn Lawrence ’92 is president-elect of the New Jersey State Bar Association.